The Benefits Of Buying Your Celebration Cake From Independent Cake Makers

A common thought and question often brought up in my conversations with people is why, when you can buy a cake from a supermarket for less than £10, do independent cakes makers charge significantly more for the same thing? My response is to reassure my customers that professionally produced, creative cakes, are in fact very different from the mass produced and decorated offerings that you may come across down your local supermarket aisle. By virtue of the huge scale of production that supermarkets are able to maintain, their costs are significantly lower than those of the independent cake makers. However, your cake won’t be personalised to your specification, and more importantly I believe that it won’t compare in taste to the cakes you will receive from many independent cake makers.

Affordable independent cake designers

Since forming my business several years ago, I remain very keen to offer a fair price for the creative cakes that I produce. This comes from my own experiences when looking around for my own wedding cake when planning my big day on a small budget. Some independent cake designers undoubtedly charge what can only be described as extortionate prices for their cakes – cupcakes that start from £4, ‘simple’ celebration cakes that start from £100 and wedding cakes that quite simply cost as much as the entire day itself, with a little bit added on when that magical word ‘wedding’ is spoken. Generally I would like to think – and reassure you – that this is not really the norm for independent cake makers, such as Inspired Cakes, and I personally never add a premium for undertaking a wedding, or other important, celebration cake.

The cost of producing professional and highly creative cakes

In today’s economic climate, we are all feeling the effects of prices being hiked in supermarkets. The same effect is happening within my extensive list of suppliers, who have themselves been forced to increase their prices. With reluctance this cost is ultimately passed down to the customer, although I have tried my very best to keep any price increases to the bear minimum, sometimes risking my own margins to do so. Where prices have increased I have tried to offset this with special offers and promotions through my website and via my Facebook and Twitter pages.

In addition to the ‘raw’ costs of producing highly professional creative cakes, such as ingredients and decoration, as a business, independent cake makers  also have to include costs like business insurance (public liability and product liability), internet usage, phone usage, utilities, delivery times, advertising costs and accountancy costs. This is without any account of the cake designers time, which not only includes the actual baking and decorating of the cake, but all administration tasks such as answering emails, researching cake designs and ensuring stock levels are maintained.  All rather boring but important none the less!

Many websites are quoted as saying:

“Good cake isn’t cheap, cheap cake isn’t good” – hopefully you will now agree with this statement as I do!

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Please feel free to comment, it really would be great to receive your feedback!

Childrens Novelty Cakes and Adult Novelty Cakes

What a hectic month! Now we are into the depths of the school holidays and I am trying to juggle my boys being around with telephone calls, emails and cake making – not always the easiest of tasks but I manage to grab pockets of time (like now) to do what I can. Perhaps as they get older I can employ them as secretaries!

In the last few weeks I have created wedding cakes, Christening cakes, adult novelty cakes and children’s novelty cakes, including my son’s birthday cake …..

And my dad’s birthday cake….

which made it all the way down to Oxford with bottles in place without any problem!

This week, amongst others, I have an unusual adult novelty cake, racing car to make from coconut flavoured sponge with a Malibu butter cream filling – I’m not a fan of coconut myself but I may see if there is a well deserved tipple of Malibu in the bottom of the bottle for when its all done!!

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Inspired Cakes Company History

For as far back as I can remember I have enjoyed baking cakes and presenting them at family gatherings, starting with a basic Victoria sponge (which would either look fabulous or resemble a pancake!) but soon progressing to more ‘elaborate’ designs to reflect the theme of the party. Coming from a small village in South Oxfordshire, I regularly entered my baked offerings into the village flower shows and soon progressed through the ranks of the children’s category to (prematurely) enter – and win,  much to the embarrassment of the repeat title holder – the adult category for novelty cakes. On leaving the village to attend Leeds University and later Sheffield University, my baking took a back seat and was only resumed once I had settled in Sheffield for my mum’s 50^th birthday. The birthday cake wasn’t an entire success but I had little in the way of equipment and the recipes I follow now had yet to be discovered.

New recipes tested on friends, family and neighbours

Despite these problems and the 150 mile trip down the M1, everyone enjoyed the cake. Shortly afterwards I had my first son so once again the cakes took a back seat until his first birthday where everyone commented on how professional the cake looked and tasted. As he grew older, we enjoyed regular baking sessions and found countless cake recipes to test and adapt. Following the birth of my second son in 2007, money became a bit tighter so my husband and I wracked our brains for inspiration to bring in a little extra spending money – and Inspired Cakes was born, equipment was purchased, books were studied and ideas were formulated and tested on willing friends, family and neighbours.

“Self-taught cake decorator

I consider myself a ‘self-taught’ cake decorator, and many people have commented that I have a natural artistic talent (although I do point out that my art teacher at school suggested I change subject to study German instead!). I draw on a wide range of resources to enable me to create my novelty cakes, wedding cakes and celebration cakes to a high standard and strive for the very best – many sleepless nights have been spent perfecting some small detailing on cakes to ensure they are just right.

Your comments and feedback are welcome and very much appreciated

Just as I have got to grips with a vast array of cake decorating techniques (which I will share with you throughout this bog), I am now having to get to grips with everything that comes with running an internet based company, such as writing a blog and deciding what may be of interest to my readers. I am keen to hear your suggestions for these pages and welcome any feedback (both good and bad!) about the content of my blogs.  In the meantime, I am off to create my youngest son a Toy Story cake for his 4^th birthday party and will share the results with you when I have fully recovered from the ensuing mayhem!

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New Inspired Cakes Blog Launched Today!

Inspired Cakes have developed from making novelty cakes for friends and family over a number of years, into the well reputed and busy, small business run today.

Most customers cake designs and ideas can be recreated

We pride ourselves on being able to recreate almost any design and by doing so we are able to reflect a range of personalities through a number of different occasions. Take a look at our work and please do not hesitate to contact us with your ideas or queries.

Browse our mouth-watering cake galleries

This blog will be regularly updated with samples of our work and any news, along with information on cake decorating and links to places of interest. Thanks for looking and enjoy browsing our mouth-watering cake galleries.

Please share your cake decorating ideas and complete the comment box below.