I'm new here and I'm a nice person. I'm not a snob or judgmental nor do I think I'm better than anyone else. I'm just a cake designer who loves to design cakes and I also love to bake my cakes from scratch. I want to be able to talk to the people on here and learn as much as I can from you lovely folk who've been doing it longer than me. I'd also like to share any information that I've learned with you all.
Can someone please let me know what topics I'm not 'supposed' to talk about on here so that I wont get any more people stalking me in my other threads or just all 'round irritated with me? I'm not here to piss people off or to start threads that start wars. I'm here to get and give information and to ask and answer questions.
thank you!! 
All together now HI SALLY!
lol....you're too funny!
Politics, Religion and Sex, (although it comes up..."that's what she said" (The Office, love that show lol)
Everything else is fair game although the topics that can get heated are....as you already know
1) scratch vs. mix
2) licensed vs. unlicensed business
3) pricing q's
Hello girls
Don't worry...I have no intentions of talking about religion or politics *shudder*...sex might be fun tho!
Why do people get upset about pricing questions?
HOLD ON! I'm not asking one!! Don't get'cher panties in a bunch. 
I'm just wondering why it's taboo.
Hi and welcome! It looks like you've already figured out that scratch vs. box is a hot topic around here. Other hot topics are unlicensed home bakers (if that's you, don't tell anyone) and asking how much to charge for a cake after you've made it, so you can tell the customer, who's on her way to pick it up right then.
This is supposed to be a fun place, don't let it stress you out, and also remember that when we're reading someone's written words, sometimes we don't catch the nuances that they intended, and we end up insulted when they didn't really mean what we think they did (Of course sometimes they DO mean to insult you...someone called me Texas_hose once, like a pecker 
and she was trying to make me mad. It still cracks me up every time I think of it)
The reason that pricing threads make people mad is that once someone charges for a cake, they're a business...and it's not a good business practice to promise something to a customer with no idea beforehand what it should cost. "Legit" pricing threads are something like, "I am making a three-tiered, fondant covered cake to serve 110. My base price per serving for fondant-covered cakes is $3.50. The cake will also have a gumpaste tiara on top and gumpaste roses around the tiers. How much extra should I charge for the tiara and roses?" where you know they already know what they're doing, they just want to know what other people charge for the extras.
Soooo, if I were to ask what standard price per serving is these days...would that cause a ruckus?
and I were to ask if the price per serving is the same for every flavour would that ruffle feathers?
I'm walkin on egg shells, baby!!
and about licensing...I'm sure it's different here in Canada than it is in the States...isn't it? I know that home bakeries are licensed under different criteria from province to province over here. In some provinces I don't think you can even have a home bakery and sell from it. In others you have to have a completely separate kitchen and there are specifics to follow but you can certainly sell from your home. What's it like in the States?
And don't start a thread on a Thursday saying, "Hi! My sister's wedding is this Saturday. I've never made a cake before but she wants me to make her's cause we're BFFs! Okay, so, I figure I'll bake the cake Friday...I may wait until after spin class...and finish it Friday night. She wants at least 4 tires tall with gum face flowers, I think she said?!? Oh well. and eggs skeeve me out. Can I leave them out of the cake recipe? Thanks"
It probably won't cause an uproar like the other topics. But it'll give me an aneurysm.
Again, welcome Sally.
You might find that there is venting, sarcastic comments meant to funny and lots of compliments from the heart.
Whenever you read a forum that is getting heated, just ignore the person that has started the fire. If everyone would ignore them, they would get bored and go away. We tend to want to straighten out the person that is stirring up trouble, but they only want attention and they get a thrill out of the trouble they start.
Just jump in and ask questions and give your advise and ignore rudeness and you will fit in just fine.
I have never had anyone get ugly with me because I don't allow it and will not acknowledge it. They are just acting like bullies and I do not have the time to deal with bullies. Hope this helps.
Well, for me, just my opinion, I likes you just fine. 
