Oh So Printiful

“How far in advance should I book a cake?⁠”⠀
⁠⠀
Short answer: As early as you possibly can.

Here are reasons why:

Unfortunately, I’m fully booked.

I have turned down many booking requests over the years because they booked less than a month before their event. How far in advance should you book, can be a complex question, but my policy normally is at least 6-8 months in advance for weddings and other large events and at least 2 months in advance for small birthday cakes.⁠ It’s only when the pandemic happened and weddings were either cancelled or postponed that I started accepting orders of one week before. Some factors to consider when booking are:

1. How popular the cake designer is.⁠⠀
If you've heard your preferred cake artist’s name a few times and recommended by many people, you should inquire as soon as possible.⁠ Many people have tried to book cakes with me but were disappointed to learn I can’t accommodate them.

You can ask your event planner, caterer and other suppliers for information. They have probably worked with most cake suppliers and may have some recommendations for you. However, don’t rely on their recommendations alone. Some planners have partnerships/solid friendships with some suppliers and might not have your best interest in mind. So it’s good to do your own research as well, based on the cake you need, you might find someone better than the one they prefer. Trust me on this.

2. How big your event is.
One or two-tier cakes might be easier to schedule closer to your date than a 3-5 tier cake. When I’m making a cake bigger than a three-tier, I don’t accept other bookings two days before to prep and two days after to rest.

3. Complexity of the design.⁠⠀
Very detailed designs are labor-intensive, from hand piping, sugar flowers, character topper, or carved cakes need more prep time to make, 3-4 days before, some up to a week or a month for custom decorations that need to be ordered. Also, if you book in advance you’ll have plenty of time to change/evolve your initial design for the cake.
⁠⠀
4. Peak seasons
Pre-pandemic, my April, May, June, August and December were usually fully booked one year to six months in advance every year. Where I live, those months are wedding months. When I say full, I mean only 2-3 cakes are accepted every week or a maximum of two cakes in a day. If your baker is in high demand, you need to book as soon as you set your wedding date, at least six to 12 months in advance. Keep in mind that most vendors require at least 50% deposit to block your date.

5. Inflation
In my experience, supply companies like chocolates and dairy suppliers, increase their prices around June and October-December, depending on supply. If you book early on, you’ll most likely be quoted the current price. It might not make a huge difference but it adds up.

6. Extras
You might require a special stand or equipment for your cake i.e. wood stumps, chandelier stands, LED lights, etc. Not all cake designers have these items just lying around nor are willing to invest in them. You need to book early so the baker can order any extra tools, stands or decorations needed for your cake.⁠

7. Baker’s personal time
I’m a planner, I like to plan my schedule well in advance, a month to 6 months in advance. My gym days, my overseas trips, my Spartan races, even my rest days. Once I make these plans, it’s pretty hard to convince me to change them to accommodate a cake order. I had a client once who wanted me to make her cake, I said no at first because I was already booked for an out-of-town trip to do a race. I said I will only agree if I make the cake two days in advance and deliver the day before the event. She agreed and everyone was happy.

I honestly rarely accept last minute bookings. The only times I do is for my clients who regularly book their family’s cakes every year. Other bakers might be willing to sacrifice their personal time for work, I’m just not one of them. I believe in work-life balance and having personal time is very important for people like us, who have extremely stressful jobs.

If you know your event date, why wait until the last minute to book your party suppliers? If you are worried the date might get moved, ask the supplier about her cancellation/change of date policy. I understand you might not be able to pay for your cake that long in advance but you don’t have too. Most bakers only require a 50% deposit or a blocking fee to confirm a booking and the rest to be settled a few weeks before the date of delivery. The sooner you look for vendors, the more time you have to research and have options.

Cheers,
J
⁠⠀
⁠

Many thanks fpr speaking up our minds, Chef!

STOP COMPARING CUSTOM CAKES TO STORE-BOUGHT CAKES

One of the most common questions every baker is asked is “Bakit mas mura sa # # # (names a popular bakery chain.” Many of us take personal offence to this, and rightfully so. This post aims to help you understand why there is a difference in pricing between store-bought vs. custom cakes.

