Keeping on!

Well, it is time to pack up shop, clean house, and MOVE! :) Everyone has asked me about moving my business and what I am going to do.

Well, for me, trying to "sell" a business in this economy is a tough thing to do for a small business. I have opted to sell off my supplies and give my accounts to someone I trust in the industry. I would rather be a blessing to someone else trying to get started than tiotry and sell my "business".

I do plan on keeping up with cakes when we move (across the state) but not right away. I will spend a lot of time with the family, take some much needed time off and RELAX! Once we are well established in the area, I will re-visit the idea of cakes again in the future.

I would LOVE to continue to teach, and I am checking into that now.

Cheers,

The Goddess of Cake :)

Cakes have bad days too...

I seem to be getting many orders for last minute cakes. Being a self taught decorator, I seem to fly by the seat of my pants. Running in all directions. Small business owners seem to do that when they are first starting out.

I took my first stab at making a small purse cake for a friends birthday. It wasn't working and I stabbed the cake.. literally.. It was a joke really.. It made me laugh so I took a picture of it. A couple of days later, I decided to try again. I was reading one of Margaret Braun's book the other day and she was talking about her introduction to cake decorating. She said "a voice in my head guides me with the following words: Fallo di Nuovo, Margherita, ma uno alla volta, e BENE. Which means: Do it again, Margaret, but one at a time and WELL.

My voice SCREAMS at me. You have 4 cakes to be working right now. Hurry up! get it done. Do it right, make it beautiful.. etc. etc. I am going to try and follow a few cake decorators words of wisdom: One at a time, and WELL. Yes.. Good advice... When I met Bronwen Webber, she said to me "Dana, don't stress... it's JUST CAKE. Ahh.... that helps me every day. Don't stress.. it is JUST cake. I tell that to my students often. There have been many days saved by that great advice. My students come to me and say "I remembered what you said, don't stress.. it's just cake.. and I didn't stress and things worked out".

So, to all of you, don't stress... Its just cake. And if you do start to stress, put a knife in that bad boy and show it who is boss! :)

It's all about SUGAR

I have been so excited to be able to share my skills in sugar. From beautiful sugar flowers, to pulling and blowing sugar, I am addicted!!! Tonight I taught a young teen the art and she had such a great time!! (so did I by the way) :). I love watching the sparkle in my students eyes, the smile on their faces as they create their first flowers and the excitement to learn more!!

Next month, it is all about the holidays!! We are going to make a really cool poinsettia out of pulled sugar, snow men and ribbons.

Pulled and blown sugar for me has been a soul warming experience. Yes the sugar is VERY hot, but I pride myself on never getting burned and showing my students how to do the same and enjoy the entire experience. One of my previous students, was scared to death and didn't want to take another pulled sugar class because of getting burned.. Well, I am happy to say she has returned to the sugar art and was very excited to learn my techniques. I am a person who is always cold. My side of the bed is piled HIGH with blankets. hehehe. I love working with the sugar especially on those cold days. Warms me right up.

For you gumpaste lovers out there we are going to make snow flakes, poinsettias, fall leaves, holly, and what ever else we decide we want to make that night (time permitting). Gumpaste flowers have been my relaxing joy. Therapy for me really. It is totally relaxing to kick back in front of the tv with a tv tray and make flowers. Keep these gems away from moisture and dust, and they will last for YEARS!!!

Parents, this is a great art that will entertain young teens who may be interested in this industry, great projects for science class (science?? why yes! lets get into the science on the ingredients!), art class (do you think your art teacher would be impressed that you made an artistic floral display out of something eatable?? Oh yes!!) and obviously baking classes at school as well.

Adults, here is something you can do that isn't going to cost a lot of money to get into, (well it could if you want all those fancy cutters!!). By taking a class, you get the knowledge on how to, as well as taking your accomplishments home. We start with basics. You can spend a bunch of money if you want to, but let me show you ways to save a bunch! Hey, we can all use a little help with that these days!! I like to start my students off with things they can purchase locally at their local craft store. Use those coupons!!! Show you where to purchase other supplies, and above all have a ton of fun!!!

I love throwing those special classes around the holidays that are easy for everyone. Below are are some pictures of some of the things that I have created in sugar. When you are ready, lets have some fun!!!!

May your life always be sweet,

Dana

danasflowers@comcast.net

Flowers and Cake November 2008

Two wedding cakes and one retirement celebration cake, and a really cool birthday cake this weekend (not to mention wedding flowers for two events).

I am looking forward to making some cute baby shower cupcakes tomorrow. I have been thinking about doing less flowers to concentrate more on cakes. After the honor of working on flowers and cakes this weekend and how beautiful the bouquets turned out, I question my judgement on steping back on flowers. I am very pleased on how they turned out. It warms my heart when a bride sees her flowers and cake for the first time and she says it is all she ever wanted.

Cheers,

Dana

This should give hope to anyone in the industry

We all have bad days with cake decorating.. This was mine:

What I LONG LONG Day, but it created a great story. Most of you received the picture of the 90^th birthday party cake I finished yesterday. (second picture listed) Well, a few errors on my part combined with the large hills in Seattle, tuned that cake into.. Well.. A picture is worth 1000 words right?? J

The base was Bavarian cream, and that is instable as it is. The cake also was carved into the side which created more instability… … Cringe Cringe….

It broke right where I carved into the side. yeah.. that was lovely… The top two kinda made it…. But wouldn’t have gone back together well. So we scraped it. I took the fondant piano keys off the original cake and put it together on the new cake. The new cake???!?!?!?

Did I ever tell you what an awesome, talented husband I have???? He grabbed the kids, went to the kitchen pulled out the spare cakes in the freezer and went to work filling and frosting the cakes. He transported them SEPERATED to me in Seattle. I stacked, decorated and presented the cake before anyone from the party got there. All the friends and family who saw the cakes all have said they like the cake that was presented the best.

I had called Valerie the lady who ordered it and told her what happened and that we would fix it. She had a ton of faith in me and knew it would be beautiful. When she arrived at the party, she gave me hug upon hug upon hug. Which was thoughtful… She said she was also going to bring me flowers.. What a sweetie… J

We do pretty good under pressure eh???? J Don’t want to do that again, but have two great pictures to add to the portfolio and one great story J

Dana

Mardi gras Cake

This cake was for a 30th surprise birthday party. The client came to me with a picture of what they wanted. I was able to duplicate it exactly and they were very happy with the results. I LOVE doing fun cakes like these!

Buttercream with pink accents

Fondant not your style? Try a simple buttercream frosted cake. On this cake we used a thick light pink ribbon around each layer and topped the cake with light pink gum paste roses. This cake will serve approximately 78 people serving all three layers. On the inside there is a delicious devils food chocolate cake with a milk chocolate ganache filling.