Sweet Nothings: Almost, with cake on the side

So, things have been hectic. Every time I tell myself that I need to do a blog post (a thought which normally occurs to me when I'm in the shower, or running through muddy puddles in the woods, or trying to find a delivery location in a part of Manchester I've never seen before). Even now, I'm looking at the clock thinking I have to go deliver a cake in half an hour, but I'm gonna try squeeze this in before I go, as afterwards I'll be tired, hungry and desperate to relax after a busy day.

So, it was my hen party a couple of weeks ago. Which means I'm almost married. And it was awesome. It still doesn't seem real, MY hen party. I was the HEN. Weird, even now. It was organised by a dear friend who did an AWESOME job, and a fun evening was had my all. I think I would have another one if it didn't mean I'd have to cancel this wedding and find someone else to marry. Honey, if you're reading this, I am not being serious.

So, the engagement figurine cake. Theres a story there. One I still can't really believe and I shake my head every time I think about it. The customer called up wanting an engagement for a family member, but only had not-much-money to spend, and wanting a 12" cake with figurines. So i explain politely that a cake that size, with figurines that take a few days to make, costs a lot more than that. So after some discussion, and discovering that she only needed the cake to feed 20 people (when a 12" cake feeds like 60 people), she opted for a 10" cake, with figures, for a VERY good price.

Later that day she text me to ask to put the order on hold as it 'may need to be cancelled', which I agreed to. The following day the order was re-instated, but for a 12" cake, at also a very very good price. So I made the cake, made the figures, and on the collection day at the collection time of 5pm, waited for the customer to collect. By 6:45 there was no news, so I called the lady to check she was still coming. She was not he way but a bit lost. When she arrived I discovered that she had been walking. To pick up a HEAVY, LARGE cake. She'd taken the train from where she lived into Manchester, and then the bus from Manchester to me, and then walked from the bus station. So I could not let her walk with this cake so I offered to drop her off at the bus station with the cake. So with the lady and the cake loaded into my car, we drove to the bus station, and on the way there, she asks me for a discount. While in MY car, driving with MY petrol. She wants money off an already very cheap cake. Holy moly I almost drove into a tree.

Needless to say I would not budge on the price, and after telling me that I'm a hard lady to deal with, I left her with the large heavy cake at the bus station. Knowing full well the cake and particularly the figurines would probably not make it all the way back in one piece. It was sad for me knowing my work was in danger of being dropped. But I have never been so affronted in my life before. The blatant disrespect for my work and my skill and my fair pricing was appalling to me. But it happens all too often in the cake business, it seems to be commonplace rather than rare, which is disappointing. Good cake isn't cheap, and cheap cake isn't good. How do I explain that??

Also in the last couple of weeks have been some other cake projects, both for me and for the shop,in various shapes, sizes and flavours. I also enjoyed the revelation which was peanut butter buttercream that I made for an order last week. Paired with Coca-Cola cake and salted peanuts, it was pretty much my idea of heaven on a plate. Nyum! The only problem is that I don't get to try a slice, and it would just be weird to deliver a cake, and then buy a slice. Couldn't do it, it'd be wrong. So I just lick the icing bowl and that does me fine.