Cake question

Depends on the bakery, I guess. Why not give them a call?

Just a suggestion: maybe contact culinary schools (or local junior college?) and see if they can put you in touch with a graduate(s) who does freelance work.

Alternately, look in your area for someone who does special event cakes. A bakery may. It want to get involved with someone else’s recipe.

Show us the cake, OP.

Good idea R2. There is a comm. college nearby with a culinary school.

buy a box

You may be able to find a commercial bakery that would do it for you, but your best bet would be to find a friend how knows his/her way around a kitchen and enjoys baking. If I lived near you I'd bake it for you and trust me, your mother would swoon over it. My baked confections are to die for.

Hi, Greg (r6)!

R6 I'd attempt it myself too but I don't know my way around a pastry bag to save my life. I can cook anything else.

Ask a friend, who know how to bake, to show you how to bake it. You'll have lots of fun and your mum will appreciate it all the more.

Sandra Lee could probably show you how to semi-homemake it.

And frankly, most bakeries would probably charge you a mint to back a special cake like that. Many people are not aware that most all cakes baked in bakeries, even the top tier bakeries, are box mixes.

No R7, not Greg. Just someone who's been baking for 50 years and have it down to a science.

Surely there's an easy dump cake recipe online that can be tweaked enough so that you can create it yourself!

Are you married, r11?

Consider this a proposal.

go on next door or fb and ask about/find the local "cake lady."

I think what you’re doing for your mom is terrific, OP.

Enjoy her all you can while she is here to love.

I’d be interested in seeing that recipe, OP

R14 has the right idea, I’m sure there are some women in your area with this side gig. I had a friend who made kids birthday cakes once she became a stay at home mom. They were more about the custom shape & decoration - Elmo, Paddington Bear - than the actual cake, but if you have a recipe this shouldn’t be too hard.

I agree with R14. Or call a small-time caterer (as opposed to a major catering company). I’m not sure you’ll have much luck with a bakery. But just start calling around. It’s lovely that you want to do this for your mother. You’re not in Massachusetts, are you?

I can't eat this I'm doing keto.

Here's the recipe R16.

Link.

Is this similar?

Sorry for the overlap!

Wedding cake bakers are used to custom order like this, but you will have to pay for a test cake to make sure it is what you want. Oh, and plus months of lead time.

Unless you’re OP’s mom R19, no one cares.

Umm, cake.

Isn’t this just basically 7-Up cake?

Mmmmm. 7-up.

I like the sound of that.

It's very pretty. The only thing I wonder about the decoration is those sugar pearls pressed into the sides of the cake. Aren't they going to be too hard to eat? I'd go with more sprinkles in a pink color instead. And I wonder how the taste of champagne will be when it's reduced and the bubbles are gone. (Flat champagne tastes different.)

OP, it doesn't look that complicated to decorate; there's not a lot of fancy piping. Maybe you could give it a try after all?

OP do you have access to a phone to call the actual bakeries and ask? I wonder if that would work!

My body is telling me I need to eat this entire cake, and I would be doing it on my nutritionist's sound advice.

[quote]The only thing I wonder about the decoration is those sugar pearls pressed into the sides of the cake. Aren't they going to be too hard to eat?

Agree - there are going to be a lot of sugar pearls rolling around on the floor...

and probably a slip and fall accident involving a great big fat person.

That's a rather simple recipe OP. Most anyone who's ever baked a scratch cake could do that one. Can't vouch for their decorating abilities though.

I could make the cake. The decorating is the issue R33.

Many bakeries will do the decoration for customers who bring in their own cakes. Even some grocery stores who have in house bakeries will do it. Plus, if you look in the yellow pages you'll probably find people who decorate cakes out of their homes.

I guess OP doesn't want to answer my question about living in Massachusetts. I was interested in helping if he happened to.

OP, you may have to walk into a bakery or three, but one of them will say "sure, no problem!", I guarantee you.

Business is business.

Frankly, the decoration of this cake is rather simple. All you need is a revolving cake turntable, and offset spatula, and a pastry bag. It's really not that hard.

And R30, is right. As I said in R18, just start calling around. If I needed a cake baked and decorated, DL is not the place I'd think to look.

[quote] OP do you have access to a phone to call the actual bakeries and ask? I wonder if that would work!

Greg, while baking, and especially decorating a cake is second nature to those like you and I, since we've been doing it for years and have a love of the craft, I can see it being a daunting task for someone who has little to no experience. I've seen cakes decorated by people who have little experience. They were horrors, HORRORS I TELL YOU! It is amazing how badly some can screw up a cake recipe. I had a long term neighbor (may she RIP) who always had a full time cook until her husband died and she downsized from a palatial home to a large condo with a lady who cleaned and did minimal food prep. She tried baking a strawberry cake once on her own and came knocking on my door in a panic. Her cake was taking a disastrous turn & she needed it for a little gathering she was hosting that evening. I went over to see what she'd done and saw that the poor dear had taken the cake layers out of the oven and immediately started slathering on the frosting, which promptly melted and made the top layer break up into huge slabs and slide off the bottom layers. Poor thing, she just didn't know.

