Hello
I am posting here because I hope that someone starting out in business would be available and willing to do a cake for a large kids party on August 9th. I am requesting here because I cannot afford the well-established pros!!! If you are looking to creat a portfolio, and can do great work, I would love to hear from you.
If you are interested, please email me at [email protected].

Thanks!

::snickers:: This is going to be good...

I would love to do it for you.

Jasmine-RUN- don't walk- away from this one!

Is this a joke? I understand budgets, but if you can afford to throw a large kids party, you can't be that badly off. I find this request quite insulting - it's like calling everyone on here a big bunch of amateurs who don't deserve to be compensated for their time or talents. Just my 2cts - can you tell I'm in a bad mood today lol?!

Many people on here are amateurs - I certainly am. I don't think this person meant to be insulting.

Riiiiggghhhtttt, make me a last-minute huge fantastic cake on the cheap! I can understand not being able to afford Duff, but surely she has a reasonably-priced bakery in her area. She's not doing anyone any favors by giving them a cake to do for practice.

Oh my goodness. Step away from the keyboards and take a breath.

To me it seems like someone who doesn't have experience making cakes, has a budget but would like something special. She didn't mention fleecing anyone and the post didn't say she wanted a cake gilded in gold for free. There is a certain price that comes with the cache of having the "well-established" bakers do a cake and she's trying to find a smaller baker. Nothing that she said was denigrating to those without the big name.

If I had a business and wanted to build my portfolio, this is exactly what I'd be looking for. Someone to bargain with a bit - I can do X, y and Z for what you've budgeted or I could do A, B and C (which I've been dying to try) for the same amount. I'd get the experience and fair compensation, she'd get a cute cake within her budget at my prices but not at Colette Peters or Duff Goldman prices. I'm not losing money and she's not making a poor financial decision buying more than she can afford. (Weren't a whole lot of people here railing yesterday about parenting/mini-coopers/etc. and raising kids beyond financial means? Here's someone trying to do it right and the hackles are still raised.)

There's sort of a damned if you do, damned if you don't attitude towards people wanting to buy a cake around here lately. They are always in the wrong, the decorator is always in the right.

Way to go, CranberryClo!

Thanks for helping everyone see that not everyone is out to get something for nothing. The original request was likely posted by someone who was looking to create a win-win for both sides. She probably knows that many of the CCers do not have the overhead of the well-known decorators, yet do incredible work. I think its a compliment to the members of CC that this poster came to this decorators "think tank"!

Well, I am in NJ, but I can't do it as I've other committments, but I did want to add, just in case someone doesn't know:

Just FYI, Duff's staff has been known to visit here on occasion. Hmmm, wonder if any of them would find this one offensive. Just wondering.

CranberryClo, I see your point and indeed agree with it to a large degree. But why post it in the business forum? I'm sure many a hobby baker would love the opportunity to do this and would not necessarily mind about the money, but those of us in business do (or should if they want to be in business for more than 5 minutes), care about being paid properly, not Duff or Colette money maybe, but enough for us to survive - that's why it's a business.

I'm shutting up now, guess I'm just tired of this attitude from too many of my potential customers!

With today's economy, I'm getting these I'm-doing- you-a-favor-by-ordering-now-give-me-a-discount-attitudes more and more from customers ~ and I'm tired of it. This lady is clearly looking for a bargain, and I hope no one here is desperate enough to give it to her for less than grocery store prices.

The great thing is that there ARE places for people who are on a tight budget - Walmart, grocery stores, etc. Or Mom can buy box mix and make at home herself relatively cheaply.

Another alternative would be to <gasp> not have quite such a big party.

I love Nordstrom's clothes, but since I'm in college full time, Fashion Bug fits my budget better. I don't go pester Nordie's to see if they'll sell me clothes for MY budget.

This request was posted by someone who has never posted on this board before-it is their first post and there's no identifying information in their profile.

Any one who responds to this post needs to exercise caution and needs to do their baking in a inspected facility as per NJ laws, which are very strict.

Agreed that no one should get in a tizzy over this-but those with more experience should share and advise with those with "those starting out" .

