Does Anyone Draw Their Cakes Before Making Them?
Decorating By sweettreats36 Updated 20 Feb 2009 , 5:06pm by Jayde
I have a graduation cake I was asked to do. I was thinking of drawing it out before I do it to get an idea of what shapes and what it is going to look like. Someone told me that was stupid, that it would make extra work for me. Someone Please HELP!
I have a notebook full of ideas. Some I have drawn to figure out, and some just to get the idea out of my head to make room for the cake I needed to think about.
My son, who is 14, gave me the notebook, when I was trying to figure out his sister's birthday cake a few years ago.
I find it very helpful. HTH
I do it sometimes. Sometimes I wish I had done it before I started.
As a side note, when I was going to culinary school, we HAD to draw out plate presentations. The Chefs said it helped with the finished product.
Good luck!
I have a sketch book filled with ideas....And you dont need to be an artist either, I'm far from one. 
I always draw out a concept. It helps me stay organized --then again, I'm a list maker. I find that the cake is not always what I had envisioned on paper (sometimes I'm too ambitious, and sometimes I add details I did not have originally,) but the drawing is fun to go back to at a later date and is always good to have in a file in case a similar project comes up at a later date.
I don't think it's stupid. I certainly don't draw worth a crap, but it helps me sometimes to envision what the end result might be. I don't ever draw it to scale or anything fancy like that! It only takes a few minutes then I have something to refer back to if I get a mental block. (which happens often!!)
I draw all of my cakes out before I make them. Just a flat 5th grader sketch. Nothing wow. I also color it in to see if the colors work together and balance. It helps me get my ideas flowing and make any necesarry changes that don't look good or any additions.
Also, when I am finally decorating my cake, I follow my sketch. it helps me organize (in my head) of what needs to be done.
The thing is that when I have an idea in my head I will be itching and brainstorming while I'm at the office. Since I cannot go into my kitchen right away, I brainstorm quetly on paper with my little highlighters. Yellow & blue highlighters make green and pink and yellow make orange, blue and pink make purple, you get the idea. lol
Oh, I quite often draw out my designs on paper to see what they'll look like before I go throwing said design permanently on cake. I may still tweak the concept a bit once I get to the actual cake, but at least I have a better idea of what it's going to look like and where I need to place everything. It's not a stupid idea at all! If it helps you, go for it! I think a design journal would be a great idea!
i sketch every single one of my designs out. i'm no artist, so the sketch works for no one but me, but it helps me start to realize the angles and lines that i need to mimic when i'm carving. it also lets me figure out the types of sugarwork that will best portray the theme and look i'm going for.
i start out with rough sketches then redraw it with clean lines. then i make several copies, leaving my original in my files. on each of those copies, i do different color schemes or accessories, which gives me a tentative visual and helps me decide on the final design. although i might "throw out" some of those color sketches, i can always revisit them with another client.
basically, at any doctors appt i have, or while waiting for my daughter to get out of speech class twice a week, i'm sitting in my chair with a sketchpad and a ziplock bag of colored sharpies and coloring pencils. (i've also gotten several orders out of doing that, because people see you doing this, asks if you're an artist, you tell them it's for a cake, and they can't believe it! works every time!! 
)
Yes, I do. I have a sketch for a future birthday cake on my fridge right now 
I also find sharing sketches with the person who orders the cake helps open the line of communication.
Thanks everyone for your help. I think drawing them out would help a great deal too 
here are some pictures as an example of my process through the designing of my lighthouse cake...please don't laugh at my pitiful sketching attempt!!
initial sketch, which gave the client an idea...
as embarrasing as it is, for bigger cakes, i also build a quick copy of the cake from similar things i have lying around, just to get an idea of the true dimensions
we ended up having to change the design of the lighthouse, but here's the finished product, set up at the venue.
Absolutely... I sketch every cake I do. Most professionals do this (either sketching, or via design software), so that they can give the customer an idea of what the cake will be when it's done. For me, it's a standard part of the consultation process.
I only bake for family and friends but I draw out a lot of my cakes I'm going to do. A lot of times I will draw it on the computer because there are a lot of shapes I can use from word or other software and I can use the colors I want and then I just print it. Sometimes I do a pencil drawing (very crude drawing I must say - can't draw stick figures lol) and write the colors I am using in each area just so I know what colors I need to mix for my frosting. I made 8 different cakes for a big family birthday dinner and I drew each of those cakes either on the computer or in pencil. I find it helps me to visiualize what I want to do and it helps me when I get ready to mix all my frosting colors.
sometimes I do, espicially if they are more complicated or I am not sure what I want it to look like. I always do if it is a 3d cake. Fortunately my cakes usually look better than the sketch!
I'm just starting out so am no professional but find that I need to draw out my ideas. I have a sketchbook just for cake ideas.
The more cakes I make and the more I understand about cake heights, shapes and dimensions etc., the more my cakes look like my initial drawings. Sometimes, they still look totally different but at least it gives me a good visual as to what I was originally envisioning.
Also, I find that there are times that I have a lot of ideas or patterns that pop into my head that I think would make a great cake or one great tier and I have to get it down on paper or risk losing the idea altogether.
I even go one step further and cut out things I see in magazines that inspire me - a colour combination, a pattern on fabric, an arrangement of flowers, an unique swirl pattern, shapes of objects that I think would translate well to cake...the list goes on - and paste them in the same sketchbook.
Everyone has their own way that works best for them. Do what you feel works for you. IMHO, those that tell you it's "stupid" have no understanding of or appreciation for artistic expression.
By the way...here is the sketch of the cake in my avatar - the cake obviously is not exactly like the sketch but it's the closest I've come and not too bad I think. The sketch provided a great guideline for me to follow and kept my idea fresh in my mind. I generally leave colours out so I can envision different colour combos but I do write down what colours I have in mind.
Um, I thought everyone did!?
Nope. I never have. Never.
show off! we are but mere mortals, and dream of attaining your status. hehehe
I sketch mine out on the puter so I know what the different ideas are going to look like. In essence I "copy" the drawing. I have found that on those few cakes where I don't draw them out....they look like poo!
show off! we are but mere mortals, and dream of attaining your status. hehehe
No, only because I had never heard of sketching out your cake. Remember, I started doing this before the word "internet" and yes, even before cable tv, was invented!! I would talk to a bride, we looked at books and pictures, she told me what she wanted, I wrote down a narrative description in my file.
Plus I"m a "until it looks right" cook ... and decorator. I have no idea where I'm going to put the BC flowers until I see the cake and "it talks to me" and tells me where I need to put a flower. Man, if I had to draw that ahead of time..... well, I just couldnt' do it. 
i do! i mean, i only make bday cakes, shower cakes, special occassion for friends and family and I sketch something out. i'm such a scatter brain, i need to or i lose the image i had in a my head!
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