Hi
I have only been in Louisiana for 4 months after moving from Australia. i am a qualified pastry chef. i am trying to start out a business doing cake decorating something I have alwasy wanted to do. But the problem is although everyone likes the look of my cakes the taste isn;t what they want. But what is it the people of louisiana want?????????
I have tried 2 types of buttercream one the wilton one from this site they like the wilton better it is more fluffy which seams to be what they want. it also has that bakery smell which I have finally worked out is almond essence.
Now I thought I had cracked the yellow cake but today i saw someone who I had made a cake for and it isn't sweet enough add more sugar she says we like it sweet in the south. the cake has 2 cups sugar in for a 1/4 sheet. Apartently it also needs to be more moist, but it is moist and other people I have made it for said they liked it or are they just being nice??
I only make things from scratch i didn't go to culinary school to use box mixes ( I know alot of people like them i am just not one of them).
i guess i just need some guidelines about what americans want to eat it just seems to me to be laden it with sugar and it will be ok. Do I just make what they want if I ever work it out and feel like I have sold my morals and education or try and find a happy medium.
I am glad this person told me what they think but it has upset me to find out what I thought was good wasn't because it isn't sweet enough how sweet do they want it??
Any advice would be appreciated Thanks

Don't lose heart. Not everyone wants a super sweet cake. I bake only from scratch as well. What are the differences in cakes from Australia? I've never been, would love to go, and I love to experiment with recipes.

This will sound like a sales pitch, but it's not...completely. I have a cookbook available with many popular cake flavors. Most of them are very quick to make. They are all very moist (I have to get the on the board straight the first time) and they taste great with or without frosting. The book also has frosting, fondant, desserts, and other types of recipes.

It sounds like you got started with difficult people. Maybe others won't be such a pain. I would really like to try some of your recipes. If you would like you can send me a Private Message and we can exchange recipes. My white and chocolate cakes are always well received.

Best of luck to you.

Michele

I forgot, the name of the book is "The Sugar Fix, recipes and rantings of an obsessive-compulsive cook".

Hi - I'm am by far not the most experienced cake maker but here it goes... I got this book called "Wedding Cakes You Can Make, Designing, Baking, and Decorating the perfect wedding cake" by Dede Wilson. In it this is what she says about "The Duncan Hines Conundrum" (her words not mine) She loved making european style cake but the americans didn't like the texuter ... "The fact is that they (European-style cake) are very different from the Duncan Hines-style cakes with wichi the American public has become so familiar. The cake mixes on the market are incredibley most, and they are also filled with preservatives .... that home bakers would never put in their own cakes." Anyways she goes on to say that she switched tobaking a more traditional American-style butter cake. In this book she provides recipes for yellow, white, & choc. cakes along with a moistening syrup. Maybe you could get the book or see if your local library has a copy and see if that would help. She also gives a icing recipe as well. I know for me, I use the wilton but use 1/2 cup butter & 1/2 cup shortening with magic line's butter vanilla flavoring. My customers really enjoy and say that it melts in their mouth. I hope I have helped good luck!!!!

How about a compromise? you can do the AMERICAN STYLE cakes for the SWEETH TOOTH OF THE SOUTH...


but you can also ofer specialty cakes..

You can give them EUROPEAN names or..call them...EUROPEN STYLE SPECIALTY CAKES..the novelty of getting something new may atract your customers to your style of baking.

HTH

It's hard to describe how a cake tastes over the internet I'm not sure what your cakes taste like so I'm not sure how to compare them to the ones here. I know some people aren't used to any cake that doesnt come from a grocery store and those are overly sweet. I would go to a few good bakeries around the area and sample some cakes. I know I like my cakes to be pretty moist, dense, and flavorful. (to me white cakes are bland) I also like them to be buttery (yellow, marble). I also took a long time figuring out icing recipes so I know it's frustrating. Good luck.

i know, our tastes here in america are VERY different. i would experiment with different recipes on people you know will give you an honest opinion. the "better scratch white cake" on this site has gotten good reviews from my peple. i would go for a butter yellow cake for my scratch yellow and i've used the dark chocolate cake recipe on this site and it's gone over well. you can do scratch and still have people happy with it. try using simple syrups, and yes, if it seems like a lot of sugar to you, it's probably just about right and the bc with the powd sugar and butter/crisco combo with some almond seem to go over really well with people. good luck and keep posting questions

I can't speak for all Americans, but I look forward to my visits to TN because of their regional specialties - sweet (I mean really sweet) tea, biscuits and gravy, grits and pulled pork sandwiches to name a few.

I think one of life's pleasure is good food, and sampling other cuisines.

On my visit to New Orleans (not recently), there were many wonderful French patisseries; something not found where I live. My sister and I stopped there every day we were in NO.

As I'm not familiar with Australian baking/pastry, I can't comment on your offerings. However, I think that something less ordinary would be a great marketing advantage.

You might consider selling some products online. I know that I've always wondered about marzipan and fondant covered fruitcake but had no opportunity to purchase locally.

I know there are a lot of professional bakers on this site (I'm not one of them) who might be able to help you with your product line if that's what you need/want.

I wish I could help you more!

Here's a big hug from a CC sister HHHHUUUUGGGG!!!!

Please don't be discouraged!