I can do one better, there is an ad on Houstons Craigs List , a lady has her wedding in 3 wks (this was 1 wk ago, so 2 wks now) and she is looking for a simple 4-5 teir cake......for 150$!
Even a simple 4-5 teir cake 14-12-10-8-6 is 120 servings so that would be $1.25 per serving, not including delivery and set-up!

Sounds to me like someone is just trying to start a cake fight

Hey Sugar_Plum_Fairy -

I just want to make sure you understand that I'm not saying anything bad about Duff Goldman and Crew or Colette Peters. They are master artists and should charge the prices that they can - it's free market economy and they have a high end product. My point was that this poster might not want/need that high end product and would rather pay for a less-known. They know their niche and this poster isn't it. Likewise, she knows her budget and the big names aren't in it. Nothing wrong with any of that!

Christy

Bonjovibabe -

Are your prices the same as Charm City Cakes? Do your cakes start at $500? A lot of the big name bakeries have big prices (and that's fine - free market economy). She is looking for a baker with less expensive prices than that. (Again, free market economy.) Maybe she doesn't know a local baker in her area because said baker doesn't have an advertising budget, so she posted in the business forum.

If she were to go to a "hobbyist" instead of a licensed baker, someone here would rail on that, too. Additionally, if she's new here, she might not have any way of finding a New Jersey hobbyist. Posting in the business forum makes sense for her purposes.

Instead of assuming she's trying to rip someone off or get something for free, how about giving her the benefit of the doubt?

Again, the hackles have been raised over something that could be completely benign. I can't believe the responses (not only yours) that are assuming the very worst. I'm not really the most glass-half-full kind of person, but I don't automatically assume everyone is out only for themselves as some of the responses seem to indicate.

Christy

CCC minimum is now $1000, not $500.

Christy - I'm with you. If anyone is interested in the proposal, they can contact her. Everyone else can simply ignore the post. I don't understand all the negative responses.

I find this request slightly interesting... suspicious actually.

I agree. Everyone attacks without even getting all the information for free. Maybe she wasn't asking to get a free cake. There are a lot of us who do make cakes that are just as good as Duff's for a little bit cheaper and I am sure that's all she is after. Mine aren't that great yet so I don't even compare to some of the great talents on here. I just wouldn't take it as an insult, rather a compliment.

I am originally from NJ, grew up and lived there for 32 years. I moved to FL in 2004 and I know there is not any "awesome" places to get cakes. All you really have to choose from is the local yokel supermarket or someone that does it on the side for fun. I do not think that it was meant to be a rude cheapy post. I think she just wants something special for her childs party and cannot find that at the supermarket. My SIL just did a baby shower for her sister and could not get a "cool" cake from anywhere! She ended up with a sheet cake in pink with some booties on it and they went all out witha tea party theme at a tea house for the shower. So GUESS what?? My SIL started doing her own cakes and makes all the cakes for friends and family there. Many people watch Ace of Cakes and it made them "get into" the special art of cake decorating more than ever. My twins cake that I did was for someone that has a daughter that LOVES Duff but they just cannot afford that right now, so she approached me through a friend of my husbands and asked me if I could create her daughters design. And I did I got paid $215 for that cake and it was featured on Fox 4 Floridas Wild Bill show (you tube search oshea birthday party) It was very exciting.

I just feel bad so much negativity came from this post, she obviously just wanted something special for her childs party

francescakes

I am in California.

bonjovibabe,

You seem intent to see something in her post that I don't. I missed where she asked anyone to do it for less than minimum wage. There is a huge space in between "minimum wage or less" and big name cakes. You are in between, Susie Kabloozie is in between and Joe Schmoe fits in there too - maybe Susie or Joe can help her out and can see that it might be to their benefit, too.

If your daily interactions lead you to automatically assume the worst about people then I hope your days get better. I'd be a sad girl indeed if I thought everyone was out to take advantage of each other.

Christy

This lady emailed me directly. She simply asked for a price for a specific cake on a specific day. She was very kind and if I were her, I would RUN RUN RUN from this site after reading some of these responses.