A baking day again plus trying to get some paperwork out of the way and a bit of housework too. This baking for a living entails a lot of stuff and a lot of discipline too. There is nothing like pushing yourself is there but I am really enjoying what I am doing at the moment with regards to selling on the webshop and supplying a cafe and farmshop with my homebaked products. It has inspired me to inquire at other cafes, eateries and craft shops so I am trying to think outside the box with what I could offer these places which is different.
After having some success with the collection option on my webshop I have decided to try the idea out where I offer my bakes on my Facebook page like I see so many other homebakers doing and then the customer collects from my house on a “first come, first served” basis. It will be just an idea to use up ingredients or if I have anything spare so not a weekly thing. I am going to give it a go and see what happens. Other homebakers seem to have success but I first need to increase the number of likes on my Facebook page I think in order to get my products and ideas seen by more. Maybe I should offer a free cake posted to the 200 person who likes my page – UK only though I am afraid. Something to think about??
Yesterday, I made four Chocolate Loaf Cakes which I decorated with ganache and various sweets. I have quite a lot of these loaf cake cardboard trays left from my market stall days and I don’t want them going to waste so by offering these loaf cakes on my webshop as postal delivery or collection it means I can use them up.
When the children saw the chocolate cakes, I knew they would want to keep one for themselves which left me three. I set the price quite low as these cakes were just trials but I managed to sell two straight away. There was one left which is sat on the kitchen counter looking all lonely but I have managed to sell it.:)
Once I have checked the pricing for baking these Loaf Cakes I will probably be increasing the price to the customer as I think it is too low for the quality of the cake which I make. Looking at what other bakers charge for a similar offer I have started low but that will change next week. If this works then I will eventually be able to offer other homebaked treats for collection too. To tell you the truth I hadn’t even thought of adding collection only as a delivery option to my webshop but I am glad that I did.
My other job which I must get finished is the design of my leaflets which I need to get finished soon in order to start handing them out, adding them into deliveries which I get online and so on. I have a vague idea what I want my leaflet to say but it is the design of it I need help with. I will definitely have to pay a visit to Cyle Design who is an excellent graphic designer.
One thing I have missed doing this week is messing around in the kitchen but I hope to remedy this soon as I am planning on a couple of Easter ideas and some gluten free/egg free baking which I hope will be of interest to a couple of eateries.
For the weekend, I will be compiling a list of Loaf Cakes which will be available for collection next week. Also trialling a couple more flavours and maybe the gluten free/egg free ideas – time permitting as I still have the children to ferry around for their busy social lives.
Right, I am off to photograph some bakes I have started for Canny Crafty which are sitting on the kitchen counter, sort some labels, package the bakes ready for collection, catch up with paperwork – invoices, ingredient lists and receipt entries, unpack my new packaging and then collapse with a coffee.