Cake designer seeking informed customer

In a dream world, I'd post this want ad on Craigslist and in every newspaper in the area. In this age of the internet, it seems there are an infinite number of places customers can post their ad hoc reviews about services. These posts are never complete,never truly accurate, but always powerful.When you have a mainly web based business like mine, word of mouth is incredibly important.I have been quite fortunate to be the recipient of many great reviews and literally thousands of positive comments from customers on sites like Yelp, Facebook and Flickr, to name a few.For this I am truly grateful.....however.....where are the sites that empower those small businesses? Namely: where can I review the customer? Now, don't get me wrong, I know which side of my cake gets buttercreamed and without customers I'd just be a chubby girl sitting around with unsold cake, but.....every now and again I feel that I need to speak out about my experiences with a customer.Apparently there is some unspoken rule that says , in order to be in business, you must bend over backwards, change your policies, oh hell, just drop EVERYTHING to please the customer. I do not know who wrote this but I say it's time to burn that rulebook.

First let me tell you a little something about being an artist and small business owner.Let this serve as a guide on how to be a great/ informed customer.

Number 1. : I'm NOT getting rich. I have even had people joke to me, wow! that cake was $$$$? You must be getting really rich! Um, no. Your idea of a bakery might be those production facilities that churn out sheet cakes.As someone who had 15-16 years working in production bakeries, I can tell you that the only thing those "factories" and a custom cake design studio have in common is the word "cake".It was entirely common to have 50-60 cakes a weekend in the production bakeries.Add in answering phones and waiting on walk in customers, cleaning, etc... that left about 20 minutes max to produce each cake.Compare that to the number of cakes I can do per week.On a busy week I can do 6-8, and that is pushing it. Why? Because I devote entire days, sometimes several days to each cake. This is not because I'm incredibly slow or have a broken arm or something, it's because QUALITY takes time. So back to that getting rich thing? again, no.

Number 2. "I'm the customer and you have to do everything I say". Guess what? Nope.Being self employed ,I sacrifice a lot. Weekends, vacations, health insurance those are all just fading memories to me. One of the only perks I have as a result is being able to decide what I will and will not do. I don't willy nilly make up policies as I go along, mind you. I try to make it very clear on all my web pages all the info that you will need to initiate an order. Among these are my menu selections, availability and notice requirements and my policies about tastings and meeting with clients. Time and time again, these are just disregarded and I just cannot understand why .Just as you would not demand a restaurant to produce an entree not on their menu, nor should you ask that of me.Neither would you demand a store to open just for you, should you ask that I do the same.My policies are the result of decades of experience and knowing what is right for my business. please don't ask that I change them for you.

Number 3.:Please do not insult me.I hear constantly, "Debbie, I LOVE your work! Now, here's a picture of someone else's cake.Make it for me!" I presume you came to me because you recognized that I am an artist. Please don't treat me like a machine. I am a designer, not a cake machine.Let me do what I do, I am assuming that's why you chose me over another.On the subject of insulting me, do NOT question why I charge what I must(and I say MUST).I don't sit around calling out the first number that pops in my head. Pricing is an incredibly difficult and complex issue that is ever evolving.Because what I do is so unique, most of my cakes are one offs, I must rely on previous experience with similar cakes to help me gauge a fair to all parties price.I have woefully underestimated the amount of work a particular project will take on countless occasions. I am the one who absorbs this cost oversight. I had a cake last year , for example,that I priced at what I thought was a reasonable number and when I got into the actual crafting of the cake, ended up spending 3 times the hours than I had estimated. Once you factor in my expenses and the salary I must pay my occasional assistant, you can easily see I lost money. A tough mistake for sure, and not one I could afford to make, but I turn these experiences into lessons.The next person who asks for something similar will receive a much more realistic quote. Believe it or not, this is beneficial to everyone. When I know that I have priced a cake properly, I can set aside the amount of time that it deserves and am a much more creative and non stressed cake designer.

Number 4.: Do YOUR homework or: Why are you better than ________? Technically this question belongs in the last paragraph but that was getting wordy =) As a customer, it is up to you to take advantage of the years of work I have laid out for you to see on the internet.Please take some time to peruse my website(s), read my reviews, note the large amount of international press I have worked hard to receive.I AM my portfolio, and if that isn't enough to convince you, then I am not the right designer for you, and you know what? That is fine too. Not every business can be right for every customer, just as not every customer is right for every business.

All rambling aside, I am eternally grateful to the hundreds of customers that have trusted me and continue to make me a part of their important occasions, to you,a heartfelt THANK YOU!

you asked for it!

I'm excited to announce I will be teaching my inaugural class on August 8, in Raleigh NC. Hosted by the awesome guys at Swank Cake Design,I'll be teaching my popular realistic teapot cake. For all of you who have asked about classes, please join me in my first foray into the classroom.

http:swankcakedesign.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14&products_id=74

The end is near!

if you are to believe this truck, and we all know that if it's on a truck it HAS to be true, right? In fact it's "guaranteed!"
There are really only two ways this can play out, either the believers are right , or those of us who believe that, in fact, the world is nearing collapse but it will be a long, slow demise instead.Either way one of us will be right.
All this talk of an apocalypse does make me reflective.....a cake will never avert world collapse, but , I can hope that I have managed to be true to my ideals as an artist and fulfill my goal of always trying to be the "Best Me" I can be.There are many things in life that you have little to no control of.For me, I try always to do my best and to always strive to improve. Because, in the end(whenever that is) that is all there truly is.



