Hi I have for about a month had a cake decorating buisness and it actually has gone over really well. So well that I feel like all I am doing is making cakes and thats it. I am making about 3 specialty cakes a week. I make from scratch my cakes, my icing, my fondant, and my gumpaste. I feel like this takes up a majority of the time. SHould I be making all this from scratch is it worth it? I then spend a lot of time cutting rolling mixxing icing gumpaste and fondant. I feel like to actually decorate it is only like 25% or maybe less... I am staying up to about 4 am and waking up at 12 and some days I am spending all this time doing all the above. My house is a wreck now, I dont have a schedule except get this cae then this cake and then this cake and breathe and start all over. Any advise. I was thinking about making monday cake baking tuesday icing fondant and gum paste making and thursday and friday decorating.. I dont want to turn people down..s o helllllp

I'm not in business, but if I were (and I do hope to be one day down the track) I would make my own frostings (bought frosting is awful - very few people actually LIKE that stuff), but definitely buy fondant. Bought fondant is pretty good, you just need to choose a brand that tastes good - not all bought fondant was created equal. I imagine not many professional cakers would be making thier own fondant.

I can completely understand where you are coming from. I was doing it as a hobby but then, after speaking with my husband, I decided to turn it into a business.

My husband is deployed right now and we have five kids so my days are mostly spent caring for them. I too sometimes have up to three or four cake orders due on the same "Saturday". I highly recommend getting a schedule together.

I typically do all of my shopping on Sunday or Monday and I try to shop ahead looking at my orders two and three weeks ahead of time. I make all of my fondant and gumpaste on Monday or Tuesday depending on how much I need. If there is any gumpaste work, I usually try to get as of it done on Tuesday and then finish up whatever I have to on Wednesday. I bake my cakes on Wednesday...fill and dirty ice on thursday and then decorate on Friday.

Keep in mind that I usually do all of this during nap time or once they have gone to bed and most of the time I end up still pulling an all nighter (but that's only on Friay). It is a lot of work, but I feel like I don't lose as much sleep when I do it this way and whenever I have a slow week. I take that time to make the fondant and gumpaste for orders two or three weeks down the road.

I hope this helps. Buying your fondant and gumpaste would help on time too I'm sure. I don't do it simply because I live in Alaska and the cost to ship it here is outrageous. It is much cheaper for me in the long run to make my own.

As the other posters have said get yourself a schedule, make things ahead of time, and realize that you don't have to do every cake or you may burn yourself out quickly. As far as fondant and gumpaste I have read that a lot of the big names in the business buy theirs premade.

I too feel your pain. It's 6:32 am, I just finished the cake that I am delivering at noon. I am also baking cakes, fillings, icings from scratch and making my own fondant. A lot of the big guys may buy their fondant premade but seriously...until I'm raking in the dough (pun intended ) the big guys are I'm making my own. It's so much cheaper and IMO it tastes better. My boyfriend just moved to Ohio from Michigan to live with me and has been gone on business but my house is also a wreck due to caking. I am thinking it's just par for the course until we figure out how to use our time most efficiently. On the upside, my friends know that I'm crazy busy with cakes so they come to my house to visit and unless I am decorating I don't mind having a glass 'o wine or a few beers while working. I guess basically I want to say you're not alone. I know reading your post made me smile and just feel good knowing that I am not the only one whose life has been taken over by cakes! Hang in there!

Totally agree with Sweetdreams. Home-made fondant tastes a million times better than any ready made fondant and is a third of the price.

As for having a schedule - when I have a 'quiet' week such as next week - only 1 cake - I bake in advance for the next few weeks and freeze the cakes and also make my fondant which stores very well if wrapped securely in clingfilm and stored in airtight containers. I also make the models and flowers in advance during 'quiet' times which saves on stressing at the last minute if I have a lot to do in any one week.

This of course doesn't always go to plan as we all have stressy moments but pretty much works!

