How's the cake business going, Chelle?

I saw on facebook that you're getting regular business. And the cakes look great! Are you making money yet? I know that it takes a while with new businesses because there's so much you have to buy when you're starting up. I'm just blown away with how talented you are!

She sure IS talented.I've never had my own business myself,but the beauty of this business is that there is no store rent,so that it really shouldn't take long at all to start making profits.I bet she has already.

Thank y'all

I am making a little above costs- sometimes 20-40.00. It really doesnt add up in the end as far as an hourly wage- LOL

I am selling the 10 inch rounds for 60-65.00 Those are my best profit per time put out.

ANd for 3 weeks running I had 5 cakes due each week. That kills me- This week I didnt have any- I had one, but her kids party got cancled, and I hadnt decorated yet, so I let her cancle. It was easier. LOL

Next week I dont have anything, but that might change. I just wish that people would book a week or two in advance. honestly. Those that call me on Tuesday for a cake on Saturday when I already have 4 or 5 due just KILL me. walmart wont even make a specialty cake in that amount of time. LOL

I think last week, with the peace cake, the chocolate cake, the sports ball cake, zebra cake, and reeces cake I managed to actually clear about 200.00.

Not bad at all,and I loved the sports cake too much!!!!! The other ones wre beautiful,but that one was so realistic!

I have been meaning to ask this same question! It sounds like you're running yourself ragged, Chelle. Not sure how you can increase your profit without raising prices. I know that's a pain in the butt, because there's only so much a person can pay.

Have you considered charging a delivery fee? That way, either they can run themselves ragged on party day, or they have the option of having their husband or a friend make the pick-up or they can pay for the luxury of having a delivery made right to them. You should get paid for your time and gas and effort on delivery day! And when the kids get old enough, if there's a delivery, they can do it for you and keep the money for their efforts.

And I forgot to say that I loved the zebra cake you did. So cute!

The price/profit ratio is so hard when you first start up a business. The longer someone's been doing something, the more they learn all the money-saving tricks and make contact with cheaper suppliers. Plus they make fewer mistakes. When I make a cake, it takes me forever and I waste a lot because I make all sorts of mistakes and have to rebuy things. But every time I do it, I do a little better at it. I'll never be as good as Chelle, but one day I might be able to make a nice cake without screwing anything up, LOL.

I think you're doing amazingly great for a new business. You've already got people talking about the cakes and creating bzz. And people are posting on facebook about how it tastes so good, how they'll buy another, etc. It's exciting how fast things are moving!

Lori's right about charging a delivery fee. And you could also start baking and freezing cakes to have on hand for those last minute clients. You could have four or five of the ten inch rounds in the freezer ready to be decorated so that any time someone calls you've got part of the work done already. If you wrap them up good and tight they should last a while. You could write the date on the plastic with a sharpie so you'll know how long they've been in there.

Chelle, I've been meaning to ask..you mentioned a little while back in a post that you bought an airbrush. I have been meaning to ask you about it. Where did you buy it, and is it hard to use?
I also wanted to ask you to PM me your marshmallow fondant recipe. I have two nephews birthdays coming up in fall and I don't want to have to go buy fondant. First because the only place that has it anywhere is Walmart, they only sell white and they do sell a multi color pack of blue,red,yellow,green, but it's only 2oz of each color and it's super expensive. I'm a little leery about making my own fondant because I'm worried about how it will turn out, but want to try.

Here is the recipe. You had asked for the recipe a few months ago, Kelly, and Chelle posted it then. I had to search for it when I wanted to make it. Today I found it 3 pages back, buried in a long cake post. After posting it here, I'll put it in our recipes section, too, so it has its own title and is easy to find.

Even though you said you found the recipe online, I'm crediting it to you, Chelle, because of all the useful hints you took the time to post!

Chelle's Marshmallow Fondant

8 Cups of Mini Marshmellows
3 TBS of Water
1 TBS of Flavor
9 Cups (ish) Powdered Sugar Sifted
2 ish Heaping TBS of Shortening + whatever you’ll use to grease your work space

Directions (in this order too):

1. Grease Bowl and Dough Hook of Kitchen Aid
2. Sift 9 Cups of Powdered Sugar in a separate Mixing Bowl (found out this IS VERY important)
3. Put marshmellows, Water, Flavor, Shortening in microwave safe bowl
4. Heat up marshmellow mixture in 30 second zaps, Pull out, Stir, Keep heating until the marshmellows are almost Melted, it will look soupy with some lumps
5. Scoop 6 Cups of PS in Kitchen Aid. (all the while the marshmellows are sorta cooling down–but don’t let them cool completely) Make a well in the powdered sugar with the measuring cup
6. Pour Marshmellow Mixture into PS well, it’s going to spread out and cover all the PS basically, but it helps for it to be in the middle of the PS.
7. Put 1 More Cup of PS on top of MM’s
8. Kitchenaid/sunbeam first setting, once the PS is mostly incorporated Put on the next setting (I used 2), let it run for a while, you’ll notice there is PS on the sides of the bowl, that’s fine, leave it there, try and refrain from scraping it down
You’ll notice it will start to creep up on the dough hook, if its not doing this yet, start adding the PS 1/2 cup at a time until it does (I didn’t let it fully creep up, once it started is when I moved to the next step).
10. Touch the mixture, if its goo and sticking to your finger completely, add 1/4 of PS, if its slightly sticky, then you’re ready for the next part
11. Prepare a portion of your counter (or where ever you hand knead stuff), Bring your sifted PS left over in your separate bowl where you can get to it easily, Shortening on the area where you’ll knead, dump out Mixture and if you need to scrape the bowl. Grease your hands up
12. Add more ps like 1/8 of a cup at a time if it appears to be falling under its own weigh–the perfect MMF should be able to hold its weight a little even at this stage– hand knead, add more PS if you need to, you will end up with a thick dough. Like if you were making bread, but a little denser.