Store-bought:
1. Easily accessible and available anytime. The cakes are always there for you to pick up when you want.

2. But do you know what goes into these mass-produced cakes? Because these cakes are mass-produced, they are not made fresh, flash-frozen and have a shelf life of weeks or even months. Some chains transport their cakes from their commissary to the different branches in the provinces. This can take days from production to packaging to delivery to the stores.

3. Because of production to delivery factors, they need to add chemicals and preservatives to prolong the shelf-life of these cakes.

4. These large chains order their materials in bulk. Some have special orders for their own cake pre-mixes and icings. The ingredients used are sourced as cheaply as possible to sell to the public for a cheaper price, which makes you question what these ingredients are and are they healthy to consume?

5. Production costs are cheap because they are mass-produced. They have teams of people who make at least 50-80 cakes per shift.

6. The icing used is pre-made and comes in buckets or tetrapaks and you probably won’t see butter as part of the ingredients list.

7. Designs are generic and simple. You don’t get much of an option to choose a special design you want.

Custom cakes:
1. Everything is made from scratch from cake to icing to your requested decorations. We make cakes to order so you are sure to get fresh quality products every time, with no added preservatives or chemicals.

2. The ingredients we use are the best-quality to give you a good product. You don’t want to know the cost of couverture chocolate, hazelnut paste or a bottle of pure vanilla extract, believe me.

3. You have complete control. You get your own unique cake and design from colors, toppers, edible flowers, painting, edible images, etc.

4. You can choose your cake size based on diameter and height.

5. You can ask for custom flavors. Want M&M’s in the filling? Sure! Want 2 different cake flavors in one tier? You can.

6. We can cater to special dietary and health requirements—allergies, dairy-free, gluten-free, cinnamon-haters, etc.

7. Custom cakes cost more because most of us are one-person teams or two. We do not have a massive production kitchen that can magically whip up 100 cakes in a day. We are the boss, the employee, the grocer, the dishwasher, delivery crew all-in-one. Custom cakes take time to make, decorating alone can take somewhere between 8-48 hrs depending on the details you asked. Some even a week, in the case of flowers and toppers. You are paying for our time doing all of that for you.

8. You’re buying a piece of edible art designed and handmade just for YOU.

We are in the middle of a global pandemic. Prices have increased and there is a risk on our health every time we go out to get materials required for your cake, not to mention losing sleep and the fatigue, stress and time away from our loved ones that comes as a cost of the jobs we chose.

I hope this gives you a new perspective on custom vs store-bought cakes. The next time you complain how expensive custom cakes are, try to look beyond the price and consider the amount of time and talent that is required to make your special cake. If you want a one-of-a-kind piece, you must be willing to pay the price. A custom cake is a luxury, it’s a WANT not a NEED. Your child’s birthday won’t be any less special if you don’t have a specially-made themed cake. If it’s something you can squeeze into your budget, go for it. If you can only afford a store-bought cake, no one should judge you. The only thing we ask is not to compare us and respect our time and small business, they are not the same and will never be. P500 is not worth our health and sanity. We would be more than happy to send you to the nearest Goldilocks or Red Ribbon if you’re fine with any cake.

You can’t buy a Ferrari for the price of a Toyota Corolla.

Cheers,
J

Instagram:

Somebody crown her the "Cake Queen of PH🇵🇭" please.

She's your dream cake-ist! ❤️💕

I'm a perfectionist, borderline obsessive-compulsive.

This high level of perfectionism not only applies to how I present myself physically, but it has helped in my cake artistry a lot as well. Every flower, every petal, each placement of detail has to be on point. Even the placement of the cake on the display table has to be centered. It drives me insane when I see bad photos of my cakes or the photographer taking the wrong angle. I once made my assistant go back to the venue to fix the flowers on the cake because I didn't like how they were not the same as how I placed them, she sent me a photo but it has been 20mins since they left. I told her to go back and fix it. One time, my assistant spent a whole day coloring fondant because I didn't like the color she mixed. That's how OC I can be.

