I felt completely out of my element. Had no idea what to do. Made two cakes in one hour and of course that is not enough. Then owner came and said they were not good enough and she made them again herself. Hence I did a lot of bordering (which in my opinion were not good enough or fast enough either) on my first day. I have to practice my writing and rosemaking. I guess that's the update. At the same time I loved it! SO MUCH. I am just nervous I will get fired because of my lack of experience. Definitely not a creative outlet but yes a place to pick up speed and some great skills. She says a good cake decorator can shurn out 7 cakes an hour. Well the head decorator there didn't do 7 cakes in an hour so I dunno what the hell she means. By the way this woman is one of the few American Master Bakers so I want to keep working with her. I just don't want to get fired!

-S

Hang in there - the first day, if not week, on any new job is always nervewracking and has you wondering your skills (not matter what they are). You sound dedicated, so you will be fine! Besides, bosses always seem to have to "flex their muscles" on the first day.

deb

omg .... are you sure you got your facts straight??? ... I can do one cake in 7 hrs ... maybe that's what she meant!!!!

just kidding ..... I wish you the best of luck!!

I would make 1 special cake and keep it handy on the side so if she fires you you can hit her with it!!! The you could be one of the few people ever to hit a Master Baker with a cake in the pie hole!

i started at a bakery 6 weeks ago and i am just starting to get into the swing of things. my first day and week and two weeks were pitiful i felt like i had never picked up an icing bag in my life.

hang in there and things will get better. you just have to put confidence in your self and the rest will fall into place.

good luck

And just make sure that special cake has a hammer or an anvil baked into it!!!

Oh, did I say that????

You're supposed to be able to bake seven cakes in an hour or decorate seven cakes in an hour? Or bake AND decorate seven in an hour? I can also maybe do one cake in seven hours. I'm sorry it's so stressful for you. I feel for you!! Just remember that she hired YOU and so she has faith in you. I'm sure you'll do fine!!

Welcome to the world of commercial bakeries... It's a different world!! Just give it some time and you'll be whipping cakes out right and left.. I worked in a commercial bakery for about six months and then quit.

They DO expect you to move at lightening speed which is why I'll probably never work in a bakery. I turned in an application for a cake decorating job last fall and when I went to talk to the manager he handed me an apron! I wasn't prepared for that, I just thought I'd get a call and then come in and show my stuff. Anyway, the frosting was softer than I'm use to and I didn't like the feel of the HUGE pastry bags they use. Also I didn't know where anything was and felt out of place. Basically my cake was horrible looking and I was VERY slow. They wanted someone who could decorate 10 wedding cakes a weekend on top of all the other cakes for bdays and such. NO WAY! I'm slow, I know that, but I think a person naturally gets faster in this environment.

Here's something to consider. When I was in college I took a drawing class. I've always thought of myself as artistic so I was shocked when day after day my instructor had nothing nice to say about my work. My classmates would find their artwork displayed outside the classroom all the time, mine was always returned to me. One day he told us we were going to do a charcoal drawing in 60 seconds of a nude woman. Ok, there's no way! 60 seconds to draw the human form??? I had to keep my eyes on the model and really let that creative energy flow. This was the only drawing my instructor ever hung outside the classroom. He really liked it! When I stood back and looked at it, I had to agree. I hadn't gone back and tried to fix or erase or remove anything.

Anyway, my point is that I take all day to do a cake, but I spend so much time redoing everything. I doubt myself too much. I spend a lot of time starring at my cake canvas without a clue what to do. I think the more cakes you do, the less you'll do that. You're skills will get better and you'll become more comfortable with your abilities and with your new environment.

That interview really shook me up for awhile, but from this one experience I've found yet another benefit for a bride to go with someone who bakes from home. The bakery is about production rather than custom and I have to think the end product suffers a little. I decided it wasn't time for me to find a job outside of the house yet! I may not have a car during the day, but I do love being home with my kids. So, the car will have to wait.

Best of luck!
Wendy

Awww you poor thing. I want to work at a commercial bakery but i want to start at the ground and move up..... I need to practice so much. I'm sure that master baker may have forgotten how hard it was. Hang in there and if your worried talk to her about it.

Did she ever tell you how much experience she expected you to have?

Oh guys thanks! I have to be confident I will improve. I will agree on the mass production side of things. I wanted to be creative and she wanted me to do things her way. At least yesterday I learned this job is about developing skills and not being creative. I will continue making my creative cakes on the side because the goal is to pick up skills and then quit and start my own bus. Yes, she said decorate 7 cakes an hour. Crazy huh? But I learned the cornelli (sp) lace and draping and I didnt know these. This isnt something you learn until the last wilton class )


-S

That's nuts and I hope she doesn't follow you around with a whip all day. Best wishes to you, you'll get there! If not, give her the pastry bag and tell her.........*fill in the blanks*

Yes when you know what you are doing it is 7 cakes in 1 hour thats what I had to do that means cut slice fill ice and decorate 7 in 1 hour it is possible when you know the decorations by heart and don't have to keep looking them up. It takes awhile to get it but you will just relax I would think that they will give you time to to get into a routine. On a weekend there would be 2 of us on and we had 80 orders for 1 day. Hang in there it will get easier.

Years ago I worked at a specialty cake store. When they closed, the owner of a local bakery came by and hired me. Talk about culture shock! The pace and the quality of work is so different.

I ended up quitting that job. I had another part time job that was my main source of income, and had been working in the specialty store primarily to learn new techniques.

I used to work at a local grocery store's bakery as the head decorator. Yes, they're serious about decorating 7 cakes an hour! Take it from me...it may seem impossible now, but in a month or 2 you'll be able to do that many and then some! With time comes speed and confidence. Use this experience to your advantage...learn their techniques and make them your own.

I worked at the bakery for 4 yrs before my first child was born and I decided to stay home with her. I look back on that time as an invaluable learning experience that I wouldn't trade for the world. Hang in there, it is the most challenging, frustrating and joyful job I have ever had!

Wow, by reading the your post and replies here, made me realised how much pressure there is working commercially!!!

You've done well for day one. Just hang in there.

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!

Keep up the great work!!!!!!

ps- just noticed you original post was last year. How are you doing? still at your cake decorating job? how did you cope after day 1?

My original post was last week. If you look again at general you will see I got fired after only two days on that job. Sucks.

as some of you know I work for Costco, and they expect us to decorate 5 cakes an hour but we actually do 7 to 8, we know all the designs by heart, everything is ready for us, and yeah it takes time to get used to.

Good luck!

crouton800 We had to cut, torte, fill, & ice (no crumb coat didnt have time) They were all different Costco has about 12 different designs and we had to do them as requested even if they wanted choc with white buttercream or white & choc we also did black forest cakes with kirsch and cherries it did help that the bakers baked the cakes and made the icing. We also mixed our own colors and filled fresh bags everyday which was very time consuming.

Assembly line working is the same in every profession. What you get in the end is assembly line products. Doesn't matter if it is cakes, making dresses, embroidery, whatever.

Anyone who wants creative cake products with good flavor and knows good decorating will hire someone like most of the decorators on this forum.

Hang in there and not only will you learn good techniques but you will also learn what not to do on your creative cakes at home.

diane