I get people asking me for recipes all of the time, I respond the same way for every request. "I am sorry those are why I get paid, but here is a good book to start with....." When people ask me "How do you do that?" I tell them "I teach classes and they start the first week of every month."

I don't mind sharing a tip or technique here or there but we all have to draw the line somewhere.

When I am around the lady that got me into cake decorating you can not shut us up. We are constantly sharing information with each other.

There is plenty of business for the both of us. But, like I said we all have to draw the line somewhere.

Haven't read all three pages, but I do the same as many here if someone asks me for details...I just say, "Oh, most of my recipes are from The Cake Bible or The Cake Book." Or I tell them, "You can find a good recipe for that online...you might try Googling or Cooking.com?" That way I'm not giving them my details, but it sounds helpful.

I'm sure not going to give them exactly *which* recipes I use, especially someone local.

For technique, I've never had anyone want a full how-to, so I don't know how I'd answer that, but probably something like, "Oh gosh, it's really hard to explain, and I'm not a good teacher. You might try Colette's book...?"

Deflect them diplomatically...

I have struggled with this same issue a lot lately because to get back into cake decorating after a long absence I used my fellow co-workers as my test subjects if you will. Soon they all began to ask me how I did things, what was in my recipe for the frosting. I would answer at first, but now I have settled on a frosting that took a lot of trial and error to perfect and I don't feel I need to tell everyone every little ingredient. Those who seem truely interested in cake decorating I tell them about CC and that there is so much you can learn on this site if you are truely interested in getting into cake decorating as a hobby or just for your own family etc. I figure if they are truely interested in the art and not just to make something I have made for free then everyone is happy.

Can I toss in my two pennies from someone who's got food allergies....


I often have to ask about processes. I need to be sure things are washed, scrubbed, and dried away from things that have touched foods I am allergic to.

I can no longer eat at KFC because all of the local ones are KFC/Long John Silver now. If they use the same vat of oil to make my twister wrap as they did for a fish stick I'll be dead with in 5 minutes.

Any time I go to a restaurant where fish is served I have to be sure that they have a seperate grill for their fish and beef. If they say no then I leave. It's a life/death situation for me, one that an EPI pen may not be able to fix.

I know there are many out there with the same issue with peanuts.

Maybe her asking about your processes was becuase she wants to know how food safe you are due to an allergy issue.

If she wants ingredients just a polite "I can give you an ingredient list for you but not the actual recipe." would be enough.

Any restaurant who is evasive with me doesn't get my business. I'm great with a "I don't know let me find out" but I'm not great with them being evasive.

We went out to eat at a new Mexican restaurant with our friend who is fluent in Spanish. He explained the situation to them because they were not getting it in English. The kid went and got the owner, the owner took me into the kitchen and showed me exactly how they did things and how she kept fish far from the beef and the two never touched etc. Needless to say, we are customers there for life!

That's the same kind of service I give my customers who have allergy issues. You can come sit and watch how I do things. You can come ask all the questions you want about what goes into the bowl but as for how much... nah. That's my secret.

Remember, never be afraid to show them what you do or how it's done. Not everyone is out there to steal from you some are doing it to be sure that a life is saved.

you know I had several people ask for my specific recipe for cookies at my kids' school and I gave it to them and all 3 people I've given it to reported back to me that they tried them and the cookies tasted fabulous but "how on earth to you decorate them and make them looks so neat?" Seems they thought the design looked simple enough and tried it and couldn't do it!! All of them wound up ordering cookies from me! Sometimes being gracious with things will come back to reward you. There IS a talent to decorating cakes and cookies if there wasn't we wouldn't all be making money for it. True some people don't have the time but more often than not it's the TALENT they're missing!!

My Mother of all people likes to leak my secrets. I have told my Mom how I do some things and then when i show up with a cake to a party and people are asking, I usually smile, say thanks for the compliments and say a lot of practice...and they ask how I get the cake so tasty and moist and I say I just found some really good recipes...then my Mom of all people say's Oh, she just doctor's cake mixes, just adds this or that...hey thanks Mom! I have asked her to stop and she has, but it is frustrating...for the sole purpose that I have spent so long researching and experimenting all of this stuff myself. I am nearly a self taught decorator by searching for things here at CC or on the internet. If the people that are asking all these questions had that kind of dedication, like the people here at CC do I wouldn't have a problem helping them out, but if they just want you to tell them exactly how to do one little thing I feel that is a different story...