CP xxx

I have a 15 month old and a 4 year old. I would love to make my own fondant, but I just don't have the time.

My advice is to plan everything down to the smallest detail and try to do like things together. I am swamped and try to do like things together for two week increments. So instead of making just enough buttercream for the week, I make it for two weeks. Everything is already out, I don't need to clean things multiple times, etc.

I also recommend scheduling yourself a slow week every few weeks... sometimes you need to catch up and have a break.

I'm just a hobby baker right now so I'm no expert of the ins and out of an actual cake business. But, as a new business you are probably afraid to turn down any orders (even those that are too short of a lead time) in order to build your client base. This is completely understandable and I would probably be the same way if I took my hobby into a business. Coupled with that is the issue that it is THE cake time of year with graduations and weddings - and with weddings comes subsequent anniversary celebrations which require cake as well. You are bound to feel like you are constantly on overdrive. I agree with the others that trying to schedule the components of caking will help. You also might have to turn down an order or two in order to have that breathing room. If you over extend yourself you are at risk of wearing yourself out, possibly getting sick, then disappointing all the clients for that week when you can't do ANY of their cakes.

Good luck and congratulations on such a successful business venture.

A friend recently asked if I was dating anyone and I looked at her and said..."When do I have the time?"

I completely get what you're going through...

...My personal opinion is that if you can budget it, purchase your fondant and gumpaste ready made. I get that if you make your own it costs less...but also realize that time is money...the time that you're making your fondant and waiting for it to set up...you could actually be baking cakes or decorating b/c the fondant and gumpaste is already made and maybe even pre-colored.

I can tell you what the schedule the custom cake bakery I used to work for used. They were open Tuesdays thru a half day on Saturday.

Tuesday was baking day. All cakes for the week were baked cooled and frozen. We rarely took an order for a Tuesday delivery because of that...and most people wanted the weekends anyway.

Wednesday they would crumbcoat, fill, & frost cakes that were due either that day or the next. They would decorate the cakes due that day. All our cakes were kept in the refrigerator...not the freezer...we used real butter in the buttercream and they needed to stay there.

Thursday thru Friday, same thing.

Saturday was pick-up or delivery day
The owner didn't want to do Sunday weddings, but she might take on one if it were worth the money.

She adopted this schedule after working 7 days a week with no breaks and always saying yes when she should have said no. It's amazing how liberating the word 'no' is. People can be trained to call way in advance once they know you're on a schedule.

Also, when someone placed one order with me I would encourage them to think of all the upcoming events they might need a cake for and get them on the books right then so they wouldn't forget and wait until the last minute to order because they might be turned down. I would call a week in advance to remind them and get details. It really kept a handle on our calendar.

If you make everything from scratch and wish to continue to do so, I would pick a prep day--probably your bake day and make all your fondant and buttercream for at least a week...possibly two. It won't go bad. Color the fondants and BC that you know you'll need and have that all ready for the week.

I personally wouldn't make gum paste. Wilton's pre-made gum paste is the best and it would save you some effort.

Just have a plan and work your plan. And learn to say no sometimes...trust me...when you don't people will know you'll always say yes and won't respect your time. Don't get burned out this early in the game!
Good luck!

I can understand your frustration! I just make cakes out of my house for many people. My client list is growing fast. I get the occasional person who is weeks in advance ordering a cake but mainly it seems I get the people who is 2-3 days in advance calling me and thinking this is quite adaquate time to call for a cake to be made and decorated by a wife, working mother of 4 kids, 2 hound dog pups and a bottle feeding kitten! Seriously!!

I work part time as a florist and my boss and her hubby have been begging me to start a cupcake/bakery in the back of her store for several months now. As much as I would LOVE to do that...I KNOW I would have NO life outside of it! No to mention I would then have overhead costs such as utilities and rent to add to my stress of "making it" in the business.

Now I can pick and choose if I want to make a cake or turn it down and recommend someone else (which rarely happens). I do stress myself out and sometimes I take on more cakes than I can handle but I like to please everyone.

