ANo we havn't, not sure if you're on Facebook Maisie but I think she's started a new venture.

ANo, don't do facebook nanny, this is the only interactive computery thing I do, technological genius I'm not! Oh well, hope her cake's going ok, I'm off to bed now. Night nanny, night all.

Aww, guys!! I love that you noticed I was not here!! I finished the cake then went over a friends house for a takeaway before my little trip to Caerdydd tomorrow!

I read through a lot so I am gonna respond to a couple of things but I cannot necessarily remember who said what....

Regarding inspections - it is up to the local authority how they deal with it, as a home based bakery under my local authority whether you plan to sell wholesale/at markets or not they come out to inspect you and on the surface at least you have to check the boxes of all food businesses (I have the Safer Food for Caterers pack because they don't think the one below it is adequate for any home food manufacture business) I know that this is not the case in ALL authorities though, and the FSA do not dictate that it be necessary so it might be worth calling your local authority and asking maybe for them to come and tell you what (if anything) you would need to change just for an idea so you could make an informed decision either way.

Nanny - Yes it was me with Coco & Paradise, I was looking to team up with a different wedding services supplier but they never got back to me (and when I had spoken to the owner she had asked if I could do 'something different and more suited to the shop' (the cheek of it!) so I don't think she liked my work very much, which I don't care about but she should have said that rather than stringing me along!) But Kath of Coco & Paradise got in contact recently, she's a similar age to me and we have a very similar vision of what should be available to brides who want something a bit different for their wedding so I think we will work together very well! But instead of it being a joint thing we are basically recommending each others services and then working together when both our services are needed. Her business is even newer than mine though so we will see how things go!

Maisie -  you are so modest!! How you feel about your first cakes will probably be how you feel about the cakes you make now in a years time! It's how I feel about my cakes from a year ago, I could make them so much better now! Practice really does make perfect!

Ok, last cake for the week, glad to have them done now, it's been a heavy 2 days!

First birthday cake

AAnother beautiful cake natt and thanks for the advice :)

ALovely cake natt.

Oh thats an exciting new venture for you the,although have you actually looked at the wording on there under Coco and Paradise? Check it out natt as doesn't seem right to me " if you are to due be Wed in beautiful Wales" surely that isn't right?

ANatt - on my phone at the moment and not really had a chance to catch up with everyone but I just wanted to say that those cakes are amazing and I absolutely love the petrol station! I love those sorts of cakes since I am not a "pretty" baker if you know what I mean. I have a busy day today out and about but also interested in the h&s obligations -don't think that much has changed over the years.

AThanks guys!

Nanny - I hadn't noticed that! Its just two words back to front, I must say I read it the right way round though, one of those reading what I expect to see things I think....

AYes I read it the same as you but its still not right, grrr. I'm off to bake some cakes, surprise surprise!

AThanks Kathy! I always prefer a fun sculpted cake over a pretty cake too!

ANow I'm the other way around, sculptured cakes terrify me!! I think if I mess it up what then?

AHi all, I just thought I'd add my health inspection experience...

I filled in the form and they said go ahead. Oh. That was less interesting than I hoped :-D

I was actually quite disappointed they don't come out; I even asked for a check as I wanted the food hygiene display certificate to show on my wedding fair stands, but they said that as home bakers are such low risk they don't usually come out anymore.

We're in either Adur or Arun area (I can never remember who we come under).

I wouldn't sell to the public for years as I thought our kitchens in various houses wouldn't pass, turns out it wouldn't have been an issue!

It all seems a bit lacklustre to me tbh. I mean, I could be a filthy git letting my cats lick the spatula* for all environmental health know, but because I'm not working with raw meat it's all assumed to be ok.

*I don't, they're not even allowed in the kitchen! :-)

AGood Morning.... Natt the cake is beautiful!!! That my kind of cake and love the colours you have chosen.:-D

Regarding the inspection, it differs from county to county. So better to call and check it out. I had only one inspection, that was when I first started. I filled a form and they called to make an appointment. They cannot just turn up. The guy was really nice. He checked the kitchen, the fridge and checked which disinfectants I've got. And he also checked whether all my cake ingredients expiry dates and the temperature in the fridge. You have to by a fridge thermometer. We home bakers are classed as low risk. He asked whether I use the freezer and I did tell him that I use ganache. The funny part was that he didn't know what ganache was. I explained it to him and how it's made and he was fine with it. So now I just get a form which I have to fill and post. I did my food hygiene certificate through Virtual Collage but you need to check whether it's accepted by your local authority. :D

AMorning Bashini, yours sounds exactly the same as mine, I rung up he made an appt for me and did exactly the same as yours did.