I think your very wise...cause you hold then same views as me on scratch baking. Ask what you want...except what violates C.C. policy, which Dkelley has all ready listed. Though we did have a religious conversation this Christmas that didn't get locked. Everyone was very civil. But yeah, there are a lot of funny, sarcastic, smart a@@ people on here and they really aren't MEAN. They are either into their craft (hence why they get irritated when someone wants "Wedding Cakes for Dummies" 2 days before the wedding cake is due) or they own a business (and why they get irritaed with "I just booked my first wedding cake! How much should I charge"?) And yeah, both those examples I gave have really happend. But no one is out to be hateful (well maybe one or two 
,but they hardly ever post and sometimes with good reason ). Smart a@@, sure, hateful, never. We do have a few very sensitive people...but since I'm not one of them, I don't care. 
Welcome to C.C. , glad your here, and always remember we are just like a family. We may not always like each other, but we always love each other. You hear that every one!
...and always remember we are just like a family. We may not always like each other, but we always love each other.
Word 
Welcome, Sally!!
Now, it's not ideal to cause arguments/tiffs/what have you, but BOY when they happen are they ever fun to watch. That's when some of us like to break out the popcorn and kick our feet up for a while.
Dysfunctional family at it's best right here!
All together now HI SALLY!
Welcome to CC! with your background, I can tell that you're doing to be a valuable resource to all of us!
CC is one big cake family. And like all families, we get into squabbles and arguments over silly things. But in the end we all luv each other and when it's over, we're all friends again. We lend our CC sisters (and brothers) a shoulder to cry on when they need it, and we tell them to suck it up and move on when they need to hear that, too.
Almost any topic can get heated depending on the sensitivity and the personalities involved. All in all, everyone is willing to help and share their experiences! But adree is right ... lots of popcorn opportunity!
As you're on here more, you'll find threads that are super amusing. My absolute favorite was a thread that said, "I've made my first cake and have fallen in love with cake decorating! I want to open my own bakery. What do I need to do next?" (Not kidding ... true story! )
Thanks everyone. Now isn't this more pleasant? Altho I must say I did really enjoy most of our debate over there.
One thing I'd really like to get into doing a lot of is gumpaste figures and flowers. I'm going to try my hand at creating figures that actually look like the person who the cake is for which I think will be awesome for wedding cake toppers. I really enjoyed making the flowers at school and I've bought a few books to learn how to do more. The figures are self taught tho. I've done a few animals so far and they've come out pretty good but I want to work on perfecting my technique so that I don't have obvious join marks where I attach legs and heads.
I know the subject is taboo but the whole pricing thing has me a bit flummoxed. I know I can work it all out, I have the formulas and the information from out 'business of baking' class. I'm just always worried that I'm not going to charge enuf. I do the same thing when it comes to my artwork. I'm just horrible at it so I'm hoping, as things get rolling, my bf will go into business with me and take care of the business end of it. I'm so new tho that that will be a while down the road.
Oh I just thought of another one. Does everyone remember "officially embarrassed"?
That's when you come on and tell us you want to turn in a home baker who isn't licensed and make up stories about how filthy her kitchen is.
That thread lasted days! I don't think any of us got any caking done that weekend.
Why would someone do that...unless their kitchen really was filthy?
Did people agree or did they tell the person to mind their own business?
Soooo, if I were to ask what standard price per serving is these days...would that cause a ruckus?
and I were to ask if the price per serving is the same for every flavour would that ruffle feathers?
There isn't a standard price because too many things factor into it. Your location, your overhead and the pricing in your area. So no one can really give you a answer on that one.
On your second question my answer would be how cunfused do you want those buying your cakes to be? To me make pricing as simple as can be. If you have many recipes that end up on a higher cost to make, then you can do a regular vs premium pricing. If most of your cakes cost sorta close to each other then I'd take the cost of ingredients for the first and use that to factor that part of the information.
Since picing is only partly based on the cost to make the cake, it won't matter in the long run if one cake is a little more expensive to make when you have others that are less expensive.
When it comes to the price question pet peeves, there are many posts that are in the general section that will give you an idea of why the bug people. It is fine to ask a pricing question, you just get a better response with giving as much information as you can. Showing a cake picture with no size information is hard to give any kind of answer on. Showing a cake picture and telling how many servings it will be, what the sizes are, how much it will cost to make, how long it will take you to make it and so on will get you better answers.
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