Hello, I got licensed in April, been making cakes since last October so still a newbie, put together this site using Wix over the past week. Please take a look, any constructive criticism welcome, as I'm not sure if there's enough information on it/what I'm missing. I want it to appeal to people looking for quality cakes, not supermarket ones, focussing mainly on birthday cakes and cupcakes! 

www.edibleartco.com

Thank you very much!

Nikki 

HI Edible! I appreciated your work. Cakes looking very cool and i hope in taste they will be yummmmmmmyyyyyyyyy.

AHi Nikki, I'm new to cake decorating too, been doing it just over a year. I don't sell my cakes so I looked at your website from a customers point of view. The site itself is good I think but I also think you might have your servings a bit wrong. 15 servings from a 9 inch round seems low, I might be wrong, maybe someone else will help with that. I don't mean to be unkind but you said you want to appeal to people looking for quality cakes. While yours are lovely for a beginner I don't think I'd call them quality yet. I do think that the more you practice the better you'll get and you will appeal to your target market eventually. When you do you'll be able to charge much more than £45 for a 9 inch round. Like I said, I'm a complete amateur, nowhere near good enough to sell my cakes so this is my honest opinion as a customer. Keep hanging around on CC, you'll learn loads very quickly, watch tutorials, read and practice, practice, practice. Good luck. :-)

Hi Maisie, thanks for your comments. Tbh I've read some similar threads about feedback and was already bracing myself lol. With regards to servings, I suppose I've worked them out to be bigger than the wilton chart based on how I would cut them, and don't want to seem like I'm ripping anyone off, saying that a slice should be no bigger than 1 inch. Obviously correct me if I'm wrong, and you'd prefer to see servings based on wilton?

What is it about the cakes that doesn't look up to standard? Neatness? Level? I wonder if they look childish sometimes because that seems to be what I get asked for - children's birthday cakes - so some of them are in bold colours/cartoony.

Looking forward to more feedback :)

I'd consider removing the part about not being many options in Weymouth for custom cakes. I googled and found many, unless I'm not looking at the right Weymouth. The exact wording may not say it, but I read it as "everyone else here sucks, so call me." Not the best way to make friends/referral options when you're booked, and when someone else is booked and needs to make a referral.

AI'm glad you were well braced! :-)

Regarding serving sizes, I don't know much about them really, I think Wilton is the standard size in America, not sure about here though.

I mean they don't look professional to me, I wouldn't pay for them but then others might, especially if they can't bake/ decorate at all. I really like your Viking boat, the number 1 and the animal face cupcakes. The shirt would be good of it wasn't for the lumpy line across the middle. And personally I would've left the shoes off the cake if you're advertising to sell cakes. I wouldn't be able to make a shoe but if I tried and that's what I ended up with I'd probably try again. And I'm not saying I could do better than you, just that I wouldn't consider them good enough to sell if I made them.

Another thing that dramatically improves the appearance of a cake is to Ice the board. I didn't when I first started but do now and the difference is massive. [IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3245431/width/200/height/400[/IMG] The first giant cupcake I ever made.

[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3245432/width/200/height/400[/IMG] The latest giant cupcake I made, exactly a year apart and still not good enough to sell.

I did a fairly quick skim.  No obvious typos or bad grammar.   I am not a grammar perfectionist so may have missed things but nothing caught my ear.  One thing is on your order page is says 50% paid 2 weeks ahead.  On the top of the order form it says "To avoid disappointment, please allow at least 2 weeks notice before your event."  which contradicts the other info.  You may want to rephrase that so it is consistent or else just leave it off.  The serving sizes are much larger than American, you may want to make sure your servings are consistent with the British industry standard, whatever that is.  Your prices are pretty cheap, can you make a living off it?  As an example the 9 inch serves 32 American slices, you are charging 45 pounds which is probably 50ish dollars which is a dollar and a half or so per slice.  Very inexpensive to make a successful business so just make sure you are pricing accurately.  Another nit picky thing is maybe switch to a photo that doesn't have part of a banner in the background.  Do you want the tab to say birthday cakes or celebration cakes?  The bday cakes, comment and prices don't always load quickly, there seems to be a hiccup there.  One last thing, your upper banner is easy to read but the black background is a little gloomy for cakes and cupcakes.  Just my quick thoughts. 

Thanks AZCouture, I didn't mean it that way! I do know a couple local cakers but not well enough to refer to/from yet. I meant to say '...not as expensive as you might think'. Now I'm not sure why I wanted to say that...

