I don't do this professionally, but everytime I get an order for a cake it's always sooo boring! They always say "oh just do something easy" and it's always white or chocolate cake......... NO IMAGINATIONS! I just did one recently that was a catepillar (I'll load it into my galery later) so that was a little more creative, but it was still - vanilla & chocolate cake.... no one ever wants to try new flavors. I'm afraid of making new flavors sometimes b/c I'm afraid people won't eat it. I also have that problem w/ fondant - I'm scared to death sometimes to use it on cakes for "customers" b/c I'm afraid they won't eat it and will just think it's gross.... plus I know no one is going to pay extra for fondant when they can just get buttercream...... do any of you run into this? I'd love to do some elaborate cakes and expand my skills - I'd even like to start baking from scratch - but with people being so boring it's hard to do that! Just wanted to know if any of you had this problem too.

I'm with you on that, I'm sick of doing basic sheet cakes with no real challange involved. But I just think an order is an order and try out my other ideas/flavors on my family.

Try making suggestions when speaking with them sometimes they just don't know what is available or what you can offer. I offer suggestions for fillings and designs sometimes they pick from what I suggest that is why I believe they just don't have any idea of what you have to offer.

You can get more creative and practice to if you do dummy cakes. I find I can just do what ever I want when I do those and they are great to show to prospective clients. Especially for weddings and showers.

A lot of people are not very creative but when you show them or tell them what you have available they usually are delighted.

Good luck
Kathy

To be honest I have the side of the problem. People never tell me what they want so I have to come up with something and hope they like it. I've never been asked to do a sheet cake.

As far as fondant. Well I hate the taste also so I always put a pretty thick layer of bc under it so people can pull it off and still have the icing if they don't like fondant.

Maybe you could show people some other cakes and ask if they would like you to try that for their cake. Or give them a list with flavors. Most people don't think beyond the normal white or chocolate cake until you offer it.

I, personally, like to do detailed, 3-D cakes. I like to push the envelope. I basically tell people that I don't do ordinary sheet cakes, if they want simple, "Go to Safeway." If they want a cake to be a centerpiece and something that people will talk about for a long time or really want to make a statement, they will come to me.

I got a call the other day from a gal that attended a baby shower where I created a cake. She said, "Well, now I HAVE to get one of your cakes, otherwise, I will be 'out of the loop'. It wouldn't be cool for me to have a grocery store cake at this event."

Needless to say, I was thrilled. Plus, the cool thing about dealing with boring customers, as you say, is that since they don't have an imagination, they usually let your imagination run wild. I love it!!! May all my customers be boring!!!

I agree that customers don't know what's out there, unless they love to bake themselves. It is becoming a lost art, I afraid. I suggest you try making a few new recipes for yourself and your family and decide which ones you like and would offer. Then when you get a potenial customer, let her or him know up front during the discussion, "these are the favors and fillings that are available" I do this and also make suggestions as to what cake favors go best with which filling. More often then not, when I start talking about options the customers usually get very interested!

I can tell you it can be boring for us professionals, too. After each new Martha Stewart Weddings is released, I get lots of requests for the same cakes over and over with only a few, adventuresome couples sprinkled in. The rest generally select directly from my portfolio. Not very many want a 100% original design.

One of the things I've learned in this business is that the power of suggestion is great. "Oh, a simple sheet cake is ok. But, wow, *this* cake on page 3 will knock their socks off and it's only x amount of dollars more and we can do some fun flavor combinations, blah blah blah..."

Something I recommend is to get some dummies and just play around with fun designs. Take photographs and build a portfolio of things you'd LOVE to do for clients. That way you get to be use your creativity and you have something to show clients when they think they want something "simple". I do that each year during my sabbatical (Nov - Dec) and it's been a neat way to play and expand my portfolio.

I am also tired of doing the same thing over and over. The brides never want anything new just the old stuff. I only have one customer that let's me do whatever I want, which I like, because it allows me to try something I never tried before.
I bake new cakes and bring them to work but when it comes time to order, they order the same thing. I show my pictures but they still want something plain. I had a guy who placed an order for his girlfriend's b-day cake (plain yellow cake/choc frosting, when he came too pick it up I was trying to put a few flowers and a boarder on the cake. He said"you don't have to do all that".

I go through stages of doing one cake several times and then it stops.
( thank god) Right now i am ready to tear out makeup bag picture from the cake book. i am sick of them. Some of them come from the birthday party and ask for the exact same cake from the previous party. Not even a change in color. So sad and sooo boring.

