Hi,

Yesterday, while I worked on some royal icing flowers I thought about how long it takes me to complete a cake. I have decorating for almost a year now, and have averaged about a cake a month. Will the process get faster?

Of course, I have been challenging myself, so it takes me a bit to practice while I decorate. I make my cakes and icing from scratch so that adds time too.

As a new decorator, do you find it takes you some time to complete a cake?

As an experienced decorator, has your decorating time shortened over time?

Does anyone have any tips to speed up the decorating time?

I am new at cake decorating (have only taken 2 of the 3 Wilton courses so far) so it takes me awhile from start to finish. I like to make my cakes from scratch so it takes me a little longer than making a cake from a box. I always let my cakes completely cool before decorating them, so this takes up time too. I hope to get faster with my decorating with time, but since I only do it as a hobby for now, it really doesn't matter how long it takes me, in my opinion, as long as it looks good.

I have been doing cake decorating for a long time- probably going on 30 years. It does get faster but as aforementioned you challenge yourself. I doubt I have ever done two cakes the same. I also make all my cakes from a recipe, and the one I use you beat your room temp egg whites seperately from your yolks, adding sugar to each egg part and beating, then folding together, so this takes time! I figured one day it takes me a minute to make a rose from start to finish, so if a wedding cake has 150 roses, there is close to 3 hrs just making the roses! The last cake I did called for stephanotis made from rolled fondant, as it was my first attempt at these the first 1/2 hr was trial and error. Nothing made from fondant is fast as this is a new technique to me also.

If cake decorating is an art which it tends to be to most of us,( I thoroughly dislike doing character cakes, same ole same ole so to speak,) then as artists we take forever just to prepare the palette- the cake we will be putting the decorations on. The last cake I did- a huge stacked construction wedding cake- took me 6 hrs Friday night, and 7 hrs on Saturday, plus probably 5 hrs in flower making, not including that while I made flowers I baked the pound cake, and there was other time spent in baking the cake. Add on to that the time spent gathering the supplies, talking to the bride, and clean up plus delivery which I did after the 7 hrs spent on Saturday, nobody but another cake decorater could appreciate the time put into it. I delivered the cake to the hotel on Saturday and the bell boy helped me take it up in the elevator on a trolley and place on the cake table...He said "u did all of this yourself? u are a perfectionist aren't you?" Then the gal who was working on the tables said "I know what you did last nite". I thot oh yeah, and all day today and half of the week!

I find the older I get the harder I am on myself. As I work hubby will be saying, "my that is beautiful...that is some job!" I will be saying..oh man...I am not happy. He usually says "you never are". Then when it all comes together... there! just what I hoped for plus! So it does take time...a lot of hard work and much patience.

Hi, I was so glad to see this topic. I sometimes wonder if I am just slow when it comes to making cakes. It seems to take an enormous amount of time, but when it gets down to the decorating part, I still get excited because it is so much fun. It seems as tho my time to make/decorate a cake is normal after all! What a relief! ha

I work slowly because I'm so anal. This is why I charge the 3x method rather than by the hour.

i agreed to make 20+ individual wedding cakes for a girl that saw a cake i made at the local fair. each cake had a fondant loopy bow on top. by the time the final count came in she needed 23 cakes and her cake for the head table. i work full time and have a family so i had to pre-bake the cakes and freeze them (i usually only use fresh cakes). it took me over a month to make all of the loops for the bows - in my spare time (ha ha) and the morning before the wedding when i started putting the cakes together i realized that even if it only took one hour per cake it was going to take me at least 24 hours to complete the job! wow - what a long day! if only it had only taken an hour per cake! every time my husband came through he said "you're better than me!" and when he went to bed that night he said "i'll see you in the morning when i get up to go hunting!". i was determined to be done by the time he woke up! i jumped on the couch and threw a blanket over myself when i heard him getting up and saved boxing the cakes until after he left. the cakes turned out and were delivered without any problems and the bride and her guests loved them. that's what it's all about!

i love decorating and i love to challenge myself. that's why i chose cake decorating. you can be as creative as you want in a lot of different ways!
i'll post the pictures of the wedding cakes this morning!

