Friday, September 5, 2014

Ten Things Your Baker Wished You Knew

Oh hey. Yeah, it's been a while.  Life got in the way and then I lost my password and it turned into this whole issue that I didn't even have the energy to deal with.

Then I lost my camera and in a fit of rage, not only did I find my camera, but I found my password.

So, here I am.  "Hey Ya'll"

Today's Topic: Ten Things Your Baker Wished You Knew or as I like to call it, "How to correctly order Cakes and Cookies".

1.  Never, ever contact a Specialty Baker the day before your event for anything because your Pinterest idea failed and now your only option is a dessert from Walmart.  The answer is no.  It should be no.  This is a skill that has taken hours to learn and develop an artistic style.  Respect that.  We're not trying to be rude, but we just can't pull rabbits out of hats.


2.  Now that you have given at least early notice (from 2 weeks on and that is IF we are available), let's plan your goodies.  Do NOT send us a photo of someone else's work and say you want this.  If that is the case, then go to THAT person.  We are all artists.  We can take the exact same theme and each person will do it differently.  That is what we LOVE about creating special sugar art projects. When your order says to pick up at 2pm, DO THAT.  Cookies such as these take at least 3 days to create and if you show up 4 hours early, I might not be finished.  Don't show up late without contacting the baker.  They may leave and go on with their personal life.  We have them, you know.

3.  Give your decorator the artistic license to make you a wonderful and very special event treat.  Try to provide a copy of the invitation or a piece of the party ware so the colors can be matched.  That really helps more so than saying, "Red and Blue".  That tells me nothing.

4.  Understand we are not mind readers.  Discuss your vision for your party.  Never try to micromanage a creative person.  Bakers/Decorators/Sugar Artists do this because we love it.  Ease up.  Don't be THAT person.  Please, for the love of God.


5.  Learn something about the Artist's work.  If it speaks to your heart, then go with that, if not then find another one.  Everyone has a match.  Don't be offended if a baker does not want to work with you.  It's not you, promise.  It's just that you're not our match.

6.  Don't ask us to create a Trademarked Character any longer, because we can't.  It's the law.  Go explain that to your child that "no, she can have a Blue Snowflake Cake, but unless it's a plastic toy, there will not be an Olaf on her party cake".  Sorry, we don't like it either, but those movie people are pretty protective over their shiz.

7.  Never ask your baker how they make their item or try to get the recipe for it.  Really?  So, rude.


8. Once a product leaves the Designer, it becomes the responsibility of the event holder to make sure a product be delivered correctly, if not please let us do that for you.  Most charge a nominally fair fee to make sure your cake is tabled properly, especially when dealing with tiered cakes.  Do that.
 
9.  Why are specialty bakery products so expensive?  You are paying for edible art, made with QUALITY ingredients, you are paying for "I did NOT get these at Walmart", you're getting cool person points...those things cost money.

10.  And while we're talking about expense...shipping cookies is crazy expensive, not only for the postage, but the packaging, too.  Then we hand the box over to the postman, say our cookie prayer, and do not breath until the box is hopefully received...and still there may be a broken cookie.  Please, don't throw a fit and demand a refund.  It happens.



Proverbial, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

~
This is Home Girl and I'm glad I found my password.

2 comments:

Bakingmomof4 said...

PERFECT! I will have to share this with others.....because you know, there are those that just think I'm "uptight".....LOL I love your honesty and humor.

Tara said...

This goes for any hand-crafted goodies, sewing is the same. No copies and i can't poof it out of thn air. Great post!