Starting From Scratch - Advice For An Aspiring Baker?
Business By bliss_sugar Updated 24 Aug 2007 , 6:21pm by bliss_sugar
Hello all!
I am brand new to CC - thanks to a link @ Charm City Cakes...
About me: I have decorated a few cakes here and there, made lots of sugar cookies (frosted of course!) candies, baking, etc. I have never taken a cake decorating class!
I've recently decided my dream is to one day open a little bake shop - or make cookies and cakes for custom order, but I need to start getting the practice to make my dreams come true.
My question to all fellow CCers - what is your advice? How long have you been decorating? What classes have you taken? How did you learn about the equipment?
(I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but I take one look at professional catalogs and my mind boggles)
I can take a few Wilton courses at the local craft stores, there are a couple of courses at the college... and there is the big Pastry Pro 1 and Pastry Pro 2 at a culinary school here - but expensive! (2400 each class) and covers all aspects of baking. What to do? Any advice and wisdom is appreciated. 
Welcome to Cake Central. The wilton classes are very good place to start for strong basics. Also, a good decorating book can help, too.
Find a set of recipes you can rely on-each baker can obtain slightly different results from the same recipe.
For baking basics, the Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum(sp?)
decorating- The Well Decorated Cake, Toba Garrett
A little of both, The Whimsical Bake House has recipes and decorating information, but in a particular decorating style.
In Texas, you can't legally sell home baked goods. In order to sell, you have to rent commercial space, or build out a separate kitchen in your home. You local health department can help you (also check zoning)
then, practice, and read some of the thousands of questions already asked and answered.
Thanks so much for the ideas Joann! It really helps to hear what others are doing or have done.
- b
welcome to CC! im glad you found us! i am mostly self taught, honestly the only "real" instruction i've had is wilton 1. so it can be done without extensive training, you just have to do a lot of work yourself. i would guess that no one looking at my photos would believe i started decorating in january of this year when i took wilton 1. but the reason i can do what i can, is because i have practiced and practiced. i officially started my biz just a month ago, and things have been going really well, so don't give up on your dreams! it can happen if you have the drive and motivation! i can't tell you how many books i've checked out at the library, how much time i spent studying business threads here on CC (months before i ever started posting in the business forum i was reading all the advice). i read books on owning your own biz, i read books on decorating techniques, i read books on baking. i studied other successful people's websites to find out what was "in" what seemed to be working for people and what didn't. i called some local cake biz people to find out about the best advertising methods and how to get my name out.
so in short, its hard work adn takes a lot of time, but you can do it, and if you put all you have into it then you can do it faster than you think.
Wow Becca, your cakes are beautiful! Congrats on your new business
I really appreciate the insight. Do you have any favorite books to recommend?
- b
i love Collette Peters books, Margaret Brauns A Cake Walk, Debbie Brown's books, and WBH for decorating technique. I liked the cake bible, but honestly i don't use any of her recipes any more. they were good, but i have found other recipes that i think are great. it was important to me to bake from scratch, so i spent a lot of time researching and testing recipes. I know have some fav's of mine that i really like. if you're interested in baking from scratch, i highly recommend toba garrett's choc and yellow cake recipes. i use those are basics, then i make changes and additions to get different flavors (strawberry, cookies n cream, french vanilla, etc).
for small biz start up check out NOLO, they have a website and lots of books that can be helpful. this is an aspect that a lot of people wanting to start a cake biz over look, and its the most important one! the reason biz's fail is not because of a lack of "trade experience" (aka, can't decorate well). its because of a lack of management and biz skills, budgeting, reporting, planning, time management, customer relations, etc. spend as much time making yourself a good biz person as you spend making yourself a good decorator.
for baking, i spent time at barnes and noble and flipped through several baking books. it helps you get a feel for what it takes to get a great cake from scratch. for that reason i like the cake bible, but as i said i don't really like her recipes, lol. i do NOT recommend "cakes from scratch in half the time" i got burned dry cakes from that book, lol.
wow, i talk a lot, sorry! hope its helpful though!
Becca, you wrote me a book! J/k I do the same thing he he 
I love Collette Peters ... I have only seen her work on the Food Network contests, wonderful designs. I will def. check out those books.
After reading some posts about running a bakery and overhead, I'm really leaning to building a small kitchen out here on our land (in the country). The only thing I'm having a hard time about, is justifying spending the $ to build a small kitchen - for something that may be a part time job??
Because, yes, in TX I can't be legal in my home kitchen.
I too want to make everything from scratch so there are some flavors I will want to find new recipes for (I have a few standbys that are already scratch) I will try out those recipes you mentioned for sure!
~ b
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