13. cover the ball in grease, wrap in saran wrap, and put it in a gallon ziplock bag. let it sit overnight or at least 8 hours.



before I take it out of the mixer, I make sure that its pretty ... stiff. it wont hold its own shape, it will fall back down, but its in no way liqued, it plops on the counter when you scrape it out.
When done kneading, it should sorta hold its shape, but still will fall this gets better after it sits for the rest period.

to make fiqures I mix fondant and gumpaste. sometimes more gumpaste, sometimes more fondant. depending on how hard I want it to dry, or how easy I want it to be to shape. also, thicker things, like the tool box, I knew it would hold its shape, but would crack if it was mostly gumpaste, so it was 60/40-65/35 ish fondant. where as the docks/signs were 50/50 if not 55/45 or 60/40 gumpaste.

does that make sense?

if you dont have a kitchian aid or sunbeam counter mixer let me know, I will get you a differnt recipe that doesnt require a mixer, just more kneading time.

always keep crisco on your hands. ALWAYS. and I am a cheapo. I always buy the store brand. except in crisco. for my butter cream, and my fondant, I have found it breaks down too easy, and isnt as thick as the real stuff.

Thanks Lori! I remember asking for it and thought I had copied and saved it, but couldn't find it and didn't think to look back in the posts.

No problem! I know I joked about pinning the recipe to the top of the Chit Chat board, but I think it'll be super easy to find it in the Recipes section. By the way, I made it and it turned out great.

Thanks

also, when you take the mix out of the mircowave, you can add 1/2 pacakge jello to it, it gives it some color and taste. White is VERY hard to color dark, you will find that it messes up the consistancy if you put in too much color, so starting out with a base olor helps. also, if you want to use colored marshmallows, you can, it gives you a tan base, for all of your brownish colors.

I also will sometimes add in my color to the melted ingrediants. its usually not enough to get the perfect color, but its enough to give you a decent base so you dont have to overknead it (you can over work fondant) or make it too ...... I guess yucky.

if your fondant is hard, or you cant really knead it well, toss it in the microwave for 10-`1`5 seconds at a time. until its warm and pliable.

another tip- dont buy the expensive wilton mat, or a silicone mat. go to walmart, go to the fabric section, look on that thing with all the table clothes, vinyl and pleather- get a decent thickness vinyl, get a yard of it. bring it home, cut it to whatever size you want. it doesnt crease like the plastic wilton mat, cleans up easy, and you can get more than one 'mat' for less than 2.00. plus if it just gets nasty, too crisco-y and you dont feel like washing it one day- you are tossing out 1.00 not 20.

I know- I've done both

Delivary- honestly, for one, I dont trust folks with my cakes. I will meet them at walmart and let them take them home, but still freak all day. LOL

2. I am out of the way- and my driveway is a pretty rough one. my kids have learned how to hold a cake in their lap, and keep it level by holding their knees and 'going with the flow' its strait downhill, with curves, and pot holes the size of a small car. LOL

plus, I cant always guarentee that my yard is clean, that you cant smell the pig shit from down the hill at the barn, that my dogs wont bite, that my kids are dressed and not covered in mud, crap or blood.

When I start a cake, I lysol my kitchen, forbid entry by anyone who is not scrubbed up good enough for open heart sugery and keep it that way- I cant say the same for the rest of my house- the kids go NUTS (like kids do when you get on the phone) when I am in 'cake' mode. it takes me 2 days to reclean. LOL

Karen, I love your cakes- although I do understand about all the mistakes. My biggest waste is extra fondant- and of course I wont need that color for another 3 months. LOL or putting the cover on a cake (like the present cakes) and BR coming home 3 hours later and pointing out every flaw, and taking it off and I have to redo it all. LOL

The football was very crappy, I used the wrong type of frosting under it. More of a pudding frosting, and it wouldnt harden to hold the fondant.

The soccer ball was actually easier than I thought, once I fiqured out that the white and black were not the same shape, But it really fit more than I thought it would.

