The Art is in the Cake

08/09/2024

We had a joint family birthday party for my eldest two's 21st and 18th birthdays last month; the request for the 21st birthday cake was a castle, so they had complementing ones ;-)

It was ridiculously hot, the ganache and butter icing was a nightmare, I had very little sleep trying to get them done and I think my husband was a bit fed up I spent a lot longer on the cakes than planned and not as much time doing other party prep and food ;-) I was SO glad I didn't have other orders that week or in that heat - they were very close to not having cakes for the party!!

Credit to my 18 year old for crocheting two tiny, exceptionally cute, matching dragons to go on the tops, and to my 15 year old for making hundreds of flowers with the gorgeous flower and crochet flower moulds (which will soon be available to hire, along with lots of other moulds Make Your Own Cakes & Catherine's Cake Tin Hire) (Crochet Kelly)

08/09/2024

I'm going to try and get a bit better at posting pictures of cakes as I make them (well, just after, because I never post pictures before the event they're for ;-) ), rather than miles later or forgetting entirely! So here's one I delivered yesterday...

29/07/2024

I've been a bit quiet on the social media side of things, but lots of family birthdays recently!

Here's my middle daughter's 18th birthday cake - for a brilliant crocheter and knitter

15/06/2024

15/06/2024

It was a pleasure to make this cake for Saffron Walden Youth Outreach Project's 30th birthday celebrations for today ❤️

04/05/2024

Let’s talk cake costs!
This one’s for the bakers as well as customers.
As I’m getting ready for my May weddings, I’ve ordered in what I need for the first 4 wedding cakes, 3 x 3 tier cakes and 1 x 2 tier, now all my cakes have an average of 4 layers per tier and I don’t do small cakes, if you’ve seen my cakes you know I love a tall cake.
So how much have I spent from eggs and butter to chocolate, cake cards, fondant and cleaning products etc…
Well the grand total is £955!! Yup nearly £1000, now don’t get me wrong my cake order for boards, fondant and colours will last me past May as I like to get in as much as I can as these orders take time to get to me… but £600 of that is stuff I will only use on the upcoming cakes.
Cake makers very often get replies of “I wasn’t expecting that much” or “I didn’t want to pay that much for just a cake” we also get constantly belittled in the press by people who say we rip people off or “don’t use the word wedding as they double the price”
And this is so hurtful to our industry and simply not true!
When costing a cake we have to not only include everything we need to buy for the cake but also include the hours they take to make and no cake maker should be working for less than minimum wage (and a lot do) cake makers should in fact take their skill level in to consideration when determining their hourly wage (remember it’s a skilled job), we then also have to include tax, electricity, sundries and business expenses and also profit. That’s a lot to put in to costing, see you aren’t just paying for what you see in front of you.
Remember we are working from the second you first message us, sitting and replying to your emails, drawing up designs, shopping for what we need, making cake samples, going to wedding fairs and markets etc etc it all needs to be accounted for, just as you would want to be paid for every second you are in the office.
We’ve also spent years getting to the stage we are at, learning the skills and tricks to get those perfect looking cakes, along with courses for hygiene and registering our businesses (which is a legal requirement when making food whether you charge or not)
So when thinking about how much you might need to spend on a cake please take this all in to consideration.
Then when it comes to weddings and large celebration orders, personally I treat all cake pricing the same whether it’s a small single tier or a large 6 tier, the only extras large cakes get is set up and cake tastings, but we do also tend to spend many more hours speaking to customers on these cakes than a small birthday cake and this does get taken in to consideration. Also the majority will be professional wedding cake makers who have spent years making sure their service for weddings is top notch, that their skill level creates that perfect wedding cake for your big day, as you expect from all wedding services.
So when you say “but I’ve been quoted so much cheaper” you have to realise that’s because there will be differences in the bakers, what’s their skill level? What size do they make their cakes? How well do they make their cakes? That cake maker most likely isn’t costing correctly or even paying themselves minimum wage, just because someone charges more it doesn’t mean they are ripping you off, it just means they have worked out their costings correctly and are paying themselves a correct wage but you won’t ever hear of a millionaire wedding cake maker!
We charge what we do to make a living, to put food on our tables, to keep our little businesses going.
And we have to keep up with the ever changing rising costs to ourselves, we know cake is a luxury and a treat, but that doesn’t mean those working hard to create something special for you don’t deserve to make their businesses succeed, to us it isn’t “Just a cake”
And the majority are doing it all alone, 10 roles in one!
I am very lucky that I have such wonderful and understanding customers who see the skill and effort I put in to each cake.
I just hope we can open the eyes of those who see our work as “just cake” as it feels like a constant battle to be taken seriously and not belittled.
Thank you for taking the time to read this far.
Please share and let’s get this out to those who seem to want to take us down and ruin our industry. (Frankie Bridge, Andy Peters, Martin Louis and pretty much every wedding blog out there!)

