To business, or not to business, that is the question…

My original dream when I first got into cake decorating was to have my own business, perhaps 1-2 cakes a week. I got a few orders from some ladies that worked with someone I knew and I felt like I was off to a good start. My first order was a Bowling cake , that didn’t turn out well at all. The next 2 cake orders were for the same week but those orders turned into 4 cakes and 24 cupcakes. It was 3 days of work and by Friday I was losing my mind. I had a 6 month old crawling around my feet and her 5 yr. old and 2 yr. old sisters were chasing each other through the house. I remembered at the last minute that I had planned on making a scroll cake by baking it in a cookie sheet then rolling it up. The cake went into the oven and next thing I knew I smelled something burning. I ran into the kitchen and to my horror, the cake had overflowed the pan and was spilling onto the bottom of the oven! The batter caught on fire! I yelled to the kids to stay where they were while I quickly used a spatula to get the flaming piece out. I was also waiting for a couple to come pick up their 2 cakes and cupcakes so I had to rush and clean up everything before they arrived, hoping the kids would play quietly and not make a mess.

When they arrived everything was presentable and I thought I was fairly calmed down. That is, until the wife accidentally dropped the bag containing some of the cupcakes and I broke out in laughter. Seemed like the stress of the week had definitely taken it’s toll.

That evening was rough, I was tired even before I began working on the cake. I put as much effort into it as I could but I could hardly keep my eyes open. At that point I was saying, “I’m done. No more orders. No more cakes. It’s just not worth it.” After a few days though I was playing with some tootsie rolls and made some roses out of them. It wasn’t over but I learned that I did not want to bake for strangers. Too many things can go wrong that I don’t have the time or manpower to fix.

More than that though, my kids came second over those few days of caking. That couldn’t happen. Not only am I a stay-at-home mom, but I am a homeschooling mom as well. The kids HAVE to come first. And they need to know that they are more important to me than making cakes for other people.

I still take orders but only from friends and family, people that I know would be understanding if I made a mistake. Some months I might only make 1 cake, others 4 and then I know I need a break.There’s a routine now when I’m doing a cake, things go more smoothly but I still do not want to start a business. Decorating cakes as a hobby keeps the pressure off, but now I have other outlets for talking to other cakers so when I’m not caking I’m talking about caking