The Pantry Door Update - 26th May

Just a quick post from me tonight to share the latest goings-on from our kitchen - it's been a really busy week, so lots to share, and I'm in the middle of prepping toppers and flowers for the next two weeks to get a jump on orders. Here's what we've done recently...

Cookie Monster Cake

F.R.I.E.N.D.S Themed Cupcakes

More F.R.I.E.N.D.S Themed Cupcakes

Minion Cake

Minion Cupcakes

Monster High Cake with Clawdeen Wolf

New York New York Cake

Tatty Teddy Christening Cake

Vintage Style Mini Cupcakes - 72 in total!

Hope you have all had a lovely Bank Holiday! x

The Pantry Door Sunday Update - 11th May

Well! That was a busy two weeks! Cakes, weddings, visitors, bank holidays, and a whole lot of day job too! The biggest news this weekend however is this - on Friday, the local council came out to assess my home kitchen for running the business, and I am pleased to say not only did we pass the inspection, but were awarded the full 5 stars! Phew, that's another hurdle overcome!

I must say, this is one of the reasons that I put off setting up for so long - having been told by so many people I can't do this or I can't have that - there were so many reasons given to me as why my beautiful kitchen would not be suitable. And they were all wrong. In truth, the local environmental health team are more concerned with your procedures for managing hygiene, and CBC have been great from my first enquiry, offering both advice and reassurance throughout. If anyone else is in a similar position and not sure about taking the next step, my advice is pick up the phone, and talk to the experts - you'll be surprised how supportive they can be. 

So now everything is 100% in place, the council, the tax man, and the customers! Here's the fun bit, this is what we have been making in the kitchen these past two weeks... 

iPhone Cake - complete with apps and the birthday girl taking a 'selfie'

Damask Print 50th Birthday Cupcakes

Metallic Gold and Ivory Wedding Cake with Gold Edged Sugar Roses

Mixed Cupcakes for a Mechanic

Dirty Dancing Movie Reel Cake - with Edible Pictures

Dairy Free 'In The Night Garden' Cake

Star Trek 'Enterprise in the Galaxy' Cake

Subaru Cake

The Pantry Door Sunday Update - April 27th

As promised, here is a glimpse of what we've been up to this week! As our first official month of trading draws to a close, I am feeling really positive about the progress we have made. Gary and I have had a lot of discussions about the best way to approach turning this cake decorating malarkey into a business. The two key objectives for our first year are to test whether people are prepared to pay the full price for our product (it seems that yes they are!) and to see how it fits in and around my day job, which to be fair, has to take priority as it is what pays the bills. To this end we agreed not to advertise or seek out business, but just to build a reputation and customer base built on recommendation. 

We have forecast a modest 6 cakes per month - roughly what I'd been doing for friends before we turned into a business. This month we surpassed that and delivered 8 cakes. For May we have 16 booked. Yikes! We are already taking orders 6 - 8 months in advance, people I've never heard of are contacting me to order cakes, so the recommendation plan must be working! This next month will be really testing, as not only do we have so many cake orders, but my day job commitments this month are pretty huge and require a lot of travel too. That being said, some of the requests are epic, and there are going to be some really great designs to share! 

And talking of sharing, here is this week's offering... a chocolate Mini Cooper, and an Oreo flavoured Oreo cake for a lover of - you guessed it - Oreos! 

Thanks for reading - next week's projects include a classic sci-fi series, an even more classic movie, and my forth wedding cake! 

Happy Sunday! xx