a beginner with dreams

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Quinn on August 24, 2010 at 7:30am

After trying to convince my hubby of the same thing...(I have Talent!) 3 years later I've spent a whole LOT of $$$$$ and I've made quite a few cakes, but a profit??? Not Hardly! This is the truth, I'm a mom of 3 and I wanted to stay home with the kids and make $$$, It's a very expensive Hobby!! I thought I'd hand out some business cards and make a cake for someone famous, that would do the trick...article in the paper, check! But my phone doesn't ring very often! Remember you're competing with people who've been around for decades!! I hope you have a lot of friends, word of mouth is the only thing that sells!! ( I just moved 3 states away from anyone who knew me!) Bad Idea! You want to make a profit when you're done?? after giving lots of cake and precious time away, trying to just" get my name out there" I end up making like $.20 per hour...yes thats 20 cents per hour!!! and some weeks are better than others,just remember, It's hard ! time consuming, and the only time anyone needs a cake is when I've already got too much on my spatula!! I wish you luck, it is an art form for sure! I still love cake design! but as a mom you should know what you're getting yourself into. There is never a shortage of new techniques to learn, good luck and best wishes for fast fingers!!

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Permalink Reply by Karen Marie on August 25, 2010 at 8:17am

Heather that is a wonderful goal and looking at your cakes, you do have the ability to work with your hands. I think it would really benefit you to take some cake decorating classes...build your skills and learn the basics of piping, icing etc. And then practice practice practice! Make some practice buttercream (1 cup shortening to 2 lb confectioners sugar plus a little liquid to thin if necessary- 1 to 2 tbsp water), cover the back of a baking sheet with plastic film and pipe pipe pipe, then scrape it off and reuse it over and over....get some cake decorating books and read all you can, stay in this forum and read everthing about decorating, the cake buisness etc. Find some good recipes you can rely on and bake bake bake! I know this sounds silly but I have seen too many beginners jump right into the middle of stuff with a terrible foundation of skills and their cakes never look right....cakes not level, badly executed icing, piping that looks like a 6 year old did it etc....you are right there is much to learn and you never really learn it all but you have to start somewhere...good luck and there are plenty of people that are willing to help you!

Oh yeah...you CAN make money at it! You dont have to give all your cakes away...just get to the point where you have the confidence in your work and then charge a fair price....there are a few good discussions about this in the cake business section of the forums...you can do this!

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