Let Them Eat Cake!

Okay, so I was hesitant to go into the professional cake decorating business.  I really didn't think my cakes were all that well done.  I mean, I'm proud of the work I have done in the past, but to be honest, it isn't usually anything terribly difficult.  And I'm my own worst critic, naturally.  I know where my mistakes are, so I see them, glaring at me, sticking their little tongues out at me.  I can feel them pulling faces when I'm not looking, only to quickly look all innocent when I turn around again.  I know they're there.  Mistakes happen.  Every decorator makes them.  The trick is to know how to cover them up so that your customer is always happy.

Customers.  Up until recently, all of my cakes were done for free, so I didn't really consider the people they were made for to be customers.  Sure, I have worked really hard to make each cake look as fabulous as possible, and of course I've cared how they've looked, but now it really counts.  My family hates when I am doing cakes.  I get frustrated easily when something isn't working the way I want it to.  So they graciously eat the cut-off rounded top part of the cake (that in most cases would not be used for the finished cake) and then politely but nervously excuse themselves for the duration of my baking and decorating time.  Since I decided to start charging for my cakes (at the urging of several people), I have warned my family that if they thought I was hard to be around before, I will very likely be even more unbearable now that someone is actually paying me to do their cake.  Thankfully, my better half understands this and said that it will be different because I'm getting paid.  Does that mean they won't leave any more when I start baking?

It's been three weeks now since I decided to take the dive.  I've had three people place orders for cakes, one for cupcakes and two for cake pops.  I have some good ideas for the cakes, based on what the customers have told me they want.  Without giving too much away, let's just say you'll soon be seeing pictures of rainbows, skateboards, hat boxes, girly zebra prints and multi-coloured tattoos.  Then there are the cupcakes.  LOTS of cupcakes.  150 to start with. I can't really say anything about these right now because they're supposed to be a secret until the event.  But they're going to be very cute.  And finally, the cake pops.  *Sigh.*  I've made cake pops one time.  ONCE.  They didn't look all that great, but they tasted really good.  When a co-worker asked me to make some cake pops for her, I told her straight up that I hadn't perfected them yet and they really are anything but pretty.  So, I told her I'd use has for practice and not charge her for them.  She laughed and said she'd pay me anyway.  Then another co-worker placed an order for them and gave me the payment in advance.  Sheesh.  I was really hoping to get more practice with these before people started ordering them.  Oh well, as they say, baptism by fire!  I just finished making 30 cake pops.  A dozen for each co-worker and half a dozen for practice.  I've decided I don't really like making cake pops all that much.  They're so messy to make.  I tried dipping the first one in candy coating, and quickly realised that was not going to end well.  I resigned to scooping the candy coating with a spoon and rolling the pops in it and then using the back of the spoon to try to smooth it out and fill in tight around the stick.  These are definitely not the most beautiful creations, but I did try one and it tasted rather good.  That's all that really matters, right?  Most people start with the extras and practice on them.  Not me.  I went ahead and used the candy coating on all 24 pops.  The six I had left over got wrapped in fondant.  Why the heck didn't I think to do that instead of the candy???  Live and learn.  I did say I hadn't perfected them yet.  Next time I make them, they will be really adorable because now I have all kinds of ideas for them.  =)

C Cup Cakes

I enjoy making cakes.  Cakes make people happy, and making something that makes people happy makes me happy.  I love creating things.  Give me an idea and the wheels start turning.  A couple of my cakes started out really simple and became something really incredible.  The wedding cake with the guitar was, initially, just the guitar.  But who has just a guitar for a wedding cake?  Well, it turned out that the couple had invited more people than the guitar alone would feed, so we discussed sitting the guitar on top of a sheet cake.  Pretty soon, that evolved into sheet music, then the book of sheet music as its own cake.  Then, we realised that there would be no place to put their topper, and a third cake joined the other two.

Another cake that got the wheels turning was for a friend's 50th birthday.  Her mother asked me to do the cake and I agreed to do it as my gift to my friend.  When I asked what she had in mind, she told me she had once seen a toilet cake with chocolate frosting that said "Ain't it the sh!ts turning 50" and thought that was the funniest thing ever.  I loved the idea.  Well, apparently, what she was thinking was a cake shaped like a toilet seat.  What I saw in my head was a totally 3 dimensional full-on toilet.  And, instead of using chocolate frosting, I filled the bowl with corn syrup and shaped a tootsie roll into a perfect little floating poo.  When I delivered the cake (which, by the way, weighed a killer ton), everyone laughed hysterically.  It was a hit.

So many people have told me that I should go into the cake decorating business.  Maybe I will one of these days.  So far, all of my cakes have been done for free, for practice, for experience.  But now, at the urging of my friends, I have set up a Facebook page for my cakes.  I'm talking them up a bit more, this time, not just to friends, but also to strangers.  I've got a few potential first clients already and I'm really excited about that. So I guess I'm going into the cake business!  Wish me luck!

On the road again!

3-Peat Legacy Pin

Okay, so I've registered again for the Arizona 3 Day. I registered on event, actually, because I just couldn't live with myself if I missed out on getting a 2012 3-Peat Legacy Pin. But it wasn't enough for me to just register to do one 3 Day event. No way. I had to sign up for two. See, people have asked me after my first experience on the crew in 2011 which one I liked better. I can't decide. This is definitely a walker's walk. The walkers get all the love out on the route and at the opening and closing ceremonies. I missed that. But the crew works really hard to support the walkers, and I really enjoyed that too. So this year I decided to walk in Arizona and crew in San Diego. I've signed up for Gear & Tent crew again. We busted our butts loading and unloading all those "35 lb (*wink wink*) bags" and I got to drive a big truck. That was fun. I can't wait to do that again. But I'm also looking forward to lacing up my trainers again and hitting the streets. I love the training. I love meeting other walkers and hearing their stories. I love doing this event. I love my 3 Day family. Most of all, I love knowing that I'm doing something good with my time and I'm doing something that's good for me - getting some much needed exercise!