Home-made cakes thread 2

AnnieH

moosetastic wrote: »

LOL Annie, at least you're honest!! Will have to give them a try once just to see

Thing is, they look stunning, and they get the wow factor when people see them.

stokegal

Hello everyone!!

I use to be a part of the first thread but haven't posted on here for ages!! There are some really fab cakes on here

I was thinking about if anyone had any hint or tips of what was their best buys or waste of money - being MSE it would be nice to see if even makes the same mistakes (or maybe it's just me )

My best buys have to be...
Modelling tools from eBay - £22 in most cake decorating shops - I think i paid about £11
Plastic rolling pin - I have a medium size one for decorations but I want a big one for general rolling of sugar paste but they're so expensive
Gel pastes - although not black because I can never get truly black so I just buy pre coloured black now
Cmc powder - I use it to make gumpaste and edible glue
Digital scales - do much easier than my old ones

Waste of money
Cake leveller from hobby craft - rubbish used it once and it's never seen the light of day again
Liquid colours - very messy when used with sugar paste - I learnt that very quickly
Cel board - it cost £15 for a tiny board when a £1 plastic chopping board from b and m works as well (I still love mine though!)
Cheap brushes - the bristles come off and into the cake

At the moment I only use a Hand held mixer but am desperate for a proper mixer - has anyone got any recommendations?

Stokegal

rubysmummy_2

hi everyone,

i made my first giant cupcake today aswell



Blackpool FC giant cupcake - im pretty pleased with the way it came out although im not brave enough to cover the bottom with icing yet. THink that'll be on my next list to do .

cherydee

I bought a coloured block of sugarpaste (at least that's what I think it was) for the bottom half and it was easy to roll out and apply, pressing it into the grooves all the way around........I have a feeling I should of brushed jam on the cake first to help it stick...never mind, learning all the time !

tootoo

Thank you HannahIOW and AnnieH.

Emms

My friend and me make cupcakes for the guys in work a lot, mostly just freebie as we love baking, but we have decided to do a market together. Any of you guys that do markets that can give tips on how many cupcakes to take? I have no idea! Its quite a popular market in the centre of Glasgow.

Thanks in advance!

flea72

Emms wrote: »

My friend and me make cupcakes for the guys in work a lot, mostly just freebie as we love baking, but we have decided to do a market together. Any of you guys that do markets that can give tips on how many cupcakes to take? I have no idea! Its quite a popular market in the centre of Glasgow.

Thanks in advance!

first stop would be to get your hygiene certificates, then spend a day wandering around the market, checking out the competition (not just cake stalls, but cafes/fast food etc.) and the type of customers they have

theres no point baking cakes that would retail at £1.50 each, if everyone who visits the market is carrying a Poundland or Iceland carrier bag, as they just wont be buying. Tbh i find cupcakes only do well at specialist food markets, or ones that people with young children attend, as pester power is your biggest marketing tool - so aim cakes at kids, but have some elegant/specialist flavour ones, that would appeal to B2B and party people (gotta think bigger picture)

say an average market day is 9-2, thats 5hrs - how many cakes do you realistically think a stall could sell in that time? i think you would be pushing it to sell 50 cakes, and at that level there would be very little profit, for all the work involved. selling at work is a totally different ballgame, you have a captive audience, and you are doing it for free - try testing the water at cost price, im sure interest would soon wane, and if you started doing it retail might find you dont sell anything but the odd one here or there

i would say most people who have market stalls, use is as a way to offload 'spares' or as publicity for the big orders they need to obtain to keep the business afloat.

But as for how many cakes to make, how longs a piece of string. business changes on a daily basis, so even if you sold 100 cakes this week, next week it might only be 20. depending on how far away you live i would be tempted to take about 50 cakes, and have some back-up stock at home, that should business be brisk, means i can pop home and restock. if they arent needed, then they wont have spoilt as they will have been kept at home in the correct environment, and if needed, i can freeze them for use another day (or take them into work and give away as per usual)

F

AnnieH

Dalek cake Oreo bites

moosetastic

AnnieH wrote: »

Dalek cake Oreo bites

oh wow, these are fantastic!!!!! how do you make these? (im guessing mini oreo, marshmallow covered in candy melt, with orabge tic tacs?? dont know what the eye stalk is though!)

Treacle_Toes

Hello,

Thanks to lurking on this thread I was inspired to make my daughter's 4th birthday myself.



I also made some Ice Cream Cupcakes as we were holding her party at our beach hut, and they fitted in with the seaside theme.



They were my first cakes that I have ever decorated and I'm pretty pleased with myself!

I'll continue to read this thread as I may have caught the cake decorating bug!