I think I have stretched myself to the max. I have been doing a cake EVERY weekend since May. I have a full time office job plus two children under the age of two!!! Zero time to do anything. I do the cakes at night after the kids go to sleep. I think I am starting to get burned out. I miss my kids and my free time.

So, anyways, I have a cake due tomorrow. I don't even have it baked!!!! It is a simple 1/4 sheet cake with a FBCT of a Power Rangers for a five year old. I just called the local bakery and order a plain cake no icing just already baked for me. I feel like I am cheating!!!! Does anyone else buy their cakes already baked???

BLESS YOUR HEART! I haven't done that, yet, but it's no wonder!!! You are Wonder Woman! I say- do whatever gives you enough time for you and your kids!!! Happy decorating!

I offer a 1/2 sheet custom decorated ( I get the cake from Costco and frosted in white - then add what4ever design the customer has requested) I do, howver, let them know that it is a Costco cake and let them choose the cake/filling. Baking the cakes take sooo long soI know what you mean.

Well I don't, but you do sound burnt out. Take a break.

I have to admit, I did this once, but it was for my own daughter's b'day last year. I tried and tried to bake one, but it kept breaking when I took it out of the pan (of course, this was before all of the WONDERFUL tips and insights from CC!), so I called and ordered one with plain white icing, then decorated it myself.

Hey..whatever works!!! You can't even buy plain cakes here..the bakery won't sell them like that!!

I don't think it's cheating unless the customer is under the impression that it is a scratch cake, or if you said anything about you baking it yourself. I only have one child, a two year old, and a part time job and I feel famished! I can't imagine how busy you are.... go easy on yourself.

Diana

i haven't done it but i have to tell you, i will file that away with my great tips learned from cc!
get some rest!

hmmm...."hiring" someone else to do the baking???

even the big name decorators do that!!

i don't see any cheating...
just smart business!

I haven't ordered a plain white frosted cake yet ... but it seems like a great idea! I work full time and have two small children under 5. I too bake/decorate when the kids go to bed at night. Seems like there is no other time, and I enjoy decorating too much to consider not doing it.

He honest with your buyer. People can usually taste the difference between store bought and homemade. Sorry so burnt out. This hobby should be fun and enjoyable. Take a well deserved break.

True that. say that it is store bought cause anyone can tell the difference between store bought and home made (doctored up). My 5 year old neice can tell the difference.

i don't see it as cheating. If they want a box cake ok but if they ask for home made hmmmm.......... don't think so

I have a friend who owns a cafe and bakes some of my cakes and I tell the customers. That way I can just decorate and don't have to worry about all the baking

Is it cheaper to buy the cake made or make it yourself? With all cost included gas, electric, mixes ect.

I am not in the cake business, but I work a fulltime 9-5 job.
But I can understand why you feel this way. Cakes are a lot of work.
I do my cakes when I want to. I have to do home work everynight
w/ my son, cook for the family, do dishes etc...,

NO, I would say you're not cheating, but I would suggest keeping it
to yourself and not let those people who ordered the cake know because if they will, they might not order anymore cakes from you in the future.

But I totally support your actions. You need a break and spend time with your family. Enjoy those two year olds.

The reason I offer the 1/2-sheet-from-Costo-cake is to save the customer money. I would charge more than $40 for a 1/2 sheet, to be honest. And it is a time saver, of course. But it really helps them when they have a bunch of people to feed and are on a budget. Is a 14" round comparable to a 1/2 sheet? I don't know. Most of the people who order all want the carrot cake w/ cream cheese frosting... they even order it for their kids birthday parties.

Maybe I'm simple but I really love Costco cake.... it's really yummy & moist ( the choc ) and they used to offer a 1/2 whip/ 1/2 buttercream that was TDF!

Maybe I am just hungry....

I can't wait till after Sept. 4th !!!! No more cakes except for my son's birthday and my SIL. I mentioned the one I have for tomorrow plus I am making one for my boss's parent's 50th anniversary party. There is only 60 ppl invited and she wants a 4 tiered cake plus an 11x15. This is the fourth time she has changed her mind on the design. She left the books at home and won't be able to show me what she wants till tomorrow morning. The party is SATURDAY!!!! Does she forget that I work for her full time and have kids!!! What should I do????? How do I politely tell her that I need to know today and that she is order far too much cake and that I just don't think I can handle it?????????

Look, you simply contracted out the baking part of your business! I also do catering and I don't own a large deep fryer, so when a bride orders chicken wings or any kind of deep fried anything, I contract that out to another business who cooks it for me and I get a special volume price from them.

I did it before, years ago, for some cakes. It was August and I had 6 weddings that month, plus a full time job, plus I was attending the local college (3 classes a week!) and there was no way I could manage the time. So I contracted the baking to a local bakery. I contacted them ahead of time and negotiated a special price for them. They baked and iced them and I took them home and decorated them. (She told me later that we'd have to re-negotiate the price because she figured it wrong and I got a WAY better deal than she should have given! Oh well!)

