I really like decorating it gets me in my own comfortable enjoyment. The problem is I do not want to do it in my house or even get paid to . I just want to decorate. My husband hates the fact that when I decorate its messy , takes up time and things sometimes have to dry on the table or counters. I have contacted some cake decorators in the area with no response . I guess they are a little thrown by the fact that I do not want a job I just really want to help and be a part of it all. Do you have any suggestions of how to get my foot in the door. I do not wnat to run my own business or steal anyones decorating secrets I just want to have some cake fun !

Why not find a friend to decorate with? If your friend doesn't know how to decorate, teach them. And best of all you could make the cakes at their house, which means no mess for your hubby . If you don't actually have cake orders you can donate them to your childrens school, churchs, offices, wherever. If you just want to have fun then do it! Good luck!

I just looked at your cakes, and they are BEAUTIFUL! Maybe talk to a local charity and you could make wedding cakes for people who can't afford them, or birthday cakes for underprivlaged children. Trust me- even poor people fall in love .

What about contacting a local bakery or grocery store bakery to see if they are hiring? That seems like your best bet....either that or get your baking done before the dh gets home and get all your decorating stuff together and ready to go? I don't know...just some ideas..

I am licensed out of my home and I like it so far....just wish that business would pick up some....it stinks in my area at the moment!

Tomay,

Internships are what you are looking for and they can be found at bakeries/cake decorating facilities. They are more than happy to work you without pay but watch out, if you are good, they may want to hire you at the end of your internship.

um - you live there too. Your husband might want to learn how to deal . . . him getting upset b/c it takes up time is a HUGE red flag. . . you're entititled to personal time.

Tomay,

I work full-time as a secretary and just make cakes for fun. My husband gets kinda mad at me when I do cakes, too. He's not concerned about the mess (he knows I will clean it up), but he does the resent the amount of my spare time it takes.

We have had many conversations about this and basically I just decided to do what I want and try (for the sake of peace and harmony) to spend some quality time with him, too. I try to take it in a positive way, that he just misses me, but it's hard because I get so cake obsessed.

I guess if I did it as a job all day every day I probably wouldn't want to do it at home as much. Good luck with finding an internship or apprentice position. I wish I could afford to quit my job and do that myself, sounds like fun!

Kim

My problem is I work a full time job, go to school full time and then have my two babies to take care of and run back and forth all over town so the issue it time constraint. There is no way i could take a bakery job because it would not make the money i make now. I am also afraid that if I start getting paid it will not be fun to decorate anymore. I need my time away from the family grind you know.

beautiful cakes! perhaps you could work on smaller projects with more detail? Is making flowers something you enjoy?

I think flowers are something that you could sit down and work on, then slide everything up into a small box to dry and store in the cupboard... mess vanished! You can making parts, paint them, put together all an hour at a time.

Practice piping on small cakes... make a few 6" cakes at a time, freeze, then pull one out to decorate when you want. You can freeze or refridgerate buttercream. That way everytime you want to do a cake you dont have to go through the whole process of baking, making the buttercream and decorating. Just whip out the premade stuff and go to. And you'll have all those flowers waiting to add.

double post

This won't solve the problem of the mess, but I donated one 8 inch round cake for my kids' school's silent auction. I offered to do either a shower cake, or a birthday cake. (I've done it 3 years now, and all three have ordered b-day cakes.)

I took pictures of each and displayed them at the auction, and whoever bid on them got a certificate which they presented to me when they picked it up.

I had to be careful to put a deadline on when they had to order by, and specify at least 1 week's notice, but I never had a problem.

Just another idea.

I have two kids, only work part time out of my home, and am not in school. I can only imagine how hectic your life is.

However, we all need our hobbies and time to ourself. I think making small layers and freezing them is a good way to have cake on hand to decorate without going through all of the baking each time.

Your DH just needs to deal, you're entitled to time without him and the kids. You were your own individual long before you had kids or met him, and you can't let that go.

I can understand where you're coming from to a certain degree. My DH will whine about my cake-inspired clutter too, but he does it because he is a neat-freak, not because he doesn't like me having something I love to do. He is my biggest cheerleader and wants me to do it full-time one day if that's what I want!