I used to be scared to pick up the telephone because i would hear that they want a footballer on the cake.now it must have been a year at least and not even one footballplayer on the cake. ps i wouldn't mind making one now ( once in a while)

I cringe also when customers call for a sheet cake. Don't get me wrong, they have their place, but dear God, how boring can you get. I tactfully try to suggest to them to go to a grocery store if that's what they want.

However, I do try to suggestive sell something different. That's when the handy portfolio comes into play, which I find can be very persuasive. Give people a visual and they're more apt to change their minds.

Sandy

I have the same problem! I just do for family & friends, but they always want the same thing they had before... . Several always want white cake with bc, some others, choc w/choc bc. Even my dh always wants the same cake or cookies, he won't even try anything out of the ordinary.

I'm ready to experiment & expand my horizons (instead of just my butt ). I do have one for next spring that is going to be fun & interesting, I just need a chance to practice it!

Ooohh don't bring up cookies! That's all I used to bake and I did chocolate chip over and over and over again! I tried to do oatmeal raising and fun flavors and different types of chocolate chips - nope everyone just wanted chocolate chip!!! Ugh!! No originality people! I guess one reason people might not want to experiment is they're afraid no one else in the "group" or "party" will try it if it's a weird flavor...I don't know - I'm more adventurous I guess!

I truly think it is a matter of the public not realizing what can be done with cakes nowadays. We get to go to all these great sites, read wonderful how to books, in short expose ourselves, while the general public is in this little bubble. It's our job to burst that bubble or we'll be doomed to do boring cakes!

Sometimes when they ask for a simple cake, but I have a great idea in my head - I make the crazy 3D sculpted cale anyway! Then I give them a "Portfolio Discount" and charge them what they would pay for the simple cake and tell them I really wanted to work on this design so they get a bonus. This way I get to do the cake I want, get a picture for my book (I have no time for cake dummies or sample cakes - I just do this on the side) and they know how much the cake should have cost but pay what they wanted to pay. Sometimes they offer to pay more than I am charging them anyway.

I do a lot of family and friend cakes - they can give me a theme, but the design is of my choosing! They are pretty good about flavors and fillings as well - pretty much let me do whatever I want. I am just starting to experiment a bit more with that.

Oh I would never print out a cake and tell the person I did that. I know that when I try to copy a cake I always add things to make it my own. I use the cake as a general idea and go from there. Unless it was a cake I did in a class or copy from a book like Debbie Brown or Colette Peters. Not that I've done those but I plan on doing one in a few weeks and will copy just as the book shows it.

But even if one does copy just the same they never look the same. I know my luck the customer would love the cake photo and then I try to do it and it looks like a three year old did it.

So my advice to anyone is to NEVER try to pass off anyone's cake as your own.

Okay, I am one of the boring customers LOL. Before taking decorating classes, I had no idea what was available. I didn't know about fondant and gumpaste. I had no idea about all the fancy stuff. When I would go in to order a cake, the first thing I always got asked was, "do you want a sheet cake?" Not knowing any better, I would say yes.

I would have loved for the baker to have shown me some pictures and not always offered a sheet cake. All you bakers and decorators, make suggestions to us boring customers LOL We just don't know any better LOL

**Well, now I know better but I bake my own cakes now LOL

The few customers which I've had over the past year have mostly said 'I'll leave the design to you' which can be frustating although it gives a free hand on it. Some can't even choose a set colour but say oh pinkish or bluish or whatever.
I do have a bride coming soon ot see me to discuss her wedding cake so hopefully will get something interesting to do!
As i haven't loads of my own pics to show brides at the mo, I have put pics in another album which I have downloaded to show brides, to look at, but I do tell them I didn't do them and its for them to get an idea from. So I show them two albums, but I would NEVER make out they were mine.
I mostly do sugar flowers on cakes and not loads of fancy designs and I would love the chance to do some really exotic flowers and not just roses! (though i love doing roses as well)! Think I will have to suggest a few different ones this time!!

cheers Jan

I like sweetresults idea. i suppose if yours is a serious business you'd go broke though. But, as JoanneK said, everyone gets asked if they want a sheetcake. As decorators, if we want to do more challenging and fun cakes, I think we should first ask if the customer would like a 3D cake or a theme cake. Steer the customer away from sheet cakes. They're just to limiting to the imagination!

Ladies, ladies!! I completely understand - I usually turn down the sheet cakes - they can get those at the grocery store. I too, am a hobbiest, so I can pick and choose.

