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Candles on Birthday Cakes?

post #1 of 24
7/31/12 at 6:28am
Thread Starter 
A pet peeve: When I deliver a birthday cake I always include a color coordinated slim candle and put it in a strategic spot on the cake. Almost without fail, the customer will send me a photo and they will have taken my candle out and put a "number" candle on it or lined it up with several little candles....I must be missing something! This changes the whole look of the cake!

What do you guys do about the candle thingy???
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post #2 of 24
7/31/12 at 6:45am
I ask if they want me to attend to the candle. Half the time the answer is yes.

The other half of the time, I will hear that someone has bought a "special candle" that they feel is the best thing in the world. It usually is junk, but that's their choice.
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post #3 of 24
7/31/12 at 6:57am
I promise I'm not trying to be snarky but I'm not sure why it bothers you. After they've paid you, it's their cake. If they want to put candles on it, have at it.
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post #4 of 24
7/31/12 at 7:17am
I don't provide candles, at all, and my customers have never had a problem with it. Like Lynne3 said, they often have a "special" candle picked out anyway, so why bother? If it bugs you, then just stop offering candles.
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post #5 of 24
7/31/12 at 7:26am
I have to say, whenever I make my kids birthday cakes, they always stick them full of candles...one for each year...isn't that how it's typically done?! 1 candle for each year?! It has never bothered me to see my cakes with candles in them...the candles go in as we are getting ready to sing Happy Birthday, and after we sign we cut the cake, so it doesn't really matter to me. That's just my thought icon_smile.gif
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post #6 of 24
7/31/12 at 7:31am
CarolLee, I can see it being a pet peeve. And it use to really bother me too.
The nicest pictures of a celebration/birthday cake is the moment it brings joy and the candles are blown out. I have many pics of my cakes at just that moment. It's like a mini reward for a cake well done.

And I do offer long thin tapers that go into the cake board, or 7" thin colored candles that go directly into the cake. But I learned that my vision is not always the vision of the client. That's why I ask and let them decide.
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post #7 of 24
7/31/12 at 7:43am
Actually I have a different view of the candle thing -- I tell customers they can do what they want (and they do) but the truth is -- as cake decorators we go to extremes to provide food sanitation -- only to set a cake on fire, spit all over it and then serve it to people??? Ah NO! I don't do the candle thing. Nor will I eat cake that's been spit on. I let the customers know that too. Which is why my designs aren't the typical "birthday cake of the past" like what they're remembering.
To find "THE RECIPE LINKS ARE HERE" thread, click on "Forums", then "Recipes" and it's the first sticky. Latest updates are on (the bottom of) page 10 here: http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopic-625803-135.html
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To find "THE RECIPE LINKS ARE HERE" thread, click on "Forums", then "Recipes" and it's the first sticky. Latest updates are on (the bottom of) page 10 here: http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopic-625803-135.html
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post #8 of 24
7/31/12 at 10:32am
What ever happened to those classic plastic birthday candle holders, the flower-shaped ones? Why don't the local grocers carry them any more? A Google search uncovers some, and while some of them appear to be NOS, others appear to be new.

Thankfully, I have a large assortment of them around the house, as I don't regard dyed paraffin wax as "Good Eats."

We have a family tradition of using white candles for decades, and colored candles for single years. We haven't yet had a need to reserve a color for a centuries digit. For example, 7 white and 7 blue candles on my dad's 77th birthday cake:
Image
poundcake.small by Tracker-Backer, on Flickr
(and note the white candles in blue holders, and blue candles in white holders)

At any rate, the logical thing to do is to find out what sort of candles the customer wants to put on the cake, and how many, and incorporate that into the design.
James H. H. Lampert
Professional Dilettante
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James H. H. Lampert
Professional Dilettante
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post #9 of 24
7/31/12 at 11:31am
I don't offer candles with birthday cakes. If you have ever bought (and most of us have before we were cakers) a cake from a bakery or store, the candles were extra, did not come included with the cake.

I've had a running problem with my daughter who thought it should come automatically. I told her my cakes don't come with candles for her or anybody else. Get over it and buy some. I think I finally got across to her. lol..

My newphes mother in law told me I should buy some from the dollar store and sell them back for $2.00. Good idea but haven't done it yet.
Virginia 323.253.8213
www.urbanainez.com
He is the man of my dreams, my prince; He gives me the desires of my heart, He completes me. His name is Jesus
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Virginia 323.253.8213
www.urbanainez.com
He is the man of my dreams, my prince; He gives me the desires of my heart, He completes me. His name is Jesus
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post #10 of 24
7/31/12 at 11:31am
Really? You guys are jamming candles in the customers' cakes? It would never occur to me to do something like that.
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post #11 of 24
7/31/12 at 11:44am
No, not jamming. Planning, so they look nice with a great cake. I've attached a picture
LL
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post #12 of 24
7/31/12 at 12:35pm
Ok, placing, yes. Looks nice, but I was not aware that anyone did that as a regular service. Like was mentioned earlier, seems like some people want to do that themselves.
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post #13 of 24
7/31/12 at 1:08pm
I never put candles unless requested. They are costly and time consuming. But they do make an event cake look a lot nicer in pictures.
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post #14 of 24
7/31/12 at 6:47pm
I ask people who have juveniles if they would like me to supply the candles or not... I don't personally place them in the candle though, and like someone else said, wouldn't eat the cake after a kid blows over the cake.

Adults, I don't even ask.
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post #15 of 24
7/31/12 at 7:07pm
I dont provide candles. thats the customer choice and job.
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