I would suggest that you keep decorating, but maybe scale down so clutter isn't the first thing your husband sees when he comes home. Use this as an excuse to re-organize your pantry so you can have your decorating supplies ready to go & easy to find (and so you have an out-of-the-way place to store things that need to dry!).

HTH!

This was mentioned above but it is worth saying again. Bake as much as you want and donate them. I give cakes to the Vol. Fire Dept. where my brother works all the time. They love them, and I get to decorate without having to eat all of it . The cheif calls me when it has been too long since the last goodies were sent to ask for more. These guys are putting their life on the line and its the least I can do.

~Alicia

I thought I was the only one who's husband got upset over cakes. My husband doesn't like the time it I put into it. I've learned to ignore his anger and not respond to it. I act like if nothing has happened. I love to decorate cakes, it makes me happy. Especially since I do it for my kids and family. When I do sell a cake I just let hime know to stay away. I also believe we are entitled to our own little thing. He likes to hunt and fish, I bake and decorate cakes. We have to live with eachother. I hope you find a good solution that works best for you.

need2sleep, I think our husbands way have been separated at birth...

OMG, I couldn't believe it when I read your post. I kept reading how all the husband's were really supportive of their wives in cake decorating and even helped out. I was so jealous every time I read these posts. But when I read yours it was like you had a camera in my home. My situation is exactly the same as yours except I do it to get some extra well needed cash.

I've learned to ignore him and let him mumble and complain until he eventually goes and sits in front of the tv. It's something that I love doing and I don't think any of us should give up our passion for anyone else.

Keep doing what you love and if you find an alternative location that's great. If not, tell him he'll just have to deal. I'm sure you spend a lot of your spare time doing things around the house for him, so you're definately entitled to do things for yourself as well!!

Good luck
Mary

It's a bummer when you aren't supported doing something you love. I tried working at a custom cake shop w/ the same idea - I just wanted to decorate and help out. I got hired, and then got paid to do what I love, which was great....for a while.

The owner liked my people skills, so I ended up being up front a lot, working w/ customers to design their cakes - only to see my designs get assigned to another decorator!! Also, I ended up doing a lot of bakery tasks, like making sugar cookies and icing cupcakes for the front case.

The last straw was when I was asked to sign a revised non-compete agreement because I was honest with her and told her I was doing a family friends' wedding cake and she was not happy I didn't run it through her shop.

As for the husband, about all you can do is work when he's either asleep or not around! Good luck, whatever you do.

I have two suggestions for you. The first is if it's the decorating you really enjoy, why not do dummy cakes? It cuts down some of the clutter since you don't have to bake anything, and you can re-use them.

The second is, you could try making up a schedule. "On these nights, I have time to decorate. On these nights, I will spend time with you. In return for this agreement, on my cake nights, you'll deal with the kids and get them to practice/classes/bed/whatever. That way, I'll get more done on the cake nights and not need as much time away from you on other nights."

Or limit it to a certain number of cakes per month, or something like that. Your husband might be more complacent if he knows for sure there'll be "him" time at a specific time.

Tomay,

I have four wonderful children and often bake at home, however I was lucky enough to take cake decorating classes with my sister-in-law and so we often get together at her house (child free) and do our cake decorating. It is much more "therapeutic" that way. I looked at your photos and noticed you had done several wedding cakes. They were all beautiful. It looks like you do a great job. I was thinking you could check with your church if you attend, or a local church and explain your situation(or maybe just say your kitchen doesn't have adequate space if you don't want to bring the husband into it) ask if you could use their kitchen. Especially if you were baking and donating to charity and also could offer your services to the church if they needed cakes for special events, homecoming, bake sales, or had couples getting married who couldn't afford much for a wedding cake(you could have the couple pay for your ingredients so theres no cost to you and hubby couldn't complain about the cost). This could be a winning situation all the way around. No mess at home for hubby, you get to decorate cakes and have a little time for yourself away from the family to do it, and the church could get something out of it also. And they may let you use their kitchen for some personal things as well. The only drawback I can think of right now is you may get more requests for free cakes than you might be wanting once people catch on that you are baking for free. Maybe you could come up with an arrangement, if they let you use their kitchen twice a month you could use it one day for personal baking and one day for baking for the church of charity?? Just some ideas! Good luck!