How Cool Is The Place Where You Decorate Cakes?
Decorating By karensue Updated 5 Aug 2008 , 5:54pm by tasteebakes
I've been having some issues with soft fondant and soft buttercream and have pretty much decided that I've been keeping my home too warm. We have rural electric which is about twice as much as most providers, high ceilings and a HUGE electric bill. So, we usually keep our home at about 77 to 78 degrees.
What temp do you all keep the place where you decorate cakes?
Karen
Usually around 78-80 in the summer and 72 in the winter (I'm cheap!)
My kitchen has been pretty hot this summer. During the hottest part of the day, it has gotten up to 79º in there! It doesn't help that the back wall is facing west and has glass doors and windows facing the sun as it settles down.
We had an A/C tech out a couple of weeks ago (to look at our cental air unit), mainly because it was so horribly hot upstairs. He cleaned out the coils and such, but he said that we were getting about as cool as we could get! We finally just put a window unit in one of the bedrooms upstairs (also with a back wall facing west [right above the kitchen]) and I put a fan in front of one of the air vents in the kitchen. Between the two of those-- the kitchen has been only (Ha!) getting up to around 77º.
Our electric bill was so high last month. I suspect August will be higher. I'm so looking forward to fall!
My electric bill last August was $560 and we kept the house at 77 to 78 degrees all summer. It was my first summer of decorating cakes and I only had one wedding cake. This month I have four. I decided that I'm lowering the temp to about 72-74 and see what my bill is this month -- that will determine if I do wedding cakes in July and August, or if I have to raise my prices those months.
I do not have central air, only a small window unit in my living room, which is next to the kitchen. I use fans placed to maximize air flow. Not sure exactly what the temp is, but with it being 95 outside, amazingly enough no heat related issues. Things are taking a bit longer to dry, but thats humidity.
My electric bill last August was $560 and we kept the house at 77 to 78 degrees all summer. It was my first summer of decorating cakes and I only had one wedding cake. This month I have four. I decided that I'm lowering the temp to about 72-74 and see what my bill is this month -- that will determine if I do wedding cakes in July and August, or if I have to raise my prices those months.
That's crazy! Surely you have a problem somewhere. You may want to have that checked. Unless you're cooling a 35,000 sq. foot home, I can't imagine what would make your power bill $560. Ovens and mixers don't use that much power.
I'm such a dork
When I read the title to your post I didn't realize you were talking about temperature. I thought you were asking if our kitchens were "cool" as in nicely decorated or something like that
Add me to the dork club!! Me, too!!
Our house thermostat is set at 68 in the summer, always, and at 72 or 73 in the winter, always. Our all-electric house is only 10 years old and very energy efficient....our biggest elec bill (a/c AND heat) tops out at $150. Even when I baked at home, we didn't really see a big spike or diff in our cost. (I love sharing that with my family members who think living in "the big city!!" is so expensive! 
Most of them would KILL to have my low utility bills!)
At the shop, I set the temp in the mid-70's on non-baking days, and crank it down on cooking/baking days.
OMG! I live in south Texas (Alice) and there is no way I could ever live in a home at 78 degrees. 
My house is always set between 70-72 degrees. I do not care what my electric bill is as long as I am comforable. Thank god my family feels the same. We could not live without AC.
I do the majority of my cake decorating at night. When it is way cooler. 
My electric bill last August was $560 and we kept the house at 77 to 78 degrees all summer. It was my first summer of decorating cakes and I only had one wedding cake. This month I have four. I decided that I'm lowering the temp to about 72-74 and see what my bill is this month -- that will determine if I do wedding cakes in July and August, or if I have to raise my prices those months.
That's crazy! Surely you have a problem somewhere. You may want to have that checked. Unless you're cooling a 35,000 sq. foot home, I can't imagine what would make your power bill $560. Ovens and mixers don't use that much power.
When I run my AC through a hot summer my bill is about $325 a month and my house is about 2700 square feet. If her electricity costs double what is typical, then I can easily see a $560 bill. We can't afford to run our AC this summer, so I'm sometimes working in an 85+ degree kitchen. I've had to turn it on a couple of times for icing issues, but for the most part it's been off and I've been running a fan. To tell you the truth, I barely miss the AC. The summer's been pretty mild, which helps. But I think you sorta get used to the heat.
I knew exactly what this post meant, because I am doing a cake this weekend, and it is over 100 degrees outside with about 70% humidity!
Our thermostat was set to 73, but when I started making the BC roses, and they all sagged, I checked it and it was over 75 in our house! I turned the thermostat down to 70 for the night, and that cooled things down enough that I was able to get a few roses that turned out OK. After I deliver the cake, I will turn it back up, but for now, I need it as cool and dry as I can get!
My house is about 2400 square feet main level and 2400 square feet basement level -- about 900 square feet unfinished in the basement. Plus it's an open floor plan upstairs with 11 ft. ceilings, and 9 ft. ceiling everywher else. I think all that "volume" takes more energy to keep cool. Plus, our rural electric is just so much more expensive than what it used to cost us when we lived at town. We had no idea about that when we bought our lot and built our house. Plus, I didn't know I'd be decorating cakes, either. I love my house, so I guess I'll just have to learn to work around it's challenges.
I keep my air conditioner on all the time thru summer. When I do cakes, it is set at around 70-73 degrees. In the winter, it is set around 80 (perks of having free gas!) Of course, when I am doing a cake, I turn it down. I live in a small house compared to alot of you. It is about 1500 square feet, ranch style that we built about 4 years ago. I have no idea what my electric bill runs...my husband takes care of the bills! I also live in a very rural area.
my shop is also a donut shop, it's ridicuously hot in there! I'm running my air at 70 and getting 85! So far I haven't had any trouble with cakes but I sit them om a table with an air vent below it. The coolest place in the shop.
I just spent $457 on the electric bill.
Sounds like we could start a whole thread on our electric bills!
I guess it just shows that prices vary greatly depending on region. My house is 1800 sq ft and I keep it about 72-73 year round too. My power bill is never over $130, and in the Spring and Fall it runs around $80 sometimes.
Just as price/serving varies greatly, so do utility bills.
That bill depends on how hot it is outside. If it's 99-100 degrees outside and I set my air at 75, the air conditioner pretty much never shuts off causing the huge bill!
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