AOops.....yes it's canned. Unless you do what to whack the crap out of the beet root....good exercise before chewing down on the cake.... :o)

ABeetroot? The very word reminds me of a line from an old Benny Hill song:

Now there’s a beetroot for the day you said that you’d beetroot to me -- "Garden of Love," Benny Hill

Raw red beets + raw carrot, make a salad. It`s a " stomach brush". We have sweets called "Peaches" because they look like peaches. Half ball made out of batter, baked, middles cut out and filled with dulce de leche. Then assembled together. One half dipped in fresh carrot juice, athother half in  raw red beet juice, then whole " peach" dipped in sugar.

That`s it! We make them all the time for weddings and special events.

Of course, that still leaves open what exactly we're making our balls out of: Shortbread dough? Pressed cookie dough? Refrigerator cookie dough? "Toll House" dough? Something else?

And if you see anything suggestive about this post, then you have at least as dirty a mind as I do.

Here's the recipe.

http://www.olgasflavorfactory.com/russianrecipes/peach-pastries-with-dulce-de-leche-filling/

i just got another call for a "simple two tiered cake" for tomorrow! people, please! respect the cake!

I had a customer call me for a football themed cake, I tell him the different options and send him photos with prices, how many it feeds etc. He calls me back to say he loves the T-Shirt one but it's too big for such a small party and too expensive so he'll take the smaller football ball one. I say ok and start to discuss details with him for the ball and mid sentence he says "Ok, you know what? I'll take T-shirt one even though it's too much cake; just give it to me for the same price as the football ball one" What???

AOoh, I hope you took him up on that fantastic offer!

Why do people always come up with the 'cake is too much' toot? Do they go to a restaurant and tell the chef that £20 is too much for the meal that took under an hour to cook and serves 1 person?!

If it makes you feel better, a colleague of my hubby asked me to quote for a wedding cake. I quoted and gave her a 20% discount as hubby asked me to. Told her I'd done this and she came back saying it was too much, and could I do it for half my original quote! Ffs, in what other profession would it be considered ok to ask someone for a 50%discount *for the same design*! Oh, and this was all asked for 3 weeks before the wedding.

Customers eh?

The mind boggles.

ANot sure if this falls under "What not to say to a baker," BUT I'll share my story.

Back in June I had a friend message me on FB asking if I could make her husband's birthday cake for August. I said sure, just let me know what design, flavors and servings you need and I will give you a quote. She responds with, "Okay, let me just look on pinterest for some ideas and I will get back to ya." July rolls around and she sends me 5 different pictures of cakes she likes...Cake #1 is a case of Corona beer, 2nd cake is a woman's body cake (ya know, with the boobs, hips and undies) 3rd cake is a home depot cake with tools and such, 4th cake is a Mexico soccer jersey and 5th cake is a beer shaped cake. So I respond to her which cake design is she actually interest in and she tells me that she wants ALL of these incorporated into one. Wowza! So I sketch a design for her, I thought of making the body cake with a corona logo bra and undies, a "***y" tool belt to go around the waist with some tools in the pockets. This was the best way I could figure to make this cake with out it looking too busy and she loved the idea and told me to go ahead and count on her order. It was to be a red velvet cake with chocolate filling to feed 60 and she wanted all fondant so it looked more realistic. I quoted her $250 and she seemed totally fine with it so I preceeded to start purchasing a few things I would need. Middle of July I receive a message from her that her budget has changed and she no longer can afford a $250 cake, what could she get for $200? I tell her I can either remove some decorations ( tools and belt) or she can cut her servings. She agrees to keep the design but make the cake serve 30 vs 60. So last week I begin working on the tools just so I'm not messing them up last minute, I needed to practice on my sculpting free style. Lol. THEN last Monday she contacts me AGAIN and says, "Hey girl, I'm so sorry but I need to change my budget again. I only have $100 to work with, what can you do with that?" I take a BIG sigh and begin typing my response. "Hey ___ okay so for that price I can make a 1" heart shaped cake with the boobs and corona bra but it will be in buttercream. There will be no belt, tools, or underware or fondant covering the entire cake. But this will also be the last time you can change your order/budget and I will now require payment in full in order to make the cake" She responds "OKAY GREAT!" So we leave it at that, but because the cake was requested for next weekend I message her yesterday and say, "Hey there, so I haven't heard from you since Monday and am wondering if you're still interested in me making your cake? If so, I will need payment in full no later than tomorrow because I will need to start prepping for your cake. I don't hear anything until that night and this is her response, "Heeey gurl! So sorry for the late response but I called a couple of home bakers this week and found someone who will make your original design for my $100 budget. Soo sorry if I wasted your time, thank you though for the great cake design...I know my husband is going to love it!"

I.was.pissed! All I could respond to her was, "Yes I am also sorry you wasted my time and basically stole my design. Next time shop around before wasting my time." Of course this was my way of ending the friendship, I'm way too irritated with her. And also thanks to her I also now require a deposit on ALL my orders.

Ugh!!

That's really bad. However, I wouldn't end the friendship until you get to see what $100 will get her when it comes to feeding 60 with a highly stylised cake like your original design! You might get to enjoy a little schadenfreude as bad as that is to say.

AWow. What a classy friend she was. She knows that it's your business yet sets out to find a hobby baker to undercut you. That's cra**y. I hope she realises in time what a cow she's been and apologises to you.

Wow. I mean wow. That's no friend. 

Ale, what a crappy person.  She is no friend and I am glad you realize that.  At least now you will take deposits on all your orders and hopefully get things in writing so this doesn't happen to you again. 

AI have plenty of words for her just don't think it's even worth it. I will say I am still really irritated about this though...not because of the sale but just the fact that it made me realize I always do my "quick" designs during my quoting process which means anyone can technically take my idea then jump to another baker and then my time has been wasted. Boo.

I'm wondering if using Facebook 'casualises' business transaction?

I use Facebook in my personal life and I have 'liked' various businesses both small and large and it's a great way to advertise.

However, I wonder if people who are just casually browsing Facebook contact businesses just to get an idea of pricing without any real intention to buy?

Because you are 'just' a home business, and 'just' use Facebook, maybe people don't take it seriously? Taking a deposit and having a contract would be a way to lift the bar.

This could be a whole other topic.

A"Do you make anything gluten free??" If I hear that question one more time... :-t

Good one MB.  I hope you don't add any flour, though, to thicken the gravy.

A

You're bang on I think. People don't need to interact personally with you so they are fecking rude. I've lost count of the amount of times I've checked messages to find a query sent which I haven't yet seen (usually without a hello, please, or goodbye), followed half an hour later by another one which consists of literally "???". So rude. It's like me asking someone a question to their faces and then just shouting "WELL???" at them if they don't reply immediately.

They're also more than happy to be downright rude about your prices. I've had people tell me it's disgusting (disgusting!) to charge "that, just for cake". Then come back to shout at me that they've got someone who will do it for what I could get the ingredients for. In what other business situation would you go back to someone and gloat that you bought the product cheaper and essentially accuse the seller of trying to ream you?

I hate fb with a passion, but you can't get away from it.

I do take a deposit and have a contract though, I think the simple fact that you are on fb makes people think they can haggle you to death or just be downright rude.

@ale122809

send her a bill for the "original cake design."

you know you won't get paid, but at least you'll have one more dig in.

jen