She had lots of strawberries left over so I took them to my place and made her a 3 layer cake fit for a king. I taught her the dos and don'ts of baking and she actually became a passable baker over time.

I feel for the OP, and hope he finds someone to give him good cake.

[quote]to those like you and I,

Oh, dear!

R40 is one of the MARYest!!!! posts I’ve read on DL in a long time.

You might as well ask a non baker to do brain surgery as ask him to do a border of rosettes, scallops, or shells with a piping bag.

[quote] [R40] is one of the MARYest!!!! posts I’ve read on DL in a long time.

May be Butch, but I get the job done. That's but one of the many times I've turned someone's disaster into a triumph. I also know how to change the oil & top off necessary fluids in a car, replace brake calipers, rotate the tires, and even build a beautiful dog house if the need arises.

[quote]a border of rosettes, scallops, or shells

Who the hell wants seafood or pasta on a cake? No wonder the OP is having a hard time finding a baker.

Without reading all of the responses to you inquiry here I'll ask straight off as to why don't you call or visit bakeries in your area and ask them?

Take the photos you have along that shows what you want.

Why are you asking for advice here when in reality you could very simply take care of this on your own?

R40, nice story. I'm not a big baker and prefer cooking to baking. But you're right, if one is not accustomed to baking a cake and wants it to look like the cake in the photo, that would be daunting.

OP if you make it yourself you can post a picture on this site.

You’ve forgotten the graxy OP!!!

OP- I already have some of the ingredients for this cake which I need to make one of these days.

R50 that reminds me of a childhood cake my mom made. Chocolate pudding cake. Chocolate box mix, box of instant choc. pudding. Add 2 c. milk, stir and pour in cake pan. Sprinkle top with semi-sweet choc. chips and bake. Comes out moist and dense almost like a brownie and people rave over it.

By "champagne" I suppose you mean Prosecco or Asti?

R51 has my mouth watering.

The cake is a lie.

After careful research and looking on Amazon I may try to do this myself. I'm going to buy professional cake decorating tools and practice on cheap box cakes before making the real deal. I figure between that and some YT videos it can't be too hard. I'm a damn fine cook so why not add cake decorating?

Thanks for all the advice. Try my cake at R51. It's so good and easy.

[quote]and practice on cheap box cakes before making the real deal.

Go get a pen and paper. I’m going to give you my address and you can send me the “drafts.”

If you're anywhere near San Luis Obispo the Madonna Inn is famous for its pink champagne cake. There. is a coffee shop and bakery onsite.

Answer Cake was my mother's favorite way to bake a cake.

[quote]Madonna Inn is famous for its pink champagne cake.

It would be, wouldn’t it?

R57 that cake sounds delicious but less chocolate curls on tops would be better. I'm not a huge fan of white chocolate either.

[quote]I'm not a huge fan of white chocolate either.

Oh, yeah, I’m watching you now, Bub.

[quote] … but less chocolate curls on tops would be better.

Oh, dear.

[quote] practice on cheap box cakes

If you just want to practice piping techniques don't bother baking box cakes. Just practice on white copier paper. Watch some piping videos on YouTube. There are tons. Baking the cake should be the least of your worries. Anyone with an IQ above 90 should be able to follow a recipe if you have a rudimentary knowledge of preparing food. Admittedly, with baking you must be a bit more precise as it's as much chemistry as it is cooking. Just make sure you prepare the cake pans properly (butter the sides first and dust them with flour and use parchment paper on the bottom). And here's another hint. If you want cake layers that don't have overcooked sides just wet tea towels and fold them lenghwise to about 2 - 2.5" and then wrap them in a heavy layer of aluminum foil. Then wrap those securely around the outside of each pan before baking. That will give you cake layers that are perfectly baked with no hard overcooked edges. And make sure you test the cake after you pull it out of the oven with a toothpick or a knife. Stick it in the middle of the layers, pull it out and if it comes out dry (a few crumbs are okay), it's done. If it comes out wet put it back in the oven for 5 more minutes and test again until it's done. And make sure you let the layers cool in the pans for 15 minutes, elevated, before you turn them out onto wire cooling racks to completely cool. You can cook the layers days before you want to decorate the cake. Just wrap them in cling film and put them in the fridge. You can even freeze them. Just move them to the fridge a day before you plan on frosting them. They thaw out fast. Frankly, it's easier to frost a cold cake than one at room temperature.

And DON'T FORGET TO DO A CRUMB COAT ON THE CAKE FIRST. That's just a very thin layer of frosting all over the cake. Then you return the cake to the fridge to let the crumb coat firm up. Then when you finish the frosting you won't have a ton of crumbs releasing into your nice frosting as you put it on.

Again, just watch some YouTube videos on baking and decorating a cake and you'll learn a lot.

Quiet, r63!

How am I supposed to get them drafts?

[quote]… but less chocolate curls on tops would be better.

And DEFINITELY on bottoms.