But in defense of the "boring" customers - you have to remember you are galaxies above them in experience and knowledge with cakes. You've seen, done, and made some incredible creations, but they are still in sheet cake world! Now that the art of cake is getting a better spotlight with things like Food Network, people are just beginning to understand the possibilities with cake. It is our responsibility to further their "education". To get people to order new flavors they need to experience them first - maybe samples. It's hard for people to order a whole cake with a flavor they are unfamiliar with. And... we get tired of chocolate and vanilla because we see them on a weekly/daily basis, but for most, a cake is a special occasion and they eat them less often. So chocolate can be an event!

Take heart - at least they realize they can come get something more customized than the grocery store. It's a start. Baby steps .

I had this problem at one point but now I start out by telling them that I only do custom cakes and that WalMart has great deals on sheet cakes. (in my nicest voice of course)

Now-a-days most people send me an email with flavor cake, number of people, general theme and budget; then I go from there. It has worked out really great for me. Creative Freedom. WOOHOO!

1. It pays the bills
2. Throw in some mini cakes in the diffrent flavors as a bonus and maybe someone at the party will like and order.
3. Family is for experimenting on, they will eat anything!!!!!!!!!

Maybe you could enter some shows and competions that would let you experiment to your hearts content.

I just bake for family and friends and they mostly let me do what I want. So I really haven't gotten bored.

[quote="dolfin"]1. It pays the bills

in retrospect that sounds so catty. sorry, not my intention.

Sad to say, but I think that a good chunk of the problem lies WITHIN cake decorators ... Since my IL's own reception halls, I've seen every single wedding cake that has come through our site in the past five years. There have been TWO fondant covered cakes in that entire time, one had to be trucked in from 2.5 hours away, and the other was a dummy and they served sheet cakes from Sam's (at least they served the SAME cake to everyone)..

I cannot count the number of cakes that have looked like a 10yo did the decorating with how poorly done they are. I also (before I got into the biz) talked to a LOT of bakers when they were delivering and "I don't monkey with that stuff" or "I don't have time to dinker around with that type of stuff" or "I don't like fondant so I quote really high so I never have to do it"(in one case, $4/slice extra for just a top-coat of fondant) were common responses. But, I've even heard these same explanations at ICES events.

Bakers who do the out of the ordinary designs really ARE the diamonds.. If we all look at the bakers around us, we probably can count on one hand the bakers willing to attempt a wilton designed wedding cake even or a magazine recreation. I know we were turned down by 4 bakers for having a brush embroidered cake that was in a wilton book because "I don't have that stensil" (it was from the $6 gumpaste set, use the 40% off coupon and it's the amount of ONE slice of my $$$ cake) or they "won't dinker around with that stuff".

The point is, it's not just Sam's or grocery stores that are putting us into these ruts with the sheets, it's also many of our colleagues. I just wish there was a simple answer other than, at least we have the different cake deco message boards to stretch our skills by bringing out our competitive side

Well I guess I'm glad I'm not the only one! It always kinda scares me about the idea of doing this "professionally" - b/c I don't want to spend a ton of time doing crappy sheetcakes that people could get from Sam's or Walmart or something..... but you DO have to pay the bills.... however, how do you balance your time between the cakes that pay the bills and then actually working on fancy wedding cakes that take a ton of time? I guess I'm really not ready to go into business yet but I do know that I HAVE to start getting some flavors and combinations together and print it up and tell people to choose a cake flavor and filling. Right now I'm still experimenting with my recipes - haven't found my "tried and true" yet (although I think that vanilla caramel creamer w/ the white cake recipe WILL be on that list )

CoutureCake, I think you're right in some respects but, being in two places has made me very aware of regional preferences. I grew up in Wisconsin, lived in Va. now live in Memphis, but have a vacation home in Wisconsin as well. After being in the different regions I've found for some reason fondant is more popular here in the south. I've done wedding cakes for many of my family and friends up north and they are less inclined to use it. While here in Memphis and when we lived in Va., customers were very open to it, even if they didn't particularly like it's taste. They just peel the fondant off! I found this interesting and can only guess it is a regional thing. But, who knows!

I was using fondant as an example, but the same holds true for magazine recreations, there has only been one Martha cake done as well (and OH did I feel sorry for THAT couple - the person from the bakery doing the setup didn't realize that the stick-in pillars still need the pillar plate to hold it steady! ) Oh well, that's what you get by using Super Target (and at the time I wasn't about to chime up and say "I can be back in 30 minutes with the plates you need")

It's not just fondant, it's doing anything outside of overpiping or wide cornelli lace is a RARE occasion. It's not that brides don't want the magazine recreations it's that VERY few bakers are willing to do them, which reflects the "if one baker says they can't do it, ALL bakers must not be able to do this then" especially if they're in an area where there aren't a ton of bakers around (even in this metro area, we've got that going on)