Yes my house is usually in dissarry because I spend my time in the kitchen for days at a time and yes I get a sugar buzz from the powdered sugar I am breathing but I enjoy it all the same. I am usually happy with everything that walks out my door. Just know you are not alone in your stress!

Oh boy, do I hear you! It's funny, but just having three kids under 12 tests my inherent need for organization! Lol!

But I've learned ways to finetune my cake world and my flow is much better now. This is the part that has helped me the most to be organized for my orders...

The first Sunday night of every month after kids are to bed, I go thru that month's orders and list everything I need to purchase (food and supplies). I then compare it to an inventory list I keep and mark of what I have already. The balance is my "shopping list". Monday I'm closed, so I place online orders after kids go to school, then shop for rest. I take no cake calls that day so I don't get distracted. They can leave a msg.

I buy the extra large ziploc bags (super big!) and place items in bags labeled with clients names. Cake pads, toppers from Brides, ribbon, etc.

I also do what u do and break out the baking days from decorating. Sometimes the juggling seems insane, but then an idea will click. And don't forget to keep one weekend a month free for downtime. Don't think you have to take every order. Setting limits will help you stay in control of your business. It's ok to tell someone you're booked...it shows that you're busy and a desirable business. Hth!!

I only bake for charity, family, and close friends - i.e. not for sale. But I do a lot of cakes.... for example, I have 4 specialty cakes to complete in the next 8 days. Two multi-layer and all with hand made figures and decorations. And I had a dinner party last night, painted a white picket fence this week, etc... lots of other good stuff

I cut my time way down by separating my tasks. First I bake all the cakes that I need to construct my finished cakes. I'm limited by my freezer space so that tells me how many I can do - usually 3 to 5 cakes, depending on their size. Then I fill, weight/settle, and crumb coat layers, wrap very, very well and freeze. While the cakes are baking, I mix up big batches of buttercream icings and freeze for future use.

I make my own MFF and do three batches in sequence. When I have all the ingredients out it doesn't take me much longer to make three batches than one. I wrap the fondant really, really well and store at room temperature for up to a month. I keep Duff's dark colored fondant on hand - black, brown, red, and royal blue because I have better luck with this than dying my own. I mix them with my MFF to get the colors that I want, too. When I have lots of cakes going at once, I do small amounts of "master" colors for a specific cake... concentrated colors in the right shades and then dilute them down in the right amounts to get the colors needed for the cake. For this week, I have a bright leaf green, a lime green, dk gray. This saves me a lot of time on assembly day.

Then I make decorations. The last two days, it was a Dora and Boots plus flowers, stars, backpack, map, etc. for one cake. Then three bears, six blocks, lots of stars for a 3-tier baptism cake. Then a fondant crown for a princess cake. By doing the decorations for one cake at a time, I'm minimizing and controlling the number of colors of fondant that I have going at one time. I have a Cricut Cake that I use primarily for cutting letters and things like stars where I want many of the same and a variety of sizes of the same shape. It saves me time because I don't have to fiddle around finding the right cutters and I can do something else while the cutting is going on. And I get the lettering all done and ready to go ahead of time.

When I decorate the final cakes, that's all that I do - and I never start until my kitchen is totally cleaned up. I defrost my cakes overnight. Then ice & fondant cover one at a time. If I have two cakes due on the same day, I cover all the cakes and clean up the kitchen before I start applying the decorations. I do the fondant borders, place the figures, make any remaining fondant pieces, flowers, etc that I need.

I learned the hard way that segmenting my work process and that cleaning up my work areas frequently actually saves me time in the long run. For example, no cake crumbs around when I'm making decorations. And it helps me stay calm and focused while I'm messing them up again

You'll get it figured out. Getting my kitchen and supplies organized - and remembering where they are when I need them - took awhile but really helped cut my time requirements. Gradually memorizing recipes also helped alot. Don't worry - you'll get faster and more organized in the next couple of months I wish you great success with your business!!