Not all my cakes are perfect, not all of them turned out as I expected. I sometimes run into issues i.e. fondant tearing, colors not right, flowers not drying as they should, my assistant messing up, I failed to double check on what they baked, etc but I would say most of the cakes I made, I'm proud of.

It's not easy what I do. It takes hard work, tons of patience, a high level of creativity and imagination. You have no idea how many times my assistants messed up on the cakes and I had to come up with a solution to salvage them. The ability to solve a problem under a very stressful situation was a skill I learned over the years. When that happens, I leave the kitchen and go up to the balcony to be alone and think of a fix.

Yes, I am strict. I can be a control freak in the kitchen. I'm a**l with work. I say "CLEAN UP! 10 thousand times a day. Even my students know this. I hate it when people use unnecessary plastic in my kitchen or waste ingredients and remind you how much plastic waste is destroying the environment. If I see you touch food with unclean hands, I will yell at you. If you refuse to feel accountable for your mistakes, I don’t want you working for me. If someone gets sick, it’s my name on the line, not yours. I'm an overachiever. I'm stubborn. I'm sarcastic when asked stupid questions. I'm blunt, you'll hear me say "I don't like it it's not pretty, do it again" many times. I don’t need excuses, I need you to do the job asked for. People think I’m joking when I tell them how hard it is what I do, then they break and quit after a full overnight shift for a wedding cake, complaining of lack of sleep, being sick and the body pains. I can be crazy sometimes and snap under a lot of stress, but I told every assistant I've ever had, "I didn't get to this point and achieved this much if I settled for a 'pwede na' mindset." If you can survive under me, you'll survive anywhere.

Being a perfectionist is often perceived in a negative way, but that's what helped me become the cake designer that I am today. It means I always find ways to make things better, to keep learning new techniques and skills, to improve on my craft because I refuse to be mediocre and be like everyone else, and to keep striving only for the best. That’s how you become excellent, that’s how you autograph your work.

JG

It's crazy true! 😂🤣

Did you get the recipe? 😍

The perfect recipe!❤️

Oh so wow! 🤩

Probably the cutest design request we've gotten 🤩 What better way to celebrate reaching 60 by having your own Senior Citizen card cake! Complete with your fingerprint! 😆

Disclaimer: this cake can't be presented to get a 20% discount! 😆

Bakers sell art pieces, small and big. ❤️💕

“Smaller doesn’t mean cheaper”

Never shortchange yourself. Hand molding toppers and decorations would take the same amount of time for a 6” cake as for a 10”. Just because a cake is smaller doesn’t mean the amount of time to design it and make the decorations means, the amount of work invested by you will be less. I always get this, a client comes and asks “How much is it for a cake? One tier LANG NAMAN.” Then sends me a photo of a one tier cake with 20 different hand sculpted characters or 100 sugar flowers. That is not LANG. Clients think they get the worth of their money if they try to fit in as many decorations on a one tier cake as they can. My response is always, “I charge per flower exceeding 3 pieces or per character that’s more than 1 or 3 depending on how intricate the details are for each.” They always get surprised, it’s normal. They don’t know one character can take 3 hours to make or that sugar flowers take at least two days to dry.

When calculating the cost of the cake, 1. figure out your base price for that size WITHOUT the toppers/flowers/edible images etc., 2. then do a separate costing for the decorations. This way, you get the actual worth of your cake. When a client sounds unwilling to pay extra for the decorations, I politely decline. If they try to negotiate the cost by telling you “Ok I’ll just go for the smaller sized cake”, make sure you only adjust the base cost, not the extra handmade decorations.

Learn to value yourself, your time, your art.

P.S. I was fortunate that the client who ordered this cake below never questioned my pricing. It was a gift for his partner and they both were very happy with it.

Cheers,
J

T'is what you call a ! ❤️💕

Linggong kay ganda! ❤️💕

Muraytang Minimalist Cake hanap mo?? Here uh, perfect for you.👇

Pwedeng i-customize into tutong! 😂🤣