Here's a retrospective of my personal favorite projects of 2010, let's do it again next year if we can, if not i'll see some of you later, bring ice!

you want me to wear what??!

Yes, i'm one of those people who puts clothes on their dog. Apart from the amusement I get from seeing my lil' guy in a mini "snuggie" or pajamas with strategically placed "opening" it does serve a very practical purpose . Contrary to popular belief, California is not all sandy beaches and big sun. Here in Northern California it is chilly more often than not. For a guy who has little to no hair, clothes, regardless of how amusing or humiliating , are a necessity . As he gets older, more and more parts of his body have become off limits. Today we had one of those frustrating contests of wills , culminating in some growls and snaps,and apparently "we" have decided that he will no longer be wearing the snuggie.It reminded me of when we first arrived here, nearly a decade ago, and repeated attempts to send him to bed clad in a warm sweater .We'd always awake to a newly "naked" chihuahua. An apparent clothes Houdini, he is able to wiggle out of everything short of a straight jacket. I'd try an actual straight jacket if it wouldn't result in a disappearing act of my fingers =)! Anyway, all these memories of "naked Bee" made me think of naked cakes.My first installment about these unfinished works was well received so I thought it would be a good time to revisit it.Now, off to turn up the heat!

Tim time!

I warned early on that this blog would be both in praise of my life with cakes and my bouts of malaise too, admittedly, it may have thus far been a little light in the praise department. Maybe I'm just old or getting lazy in my old age but , forgive my complaint leanings, but 13 hour work days don't leave me much in the mood for celebrating these days.Still, there are some jobs and clients that completely make me forget about the seemingly never-ending days. One such family are the "Z's" Carolyn Z first contacted me a few years ago about making some special airplane cupcakes for her son, Tim. Tim's a pretty special kid with a beautiful smile , who really knows what he likes.He's into planes and Mario, especially the Yoshi and Toad characters. Tim is also autistic.We've never actually met, but I am always treated to wonderful stories and pictures of Tim and his cakes.Words cannot truly express how touched I am that this wonderful family has let my cakes become a tradition in their family.I have never been able to make it through one of their wonderful thank you notes without tears.My work can feel so insignificant at times, but knowing that I have brought joy to someone through my work is a pretty awesome feeling. Tim's annual birthday cake has become as much a tradition for me as it is theirs. So from the bottom of my heart,Thank You!!!!!!...........xo, Debbie

The one's that started it all.....


The first of Tim's Mario themed cakes.........More Mario, the following year featured "Toad"....one of my fave cakes.......

Next up was an homage to Tim's love of planes,Mario (see the tail wing) and his very special service dog Charlie.I mean, of course he's special, he can fly a plane afterall!
This year I was tasked with combining Yoshi, Toad, Charlie and Nerds candy all in one. I love that dog butt =)
how can you NOT love this picture?? Carolyn told me Tim wanted to stare at the cake all night and even wanted to go back downstairs at bedtime to get one more look haha!

Mea culpa....

........and thirty lashes with a wet fondant noodle.I have been unintentionally neglecting the blog.
Forgive me....it's been really busy.
In August we drove the "cake mobile" (see below)
down to our very first cake show, The ICES convention in In San Diego. I spend so much time sequestered in my shop, it was great to be able to get out and even better to finally meet in the "real world" so many talented cake designers some, I have been fortunate to call friends for years, and some that I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time. I felt like Bigfoot trekking across the forest, often rumored, but rarely seen.It was nice to emerge from my cave if only for a brief time.
When I returned to the lair, it was pretty much hit the ground running.I had no idea how exhausting having time off could be. I think I could learn to adapt.......
Since then a lot has been going on: lots of cake orders and inquiries, a magazine interview for an upcoming feature In "National Geographic Kids" magazine, a small piece in "Modern Dog" magazine and a feature in Italian newspaper La Repubblica.Whew! Here are a few pics of cakes that I have done since I last wrote , San Diego seems so far away now........
how's this for a diverse assemblage of cakes? Plunger cake, anyone?

well, you know my name is Simon

.......and the things I draw come true.Ah! one of my favorite segments on Captain Kangaroo.If I lost you at Captain Kangaroo, sorry, I'll now be speaking to the old folks here for a little while.
As a child who was so often carried away , metaphorically, by drawing, naturally I was entranced by a little Boy named Simon, who , in fact, did draw things that came to life. I am still enchanted by the power of art and creation.There truly is something magical about envisioning something and seeing it come to fruition. I had this thought when poring through some cake sketches. To see your concept, or even a germ of a concept actually materialize still has the power to amaze me.
I am often asked if I provide sketches, and generally I do not. Because much of what I do is replicating objects in cake, a drawing is both redundant and not a true portrayal of the finished cake. I'm not, in fact Simon and the things I draw don't exactly come true.However, when I am composing a tableau or "scene" if you will, a sketch is often very helpful in envisioning the final product. Many of my sketches are nothing more than speedy scrawl to flesh out placement, or to simply help me envision what my work week will look like.....like this one:
Some sketches are more involved concepts, where I will combine hand sketching with computer graphics to achieve a more professional proposal like this one:then there are the sketches that are never fully realized, but most have the decency to not be aired on national TV..........haha!