40 is fabulous!

I just love the excitement of a birthday cake...especially this one. It was something special and definitely a big one to celebrate. Val had come to me with several ideas of what she wanted. A special cake to Val from her mama...all she had to do was pick it out :) And i for one think she did a wonderful job. She wanted sophisticated, modern, jazzy and fabulous rolled into one and i think we have winner! The bottom tier is the Irish car bomb concoction while the top tier was a chocolate with an oreo cream filling...for the kids...hehehe. Its covered in fondant with a few added touches such as the 40 on top, did you hear? 40 is the new 20 :) yay!! The ribbon on top is actual ribbon and the blingy bling buckle is for show too...how great is it? i'm thrilled with how it turned out. Happy Birthday Val, (raising my Guinness :)...here's to a fabulous new year!

P.S....also a BIG thank you to the hubbs...he helped me with designing the cake and he also drew it out for me. i'll have to post that as soon as i can scan it to the computer. We make a great team don't we? i think so. Thanks B! ur the best :)

Changes for the New Year

Happy 2012 everyone! i'm not sure how you all feel about the new year but i have a feeling it's going to be great, one filled with positive change :) I'm thinking the blog needs an overhaul so i'll slowly start working on that, as you can see i've added a page for cake flavors. I've decided it's best to have a list available for anyone interested in cake orders. I won't be listing prices however becuase each cake will be priced different. As much as i've tried to avoid it, i'll be increasing my cake prices...i know i know...i'm sorry. I'm doing it for several reasons though, the first being that i'm so limited on my time right now...between work and everything else i'm doing it is becoming more difficult to take on cake orders, the second being prices are just going up everywhere and since i can't buy wholesale without a food industry business license i'm paying regular price for everything; remember, this is a hobby for me...i would love to have my own bakery but that's just another chapter i'm not going to get into right now, and third, i have to start really appreciating my own work and looking at exactly how much time i'm putting into it. Sure a cake from the grocery store is cheaper but that's not me. I put alot of effort and more creativity into my cakes and not to toot my own horn or anything but my cakes are going to be better than a grocery store bakery. I love making cakes and with each one, hope that the client loves it just as much. So again...i'm sorry but it's what i have to do. I've played around with different ways of pricing but each one just gave me a headache! lol...so i'm thinking the easiest and fairest way is to price them per serving, and they'll be subject to additional charges for non basic fillings & frostings and fondant. Pricing will also effect carved style cakes...charging by serving may work in some instances but for the most part, they'll have a set price but also subject to additional charges. This has been a difficult decision for me to make but what helps is knowing my prices will probably still be lower than a bakery. I'm also putting together a contract for clients so everything is in the clear. Just crossing my t's and dotting my i's :) I'm thinking of also rearranging the blog a bit...i haven't quite decided if i'm going seperate the cakes by theme or just continue to go with what i've been doing. I'm not exactly computer savvy so it's going to take me some time. It's a work in progress but i think i'm headed in the right direction :) Happy New Year!!