I havent had it come up a lot. I don't think I would mind sharing to a point. I turned down an order recently because I just didnt have the time. She asked if I would be willing to get her started in the right direction to make them herself. She was sensitive to the fact that I wouldnt want to give away all my "secrets"

Knowing she didnt have a lot of experience I shared with her how I might do it if I were HER. I also explained how she would have to do things if she were ME. I knew she wouldnt tackle it the way I would do it. I think in a way it sheds a little light on how difficult cake decorating can be. And heck, if they do try it then they will find out what a labor of love it is.

I'm thinking along the same lines as Carolyn Gwen...when I saw "peanut allergy" I thought, this person might have a really severe reaction to nuts and might just really want to make sure that there was no danger of cross contamination (I have a family friend who ate a white chocolate lollipop years ago and almost died; after several days in the ICU, they found out it was near something with peanuts). However, when food allergies are an issue, I think it's their responsibility to explain the situation and just how severe a reaction they could have, not just say, "tell me how you do things". I find that when you take a minute to explain, people are usually much more helpful than when you just make demands (or come across as making demands).

If they just want your recipes, that's another thing altogether ! I quit giving people recipes years ago because they either substituted things and then gave me this pitifully quizzical "why didn't it come out like yours?" look, or they insisted that I left out things so it wouldn't be the same (I didn't) .

Nobody gets a recipe...period. They are trade secrets.

I will tell people about certain ingredients, like using turkey eggs in our pastry cream, and answer specific questions to those with food sensitivities. I have even walked customers through the kitchen and showed them how we handle peanuts exactly, and so they can make an informed choice about buying from us.

This is a really great topic! I have been dealing with the same type of question recently too. The thing for me is that I come from a heavy church/homeschooling area and the women around here bake constantly! On the occasions I have been hired to do cakes or cookies, ect. I've found myself claming up and saying "oh I'm so glad you enjoyed it!" instead of explaining techinque because I know if I give some of these women an inch that they will try to do it themselves I will loose business.
When people tell me "my daughter makes wonderful cookies, we're thinking she could sell them" I give them the CC address and wish them luck!
On the flip side I do have a good friend whose son is gluten intolerant, she gives me "his flour" and I bake some cookies for her at the hoildays and I have no problem telling her the other ingredients (she would never pester me on how I do something) but I would never ever give away whole recipes or decorating details when you know it will cost you business. Point them to CC or a Wilton class!

~Truly

I don't give recipes that I've come up with on my own.

They want my oatmeal recipe? I tell 'em "It's on the Quaker Oats box." will their cookies taste like mine? Nope!

They want to know how I do a basketweave? I show 'em the basketweave tip. Can they buy a tip and make a cake that looks like mine? Probably not.

Telling them how I do it doesn't mean they can do it. Maybe eventually .... after they put a lot of effort into it.

A pilot can tell me how to fly a plane .... that doesnt' mean I can now fly a plane.

I was thinking the same thing as indydebi, I don't have many secrets yet...
so I don't mind telling people how I do things - I know most of them won't be able to reproduce what I do.. they pay me for my time (most don't want to spend that much time on a cake or cookies) and for my talent.

there is one lady in town who is very talented and I've been helping her... my thought is that maybe someday down the road we could work together!

I think its different to share cake techniques with a colleague. You wouldnt phone your mechanic and ask step by step instructions on how to fix your engine would you? But im sure the mechanic would call a fellow mechanic to talk shop right? It different than a client asking you how to do it so they dont need to purchase your product.

Just point out that the ineternet has a wealth of information on whatever they are looking for. I for one will not share secrets when someone wants to know. I just point them in the direction of the computer 'cause that is where I found the info in the first place!

One of the instructors at our school said that all those people that write books about cake decorating always leave something out, you will never find all of their tricks in just one book, because then they won't have to write another book! you have to buy them all in order to learn all of their tricks! I't all a money making scheme for all involved, according to her.
And she also told us that she herself always leaves out one thing (one ingredient or something like that) from her recipes when someone asks her for one of hers! Go figure!
I've learned so much from CC in the short time that I've been here, and I'm thankful to all those people that share so open-heartedly.

