Calling Time On Bespoke Cakes

Cake making for a living is not for the faint hearted!

Add in a one-off, bespoke element to the equation and the steaks suddenly go sky high!

Over the years I have created some amazing one-off, bespoke cakes and some of my latest examples are shown here. If you want to see more, visit the bespoke section of this website.

 

This is my latest!

Meet my cake interpretation of Niffler, one of the many creatures featured in the J. K Rowling films, Fantastic Beasts.

He’s all edible, part cake, part rice crispy cake and white chocolate ganache. The only inedible parts are the cake board and the hidden internal supports which allowed me to create this illusion cake.

As the brief was quite loose, I decided to watch the films. Inspired by a scene where Niffler flew through the air looking cheekily at the main character, Newt, as if to say ‘catch me if you can’.  He’s an adorable little critter! This is my take on that scene.

The Challenge of creating a one-off cake

I have always found the challenge of creating something unique to be quite irresistible, in this case, a cute, fantasy animal. Unfortunately, this also means I am my own worst enemy!

Despite my best efforts, I spend far too long planning and then executing the final design! Fitting these cakes around my other impending cake deadlines ends up sending my stress levels through the roof, inevitably spoiling the enjoyment of producing said cake.

No matter how many times I tell myself  ‘the next one will be different’, I fall into the same trap, I just can’t seem to help myself!

True Cake Making Deadlines

The problem with cake making is the unavoidable deadline nature of it. Every single one has to be produced in a very tight time frame.

Each cake has to be baked as near to the date it will be eaten to be at its best. Only then can the decorating start in that small but crucial time window.

Remember, every cake I make always has to be ready for the agreed time and date, absolutely no exceptions!

Our Pre-designed Collections

When I design for our cake collections, from wedding cakes to cupcakes, a basic concept is sketched on paper, then made using dummy cakes. It still involves all the icing and cake decorating part of a real cake, you just can’t eat it.

As the styling evolves any problems are worked out, and timing is explored without that deadline looming, allowing costings to be made. Then and only then can I price the new design.

It’s virtually impossible to know how long something will take. I can make an educated guest but that’s it, until I actually do it I can’t tell.

It’s then photographed, priced and uploaded onto our website, ready to be order and created multiple times.

None of this is possible with a bespoke cake apart from the sketching element, everything else is virtually unknown. So whilst I can take an estimate timings and costings of ingredients, it still is largely based on guess work!

I Still Love What I Do!

I still love what I do, but these days I get my kicks from producing my pre-designed cakes over and over again to the same very high standard.

There’s something very satisfying to me about a customer commenting ‘it looks just like the picture’ or ‘it’s better than I expected’.

Granted, the buzz is not as intense as the big revile of a bespoke cake, that my friends is on a whole other level!

But it is still one of the best parts of my job! Like any art form, you give a little of yourself with each creation. You want and need the recipient to be pleased with their choice. And when that choice is made from a pre-designed cake it holds a lot less jeopardy than a one off, never to be repeated design.

So For That Reason….

With this all of this in mind and with a great deal of regret, I have decided it’s time to hang up my ‘Bespoke, one-off’s Hat’.

‘Niffler’ was my last, I loved making him and I feel I’ve ended on a high!

Those never to be repeated challenges have taken their toll, my stress levels can’t take it any more!

I proved to myself I can do it, you can see I can do it, but I’ve just lost the enthusiasm and the excitement to want to do it!

 

Thanks For The Memories….

On that basis I do not think it’s right or proper to accept any more commissions.

To all of you that I have made special cakes for over the last 35 years, (many of you have become friends), thank you! I really did enjoy creating them for you and I hope you understand now is the time for me to bail out gracefully.