The basketball was really crappy, I couldnt make it look used like I wanted, it just looked like I made mistakes with the paint. and again, I used the wrong kind of frosting. But it was one of those cakes I litelry didnt have time to redo. I was still putting the grass on it as the kids were starting the truck. PLUS I had ran out of the green I had, and BRett made up another batch, and it was too dark, So, I had to go over all of it again. LOL and that large of a cake, and the grass tip DO NOT mix.... talk about hand cramps!

Looks like I have to get a Kitchenaid mixer...well I'll just keep my eye out at garage sales and hope to find one..

Kelly I have a sunbeam mixer (countertop one) that was like 89. At walmart. It oisnt a bad mixer but it does have to be babied it will get too hot when I am $mixing buttervream or putting color in it. But bc is very thick. it stops working, then I turn it off let it set and a few hpurs later I turn it back on- one day I will blow it up I know- heck. I mix up all my cakes in it. Make and/or color 300odd pounds of bc a week, plus make dozens of pounds of fondant ( I usually go through about 21-27 lbs of powdered sugar in a week just for fondant).
But if you used it ion a small scale it would work out great-

Sorry for all typos I am having to connect with my blackberry I have 3 shitty computers. They just crawl when I get on the net it literly takes longer just for a page to open then it used to take for one to load o n Dial up

Well, I am going to try to get some kind of mixer soon, so I can practice making fondant. If I don't make my own, I am going to have to buy it online and that would be expensive. My SIL informed me today that her kids decided what they want for their cakes this year. Luckily their birthdays aren't until late fall, so I have some time to plan. The oldest wants a rockstar theme for his birthday, the youngest wants army or camouflage. For the oldest boy,I would love to make some kind of variation on this:
http://www.kandscakes.com/pages/gallery/DI_EI-DoD-DPRockstar-boy-birthday.jpg
For the youngest, I haven't found anything that I really like other than someone making layer cakes with camo patterns painted on it. I wish he hadn't chosen that theme because I could have come up with a ton of great ideas for a bunch of different themes.

For the camo cake if he wants army I would do a combat flak helmet with dog tags out of gumpaste

And you can make fondant by hand, just mix ps into the melted stuff- its harder but not too bad. -

I found an edible cake image in camo with white stenciled Happy Birthday. So I think I will cheat and cover the cake in fondant which I will color army green, use the edible cake image on the top. Then I will use fake plastic razor wire, and will either make a grenade and dog tags or buy them. You can buy dog tags and have them personalized, which he might really like because part of his cake would be a present that he could keep.

Now chelle, what I need to find is an edible cake image like the Happy Birthday one on the top of the other cake that I put a link to (the rock star type cake that I would like to do something similar to), The graphics almost look like Guitar Hero graphics, but I can't seem to find graphics online that are similar. If I couldn't find an edible cake image, if I could find the design, graphics online I could print it out and take it to the local store where they could take what I have and print it on edible sheets.

I found fake plastic barbed wire and star candy molds which I can use for that one..

Any walmart with a bakery will copy just about any image onto the rice paper, and make it edible.

Yep, walmart will make your edible image- but be warned I tried it once- and it was awful. the colors that is-

Army camo would be easy- just make your colors and make splotches.

then throw them on the cake- and Licorice makes great barb wire.

LOL

Also, duff has a line of 'cake tattoo's' that you can buy- I have seen them in a walmart- Not mine, but in a larger city. I dont know how good they are, its just copies on edible paper-

I'll have to try and see the rockstar cake you have linked to- my computers have all been screwy. LOL

I do think the dog tags would be a cute present!

OH MAN!! I have a tray that had candy in it from a halloween- I bought it after halloween one year- it had gummy candy in it- btu the tray they came in is in that 'mold' of a skull.. it would make them SOOO great! Thats why I bought it, if I ever did a halloween cake- LOL

Most of that is airbrushed.

I would make most of it out of fondant- cutting each peice and laying it over. it wont be as seemless. but it will still look good.

for tiers, I use straws as my supports. I dont like dowells much.

Honestly, I'd do my flames as handpainting- and of course, the guitar the same way, although more than likely, I'd cut it out of fondant and then hand paint it. so it was raised.

But, then again, I might do the flames as fondant cutouts. same as I do the zebra stripes.

to me that Rockstar cake almost looks like they wrapped it with the edible paper to get all the images. maybe its all by hand, but its almost too perfect and I see a repeating pattern that I don't think doing it by hand would get.

edit: actually i looked on that website and a lot of the cakes look like edible images...

They are edible images, I don't know if I'm going to try to copy that cake exactly or do a few other ideas with some elements of that cake. It will depend on the birthday boy and what he decides. Those particular edible images around the cake sides, can be purchased (all except for the image on the top of the cake) I would be making the stars (I found the right candy molds) and adding other elements to the cake..I don't know we'll see..again it depends on what he decides.

see I never really think about edible images. I just hate them. The one time I tried them, it look cheap and cheesy and blurry. and the cakes I've seen in person looked the same.

I know some folks make them look good- I just cant- and neither can our walmart. LOL

I know my cakes would possibly look cleaner and more professional if I did use them, but I just dont.

I have gotten them, and they work well as long as your icing is a bit dry...the ones from wal mart came out fine when I used them.