Happy Decorating!
Debbie

Hi Debbie,
I nearly fell on the floor when I saw your hubby's line, "You are better than me"! That is exactly what my husband says when I am spending hours and hours on something to do with cakes.
You are exactly right, you absolutely have to love it! Otherwise nobody in their right mind would stay up all night do wedding cakes, I totally agree.
I don't believe you ever recoup your labour time - in wages not even at a minimum wage basis. But somehow it is all worth it when you are pleased with the final product and most especially when the customer is.
Can't wait to see those cakes!
hugs, Squirrelly Cakes

so true! i tried to upload them but the file was too big - i'll have to fix that little problem so i can upload them

Debbie

This is so funny that I read this tonight! My friend & I were just talking about this! She has been decorating cakes for 2 years. Me just since Oct 05. She talked me into taking the classes at Wilton. Anyway.. she lives in England now so we talk online a lot! I was flustrated because my husband was giving me a hard time about it taking me so long to decorate a cake. It took me 6 1/2 hours to do a full sheet cake for a bday cake. I enjoyed every minute of it!! I asked my friend how long did it used to take her & she said 7 hours! She said it now takes her 2 hours from start to finish to do a cake, any cake. So there is hope for me yet!! As long as I love decorating then I guess it's right for me!!
Keep up the good work!! ~Tina~
ps.. I have talked 2 friends into taking the wilton classes! They start Thursday! One day we all just might open a bakery! LOL

I am soo happy to see this subject touched on. I have wondered how I compare as far as the time it takes me to make a decorated cake. Now I know I'm not just the slowest poke working out there. I haven't learned a lot of the fancy work that some of you probably have but I have been pleased with what I've done so far. I am a perfectionist and very critical of my own work. Isn't it a blessing that others can't see the tiny things that seem to stick out to us in our work? I want to learn a lot more. I have worked thru the night so many times and loved every minute of it when the job is done. I've always done my most creative work in the quiet of the night for some reason. My husband is used to it now I think.

Debbie, I almost fell over laughing at the thought of you flying to the couch to act alseep when your hubby got up!!! That's just the kind of thing I might do. Many times I've gone to bed when mine was getting up. I'm sure he used wonder what took so long about making a cake. Now he knows after watching me work. I haven't been doing wedding cakes like some of you have. I only have two under my belt so far. But I made them one week apart and in different states half the country apart. It was a big challenge for me (and using someone elses kitchen) but I was pleased with my work and so were the brides.

I would love to work with an experienced decorator, as an assistant or whatever, just to learn the ropes and all the neat tricks of the trade. My sister does beautiful cakes in Arizona and if she lived close I'd be doing that with her. But until that happens I'll keep plugging along learning on my own. This website means a lot to me. I feel like I have real friends here. You all offer such good advice and encouragement. I appreciate you all so much!

I'd like to check out some of the books/videos I've seen mentioned here but where do I start? I saw a video mention someplace a few minutes ago but can't find it now, darn! Help! Think Lloyd was in the name.

i think we're all with you! i spent most of the day Sunday making a cake just because i could. i had my son and my nephew pick a cake out of a book - not what i had in mind but they wanted to see me do the basketweave. I tried the marshmellow fondant (sp) recipe and a new chocolate cake recipe on it (i still haven't found the perfect chocolate cake). My husband made a comment about my being adicted to cake decorating. I've been learning it all from books and have a lot of books. I get comments whenever I get a new one "just what you need. another cake book" or "don't you already have every one that's been made?". of course there are still many i'd love to have! i'm going to try requesting that the local library purchase a couple of them. i was tickled when i went to a newly opened library in my area and found that they actually had a cake decorating book that i didn't already have! i could spend hours just trying out new techniques! i got to try out two new recipes, my son and my nephew enjoyed the cake and everyone at work enjoyed the leftovers yesterday! how can anyone complain about that?

i would love to work with someone too or at least be able to take a class in something other than the basics. i'd love to get into gumpaste flowers however there is no where in my area that does this. i've put in my request for a class - we'll see. it has gotten to the point though that when i go to one of the two local cake decorating stores they aske me for pictures of my latest creations! If anyone can recommend a video on gumpaste flowers i'd like to know about it!

Debbie

Okay, I found the video reference and it was for Nicolas Lodge's website. Don't ask where I got the name Lloyd. I have no idea!! LOL

Debbie, I would start with the Wilton book on Gumpaste flowers and the 32 piece accessory kit and go from there. It is a great way for a beginner to learn. Then you can get into the other books and cutters taht are available, but you can still do a great job with this set. You can teach yourself with the step by step instructions.
I would practice with fondant and just add a bit of a hardener like Gum-tex - a couple of tsp. per box of prepared fondant. You don;t need it for roses or smaller flowers, but you will prefer it when you make an orchid.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Debbie,
Now why can't you live down the road from me? I just feel like it'd be so much more fun to have someone to share my enthusiasm for cakes with. Check out Nicholas Lodge"s website. He offers books and videos on gumpaste.
HAve fun!