If you feel like you're too busy, you should raise your prices so you can make more money with fewer orders.

I agree with the others that said homemade fondant does taste better, but it still takes time to make it. If you had an employee to make it you would still have to pay them for making it and it would cost about the same as buying it.

Henry Ford knew what he was talking about.

I look at my schedule of upcoming cakes and bake them about 1 week before and freeze them. I make my own icing and if you make up enough for the week you won't have to keep on making it. I use water most of the time and leave it unflavored so I can flavor it when I go to use it. I also buy Fondx fondant and absolutely love it. I suggest doing as much ahead in a day that you can. Hopefully you can get into some sort of system soon to help you out.
evelyn

Lots of people have romantic notions of how great it would be to make cakes for profit all day - but have no sense (or greatly overestimate their abilities) on how to run a business. The questions you are asking (time management, cost, organization) are all business principals that you need to learn more about if you want to become successful and remain sane (emphasis on the sane part).

A business plan, even the most basic, would probably help you a lot, just by listing your goals, how you think you want to achieve them, and your challenges, along with what you think will be solutions. You don't need fancy fonts and diagrams - start with a grocery-style list and add to it as things come up/as you solve challenges.

In your case, start with time management. If you are frantic and feeling overwhelmed all day because you have no clear plan on execution, then you will have zero brain power left to do anything, let alone enjoy what you are doing!

Anyway, this thread already has some great suggestions, but they mean nothing if you don't write them down and have them in front of your face all the time!

About fondant... Buddy uses Satin Ice because he gets paid to use it as a spoksemen, not because it tastes good. If you go to the SI website there's a whole page of "big names" that use their product - and although I don't know for sure, my business savvy tells me that each of those people get paid to use SI and was paid for their testimonials.

Simple marketing and product placement, especially if those names are on TV a lot, like Buddy, Ben Ron-Israel etc. i only mention that because i don't ever just start using a product because so-n-so big shot uses it too.

Having said that, few months ago this hard-core scratch baker decided to start buying pre-made fondant, but only after I found a brand that tastes good, is easy to work with, and not loaded with chemicals I don't recognize or won't use. It still fits with my philosophy/business plan and my clients so far could care less since most people hate fondant anyway.

But note the mention of my business plan - I already worked out how I want my cakes and baking style to be defined as a scratch artisan custom baker. You need to work out your own. How do YOU want to be defined?

Hope this helps,

Jen

Can't understand why people need to factor in time for making fondant. I usually set aside an hour or so to do this well in advance of requiring it and in my 'quiet times'. I manage to make at least 6-7 kilos of the stuff and as for buying gum paste, you just add tylose before adding the wet ingredients and hey presto you have gum paste!

Where's the problem?

CP x

Poor you,

Loads of differing advice and opinions here for you to juggle with.

The bottom line is that sooner or later you will find your own rhythm and the best method of working to suit you. And after going on this journey if you still find that running your cake business = no life, then perhaps it's not for you!

Good luck and I hope everything goes well for you.

CP xxx

I agree...Massa is one of the best brands out there...it's a bit costly but I know how it works and it never fails me. I've been using it for years. Only thing is that it doesn't take purple well at all (starts going blue) and it can be a little funny about airbrushing. If I need to do either of those that's when I resort to Satin Ice.

It's do-able. You have to come up with a schedule that works for you, and figure out how many cakes a week are "too much" and then DON'T go over that.

I know from doing this way too many times -- a month in advance, when the cake orders are just pieces of paper and a new deposit to go in your bank account, it's really tempting to add on "just one more". Especially if that (always seemingly) last minute order comes from a friend or a family member or a friend of a family member, who just expects that you can drop everything and make a cake for them.

But then the week of all those cakes come, and you're yelling at your kids, dinner is taco bell every night, and the house is covered in a layer of a combination of toys, dirt, and powdered sugar.
Yep. I've been there.