Ha, I also did mine on the Virtual Collage, mine was lovely too and he fell in love with my kitchen bless him!

AIt makes a big difference doesn't it as I use to think that these people are horrible!!!!!:lol:

Thanks Bashini!

The inspection woman spent most of her time with me chatting about my work room and then criticising rogue cake bakers, my kind of woman!! lol!

AI am glad it was a man, natt!! :lol:

AMorning. :-) I love your cake natt! I'm with nanny, sculpted cakes terrify me too! People want cakes to look like all sorts of other things but sometimes it's nice to have a cake that looks like cake. And, speaking of rogue cake makers, my stepson bought me a cake for mothers day, only about 4 or 5 inch I'd say, he was so pleased with himself, he wanted me to have a cake I hadn't had to make myself. I really appreciated the thought but the cake was awful. I did a bit of digging and found out where he got it. This lady isn't legal, advertises on facebook only and churns em out. Apparently it cost her £3 to make and she sold em for a tenner. She made 26 of them for mothers day. I don't even know how bad cake can only cost £3 tbh. The board and box alone would be nearly that wouldn't it? [IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3216005/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

Thanks Maisie.

I don't buy expensive stuff by I've hit £3 just for sugarpaste, board and box.... forget the cake, frosting, ribbon, electricity, time, wires.... Probably cost at least £6 or £7 if I didn't pay myself (as a rough estimate).

I like sculpted ones cos the is more room for errors and corrections, like if my round cake has a dent in it I have to work out a way to cover it and if it's meant to be plain I pretty much have to start over, where as if my dog has a dent it's gonna be covered in fur, or my can is gonna need a logo, or whatever.... there are very few plain sculpted cakes.

AAww Maisie that's so sweet of him. But such a shame that someone thinks they can get away with selling bad cake. I know a girl I used to go to school with who made a couple of cakes for friends and put the photos on Facebook. She got so many comments off people telling her they were amazing (which not to sound awful or anything but they really werent) that she decided to set up a business selling them and within a few days had business cards and everything. She hasn't bothered to get anything in place for her kitchen and I'm not being funny but her cakes look really bad. She sells them so cheap too I don't even know how she affords to make them! Anyway, sorry that was a bit of a rant. My point was that people doing this kind of thing are ruining it for the truly talented people who sell there cakes for the right price. People think that all cake should be cheap and after knowing how much time and effort going into some of the cakes I have made I just want to scream sometimes when they say 'what £80 for a cake!?' when I know that cake would have taken someone hours and hours to make.

It's also (on top of the everyone thinks cake is cheap thing) becoming normal to thing that their darling daughter or son should be able to get a tiered cake for next to nothing, I had a request for a 2 tier cake and when I responded with a price the response I got was 'Love I was thinking more around the £35-£40 mark' My response was I can do 1 tier or you can find someone else (cos you will find someone else) but I said it more tactfully obvious!) The cake with the hulk fist is going around, it's a 3/4 tier cake and people want it for their kids birthday... ugh....

There was a £40 2 tier cake in a free or for sale group recently where the woman was trying to flog it cos the customer had seen a photo of it and decided not to pick it up (it was pretty awful) so I screen capped the comments section cos I was loving the people pointing out she wouldn't have this problem if she was actually a cake decorator, hehe. I should start attaching the photo to my responses, you pay £40 you get this {insert image} /rant.

AThe problem I had (and I don't even sell mine) is knowing how much he paid for it (he didn't know I knew tho) gave him a false impression of how much cake costs to make. So two days later when I was taking money off him for the cost of the giant cupcake I made for his friend I found myself justifying it to him, saying things like "this is my vanilla (showing him the bottle so he can check in Tesco!) it's over £5 a bottle and I used nearly a quarter of it, this is for eggs, I used 6 and I only use free range, etc, etc," He didn't quibble mind, he said "I trust you, just tell me how much!" Oh and he won't buy cake from that lady again, I gave him a piece and he spat it out! It was so stale, not surprising if she had 26 to make I suppose.