Thanks to all! I was afraid to purchase a video without a recommendation. I'd hate to spend the money on something that wasn't any good. With all the books I have ~ i've been disappointed in a few. I do have the Wilton set and have done a lot of the flowers. I do ok I just thought that maybe if someone actually showed me I might pick up on a few "secrets". I don't think i'll ever master the orchid though ~ i'm an orchid addict ~ i have several orchids at home and i want to make one so bad i can taste it! Of course it can't have anything to do with the anal cake decorator theory can it?!

Haha, anal cake decorators, nah!
You may want to check out other orchid cutters, there is quite a variety of them out there, www.sugarpaste.com or other sites have them and you can make a few varieties. I would get a book on flowers, just your everyday garden type book. Also, I think it helps to have the real thing handy and heaven forbid, it is also good to pull apart one to see how it is made and try to duplicate it. Personally I find this the best way to go. Also, you want to make good use of your balling tool thinning out the petals so that they will furl properly. Generally you want to have the ball of the tool half on the outer edge and half off balling inwards vertically towards the centre. This is also a good way to get a more natural look to you leaf edges. A lot of people don't thin their petals or leaves out enough so they end up with a cookie cutter look. Also most or many flowers need to be hug upside-down to dry, usually in stages between layers of petals - especially true with roses.
The petal dusts will be a great help with creating natural looking orchids.
Also there is a packing material that you sometimes get when you buy a tv or something that has need of protection. It is kind of a foam, more on the styrofoam consistency that was plasticized. It is in sheets, white. It kind of has the appearance of a veiny pattern or texture to it. Does that ring a bell? Anyway, this stuff is great for getting that wrinkly texture that orchids and other flowers have. If you can figure out what the heck I am describing, grab a sheet of it and wash it and use it for rolling out your orchids pieces, or even just when you are thinning them out with the balling tool. I really find it gives you a natural look.
I am no expert, just learned things from books and from playing and trying to duplicate the real thing.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

thanks for your help! i know what you are talking about - kinda scarey isn't it? trial and error is the best thing i've found so far - i was just looking for a short cut!

Debbie

thanks for your help! i know what you are talking about - kinda scarey isn't it? trial and error is the best thing i've found so far - i was just looking for a short cut!

Debbie

That is scarey, haha!
You are right though, probably taking courses is a quicker way to learn the tricks, it is just that if you live somewhere where these courses aren't offered, you kind of are stuck. Plus I figure that all of these experts that wrote the books or taught the courses, had to start somewhere and I am betting that somewhere was by pulling apart their share of real flowers. Have to admit it makes me feel guilty doing that, but boy is it ever interesting to see how nature constructs!
There are a lot of good gardening books with really detailed pictures of flowers and you can get them from book sales, dirt cheap, sorry, bad pun!
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

so true! i've even pulled apart silk flowers and used them as a guide. i guess i'll have to break down and take apart one of my orchids.

thanx!

Cali4dawn,

You menitoned

in one of your replies.
Can you, or anyone else, please explain to me what that is?
I'm fairly new to cake decorating. I've completed all three Wilton courses at my local Michaels and have been bringing my creations into the office for people to eat. People have started asking me to make cakes and how much I'd charge. I have no idea where to begin, other than by checking out the bakery prices at my grocery stores.

THanks in advance for any help.
~Christina

CONGRADS ON YOUR ENGAGEMENT AMEENA!!! BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!!!

Ameena, Congratulations on your engagement!! How exciting! And making your own cake? Yikes!

Cali4dawn I too am curious about the 3x. I think I need to have a form to fill out with brides when planning wedding cakes. Though I have only done two so far I am sure as time passes and I have more experience I will want to do more. The pricing is one of the hardest things for me. It's just hard to charge for my cakes. Actually it's not that I don't want to charge it's telling someone what I want for them. And I feel sure that having a form in front of me and noting everything in it's place will help me to be specific about what I will charge for each item. I found such a form at Earlene's cakes site. This shouldn't be so difficult. UGH!

I don't know why, but I can not work on a cake continuously (sp)

I've gotten better...not taking as many breaks as I use to

Have fallen in love with fbct...those stars were killing me.

I am an experienced cake decorator when it comes to basics...shell border, bc roses, icing the cake. I can whip up a basic bc iced cake with roses pretty quickly. Since I bake from a mix that doesn't take long at all; and I can do the decorating for a simple rose cake pretty quickly; hour tops.

HOWEVER, many of us DO enjoy the art aspect of decorating; and if we challenge ourselves; try to do something a little different from the typical grocery store cake, it is going to take us longer.

But as far as the basics...yes, you get quicker for sure!

I've been experimenting with MMF and it's taking me forever to complete cakes with that stuff. I'm expecting it'll get easier/quicker the more I do; but we'll see!