I think it is time you brought a whole new level of cake making and decorating to the South! I am sure people just don't know what they are missing. I am one who uses cake mixes as a base and doctor them up with butter and milk and pudding, etc. And this is only because every time I have tried to make a cake from scratch, it is heavy and, well, gross! I just can't seem to get that whole "fold in stiffly beaten egg whites" thing to work for me. So maybe have some basic (small) white and chocolate cakes to be used for cake tastings when someone comes in to order and then you can get their opinion BEFORE you make the cake and not after! Maybe state that you specialize in Australian cake recipes and have gotten rave reviews. After all, if someone else likes it, doesn't everyone suddenly realize that they like it as well? You might also state that all of your cakes are made from scratch and mention your education - after all, if they really want a cake to taste like they made it, shouldn't THEY make it?

There is a sweetness difference from where I'm at in MI to where my family is at in Alabama. Things seem to have a lot more butter and sugar than even up north. I like the suggestion of doing european style pastries and then just offer a few americanized ones until you get the idea of what they want. I hate to say it but most americans were raised on boxed mix and this is what they want. My MIL was a baker in Poland and european cakes are not as sweet and are more denxe than most are use to here. Stay positive and you will find the market you are looking towards for your great creations. Good luck.

You don't say what part of LA you are in. I think it will also make a huge difference if you are in a rural area or if you are in a metropolitan area. If you are close to a bigger city, I think the odds would be in your favor for getting folks to try your specialties. You are going to have to market them as being different...in a GOOD way!

Thank you everyone for the replies, you have made me feel much better. I am based in a small town in washington parish. Nearest bakery 20 miles away. So the opportunity is here although another lady is also opening a shop up in town so rumor has it.
I really like the idea of doing my items under the European cakes banner idea which would work as I am orginally from England. I just need to crack this yellow cake and frosting thing to try and please the masses. my husband reckons that one bad review isn't the end of the world and points out how much other people have liked things. i guess he is right as are all of you.
But I wouldn't get upset if i didn't care so much now would I.
Thanks again for the replies.

We're our own worst critics. I am guilty of that myself! Keep working on the American style stuff, and try to market some of those "different" things. Having a unique product or product line should work to your advantage. Good luck!

We had friends from England visit us for two weeks and at one point we were asked "Are all of your desserts so large?" We went to one restaurant where the brownie/ice cream dessert was served with a child's plastic shovel (and 4 forks!). I said, "Oh honey! Here in America we take our desserts VERY SERIOUSLY!"

I also worked for a Japanese company and a number of the Japanese employees would bring desserts in for our pitch in and tell the American employees how much we would like them "....because they're not as sweet as the American desserts!"

So it seems that America in general takes sugar pretty darn serious and close to heart!

I liked the suggestion, too, about marketing "European" cakes.

People in Louisiana like their sweets SWEET, as you can imagine, after being embedded for two hundred years in the sugar industry. Not all places in America have such a sweet tooth but it is one of the things Louisiana is know for.

I agree offering both super-sweet and your regular cakes is the way to go.

Cheers, from
SwampWitch

rshippo,

This thread might help:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-40495-.html

and for some language help:

http://www.gumbopages.com/yatspeak.html

[quote=" ... and if that doesn't work, we may have to all take a road trip and come by and eat your goodies!!!

Odessa[/quote]

Great idea - ROAD TRIP & GOODIES.

What's not to like

I really want to tell you to stick to your guns and do what you know best but Southern cooking/baking is a law unto itself. I hate to say this but you might be in for a tough time. Southern cakes are dense, sweet and full of in your face personality. The words light and airy need not apply.

Maybe instead of trying to compete you can stick to making European pastries/cakes. I am nto that familiar with European baking. Perhaps if people thought they were trying something new they would stop comparing your cake to the local traditions.

Did you ever take a sip of something at a restaraunt like water when you were expecting soda or wine because you picked up the wrong glass? In that instant it tastes awful because it wasn't what you were expecting. Nothing wrong with water or wine and neither is better just a matter of what you are in the mood for.

I am from a rural town in Texas, close to Louisiana and Arkansas, and one thing for sure these people have been raised on southern cuisine. My DH mother put sugar in everything, and always had a homemade dessert after dinner(lunch) and supper(dinner). Fried slabs of ham, creamed potatoes, corn bread, fried chicken, grits, biscuits, cobblers, and sweet sweet tea. Louisiana has a very diversified culture. I have an old cook book that was written in gullah, a slang, french cajun whatever, it is very difficult to understand, but interesting. They use some things in their cooking that most of us would gringe thinking about. But since you have your pastry background, try a few things that you might find say in the New Orleans area, keep some of your things, basic but good and above all sweet, thick simple syrups are used alot.Molasses, sorghum, maple, butter, pecans, cinnamon, buttermilk. Nice flaky crusted pies, piled high with meringue, lemon, coconut, chocolate, banana. Anyway, good luck in your venture. I would definitely recommend Paula Deans cookbooks, she is as southern as it gets, from Georgia, she does have some really good desserts, with lots of sugar, butter and she loves sour cream!

cupcake,

Your Mom sounds like a wonderful cook!

Ok, my suggestion is not to sell the box cake mix, However, you could buy just one box mix, follow the directions, then try to match that with your own recipe from scratch. I'm sure you are wonderful at tasting something and then making it. This would show you what they want. Then, because you've invested in this field maybe when you have such a large order you could give a small cake tasting with your copy the mix but from scratch version, and your original less sugary version, and anything else you want to throw in there. I think it might be easy to do the samples if you freeze the cake in small pieces but then I dont know, you may want to serve fresh cake. Just a suggestion, hope it helps.

Found a website that might give you more of an idea what other bakers are doing in the U.S.:

http://modernbaking.bakery-net.com/DecoratingIdeas/11950

HTH