Wish I would have thought of that idea earlier in the week! I have done about 5 cakes all summer. Then last week, I got 7 orders due this week. Then I kept getting calls Sunday and Monday - "can you squeeze this in this week"? Now that I've spent 3 days doing nothing but baking layers and making mongo batches of frosting, this tip could have saved me a bit of time. I'll remember next time. My 4 and 6 year olds will appreciate it too. I with ya, keep your chin up (or maybe your head on a pillow!) Its break time!

I watch a show of Food Network where a lady was trying to break into the cake decorating business. She didn't have a commercial kitchen so she hired a bakery to bake her cakes and then she decorated them! I think she was in New York. Anyway, I see no problem with doing that. I do wonder if it's cost effective though?
Jacqui

Yup, it was a cake I hated doing...felt bullied into it, really didnt want to do it. It was a bra cake with buttercream roses (I did pastilage instead) with a round 'lingere box' on top. The 1/2 sheet cake under it was Costco. The daycare lady (I no longer go to) wanted to make sure she got her money's worth ($40) in trade (daycare) for it--left a bad taste in MY mouth

Should I put my flame retardent undies on for this post??

The first thing I thought of when I read this thread was going to my favorite restaurant and ordering a nice juicy steak and picturing the chef running down the street to another restaurant and asking them to cook it for him.

I guess if you aren't actually leading your customers to believe that you are making their cakes from A-Z there is nothing wrong with having someone else do the baking for you.

I have mixed feelings on the subject at hand, but I'll tell you this- if it came down to the wire and I had NO time to bake and frost it, I'm calling the grocery store for an emergency cake.
/rant on/
I got "outsourced" as few weeks ago after being told months ago by a family member that she wanted me to make her son's b-day cake(from scratch of course) only to find out later that she felt bad for a family friend of hers that she has known for a few years needed some cake biz- so the friend bought a Walmart cake, got some piping gel and a Cars figure and made the "cake" that way.
/rant off/

If you are having a busy week and get an order that you don't have time to bake for; I'd tell the customer that you have time to decorate a bakery cake for them to make a special cake that is customized but that right now you would need to turn down the order if they are looking for you to bake also. Charge them for the bakey/COSTCO cake price plus an hourly decoating rate. Let them know if they order in advance you can provide both services....


or alot of decorators bake in advance and freeze....maybe you could do this on the weekend to stock up on the baked cakes.

i have Absolutely done this and don't see a problem with it at all as long as you trust the bakery and have tried there cakes. i personally LOVE Costco cake and would no problem what-so-ever using their cake as a base. this maybe a stupid comment but what if you had a friend come over and bake the cakes for you? are you going to tell your customer that someone else baked it? no. i don't think you need to tell them it's bakery bought. people outsourse ALL THE TIME and for the exact reason you are doing it. to save time. GO FOR IT!

I wouldn't do it.

Ihatefondant, I don't think you'll need that special underwear here (by the way, I LUV your screen name! Me too!)

Don't be disillusioned into thinking everydish in a restaurant is "made from scratch". The restaurants get their supplies from the same Sysco, GFS, and other food distributors that I use and the meatballs, breads, cheesecakes, desserts, main entree dishes, etc., are made by someone else, frozen and distributed to the restaurants. I know a lady who makes cakes for restaurants in her town, and a mom-n-pop pizza place supplies the local bars in their town with (unbaked) pizzas. So don't think that restaurants don't contract out some of their stuff .... they do.

I would never do that personally. I figure if that's the kind of cake customers want, they can get it about 1000 other places, and I don't have to be bothered--more time with the kids.

Of course, If you explain to your customer what cake they are getting, or that is the cake everyone gets all the time from you, I don't see the problem.

My whole sales pitch is that I bake everything from scratch. I personally don't like wal-mart cakes. They give me a stomach ache. I can even tell when someone else in my family makes a cake and they use a box. I like the idea of outsourcing to a bakery, but only if they use my recipe. I have a lot of clients that are allergic (s/p) to preservitaves and dies that are used in a lot of commercial products.

I guess if you are up front about it and the customer has no problem with it fine, but my thought is why even bother letting you do the decorating, if they are baking the cake, let them just do the decorating, you get the product right then.

Hmmm...I personally wouldn't do it. Not saying Costco cakes aren't good (don't know!) just thinking that unless Costco cake tasted just like mine I am giving the customer an inconsistent product in that if he/she reorders; he/she may get a different taste next time around and not be satisfied. Now if I used Costco for all my cakes; or contracted out the baking by the same baker each time; then customer would know what he/she was going to get each time and that in my mind would be okay.