Consider this my early morning, pre-coffee rant...

Please tell me why it is that I always see posts that say things like, "HELP!!!  I have to do a 3-D, life sized Statue of Liberty cake TODAY and I don't know how to do it!!!"  

Gee...I have a suggestion...DO NOT EVER offer to do a cake that you are not fully prepared to do!!!  That means having the know-how, the right pans, the correct recipes, etc, etc.....

OK...sorry, but I really needed to get that off my chest.  I'll be feeling much better after I have my coffee.

Oh my dear, you are preaching to the choir as far as I'm concerned!

 

Here's another one that drives me crazy:

 

Help! I've taken the first Wilton class and I have now started my business and taken my first order. Can someone tell me what to charge and give me recipes?

LOL  Yep, that too!! 

"I need the Best Ever (insert flavor) cake recipe...and I need it right NOW!!!!!"

Hasn't anyone ever heard of recipes.com??  lol  You know, about a week ago there was a post about how some "newbies" were feeling intimidated by what they perceived as the "not so nice" responses they were getting to their forum questions.  In this last week I've come to completely understand why some more "seasoned" members get so irritated and may come across as a little less than polite.  lol  My goodness...don't they know how to google?  Sometimes I feel like responding with..."Are you serious?  Really...are you friggin kidding me??"  *taking a deep breath*  Instead, I just ignore it.    One of these days though....

AI really am irritated by the " help!" Posts. Tell me what kind of help. Even worse are the repeat 3-20 posts. I didn't get an immediate response...ill just keep asking til I do . Ugh

I'm newer on CC, but I've been baking since I was a child. I have either gotten handed down recipes, or, mostly, I bake, adjust, rebake, and adjust some more until I get recipes the way I want/need them.

I don't understand why someone would start a business without first establishing recipes. Maybe I'm weird, but all my basic recipes were set before I ever started selling them. Of course, as I progress, some recipes need tweeking, but that's par for the course.

Pricing is a whole other issue. Seeing people ask how to price seems ridiculous to me. I priced out every ounce of imaginable ingredients - again - before I started selling anything. Then went to local cakers and researched their pricing structures.

I hate the thought of getting yelled at because I agree with this post, but come on people! GOOGLE IT!

Let me also say that CC is a great community of people. I like reading these forums and maybe learning a new trick in business that I hadn't thought of, or seeing a new technique I hadn't tried before. I am far from perfect, and have occassional questions of my own, but for the most part, I do a lot of research before I ask anything.

Poor spelling and horrible grammar are what grate at my nerves.  

Vgcea, I couldn't agree more.  I am new and a lot of the repeat questions bore me stupid.  What must the oldies be feeling.  I may be wrong but we have a generation that feels that everything should be handed to them on a plate, or they want it now rather than later, and it is a lot easier to just ask the question for them and have it answered than do the research work themselves.

What really frosts my cake (and not in a good way) is the following:

 

"I found this recipe on the internet.  I changed the cake flour for AP, I changed the butter for oil, and instead of using the creaming method I reverse creamed it.  It didn't rise and it tasted like rubber, what is wrong with the recipe?"

 

I want to reply that the only thing wrong with that recipe is the baker!  My second impulse is to point out that we can't tell if there is anything wrong with the recipe because the baker didn't use that recipe.  Why would one not follow the recipe as it is written the first time out?  If one wanted an AP recipe, why wouldn't one look for one?  If one wanted an oil based recipe, why wouldn't one look for oil based recipes?  If one wanted a reverse creamed recipe, why not search for that? 

 

Those kinds of post make me want to scream.

I used to visit CC everyday but I don't come back that often and rarely post. For all the above reasons. And more. I miss some of the regulars but CC just isn't much fun anymore. 

I'm new here, and have been very startled to see how many people take orders they don't know how to produce.

It's one thing to ask how a certain technique is done, or a certain look is achieved, but things like, 'help! how do I make a stacked cake, I'm doing on for a wedding next week', sort of horrify me.

 

If I was a bride, and I found out I placed an order with someone who had never done a wedding cake, I would be really upset.

 

I don't want to come across like I'm bashing people for being new to baking and/or decorating, but come on!

If you take an order for red velvet, you darn well better know how to make red velvet! That goes for working with fondant, sheet pans, large rounds, scratch recipes... etc.

A huge "me too" and a round of applause for all of the above (especially Norasmom).

AI for one, am horrified by how callous and rude you all are being! Especially you, GixxerChick (if that is your REAL name!) you start a thread for your hate mongering rather than just ignoring all the stupid questions the precious darlings are untrusting us all to answer? Where is your giving spirit and generosity? Don't you know that since you have paid your dues, learned from other bakers, (since you couldn't possibly have learned anything on your own) that it should your PRIVILEGE and RESPONSIBILITY to PASS THE TORCH to the newbies????

SMDH.....

A^^^^^Total sarcasm^^^^ :-D

Aghhhhhh, you poor darlings! My first cake tasted like sawdust, the next one  I packed the flour to make I get 1c., I beat by hand, you know counting to three hundred? The cake was so bad even my dog won't eat it, cookies? It's even worse my daughter calls it " the sailors tack", I donot know CC, never heard of good ol' seasoned bakers that can be mentors, so I surfed the net and goggled Baking 101, my cakes started to taste more like it and furthermore edible.

 

ALol @ Anna ;)

Just for a minute there, Anna, I thought you'd gone and wandered over to the dark side.  Or that your evil twin had taken over (remember when EVERYbody had an evil twin?).

Me too! I was, like, where's the woman with whom I've exchanged RANTING PMs with???

It drives me crazy, especially as I'm holding off on starting my own business until I have all this stuff in place.

 

I can only assume that by 'orders', they mean people who responded to their ad for a cheap cake on Craigslist. They say you get what you pay for...

AThe know- it-alls annoy me just as much(maybe even more) than those looking for an answer to a question that's been beat to death.

Or those who ask a question...and the response is "well it all depends on your target market, region...blah, blah, blah." Those answers are beat to death. Just let them figure it out.

AOkay, I am a trained Chef (savory) but I have always worked in Pastry for the last 8 years. I worked at award winning Restaurants in Chicago and now I am in Michigan. I make my living with ensuring the best desserts possible on my menu.

I admit it, I am new to working with fondant but believe me, I can make one mean buttercream frosted cake. I am always happy to help people (Karma - I help you, you help someone else...) but when I find x amount of private messages requesting recipes it really amazes me.

I know I am new to this board but already have my fair share of sarcastic responses to some postings.

And I love those ads on Craigslist.

A

I'm curious, how do you recommend answering questions where more information is required in order to give an accurate answer?

AThose posts are necessary. They keep Jason busy. ;-)

A

I've seen your answers...I can smell the passive-aggressiveness in your response a mile away. Target market...region...annoying. You don't care...it's your way of showing dominance that you probably lack at home.

A

Absolutely. If I didn't get my 15 minutes/day fix of CC I don't know what I'd do. :madhatter:

A

I'm curious, how do you recommend answering questions where more information is required in order to give an accurate answer?

This time please answer without the personal attacks. :)

ADon't forget the "why do you think" posts where the op gets all offended when they don't get the answer they wanted!

ATo Jason (because quoting from my phone is too hard) - and only because you asked: I have seen you ask several questions that weren't relevant to actually providing a response. Someone will post that they have a cake order and need help with their recipe or advice on stacking, and you respond asking their legal status.

A

I try my best to make sure my posts are relevant, can you post some examples? If I find they are irrelevant I will request that they be deleted.