I'm very torn on this subject of sharing recipes. Anyone with a palate, and an understanding of how the ingredients work can bake something. Now that being said. Will I give out my yellow/butter cake recipe? probably not LOLOL. Every time I think about doing it. I think of all the nasty a** cakes I tasted trying to get it right. LOL.

Then again, like this weekend. I made Toba G's chocolate cake. I sure am glad she shared. It's one tasty cake. It saved me A LOT of grief trying to come up with one that tasted as good. Yes, I know it was in the book, and the book was paid for. That book though wasn't bought for the recipes. It's bought for the designs. The recipes are a bonus.

Just think about this. If the person didn't screw up, and forget to put the butter in, and then tried to add it later. We would never have Puff Pastry. The world IS certainly a better place that this secret was shared.

Mike

I'm a bit surprised at the responses on this thread. Why would you want to keep things a secret? Is everyone a potential customer? How would you know what you do now if cake decorating information should be paid for or kept a secret?

I think cake decorating is 10% recipe and 90% talent. I can share my recipes and techniques with a 100 people and maybe one would have the talent to match or surpass my own skills. AND if they truly have a gift and a desire, shouldn't I help them in their path the way others have helped me in my own cake decorating path. They may be the next Colette Peters but I won't feel bad that I shared my secrets with them even if they surpass my own talents.

I walked into my favorite cake decorating supply store/bakery one day and marvelled with the owner at how good her icing made the store smell. She GAVE me her recipe. I now use it exclusively and am so thankful she was so gracious and not worried about me as competition.

I am helping a young girl now who has an interest in cake decorating. I won't hide anything from her and I'm not charging her a fee. I'm making a cake next week for a young boy and his mom is coming here to watch me make it. She is fascinated by what I do. There is enough room in the world for many cake decorators and if I can share some of what I have learned that is a wonderful thing.

You won't lose customers by sharing your recipes and techniques. They will appreciate you more because most people don't have the the talent. And if some of the greatest decorators we know are willing to share their secrets, why wouldn't we want to also. Puzzling.

I just tell them the Keebler Elves help me and have a great day!

Maybe you should tell this lady about Cake Central. She can look it up on thie site if you don't want to give her instructions. I guess I am all for sharing info. I have found that people ask me how I do things a lot. 9 times out of 10 they don't try it themselves and ask me to do it anyway.

Just cake for thought.
Brenda
http://www.the-best-homemade-gift-ideas.com

"Sweat equity" might have a lot to do with not giving away great info, recipes or techniques that took weeks, months or even years to acquire to everyone who just "asks" for it.

JMHO

I am all for sharing. I recently was in the grocery store where there was a large bin of cake mix on sale.
A woman and her mother were discussing the cake mix, I spoke up and told her about doctoring a mix with the enhanced ingredients. She wrote everthing down and was very appreciative.
When I started a pizza shop, my main ingredients supplier was so kind as to give me a recipe of a great tasting sauce, I closed that business years ago and just recently was asked for the recipe, I gave it out just as it was given to me.
I am not knocking anyone who wants to keep their secrets, thats their affair. I just like the good feeling I get by helping someone.

I think this debate could go on and on...

In the case of the nut allergy, I can understand the mom wanting to know how to make things herself. My daughter has a serious allergy, not a food one, but it certainly impacts what she is allowed to do...I've kept her home from field trips before because of it (I wasn't confident in the teacher's ability to use the epi-pen). I would imagine a serious food allergy would be even worse to have to worry about. I think suggesting a good book for the mom to learn from would be appropriate, or suggesting cake central to her

Most people, when they ask how you do something, will never really try it themselves. Some don't have the ability, some don't have the patience, and some are just too lazy. One thing that they do acquire, though, is a healthy respect for how much trouble it is to do whatever they asked about.

I don't mind telling people how to do things...what I do mind is when they try it, it doesn't work that well, and then they come back a million times asking me why it didn't work, when they just need to be a little more patient, or tinker with it a little bit more.