WEEKEND UPDATE!

Good Morning Wicked Sweets Fans!!! This weekend was quite eventful and also included a LAZY SUNDAY :)

Logan's cake was finished for Sunday afternoon pick up! It was fun making this Halloween themed birthday cake. 2 layers of Orange colored vanilla cake with orange (colored) buttercream filling. All topped off with black/grey buttercream and fondant Halloween icons... hand painted by me :) I also picked up some gourmet lollipops to stick out of the top, they brought it all together and I was happy with the final result! I even decorated the cake board with fun Halloween stickers!!

 

Last night I also started my first mail order... Carrot Cake Whoopie Pie Cookies... 2 dozen! Something horrible happened with the batter and all my cookies came out like crisps... and not so crispy I might add. When i tried to get them out of the pan they just crumbled. I managed to save about 24 of them so I could have atleast a dozen done for this morning.....

So this morning I dropped X off at school... it up Stop and Shop for some more oats and remade the cookies... SO MUCH BETTER!! I figured out what my issue was last night as well...... I only used a cup of flour and the recipe calls for 2 1/4 cups!!!!! Go me!

BUT! Cookies were saved and shipped out this morning via USPS... They should arrive Wednesday!! Some cookies were even still warm as I wrapped them up for packaging!! MmMmMmm!!

Have a Joyous Samhain everyone.... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

<3 me

ORDER UP!

2 dozen Carrot Cake Whoopie Pie Cookies are on order!!! My first sale!!! I am so excited to get these cookies baked and out in the mail to my friend Heather for her 5 year anniversary of her Hair and Nail Spa!!!!!!

Good things are coming... I just know it! :)

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BAKING - Something I can control

After being lazy all after work yesterday... and drama (life!)... I got some brown sugar this morning so I could finally bake some Carrot Cake Whoopie Pie Cookies!! 2 1/2 dozen have been made... and I still have a dozen in the kitchen left after separating some out to give away (Had to of course pack a bag for Xyanders teachers ;))!! I am itching to get my bake on and start perfecting some recipes! These are the best Carrot Cake Whoopie Pie Cookies yet!!! I gotta figure out my pricing too... I am thinking these will end up being $1 each... its really 2 cookies and filling... Interested in sampling let me know!!! QUALITY CONTROL, right?! lol

Logans cake will be my next project this week!

<3 me

batter

ready for bakin!

coolin down

lookin pretty!

HELLO ACCOMPLISHMENT!!

 

Baby Shower cake was a success!!! It was a great sense of accomplishment to not be rushing a couple hours before to get it done. I had it all together and ready for the above pic a whole day before the shower!! Proud of myself for that :) I didnt end up actually eating any but I got plenty of compliments and heard it tasted like... a Suzy Q or a whoopie pie! Fine by me... they both are great!!! I gotta work on my white cake a little more... it did seem a bit dry when I was cutting it to serve but the chocolate cake was plenty moist! 

My next adventure is a birthday cake for this week. Jo-Al's soon to be stepson!! Halloween inpsired birthday cake! I am quite excited about this cake... its going to be fun!! The plan is -----> 2 vanilla round layers (dyed orange) probably 8" cakes. with buttercream filling. Then black buttercream icing on the outside with Halloween icons (pumpkin, ghost, bat, spider, wtc.) made of fondant on the sides. Possibly along with some fun colored polka dots. I would like to have LOGAN spelled out on top and I also have some fun lollipops to put sticking out of the top of the cake. I think they'll enjoy it :)

I also bought stuff to make my Carrot Cake Whoppie Pie Cookies!!! So maybe that will be an adventure for this week as well!!! hmmmmmmm we shall see!

Progress - Hello Kitty

Baby shower cake has some progress made! Gum paste Hello Kitty baby is made, I had to stop playing with it yesterday because I was getting food dye everywhere and didnt want to screw her up where she couldnt be fixed!! So CHECK on that!!

I also baked the vanilla cake for the top tier... its a small 6" round.... PINK AND WHITE ZEBRA PRINT CAKE!!! It was kind of a process to get the print because you had to layer it all but it looks like its totally worth it!!! I cant want to cut into it tomorrow when I have to put the filling in... I am so excited about this cake!!!
Tonight.... more cake work! I gotta bake the chocolate cakes for the rectangle bottom tier. Easy enough... just gotta go to the grocery store later to pick up some more stuff!! I dont know if I am going to make the buttercream tonight or tomorrow.... I actually have to get a hold of a mixer before I can do any of that anyway! I ended up using my magic bullet blender thing to mix the wet ingredients for the cake... it worked great!! Even creamed the butter and sugar... with some help of course! WOO makin it work ;)

Baby Cakes - HELLO KITTY

Last night was the MICHAELS run for Sam and Wes' Baby Shower cake!! I cant wait to get started on this... the idea for it in my head is awesome, we shall see how it comes out!
Todays plan is to shape and create the Hello Kitty topper! :)

Anyway... I've got:

HOT PINK FONDANT - Top round tier

WHITE FONDANT - Polka Dots & Bottom rect. tier

ZEBRA PRINT SUGAR SHEETS - Bottom tier

GUM PASTE - Baby Hello Kitty Topper

This is my plan for the top tier of the cake... but with a pink tinted vanilla cake instead of chocolate.