Maisie, I will try and find out who does the British serving size and go with that! I have priced my cakes according to my (percieved) skill level which is why it comes out at £6 per hour. I don't know if anyone would pay more for them, but I wasn't going to up the prices until they look much better. As for that line in the shirt cake, I had to get the biggest board I could find, and it bowed slightly when I picked it up! Can you imagine? I think probably yes!

denetteb, well done I hadn't noticed the odd phrase there, thanks :) If you meant that pic of me, I'm planning on doing a white shirt/surrounded by cake shot if that's any good. I wasn't sure about the tabs, does anyone search for 'celebration cakes' or does it not matter if google doesn't find a page called bday cakes? Finally, that's what I've been wondering, but as I said above, I don't want to make it all candy bright (even though that's my personality) for fear of it looking kiddie. What colour(s) would you suggest?

Thank you for all your help so far! I will put the changes on after work :)

AI don't doubt your intention at all with that statement, I believe you, but...that's my first impression upon reading it. It's great that you're asking for feedback, and now you can decide whether I'm nuts, or if it would be best to delete it....lol! :D

AOh don't ever use that word on your site...expensive, not in any kind of context at all. It's a psychological thing. People see the word, even if you're making a point that you're [B]not[/B] expensive, it will make some people wonder anyways. Use "budget friendly" or some other bull-$! buzz words...just avoid that word

A

Hi Nikki

I appreciate that you are pricing yourself at £6/hour - below minimum wage! - due to skill level, but I can promise you you are not making £6/hour. A 9" cake made with decent ingredients and sugarpasted costs me around £15/£16, and that's before I've added materials/electricity/gas/petrol etc. Now I add my labour costs (which is your £6/hour), then you need a profit, unless you're going to be pouring your wages back into the business.

Also, I know you don't want to diddle anyone with sizes, but honestly, 15 is about half the portions you cut from a 9". It looks like all your servings from cakes are about 1/2 of what they can reasonably be. This is a handy little site for information on portion sizes http://www.sweetsuccess.uk.com/portion_guide.asp Cakes at events are not cut in the wedges we are used to at home, they are cut in a grid pattern.

I don't know what constitutes a serving size in the US, but in the UK it's a 1"x2" slice for sponge, or 1"x1" for fruit. You might increase this if it's a dessert portion, but that's not particularly common (or hasn't been in my personal experience) as it's usually an addition to other sweets. Also, cakes now are generally 4"+ in height, so that small sounding serving is actually 8 cubic inches of cake and filling!

I agree with Maisie about the boards/drums too - they always look better iced. I hate it when I get the odd customer who specifically requests them to be left 'naked' :)

Good luck!

A

Quote:

Originally Posted by maisie73 

I'm glad you were well braced!

Regarding serving sizes, I don't know much about them really, I think Wilton is the standard size in America, not sure about here though.

I mean they don't look professional to me, I wouldn't pay for them but then others might, especially if they can't bake/ decorate at all.
I really like your Viking boat, the number 1 and the animal face cupcakes. The shirt would be good of it wasn't for the lumpy line across the middle. And personally I would've left the shoes off the cake if you're advertising to sell cakes. I wouldn't be able to make a shoe but if I tried and that's what I ended up with I'd probably try again. And I'm not saying I could do better than you, just that I wouldn't consider them good enough to sell if I made them.

Another thing that dramatically improves the appearance of a cake is to Ice the board. I didn't when I first started but do now and the difference is massive.

The first giant cupcake I ever made.


[B]The latest giant cupcake I made, exactly a year apart and still not good enough to sell.[/B]

Not sure why? There's a bakery near me who makes and sells b*ttloads of giant cupcakes, and unless I'm missing something glaringly obvious in the photo you've posted yours is a hell of a lot better and more professional than theirs! Have a look for yourself https://m.facebook.com/LoRanCakeCo?v=photos They have a shop which has been going for some time too, and that's always busy.

I'd buy yours, I wouldn't pay for anything from them...

I think your prices are too low for the UK if you want to make a living at this. You will attract the wrong type of customer. I also think its a bit wordy but I'm coming from a customer point of view not a pro. I love your cute little teddy Christening cake, it's gorgeous, as a matter of interest how much would you charge for that?

I'd expect to pay between £175.00 to £200.00 depending on the serving size.

AI find a good way to see if you are happy with serving sizes is to draw round your cake tins on a piece of paper and devide it into 2" by 1-1.5" pieces, you'll quikly see that those are pretty generous servings and you can confidently stand by them; I offer a 7" as serving 14.

I see you use Gmail for your emails; take a look at this site http://smarterware.org/3628/host-your-domain-email-at-gmail-without-forwarding You can use google apps to set up your gmail so that you are something like: [email protected] its more professional looking and it's free, it's a bit of a faff but once done it lasts forever.

