Hi All!

I am going thru and scheduling my baking days , decorating and delivery schedule. So my question is How many cakes are you able to do in a week? I have a 50 serving (tiers) cake for friday and 20 serving (Simple design) for saturday. Should I book more? Do you? FYI  I am in the kitchen MT and Th.

Thanks!

I think it's best to start out slow and see how you handle it and then add more as you go.  I have two very young boys and I make cakes at home. Three is my max right now. I used to could only do one about two years ago, but time and experience has helped me  increase my numbers to where it's at while juggling kids. 

Same as malou, 3 cakes in average. If I'm busy with other things non or some weeks I've taken up to 5 orders. It all depends on my personal schedule (and the kids schedule) and how much work an order requires....

Thank you ! 

It is very had to say because they come in all sizes and shapes and styles.

When I had my bakery (I worked totally alone) the most I did was 5 wedding cakes and several small b'day cakes in one week-end.

It depends on some of these factors:  do you have to deliver?  What part of town?  How long does it take to drive to delivery and back?  OR will they be picked up?  What time?  What if you have someone coming to p/u but they don't show and you have to deliver and set up a wedding across town in 30 minutes?? 

I remember some time back (maybe a couple of yrs ago) a similar ? was posted and one of the best answers was knowing how many servings (or actual *layers* of cake) you can handle in one day yourself.  You might be able to make 3 small (2 or 3 tier) and one large 4 tier wedding *plus* 3 or 4 b'day cakes or maybe you can only handle 1/2 that.  It's something you have to figure out yourself.

Thank you all. I think it will def come with time and experience to see how long a single cake/order takes. The fast i get the more cakes i can take on! Being in a new kitchen I am getting used to the new flow of things. It will def take time.

here's an idea -- what you might want to work into is 1-2 difficult/large plus several easy peasy orders -- because once you get the mixer humming and fire up the oven -- it's so easy to toss in a few more things that won't take much time to finish and brings in some easy money -- then you can still have most of your time to concentrate on the larger or more difficult orders -- 

best to you

This is very difficult for me. I don't think I can ever be faster. What I do though is book all, then stress on finishing them all. Very bad idea, but the more I am rushing, the more I am getting better. I think it takes the same time if I have 1 single cake and 3 big cakes, I still stress myself out so better be stressed with lots than just one. LOL

lack of speed is what knocks a lot of people out of doing this -- they can say it is money but time is money and it's really hard to get fast working at home

School runs and having small kids can slow us down too, not to mention the food prep for the family. I think it's only possible to work on more orders when we have the whole day straight on a separate work area, but as K8memphis said, It's difficult when working at home.

omg -- flipping the kitchen from bakery to home to bakery to home is insanely crippling -- i think the family should fast when there's a cake to do

tell me about it! my whole house is a mess even when there's a single cake order for the week. We have our dinner in the small centre table in the living room and I will have to stock up on canned goods and hotdogs. Oh dear!

Haha! Thursday and Friday nights are becoming a take out food nights at our house and when all the cakes are gone on Saturday I'm too tired to cook and clean so that's another take out too. Geez, maybe I should start doing those prep ahead or freezer meals so my husband can cook.  And I mean cook outside cause the kitchen will be off limits when there are cakes in progress. Lol

I'm reading this out loud to my family, and I can barely get through it because I'm laughing so hard! Do you have a camera installed in my house?? Because this is exactly what happens, and when I have an order, we're reduced to frozen taquitos and drive-thru hamburgers! Thank you everyone!

And for the record, I have so far managed 1 large project (500 small desserts, complete with packaging) and 2 single cakes, all due on the same day, in a given week.  Although I'm getting better about planning ahead, which has been very helpful.....

Most of my orders are for the weekends and that's the problem. Yes, I prep during the week...toppers etc...but when it comes to finish the cakes I have to do it all the same day...two days if it's Saturday and Sunday. Mainly kids birthday cakes, so pick up around lunch time, even late morning. No way I could make 5 cakes the same day! Unless it's very simple ones, which rarely happens.

 But that's the reason why I am a hobby home baker! It helps paying school fees and I love doing it...so, why not? Making a living out of it? I don't see that happening in the near future. But that's okay for me. I have 2 more side businesses going which allow me flexible working hours and I am grateful to have enough spare time to play with my kids, meet friends and have a life, LOL.