Just an FYI to anyone who uses Jennifer Dontz's fondant.

This company has just started selling the Superwhite Merckens

http://thecakedecoratingcompany.co.uk/catalog/

The 11kg (25lb) box @ £89.99 + £4 P&P works out cheaper than if you were to order it from Jennifer's website.

She sells 2lb bags @ $7.60 but the postage is $44 and that is for a box up to 20lbs in weight. There would also be about a £30 custom charge.

I shall be ordering as soon as I get paid next month... it's bad I'm already looking forward to June's wages lol!

Hi Guys and Girls!
I thought I'd say hello. I've been on CC for a while but only just discovered this thread!
I'm 25 and am in Norfolk (east anglia) and due to a rather large change in circumstances, I've decided to get my butt into gear and start my caking 'professionally'. I have lots of experience and skill to gain but I'm not going to get to where I want to be without doing lots of practice practice practice! I'm looking to start my business from home as I'm now a stay at home mummy to 2 young children (3 and 1) housewife and general dogs body after having to leave my job.
If anyone wants to have a look at my pics feel free and any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I can see my work getting better as I go along and some of my earlier cakes definitely aren't great now I look back, but it's all trial and error, hopefully less of the error part now though!
I'm looking to start up doing just basic fondant covered cakes & novelty cakes and cupcakes. I'd love to get good enough to do wedding cakes but that's not a stress I even want to think of for a long long time.
I'm in the process of giving my house a good sort out and relocating my kitchen cupboards before I do my food hygiene course and register with environmental health etc. If anyone has any tips or advice starting up your own business from home, doing the necessary courses and registering with relevant people, it would be much appreciated!
Right, that's enough of my rambling!
Sam

Hi Sam, welcome to the thread.

Have you read the thread from the beginning yet? There are loads of information about settng up a business from your home. And it is different from one council to the other. So its better to call your council and get all the information you need.

Hi

I started making a few cakes for family & friends, but on average I am now doing about 3 cakes a week, word of mouth is making me quite busy

A few wedding cakes I have to make through the summer contain a lot of edibe sugar flowers totally covered in edible glitter

To date, I have been using edible glitter by brand rainbow dust, just buying it online, but it comes in small pots & will work out very expensive.

does anyone know where I can buy edible glitter wholesale sized tubs?


Thanks
Clare

Hi

I posted this somewhere already, but can't find where - I'm such an airhead sometimes! *lol*

I've just started up in business, mostly making cupcakes and was wondering what insurance you all have? Does anyone know of any good deals? Any advice would be much appreciated

Hi, if you check on BSG guild site, they have 2-3 insurance options. You can choose what's best for you.

Thanks bashini - I'll have a wee look.

Hi! I've just been reading through this thread and thought I'd pop in and say hello. I'm 21 (almost 22!) and about to graduate uni in exactly four weeks! I love baking, mostly cupcakes, though I did recently get rave reviews on a victoria sponge! I'm not particularly great yet at the decorating aspect of my cakes but I'm hoping to improve through practice and learning new things on there

I'd love to one day bake as a business as I really do love it. I've been at uni in Newcastle and am from close to Middlesbrough, is anyone else here from the north east?

Taking on board your suggestions, i invested in some round invicta tins last month. I am now looking into getting some square pans. What sizes would be the most useful, i was thinking of purchasing between 2 and 4 tins.

hi Joanna- I invested in the Invicta tins and love them! I bought the square 6,8 and 10 so i have options and good set if a stacked cake comes up!

Just wondering if anyone here bothers with Eurovision? I am somewhat of a fanatic and host a party every year, this year I have decided cake is a necessity! Any suggestions greatfully received. I am currently thinking about cupcakes with each participants flag on, although it sounds time consuming and i am yet to try fondant on cupcakes.

When adding fondant to cupcakes, do you cover with a thin BC coat first to hold the fondant in place?
Thanks!
Sam xx

Sounds great...was it quite fiddly getting the flags together?

I have to say at this point, i do not expect the UK to win, would just be nice to be on the left side of the leader board! I think Jeward have a very good chance tho (seeing your from dublin)...cheesey gimmick twins...it europop heaven!
xx

ooo and do you have a pic of your eurovision cake? (cheeky request i know!)