04/05/2024

:-)

29/04/2024

😁😍

25/04/2024

The Art is in the Cake's 5 star Food Hygiene Rating has been renewed :-)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The following included food premises have been awarded a 5 ‘Very Good’ Food Hygiene Rating. Congratulations! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

1. Bake Believe, Dunmow
2. Bicycle Café, Saffron Walden
3. Cheese Wheeler, Thaxted
4. The Cricketers Arms - Rickling Green
5. Freshlines Produce, Stansted
6. Gluttons, Saffron Walden
7. Graces Coffee Shop, Dunmow
8. Heart & Soul Cakes, Little Canfield
9. Just Baked By Sophie , Saffron Walden
10. Little Barn Café, Little Easton
11. Motts Cottage B&B, Stebbing
12. Newport Club, Newport
13. Oil & Vinegar, Elsenham
14. Rural Health And Fitness, Hatfield Heath
15. Saffron Screen, Saffron Walden
16. Sarah Mary Bakes, High Easter
17. Silver Lantern Tea, Littlebury
18. Sushi Daily, Saffron Walden
19. The Art is in the Cake/The Gingerbread Grotto By C Kelly, Saffron Walden
20. The Cake Wizard, Hatfield Heath
21. The Golden Butterfly, Saffron Walden
22. The Plough at Debden , Debden

Check out a food premises near you: https://ratings.food.gov.uk/

We tag the ones we can locate on Facebook, if we've missed you please tag yourselves below 👇

22/04/2024

The music playing as I videoed is one of the favourite pieces printed on edible icing for this beautiful 21st birthday cake ❤️

(Try and ignore the fact that my turntable has suddenly developed quite a creak!)

ps it's not the cake playing the music... 😁😉

14/04/2024

I've always wanted to do one with lights!

Lots of technical, structural and logistics planning all came together to create a spectacular effect, that matched the party decor perfectly

🩷🪩🩷🪩🩷🪩🩷

15/03/2024

Happy 80th birthday - and cake - to my Daddy, who's a massive Rolling Stones fan! ❤️

12/03/2024

I'm working on a very special cake this week, as my Dad is 80 on Thursday 🥰

So I'll post photos of that next week - in the meantime, here's the cake my 14 year old daughter decorated for my Mum's 80th birthday last July... (with a little instruction, but she's always been good at watching, listening and learning, especially with cakes ;-) ) 😍

The cake stand belonged to my Mum's Mum - my Nana - then belonged to my aunt (the one who made our wedding cakes, who I posted about a couple of years ago) - and now belongs to my eldest daughter

11/03/2024

Loved doing this Golden Wedding Anniversary cake

26/02/2024

Really loved planning and making this one last week ❤️🤍🖤
🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢
An 80th birthday, with surprise family get together, for a lady who adores the ballet and the Royal Opera House - no prizes for guessing her favourite ballet!
A nod to the ROH ceiling design and the Corps de Ballet - so many wonderful different ideas considered and the ones we chose tied together perfectly

16/01/2024

What's actually almost more exciting than a new mixer is brand new shiny ones of these... ❤️
I present to you the Kenwood spatula. Best spatulas ever. The only spatula better than the white one is the grey one...! 😉🥰😁

My husband didn't understand for years why I loved my Kenwood spatulas. Then one day he scraped a bowl out with one of them and then said "OHHHHH!! NOW I see!"

16/01/2024

Taken when I bought my big mixer a few years ago, showing my grandparents' one too!
It's still in our garage as a spare, as it went back to Kenwood for a service at one point, but I haven't used the main part for years (so my husband's not keen on it taking up space in the garage, but I can't bear to get rid of it as it still works!) - I think it's a model from the 1960's - so possibly more than 10 years older than I am!

