I'm fairly new to cake decorating, and really enjoy it and want to learn new techniques. I love looking up new designs and feel like I could make a cake for every occassion, or try to! Will people get bored with me turning up with a cake for everything! I know you can buy dummy cakes to cover but feel thats a bit of a waste of icing.

Just wondered (for those of you not in business) how often you make a cake?

I just recently had a friend give me a bunch of hers that she didn't want anymore and while it would seem a waste of icing, it really isn't. For one. You can practice on these fake cakes and you don't have the cake staring you in the face saying eat me! eat me!. My friend who gave them to me uses like a spackling paste from the hardware store to cover hers in. It is white and if she wants something else she colors it. I intend to take the icing decorations off as carefully as I can to preserve her base. This also means that if it gets wet that you don't have a bunch of ants climbing all over it like you would if it was icing or fondant. Fondant can be made very cheaply though if you are careful. I had one that she had covered in fondant and it got wet and I had ants everywhere. I am just glad that I discovered it when I did. If you should decide that you would like to do a little business then you can also decorate it to show what you can do. I would cover with plastic bags or something so that dust doesn't get all over them while not being shown. I don't know it this answers what you were asking though. I hope it does.

Hi Pamela!
I'm a hobbyist and I have to say that my family/friends are yet to get sick of me bringing cake. In fact if I'm asked for a cake I make a point of telling them its my gift for whichever birthday or christening or whatever I'm invited to because I'd be out too much money to make cake AND buy them something.

It differs from month to month really. In september I had only 3 cakes to make (one for tomorrow which I cant wait to finish later when kids are in bed) but in October I have 1 christening and 9 birthday cakes to do, and my first wedding cake in November.

I seem to be my family's go-to person for cakes now and have even turned down a few requests because I have too much on. Actually got an email today from my cousin "any chance of a 40th birthday cake for next friday. We'd love a coca cola bottle....." I told him I'm totally committed to other requests now until christmas but to let me know as soon as possible if they need anything done now in the new year...........

I am a hobbyist too and for a while I would take on any and every cake to improve my skills. Then it turned into co-workers and friends of friends 'commissioning' cakes. It quickly got out of hand and took over my life. I got myself way over committed with a very busy job and 2 small kids - to the point where my husband had to do an intervention. Basically, my family suffered so other people could have really nice cheap cakes.
I only charged for ingredients to break even (which I didn't anyway). Warning: People LUV free or cheap nice cakes. You have to be very careful about what you take on because things always take way longer than you planned.
Now I do them when I feel like it, make them for the daycare, birthday gifts and bring to work and it's more enjoyable. I have also heard of people bringing them to homeless shelters. I used to drop them off at the staff room at work on my way home from my decorating courses and put an 'eat me' sign on them. They always got eaten. I think the dummy's are a good idea too...Just enjoy yourself!

I am blessed because the friends and family that I have totally understand when I can 't do a cake because of another obligation and they appreciate the ones I can do. If I want to practice then I have a friend who works at a bank and I can take it there and they will help me eat it. If it is Chocolate I can send it with my hubby to work. But I know there are people who are not thankful for what you do or want to condemn because you say no or just don't have time to do one for them, and I also know that things can very quickly get out of hand if you don't say no to a few, cakesrock.