I know what you mean....we had a run of winning every year and since then we've been bottom every year lol. I think Jedward are in with a chance alright...even if they can't sing a note between tehm

The flags were really fiddly! What I did was for example, cut out 3 hearts - 1 red, 1 white, 1 blue and cut each of them into 3 parts. Then I could make a couple of different flags from them. I used plain white hearts as a base to put the colours on.

There always seems to be problems putting photos in posts, so I've put the pics in my photos.

Don't mind the piping....the colour deepened after I took the photo, and I've been practicing since then

Hi Joanna, I have both round and square invicta tins. The round ones are from 5" - 12" and the square ones from 6" - 12". When I have stacked cakes to do, I like to have 3" difference between each tier. But that depends on how many portions the customer needs. If the customer wants more cake, then I would go for 2" difference between tiers. So that's why I have most of the tins and I have a choise to offer for the customer.

Sam, I always use a thin coat of bc on the cupcakes before I put a sugarpaste disc. But I know there are cake makes who use apricot glaze as well.

Hi - I'm making 100 cupcakes for a party on Friday, and this is the first time I've made a batch of that size. Does anyone have any tips about baking and storing them? I've worked out how long its going to take in the oven, but the preparation etc is a mystery! Do most recipes multiply up no problem?

Hi, once I did 100 cc for a wedding and I made them 2 days ahead. I can make only 12 cupcakes from the recipe I use and can only put 1 muffin tray in my oven. If you have a bigger oven, bake two at a time. Makes it a bit easier for you.

For the one I did, I had to make 100 roses and I did this a week ahead. Once the cupcakes are baked, I store them in cupcake boxes and covered them in sugarpaste and decorated the next day. So I was on time to do the delivery on the wedding day.

Thank you for that advice - did you make one giant batch of batter, or did you make your usual size batch 9 times over? I've heard if you make it and don't bake it straight away it can have odd results sometimes.

On a different topic (sorry, I am the girl with 100 questions!)....

When you are pricing up bigger cakes, how much do you charge for your time? I've heard people say "make it worth your while" but how much is reasonable for an hourly rate?

I make one batch at a time. I haven't tired making few batches and baking the cupcakes. I don't want any nasty surprices!!!

Answer to your other question, I don't have two different rates for big cakes or small cakes. I just charge one rate for all cakes.

Thank you. So glad I found this place, it is a mine of information!!

I made my first ganache this past weekend and was quite impressed by the way it turned out but my question is where do you get your chocolates? Mine worked out quite expensive for only icing a 10" round cake with a little bit left over.

Thanks

Hi WeeSooz,

My oven is very narrow too (standard 60cm size) but I've found that I can use two shelves. When the top shelf is ready I take them out and leave the bottom ones in for an extra 3 minutes and they're perfect.

Before I figured that out, I made 150 cupcakes for a wedding in an afternoon, baking 1 tray at a time. I have a few muffin tins so as one tray wass cooking I was filling the next one. When they were cooked, I put them on a wire tray to cool, then straight into the delivery box. When all 150 were cooked I piped them all with buttercream roses.

If you are doing a few different flavours it might take a bit longer, but it's doable in one afternoon.

Hello, thought I'd say Hi on the UK forum now I have managed to read the whole thread - it took a few days!

I'm in London and have recently started a home based cake business so its nice to see all the tips from UK people. I thought it would be very slow going (I have another job as well), but so far I have got quite a few orders. Can I ask how you all take payments? I ask for 50% deposit, but I'm not sure how you all accept money - so far I am taking cash/cheque and bank transfer from friends, though not sure for strangers, especially if they do not live near me?

Thanks

angelogoo, I use to make my ganache with bourneville chocolate. I know its a bit expencive, but I use their cocoa powder in my cake. But now I use callebaut chococalet from Design a cake. I don't do many chocolate cakes, so this is ok for me.

napa, I always take a 50% deposit, but some customers pay in full. If they are paying by cheque (full payment), then I would collect it 2 weeks ahead. If they pay the deposit in cash, I collect the balance a week ahead. But if its a wedding cake, I always collect the balance two weeks ahead.

HTH.

Thanks for the help and the advice - will take it on board and let you know how it goes. Its only buttercream rose/swirls on the top of the cakes I think, so that should be simple enough, if a little time consuming! I'm just sticking with vanilla, so hopefully the cases won't come away (sometimes happens on my chocolate recipe?). Looking forward to it, hope it turns out ok!!