Sugarcraft chat

[wem]

I started a thread for cake people a while back but it got a bit lost in Chat so thought I'd try to tempt people into our lovely new baking topic.

Hopefully I'll see some of the posters from the chat thread, but for any new people popping in, introductions: I'm wem, I'm a recent cake obsessive and have been bothering mumsnetters about it a fair bit as I'm starting up cake decorating business. I don't have anywhere near the experience or knowledge of some of the posters in here, but I do have an excessive willingness to chat about cake :)

Let's try this again, eh?

Wem, they are sugar roses and ruscus leaves.

Well, I've managed to just about escape death... never again...

Wem, glad she liked it! I've seen a few art deco style cake's recently and I really like them.

Blueberry, I think it would depend on the design and what type of cakes they wanted. Do you make cakes as your job?

I'll get some pics of mine up in a bit.

Midori - It is more the can I be arsed than can I actually do it! They want a simple design which will take 20mins to set up and flowers etc can be made in advance. The one I have booked in already is more complicated but most parts can be made in advance and assembled on the day - it also involves 40 cupcakes for favours. I am a SAHM mum right now and help out at DH's office but cakes will take priority over that.

blueberry, wish i was SAHM mum, cooking cakes is such a joy compared to choosing peoples specs for them!!! Oh sorry forgot to mention i work at specsavers opticians for my sins, would much rather cook cakes all day though!

I too am a SAHM. I would like to makes cakes as a business one day, but I need to practice much more first.

I've stuck this weekend's photos and a few more recent ones on my profile. This weekend's are the rainbow cake, Cinderella, communion cake/cupcake tower and Spiderman. I have to say, I'm not completely happy with any of them, I never am, but annoyingly, when I got the the venue there was a big air bubble on the top of the communion cake that wasn't there when I left home! i am not sure if they noticed, but they text me to say how thrilled they were. phew!

I just looked at Peggy Porschen's website - does anyone know what she charges? Only DS brought home something that a classmate had delivered to him - in a Peggy Porschen bag. If parents round here are shopping there, I may have to revisit my assumption that I couldn't charge enough for cakes to make it worth it

(I am dreaming, BTW - no way I could justify giving up full time job to make cakes - but I have had fun in the last few weeks with chocolate roses (easy, considering I had never done them before, but time consuming), first ever attempt at cakepops (with cakepop maker) and jubilee cupcakes - photos at the end of the set)

midori - I can't see your profile - that sounds like a hell of a weekend, though!

i think I've made it public now?!

Lovely cakes Stealth, I love the baby dragon one!

I am not sure of PP cakes, but they certainly aren't cheap...

Stealth - PP cakes start at £500 for a standard design or £1000 for a bespoke design. Mini cakes are £15 each with a 30 minimum order I definitely don't charge enough!!

Midori - your cakes are FAB!

..so when the child in question said last year "I really want minisquiggle's Mummy to make me a cake" I clearly should have listened and offered to undercut PP by 30%

(I might have done, had she actually invited minisquiggle to her party instead of it being a "girls only" affair)

Stealth - DH offered to pay for me to go one one of her courses UNTIL we discovered it cost just shy of £1000 for ONE day excluding lunch.

I did a copy of a PP design a few years ago. I felt bad charging £350 for it - the original was nearly £1000. I have a serious problem with undercharging, DH always complains that I massively undercharge for my cakes

Blueberry - nice, clean, sharp finish on your profile cakes. Very nice :)

midori, nice cakes! and all with a hangover, very impressive. i made a 6inch spongecake last weekend, for a friend in work, i wasnt sure how much to charge as it was my Ist cake in a long time, so in the end i just said to give me £7.00 to cover my ingredients, what would you have charged? or anyone else for that matter.

Thanks.

I never really charge enough tbh. I usually charge £10 for an 8" decorated sponge, regardless of how I decorate it, although I'm not really covering my costs, so an going to put it up a bit. I'd probably charge the same for a 6" cake tbh, not much difference in costs. I only charged £40 for the communion cake and cupcakes, which I realise in insane, but it was for my husband's tight mate and I really wanted to make it.

I'm thinking I might make it a business and charge properly, but I think I need more practice first and it's a lot of hassle/nerve wracking.

I charge £12 for a 6" round and depending on the finish £15-20 for an 8" round Simple fondant plus small sugar animal/flower are cheaper than buttercream rose covered ones as I use proper butter in my buttercream and it cost a bloody fortune these days!

yep i guess unless you have a proper business i find people expect you to do them for peanuts, the woman i made the 6inch cake for plonked the £7.00 in my hand without a thank you or anything, and she was a colleague of mine, she's off my xmas card list from now i can tell you!!!. funny thing though she textd me to say how lovely it was and how moist the cake was, never mind. I think you should have charged £40 just for the 40 cupcakes, they're at least £1 in Greggs alone.

That doesn't seem like much blueberry, you can't be making much for your time above ingredients costs.

I'd like to go on a course at some point. There's so much out there though, everything from sugar flowers at the local cake craft shop to Peggy Porschen's diploma for £6400! I don't know where to aim for to get the most out of it. Any recommendations?

Well if you want sugar flowers, Alan Dunn has got to be your man. However, as with anything it depends on what you want to do and whose style you like.

wem I guess you need to decide what it is you want to learn - techniques, particular cakes, or the business side?

Have you considered some online courses for specific techniques? I keep looking at the craftsy ones but have yet to sign up (I put one on my birthday wish list thinking that someone might take the decision out of my hands, but they didn't!)

Hmmm, I think techniques. I've had a few books out of the library and they always show you specific cakes, which has been great, but I'd like to do more my own designs now, and I don't know if I'm making my life more difficult by not knowing the best way to do things.

I've seen a couple of those craftsy courses in emails, I'll have a more thorough look and see what's there, thanks.

I have just been given Eddie Spence Royal Icing book - Royal icing is something I would love to be fantastic at. I have been playing a little this morning as my littlest DD has had her first morning at nursery. A localish shop does an Eddie Spence course which I am going to ask for for my birthday.

I have another Wedding show in September and want to do a couple of slightly more modern/exotic cakes along with the traditional and chocolate cakes.

Royal icing scares me, but I'd love to be able to use it, the effect is so much sharper and cleaner than fondant. Is the book good?

Yes Midori, i agree, i saw a few Alan Dunn books on Amazon, he's amazing! especially with exotic flowers. i fancy having a go at making chocolate roses, how easy are they?

I found chocolate roses surprisingly easy, albeit very time consuming. I made mine from this stuff and only used a circle cutter and a ball tool.

Now - a challenge for you all. I just bought a mini skull and crossbones mould, and thought I would make pirate cake pops for the village fete. However, that would need black candy melts, and it would seem that UK suppliers only stock those for halloween - can anyone find somewhere that has them in stock??