Hi everyone! 

quick side history... I have been doing cakes off and on for many years at home and bakeries, I because a Wilton Method Instructor to earn some extra money and then my home cake business started taking off. Thanks to new Texas laws I actually can make cakes from home without worry. I am still VERY small, taking a couple of orders a month. I have been approached to do a wedding cake (something I wasn't sure I wanted to mess with due to stress!)

This lady asked for a tasting and I said "yeah OK sure!" before doing any research, so here I am stuck doing a most likely free tasting (since I never mentioned cost) with three kinds of cake and icing.

SO here is my problem ha!..... I have only recently gotten into scratch baking. Depending on time or funds I either use box mix (amped up with extra egg, olive oil, etc) or a scratch cake if time has allowed and I trust the recipe. 

I have not done the cakes (accept one) from scratch before, so two would be box and one would be scratch. Is this something I shouldn't do? should they all be from scratch? I really don't have time if a recipe fails to fix it. or the funds since this is free. 

My concern is the questions about recipes and things like that. 

thanks for your time!!

It really depends on what flavors you offer. I use box for some flavors and scratch for some flavors. You don't have to disclose what is from scratch and what is from box... hardly any clients even bother asking.

Just make the 3 flavors you plan on making, and add the cost of the tasting to the price of the cake order when you quote her the final price. Be sure to take a deposit to hold the date as well! Good luck!

As long as what you give her to taste is what you'll be using for the wedding cake it doesn't matter.

A

If someone asked,you would tell them though? It never even occurred to me to ask a custom cake artist if they were using a box mix....until I joined cc.

Yes, you can tell them that you use box mix as a base and doctor it to your satisfaction to create delicious tasting flavors :)

While most brides haven't asked, I did have one bride who interrogated me on everything: did I make my own jams?  Did I grow my own fruit even?  I don't because it is just not cost effective for the customer and i told her that.  She clearly wasn't impressed but that's up to her.  I said that I use top quality jams and I could make my own jam if she wanted me to but it would increase the cost.  Providing you're honest, you'll be fine!

I don't disclose recipe's...period.  Especially in a tasting situation, where the customer is just a potential client. I also provide psuedo-free tastings.  I charge for the tasting at the time of the tasting, but will deduct the amount from the final purchase if they choose my cakery.

I do disclose that nut based products are in my kitchen, and I do disclose that I'm not gluten free and if asked will discuss dietary concerns.

AI do both box and scratch baking. If asked (which is pretty common) I honestly reply both - that it depends on the cake. I have only had 2 wanted to know which cakes were which. I replied "well, you just tasted 6 of my cakes - can you tell me which is which?". Neither could and they dropped the questioning.

I don't charge for tastings. In my area free tastings are the norm. But, to make this possible I don't bake fresh for each tasting. I bake small cakes with left over batter and use large bit size samples for my tastings. This keeps the cost and time invested down.

Hello All-

This is great feedback. I have a question now.

What type of set up do you present to the potential client?

In other words, are the tastings cupcakes, cake slices, or mini cakes? Also, do you normally decorate them like a wedding cakes?

Another question, how did you overcome the fear of doing a wedding cake?

AFor my tastings I put large bite size pieces of cake in a small plastic cup (think jello shot size) with the lid on so the cakes don't dry out while waiting for the client to show. I usually have 4 or 5 different cake flavors to sample. The cups are arranged on a white square platter/plate I have with a little label in front of the cake samples with the name of the flavor. There is a piece of each flavor for each person that attends (up to 3 people).

I do the same with the fillings and buttercream on a second, matching plate but I don't worry about putting lids on those. Fillings don't dry out like cake.

Each sitting place has a plate, spoon, napkin and mini water bottle.

I have decorated cake dummies out for display. The dummies are different sizes and colors. The sizes help people be able to picture what their cake will look like. I also have 2 photo albums out of cakes, cupcakes and cookies I have done for them to look at.

It took me several years before I felt confident to make a wedding cake. My first one was for a friend's wedding. I told them up front it was my first wedding cake and I would do it as a gift becuase confidence was not there yet. It went well and I haven't looked back since.

I cut my cake into individual servings and wrap well and freeze.  I do the same with frosting/fillings and put them in little tiny containers.  Then when I have a tasting I just pull exactly what I need out of the freezer the night before.  I usually serve 3 types of cake and 6-7 frostings.