I was just wondering how many cakes you have done by yourself in one week. I have three kids (9,7, and 1) and I have my first double cake week in two weeks! I'm just wondering how many cakes you've committed yourself to before and what your limit is.

Also, if you could share your multitasking lessons, tips, mistake, etc., that would be great!

Since I'm still not set up to do lots of cakes, the most I've done in a week is two, but I'm sure I could handle three. Once I have my kitchen equipped with a decent-sized mixer (looking for the 20-quart as we speak!), freezer, oven and prep tables, I hope to be able to do several more.

Last week I had to make 15 3-D peach cakelets for a 40th birthday party, 50 decorated sugar cookies, 320+ wedding cuppies and a wedding cake to make.

Whenever I have a large volume of baking to do, I make a schedule to get things organized of when I will make what. Organize your recipes ahead of time. I'd do any GP flowers/figures now to get them out the way if I were you. Anything you can do ahead....do ahead. Always plan for mishaps because they sometimes occur, even with seasoned bakers. I tend to get all the baking out the way, then make frostings. Some fillings can be made in advance.

That's all I can think of right now. HTH

I used to limit myself to 1000 servings for a weekend. I've back that down to 600. However many cakes that turns out to be.

Bake ahead and freeze, buy gumpaste flowers, edible pearls and fondant. Make all your fillings and icings ahead of time. Once to get to that kind of volume your time becomes the most important commodity.

I work a full time job, so my time is pretty limited as well. I usually only take on big cake every couple of weeks. If I have flowers and the like, I make them a week ahead of time. I bake the weekend before and freeze my cakes. Then, throughout the week, I put the cakes together. It's the only way I can get it all done on time! Good luck!

Karen

I have 3 kids (6, 3, 2!) and did 4 cakes last week. I make a list for each cake with the sketch at the top of the page. I list everything I need to do ( bake, torte, fill, make buttercream, gumpaste, etc) then work backwards assigning everything a day to get done. I do all my work while my husband works, mostly at nap! You can do it!

I work FT and have 3 active kids (17 (senior in HS), 8 (dojo arts), 5 (dancer)), but I have a very supportive husband that does all he can when I have cakes to do. I have done 4 in a week but it wiped me out! I'm comfortable with 2 a week, depending on the complexity of the cake. I definitely make a scheduled of when I am prepping what. I have definitely found it easiest to have all my icing made ahead of time and bake the cakes approx 3-5 days in advance and freeze them.

I work full-time and have 3 busy kids (18, 14, 13), the most I've done in a week was 10 cakes, which was WAAAYYY too much!! I try to keep it to 3 cakes per week if they are difficult (shoe cake, wedding, etc) and maybe 5 cakes if they are easy (sheet cakes, tiered party cakes). This week I'm doing 6, but, I'm doing that many because I totally forgot about some cakes and overbooked myself!!

When I get busy like this, I do all the difficult work 1st and do all of the baking at the beginning of the week, then I schedule the days that I will decorate each cake.

Are you talking celebration cakes or weddings? I try and stick to 3 weddings/week, but that is mostly because of delivery constraints. I have done up to 6 weddings, but very rarely.
For servings, sometimes I have 700, sometimes its 2000, just depends on the weddings' size.
For celebrations, I used to do 10-12, but now I don't do very many. Maybe 2-3/wk. I turn most of them down during busy season.

I once did nine wedding cakes over one weekend, and I was about ready to kill anyone who got in my way at the end of it. Now I will do one or two on Friday, up to three on Saturday, and maybe one or two on Sunday, at the most. The average would be two or three on Saturday and one or two on Sunday. I don't have as many Friday events.

Wow! I am totally impressed with the number of cakes you guys can turn out. And I've seen your pictures, so I know they're not just any old thing, but quite gorgeous. Does it get easier with practice? I'm just not fast at any aspect of it, from the baking to the filling, stacking and crumbcoating to the covering with fondant to the decorating. The only thing I can say is that I dearly love it and my hands start to get itchy if I have to go more than a few days without doing something "cakey", so I'm pretty sure I'm in it for the long haul.

I have to echo all the "wow" comments! You ladies (and possible gents - screen names are not always clear ) are AMAZING! I can swing 4 cakes a weekend. I don't do wedding cakes, though (most people around here are already married or wait till they go back stateside to get married). Most of my cakes are smaller celebration cakes. I just assess the cake requests to see how much work I think they will be and decide if I can take on others.

I have felt guilty in the past turning people down. But now, if they come to me on Monday or Tuesday requesting a cake for Saturday, I have NO GUILT in saying no!

I'm pretty much a beginner, but have been doing 2 cakes per weekend....(haven't had anyone that wants a cake during the week.) I usually make any gumpaste decorations on Tuesday, make my fondant and bake cakes on Wednesday, cool, wrap and put in fridge...ice Friday and refrigerate to harden, cover with fondant and decorate either Friday night or Saturday morning. At this point, I dont think I could handle more than 2, it still takes me quite a while to decorate.

Oh, and by the way, in the above post I'm speaking of Birthday cakes, etc. I've never done a wedding cake. 3 tier is the biggest I've done.

bakingnewbie I bake my cakes at the beginning of the week and make my frosting for the cakes midweek about wednesday or thursday and store them in the fridge. I do all my gp pieces and decorations throughout the week so I don't get overwhelmed, something different everyday. I am new to professional baking so I've only done two cakes per week. And with a 15 month old, it is not easy!!! If business ever picks up I'll have to consider hiring help!

thank you for your suggestions.
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