Hi! I'm Emma. I'm new to Cake Central.

I should say straight away that I'm not a cake decorator.

So what am I doing here? I'm a baker running a new small business providing cakes, slices, biscuits (cookies) etc to cafes, restaurants, clubs and tourist attractions in the coastal tourist town I live in, in Australia. I came across cake central during my research, especially in regards to pricing. Your forums kept popping up in searches and were really informative.

As far as cake decorating goes, I'm really keen to learn and I know that is something that will take hundreds of hours of practice and probably 5 years to a decade before I'd be up to professional standards. I'd like to grow my skills outside of what I can do now in my business and cake decorating would be part of that, first as a hobby. I've seen some of the threads about undercutting and decorators not up to standard selling cakes and that's definitely not my intention. I know this is hard work and some of you are so skilled! It blows me away!

I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm still finding my way around this site. I have a few questions.

1. How do groups work? I can't seem to get to find them. Maybe because I'm new my posts are moderated?

2. Does anyone else run a business like mine? Could you recommend any other sites or forums that are relevant and helpful?

I looks forward to getting to know you!

hi emma -- cake decorating is not as daunting as it may seem -- find a picture of a cake you would like to make and just take it step by step-- gathering equipment and practicing skills -- you'll be there in no time --

hope you enjoy yourself here on cc

Welcome!

careful…cake decorating is addictive!    Once you start practicing you will find something you wan to do and it will require a special tool and you will buy that tool and then another and another LOL…I have a closet full of fun stuff, which is why I decided to legalize my kitchen and to charge for my hobby.  It has paid for itself!  You'tll get good at it before you know it!

Thanks :)

I've (finally) found a kitchen that meets all the legal requirements in my local area.

I'm trying to avoid the trap of buying too much stuff because I've done that in the past with hobbies and ended up with a cluttered room full of it all. Generally my interest in the hobby diminishes over time and I'm left with a lot of stuff I've wasted money on when I didn't really need it or use it regularly.

Amaybe think of it as an investment in yourself -- nothing wrong with exploring different hobbies -- you've undoubtedly learned a lot about yourself along the way -- sometimes you can box it up for another go at it in a few years or pass it on to someone else or sell it on ebay-- don't be so hard on yourself--

there's the rba which is retail bakers assoc -- they have a ton of stuff -- i've never joined but i know of it-- and there's http://forums.egullet.org/ it's a foodie site that might have some fellow bakers --

You're right. My husband really can't complain! Since this hobby is related to my business I'll be developing skills I can use in it, even if it's just better fine motor skills and more patience. And if it one day adds another revenue stream for my business- wonderful!

Thanks for the recommendations K8Memphis. You're right, I am too hard on myself sometimes.

Hello Emma, 

I don't decorate either, been here since I started looking for information on how to make a good white cake from scratch. My focus is simply that...to offer good scratch cakes to my customers. I am thinking cookies and such too, but am pacing myself. 

As far as getting interested in a topic then the interest fades, some friends and I were discussing that as I'm like that too and so are some of them. Here's a link to a small article about it: http://getmotivation.com/articlelib/articles/barbara_sher_scanner.html . 

:D

aprildaisy -- that's a cool article -- reminds me of a book i had for my adhd kid something about hunters and farmers -- where for sentry duty for example -- you'd rather have an add who is processing and taking in everything all the time rather than a farmer type that views things more singularly -- yeah i thought i gave the book away but here it is it's called "ADD a different perspective" tag line of 'the hunter in a farmer's world' by michael popkin phd --

-- not sure if i am a scanner but i am a 'starter' -- interesting article though -- there's gotta be room for everyone -- 

AK8memphis - I tend to get interested in something long enough to share the information with someone else who needs it (long history of this, I should probably add it to a book I'm writing). My favorite thing to do is write intuitive encouragement notes for people, but it's hard to explain that. It's easier to say, "I make great cakes from scratch, would you like one?" lol

I too believe there is no one answer for everyone and a person's strengths make them awesome at something worth sharing with the world!

Awesome. What is white cake? We don't have that here. Our plan vanilla cake is called 'butter cake' but I know you have that in the states and call it yellow cake? (My in laws are American so I pick up bits and pieces).

AWhite cake is what most professional bakers use for wedding cakes. People like the white look. Most of the recipes I've seen get this look by not putting in the egg yolks. I saw a test comparison once online where even different ingredients like sour cream, butter, shortening, colored the cake different shades of white. There are lots of threads here about the perfect white cake, several recipes linked and in the recipe section. You could spend quite a lot of time searching here and finding out things about THE white cake. lol

Thanks. I'll have a look. Fruit cake is the traditional wedding cake here, though mud cake and other flavours are really popular now.

So I've just been booked for an event! I usually sell wholesale but there is going to the a breast cancer fundraising event at the local racecourse in September. I've been invited to book a stall and sell cakes and sweets. I'll be the only cake/sweet stall there but they are getting a coffee van. I'm excited! I know markets are a hard deal but I thought I'd give this a go, being for charity and all. Now I just have to work out what to make....

I wish you the BEST of sales and repeat customers!!! Here's how I see it...you'll be learning as you go along...customer interaction, potential future sales, actual sales that day...there's a great deal of good you can get from this. :) 

Thanks so much! I am taking it as experience. As it gets closer I need to work out how many people will be there and how many would buy sweets. I can't afford wastage. And I've never transported 200 cupcakes in my car so I have no idea how to do that. So much to figure out!

Good luck with the transport...

I had a lot for our school fete, and they fell over everywhere.

I thought they were all snug and sucure, but those tricky little cakes escaped!

Oh no Bunny! What happened and how did you have them packaged?

Emma,

I transported 300 cupcakes in the back of my car for the school fete and not one fell over. I used a combination of cupcake holders (but I only had about enough for 80 or so) and then the big underbed plastic containers, which I lined with non-slip matting. Not a single cupcake was damaged. You can stack the big containers on top of each other in your boot too (I fit about 72 cupcakes in each from memory, I packed them pretty tightly.)

Where are you in Australia? You can get the non-slip matting from Coles for about $3 a roll, but I'm sure hardwares etc have it too.

You can get rolls of the non slip matting from most of those $2 shops

I had little mini cupcakes, and no anti-slip matt.

They weren't destroyed, just a little mucked up.

I searched how to transport cupcakes on this forum and got great ideas! I do have 4 big under bed containers so I will use those with non-slip matting. So the matting goes under the cupcakes? And the cupcake wrappers just grip to it a little so they don't slide? Excellent.

I think I'll make a small test batch and drive to a friends house going through multiple roundabouts and tight corners to see how it goes.

I'm on the NSW north coast, Winniemog. How about you?

Exactly, put the nonslip mat in the box and then cupcakes directly on top.

I'm in Melbourne, Victoria. My mother's on the NSW south coast.....but it's a long coastline!

I've bought Cake Boss and have put in my most of my master ingredients. This thing is amazing and I feel much more organised already.