Are you set up with allergen free equipment/procedures with env. health? if not you shouldn't offer allergy free cakes/ask about allergies in your order form, you can offer cakes for people with intollerences but not allergies.

You're on the right track though, you just need more confidence in your cakes; they will serve more people than you think and they are worth more money than you are charging; my local cheap baker asks more than you do and her cakes are nowhere near as good as yours.

AThanks Lizzie but I know where the mistakes are! I put them next to each other for the OP to see a direct comparison between two of the same cakes made by the same person, one with an iced board, one without. I can't believe how proud I was of the first one looking back, it's awful! I had a look at that Facebook page, she doesn't ice her boards does she? Such an easy thing to do and makes so much difference. I can't imagine why anybody would specifically want them naked.

Nikki you're getting such good advice from some fab people here. :-) Gray's right about the email address, I think nikki@.... Is more professional. Also, picking up on something else he said, allergies- nightmare! I made a gluten free, nut free cake two days after finishing a fruit (with nuts) cake. It was a gift and it was such a headache. I'd never do it again and I wouldn't even entertain selling one. My friend knew I make cakes with nuts and gave me loads of advice re: cleaning, equipment and ingredients. She knew I'd follow her instructions and be scrupulous but it was still her risk to take. If she was a paying customer it just wouldn't have been worth it. And I don't know the legalities of it but can you make gluten free, nut free cakes in the same kitchen as flour and nuts? Maybe you've already checked, if not I would if I were you. I've just had another look at your site Nikki, I'm on my iPhone and it's easy to navigate, I can go/ see everything I want to. And you said kids cakes is what you get asked for most so I wouldn't see a problem with kiddie colours. And if those colours reflect your personality, all the better.

(Btw Gray, you use muts, if I don't alter the auto correct I get buts!)

AHey Maisie no spreading my typos through other posts that's not fair! now an even bigger audience get's to laugh at me! ha ha :)

AOops! Sorry Gray, forgot where I was! :-D

AAnd did you see my typo Gray? Not even a typo, just bad grammar! Nobody will be laughing at you when they spot that one!

I don't know anything about search functions or what helps it show up.  I was referring to your tab along the top that has cupcakes then birthday cakes.  It seems  people may think you only do birthday cakes but that leaves out christening cakes, anniversary cakes, graduation cakes, sorry you are leaving, etc, etc.  Standard cake sizes in the US is also 1 inch by 2 inches by 4 or so inches so you could use the Wilton serving size charts that are common here.  http://www.wilton.com/cakes/making-cakes/baking-wedding-cake-2-inch-pans.cfm  has the serving charts and a whole lot of other information that is helpful in planning.  http://cateritsimple.blogspot.com/2009/06/it-serves-how-many.html and cateritsimple.blogspot.com/2009/06/it-serves-how-many.html are helpful to relaying how to cut a cake to get the servings indicated.  If you do some googling you can find a template to get a paper printout that you cut and glue together that gives you a 3D sample of what a cake serving that is 1 by 2 by 4 actually is.  Others have used styrofoam to cut out that size and paint it to look like a slice of cake so you can better visualize how large it actually is. 

Hi Nikki. I also use wix for my website. I would suggest never to use flash photography for your cakes. Always take them during daylight. Cakes just don't look their best with flash photography. Good luck!

Gray, I will take your advice re email - much more professional :)

AFlash photography is perfectly fine as long as you bounce your light correctly. I usually use my flash, but never aim it directly at the cake; usually at the ceiling or to one side of the cake. Whatever it takes to get decent light, I say.

AGlad to hear you say that AZ! I was thinking Jean, there's no natural light when I finish my cakes at 1AM! :-)

AAzcouture, can that be done with a basic digital camera?

Maisie, I wait till the next day to take photos if I finish a cake late :)

AHaha! I don't trust my kids to keep their sticky little paws off it in the morning!

ALol I know what you mean!

AIf you have a flash that you can swivel and aim where you want. If not, you can make a DIY hack with cardboard, aluminum foil and or white paper. I think if you Google diy camera flash diffuser, something like that, you'll see something.

Thanks everyone, I'm working on your suggestions at the moment, hopefully it should be a bit better tomorrow, when I've got the whole day to give it my attention! I am keeping an eye on all your comments, thanks for your help so far it's very kind :)

Just to update, I've published some changes so please take a look and let me know your thoughts.

TIA! :)

AThe colours look really nice, it brightens it up a lot. The only thing I might pick up on its the logo. There's nothing actually wrong with the design, it's rather smart I think, but is it possible for you to use a higher quality image for it so that the lines are sharper?

I see you've upped the portion sizes a bit - still not enough on most but baby-steps eh ;-)