 

Chocolate cake with a Pink buttercream is my plan for the bottom teir. 

Thoughts - Delivered!

Local deliveries - that was the topic of thought while trying to fall asleep late last night. I wrote down a couple things in a close by notebook before closing my eyes:
-After School Snack deliveries... parents at work for an hour or so before kids get home from work? picking up the kiddos right after work? Why not have a box/basket of goodies waiting for you/them on your front step.... A special gift for a birthday surprise or an any day occasion. Cookies, mini cakes, brownies, pastries.
-Local deliveries.... same day deliveries can be placed up until 7pm?! Late night deliveries until 1030/11pm? Place an order and select a delivery time... Delivered within an hour of baking?

I have also printed out an application for opening a business in the food industry in the town of Falmouth. It does have an option for a in home kitchen. Though I will still need to make a phone call RE: what are the compliance regulations if any I need to take. 

This week I have Samantha and Wes' Baby Shower Cake to work on!!! I am quite excited about it... gotta make a Michael's trip tonight I think

Online Bakery - TAKE ONE!

Wicked Sweets - Your Not So Average Bakery
I have decided will start off as an online bakery... which will be my cheapest option. less overhead aka less expensive option and the easiest way to get my name out there.

Etsy.com is a great site that I will probably end up using to sell my goodies - they have the whole shopping cart and payments systems set up so I will not have to worry about that... they also have a basic template and you can add photos an descriptions of the goods as well :)

Now... what do I want to sell?!?
Cakes.. I love baking and decorating cakes. I also make adorable mini cakes and cupcakes, other awesome cake options.
Cookies... I love making cookies!! My Carrot Cake Whoopie Pie Cookies are a huge success and will probably be one of the first items I will add to the bakeries website. But I do have plenty recipes up my sleeve... er well in my recipe jar that I cant wait to work on and perfect!
Pies... I can make a pretty damn good pecan pie and am more than willing to try out other Pie options. I am even looking into MINI PIES!! they're adorable and I am sure SCRUMPTIOUS!!
Breads and Pastries... these are items I would love to have the option to expand to... they are items I have the least experience with making but I am more than willing to work my way up to them and make them my own as well!
Weight Loss Friendly Goodies... yes of course sweet goodies are banned on any weight loss plan but since my RNY surgery in April 2010 I have started learning how to alter my favorite goodies into something YUMMY that wont hurt my tiny tummy! I would love to have some WLS friendly options... protein cakes, no sugar cookies, cakes, etc. available!

Those basic categories could house MANY baking options. But I at least have the basics for what I want my bakery to sell and how I want to sell them! I think that's 2 checks off my to-do dream list ;)
Next steps........ perfect recipes.... find out zoning rules and regulations, permits, etc......
Look for more soon!!

<3 me

Take One! ACTION

I love baking. HATE cooking but absolutely LOVE to bake.
I have been doing some "soul searching" lately... and its brought up a lot of questions about where I am going with my life right now. I am stuck in this rut it seems like and I am not persuing any dreams that I care about or have a passion for. I dont want to keep skating through life and takign whatever is thrown at me or given to me. I want to be able to make MY OWN future the way that I want it to be.
So like I said I love baking... and for a while I was persuing this dream... I took some Wilton courses at a local hobby shop... worked my skills a bit, looked for recipes... but that got thrown to the back burner, I am not sure why but that just seemed to die out. What a great thing that it didnt just GO AWAY COMPLETELY. It has been stewing in the back of my mind for some time now.. and I ahve been doing some self developement / personal growth things with PartyLite... and it seems to have emerged again.
One of the first steps in having a DREAM is declaring it.... well here it is...
MY NAME IS BECKIE AND MY DREAM IS TO OPEN A BAKERY!!! ("hi beckie..." lol)
I have chosen a name that suits me and my dream well... WICKED SWEETS - Your Not So Average Bakery
Now my dream is real... its been put into place and I have thrown it out to the universe. But unlike every other time I am not going to just sit back and see what happens with it... I am going to TAKE ACTION! I need a Business Plan and a breakdown of what needs to be done in order for me to achieve these goals and dreams. This of course is the step I am at now............

To be successful surround yourself with successful people... work with people who have achieved THEIR dreams, similar to yours, ask questions... get the RIGHT answers that work for you!!

Look out for my business plan coming next!! :)

<3 me