AOh dear Maisie, such a lovely thought tho.

I have no idea how she gets away with that price either, my board and box and ribbon cost that alone, I'm sorry I dont do cheap anymore, a pack of fondant alone cost between 6 and 7 pounds, grrr.

That cake I made with the spray on I sold that for £55 yesterday and no doubt could have charged more but she was so elderly just couldn't do it.

AI know bless him, he's a good boy. I didn't want to be ungrateful so the easiest thing to do was give him a piece and let him figure it out for himself. And he did cos he's used to lush tasting cake (even if I do say so myself!).

I think that's a good price nanny, i know now how much work goes into a cake.

When my gluten free cake friends workmates saw her cake they were telling me how good it was and how I should be selling them. I said I'm not good enough. One of them said "i think you're good enough, I'd buy one" I told her I doubted she'd pay what I'd have to charge. She asked how much (already knowing how much the gf cost to make), I said at least £40. She was shocked! I explained that it took me more than 6 hours, but even if I charged for four hours (because I'm slow cos I'm learning) at minimum wage it would be over £40. I said I wouldn't work for less than minimum wage, I asked her would she, she said no, she saw my point but the look on her face was priceless! The lady my stepson bought that cake from does loads round here, she's quite well known and gets loads of work, I don't know why tho, honestly I've had nicer from Tesco!

AThe GF minion cake made recently I sold for £50 Maisie.

I would hope that ppl choose me for the taste and look of course and not because I did them cheaply.

Thankfully I'm starting to have a few regulars which is really nice. Got a cake for tomorrow that someone asked me to make for Their nursery class, then next Fri I have minion cupcakes to make and a 60th/Retirement cake, so ticking over nicely.

maisie, that was so sweet of him to do such thing!!! And you did the right thing to let him decide about the cake....

I had a customer who is very rich and I even made her wedding cake. Since I put my prices up they don't buy cakes from me anymore. These are the people who knew how my cakes are!!!  

AI think you're all lucky to be able to charge fair prices for your cakes, even if I wanted/ was good e ough to sell cakes I wouldn't have any customers unless I could compete with nasty £10 cake lady! Maybe they're too rich to do their own shopping so they haven't noticed the price of eggs, flour etc going up at the supermarket bashini!

ADo you have cheap cake ladies near you bashini? We seem to have one on every other street! Some of them look lovely, almost proffessional but in my experience they're dry and tasteless.

There are cheap cake people everywhere! haha

From my experience with my other business I think you have to decide what kind of customer you want to attract. You can go for the cheap prices to the great quantity market or the higher prices for the more select customer. I know I for one prefer the second option. If you take pride in your work/service you don't want to under value yourself and if people don't want to pay your prices are they really the kind of people you want as your customers? 

I only bake for family and friends as I have said but I know the people that would be happy to pay my prices if I were to sell at full price and the people that wouldn't. I think sometimes it has a lot to do with how much they earn themselves, obviously someone who doesn't earn a lot is not going to justify £80 for a cake, but a lot of the time it just comes down to how much they value quality. Some people just don't seem to mind a lower quality because they're paying a lower price and that's fine. 

I'm sure if you ever did sell Maisie that you would have customers as soon as people tasted how good your cake was - this stale cake lady cant have many returning customers surely?!

ANo I don't think she does have many returning customers. Although if I hadn't given my stepson some to try he might have gone back to her year after year to buy them as gifts. Her customers have no choice either, for example last year she was selling cupcake bouquets for mothers day, she put a photo on facebook and said "taking orders for mothers day, £10 each". This year it was the little round cake I had, 26 orders she had, I can't even get my head around that! And my boy told her it was for me and showed her some cakes I'd made, if I was making a cake for someone who makes cakes themselves, I'd make sure it was as good as I could get it. So either that's her best (yikes!) or she just doesn't care! I see what you mean about income tho. I can't afford £50 or £60 for a cake unless it's for a special occasion/milestone birthday. That's why I started decorating my own, when I wanted one for the kids birthdays my choice was my own undecorated, yummy cake, shop bought cake or cheap cake lady cake. I did buy one once and swore I never would again, the cake was stale. So I thought I'd better learn to decorate myself and found I absolutely love it!