I'm a mom of three kids, ages 4, 6, and 9. And I don't have that luxury of "caking once I drop the kids off at school". We homeschool. So I have three kids under 10 under foot ALL THE TIME. If I can do it, you can too.

Here's my weekly schedule:
(All for afternoons, since mornings are school time)

Monday - grocery shopping and cake supply store shopping. I try to stock up for two weeks of orders, but usually there's something I need every week even with my best planning.

Tuesday - Make fondant and gumpaste, set aside to rest (yes I make my own too - much better tasting, and so ridiculously cheap I can't fathom shelling out for premade)

Wednesday - make do-ahead decorations that need to dry

Thursday - baking day. I can't bake any sooner than Thursday because I'm baking from scratch, so no preservatives are there to help keep the cake longer

Friday - decorating day....and night.

Saturday - delivery.

Sometimes I have a Sunday delivery too, but I try to really limit them, because when a cake is due on Sunday, not only do I not get a day off, but then I'm trying to bake my Sunday cake on Friday along with decorating my Saturday cakes.

After doing too much too many times, I now insist on no more than 2 or 3 smaller cakes, depending on the complexity involved in those cakes, and never, never never more than 1 wedding or larger cake a weekend.

In fact I usually try to avoid having a wedding cake on weekends right next to each other. Some months, like September, which is our busiest wedding month, that's impossible, but I try to stagger bigger cakes as much as possible.

I've been really close to burning out a couple times, so I've had to figure out what works best for me and my family. You need to do the same, or else you will want to quit your new business before you get a chance to really make a go of it.
Best wishes to you!

Dear Ambarnha,

It sounds like you are on the right path getting organized. You also have a wealth of wisdom, experience and advice added in all of these posts. To these I would add: If you can multi task or double up on recipes, do it.
Today I have been working on prepping for cakes tomorrow. I did all my baking last weekend for the 10 cake orders I have had this week. My cakes have been wrapped and frozen. Today, I threw 2 full sheet cakes in the oven while I mixed fondant and molded chocolate and white chocolate seashells. When I finished this, I cleaned up to move on to the next step.
(When I baked in the bakery, my boss would say, "Work smarter, not harder', and 'Clean as you go!")
After cleaning up I started tinting, rolling and cutting the fondant for the Daisies and the Black Eyed Susans I will put on my cakes tomorrow. (I made over 4 dozen flowers)
If I had the time, I would have started mixing my buttercream and prepping cake boards for tomorrow. I got a late start. (I decided it was IMPORTANT, to decorate the house for my daughter who is graduating High School, while she was at work today)
So I will have to mix my buttercream tomorrow, and one cake is due tomorrow at 6pm, and the other two are due Monday.

Planning and organization is half the battle. Please keep in mind that I work a full time job as a Exceptional Children's Teachers Assistant at our local school, yet I am able to handle this many cakes in one week. I do have to admit, I only have one child left at home, she is 18 and will leave for college in August and my husband has picked up most of the house duties while I am at my bakery working on cakes. Many nights I leave work at 3:00, drive home, change clothes and start in the bakery by 4pm. Most of the time I am finished by 8pm, but sometimes it's 9:30 -10:00 before I make it home to have a bowl of cereal for dinner because I'm just two darned tired to care to eat. My alarm is set for 5am to get up and get ready to go back to work at school. (I am so glad summer vacation is just around the corner)
Out of all of this, I hope you really take this last advice to heart:
You have to schedule time off. Take time for yourself. If possible, leave at least one day a week where you don't talk/think or look at cake.((This includes looking at e-mail for cake orders!) Go and do family things, fit in an hour to do something good for yourself. Be kind to yourself. If you don't take care of you, no one is going to do it for you. And if you don't take care of you, you are of little use to those you love.

I wish you well.....

In my experience most people just peel off the fondant anyway, so we just use Satin Ice since it is cheap, easy to work with, and both vegan and gluten-free.