Cake/Cupcakes

I haven't been baking much lately. Mostly I've been putting in tons of hours at work. "This too shall pass." I hope to be back to the fun stuff soon. I can't believe how relaxing baking is for me. I do get stressed but it's not the same. Crazy I know, but I think I've established the fact that I'm crazy long ago.

Here's some pictures of a couple of projects I did lately. Sorry the pictures aren't better. I will admit that they were taken last minute cause I forgot to do it earlier and we were heading out to deliver them.

60th Birthday cake for a coworker's sister:

Cupcakes for a church activity:

Not much activity on the shop. Still pricing equipment. You don't realize how much equipment you need until you start doing research. I have lots of work to do.

Stuff

I couldn't think of a better title. I'd like to thank everyone for all their support. It really means a lot and helps me to keep moving forward.

I've been thinking about what to sell when we first start out. I'm going to have to start on a smaller scale and work my way up to bigger things. First of all the space isn't really big (if we chose it) and the bigger the equipment the bigger the price tag.

I'm thinking of donuts, kolaches, cinnamon rolls and muffins first thing in the morning. Then as the day moves along fresh bread, cupcakes and cookies. I figured I could do cakes and pies as special order items to begin with. Do you think I've got enough variety?

We're going to take a look at the space today. I'm nervous. I don't really know why, I'm not committing to anything. Oh well, we'll see how this goes and we'll move forward from there.

Progress

I made a big step yesterday. After lots of talk I called about leasing a place for my bakery. Very, very scary to say the least. They want $700 a month and a five, yes five, year lease. But, I was told that both the price and lease term could be negotiated.



The place is empty, completely empty. That means I will need a lot of stuff before we can open. Oh and this morning I woke with the bright idea that we should open on Community Days weekend. For those of you who don't live in Goldendale, that's in July.



Not sure if that's going to happen but I've always heard you need a goal so big that it scares you and this one really does. We're getting closer to opening the bakery, I can't believe it.

Pictures

I found some pictures of earlier projects we've done. I was so excited!! They were on Bob's phone and I had forgotten all about them. So, here are some of our work.

This was the first cake we ever did with fondant. I say we cause Bob helped so much with this. He helped me get the right proportions for the guy and his dog.

This is a football player we made for a friend to put on her son's birthday cake. Again, Bob did a lot of the work to get him to look right.

Here's a couple of pictures of one of the cakes I made for our church's nativity activity at Christmas time.

Please feel free to let me know what you think. Still working on perfecting technique but it's so much fun.

Blue and Gold Banquet

I'm back. It's been a while and I've missed baking. Odd I know, but even under a deadline, baking is relaxing for me.


I was asked to bake a cake for our Cub Scout Pack's blue and gold banquet. It's a celebration of scouting held once a year. I had no idea what design I should make so I did what I also do, I used google. Once I found an idea, I started working on how I would make it.


The design had some pieces that I was worried would be difficult to make. I've had issues with my fondant not holding it's shape. But I was able to find a great product that helped a lot. It's Gum Tex. It makes fondant stiff so it holds it shape while you work with it. What a life saver.


I think it turned out pretty good. Attached are some pictures. Tell me what you think, I'd love the feedback.

Kolaches

I received a suggestion that I should have Kolaches in my bakery. (Thank You Chuck) I had never heard of them, to be honest, I had to google them just so I knew what they were. They sounded quite good and a nice alternative to a fried donut. I searched for a recipe I thought I could use and Monday I found one.

Yesterday I got up and made a batch. I filled them with bacon, egg and cheese. They were very well received. In fact I was asked not to bring them back because people felt they had eaten too many.

Bob loved them. He asked me to make them again but this time with sausage (he's not really a bacon fan). So this morning I doubled the recipe and made them with sausage, egg and cheese and a cream cheese filling. I drizzled a powdered sugar glaze over the cream cheese ones.

I loved the Kolaches with cream cheese. Very, very good. All were again well received. I think this is definitely something I will put on the bakery menu.

Again, thanks for the suggestion Chuck. I appreciate it.

Menu - Part Two

I first want to say thank you to everyone who shared their opinions regarding the "necessary" items in a bakery.

The feedback I got made me start to ask a few more questions, so once again I am asking for help.

First question: What about cinnamon rolls, scones, biscuits or brownies? Should those be available too?

Second question: Items like cookies and cupcakes, should they be pre-packaged or sold individually? Or maybe a combination? Do you have a preference?