Told you I was a Kenwood Girl! 😉

16/01/2024

From when I bought my big mixer a few years ago, showing my grandparents' one too!
It's still in our garage as a spare, as it went back to Kenwood for a service at one point, but I haven't used the main part for years (so my husband's not keen on it taking up space in the garage, but I can't bear to get rid of it as it still works!) - I think it's a model from the 1960's - so possibly more than 10 years older than I am!

Told you I was a Kenwood Girl! 😉

16/01/2024

Starting the new year with a new mixer as the old one was dying and finally sounded like it was going to give up at any minute... 😯😥😊

Big expenditure to start the year, but had to be done - and one of the many costs that need to be factored in to the quote for each cake...

Now I'm about to bake and enjoy my new mixer (and the sound of it!) - and, again, the fact that all the bowls , paddles and attachments fit this mixer from my grandparents', my parents' and my old Kenwood mixers...! 🥰 I'm a Kenwood Girl! ❤️

14/01/2024

😂😂😂

06/12/2023

Made the paper with both cake and gingerbread this week! ❤️

The Gingerbread Grotto

01/12/2023

Thrilled to be able to show you a special order I delivered yesterday for 's 10th birthday celebration last night 🥰

01/12/2023

Thrilled to be able to show you a special order I delivered yesterday for Saffron Hall 's 10th birthday celebration last night 🥰

29/11/2023

27/11/2023

Look at these cute little Christmas Cupcake Kits we're doing!
£6.50 each

Kits contain:
- a set of 12 sugar decorations
- 12 matching cupcake cases
- cupcake recipe and instructions

Variety of cute designs - see photos for designs and ingredients & allergen information

(Please note: Kits do not include cupcake ingredients)

Why not bake some cute Christmas cupcakes?!These little kits contain a pack of 12 sugar decorations, a set of matching cupcake cases plus a recipe and instructions for making and decorating your cupcakes - £6.50 each.Designs vary - please select your chosen design(Please note: Sugar decorations var...

12/11/2023

14/09/2023

I didn't get to make a 21st birthday cake for my eldest this year, as her birthday's in August and she spent the summer as a canoe trek leader for a camp in Canada

14/09/2023

Flowers on cakes...

Fresh flowers on cakes look lovely, don't they...?
But please listen to your cake maker!
Some flowers are toxic and can harm the loved ones you're sharing your cake with.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) in the UK have made it clear that there "is effectively no legal or safe way to use fresh flowers on cakes EXCEPT for those that are supplied directly by a registered edible grade grower"

This means that the florist for e.g. your wedding, cannot supply any flowers for your cake. Most florists do not have the appropriate knowledge or suppliers for these flowers and if you are buying a cake from a cake supplier, they should be the ONLY person putting flowers, or anything else, on the cake. They are the ones trained in food hygiene. The Environmental Health Office and the Food Standards Agency stipulate that they should be the only people dressing the cake.

You can put flowers on the table around the cake, make everything look pretty in other ways, use silk flowers (that have been appropriately treated and prepared) or have your cake maker make edible flowers if their skills include that expertise.

Please see these links for more information
(Please note the cakes shown in the articles are by Kasserina Cakes and not The Art is in the Cake)

https://www.kasserina.com/post/a-few-fresh-flowers-to-decorate-your-cake-1?fbclid=IwAR0kr6Xrnr4QhQgZEOh1BoEGyy9YzOsFOYa-OAwYx9CwSkFpBjTRDYDOGT0

https://www.kasserina.com/post/fresh-flowers-on-cakes-part-2?fbclid=IwAR1Xy3u-Jq9NKuS9Nav1h5Ev5CaSI0xp8fYCJUcDzycXyCC_G5NeBZHd-CE

13/09/2023

Really glad I've been on holiday and not baking in the recent heat!

I'm back in the kitchen next week, but am already fairly busy, with limited availability for September and October; I also take on fewer cakes in November & December while I switch to my seasonal alter ego The Gingerbread Grotto, so please do get in touch in plenty of time for your special occasion cakes 🥰

Heatwave mood.

13/09/2023

Just in case you missed it!

Bake a date in your diaries.

Join Paul, Prue, Noel and Alison on Tuesday 26th September for the return of The Great British Bake Off.