Cake & Cupcake Biz Roundtable at Sugar Flower Shop!

This lovely cake ensemble was created by member Cathy, a prop stylist by day and cake designer by night.

Join the NYC Cake Decorators at the Sugar Flower Shop's after work  Cake & Cupcake Biz Roundtable on Thursday, April 21, 2011and learn all you need to know to open a successful cake business in New York City!

Amy, owner Sugar Flower Shop is a successful business owner in NYC. Besides selling her realistic sugarflowers, Amy also sells custom cakes. The Sugar Flower Shop has received much recent buzz, which includes but is not limited to, Weddings, The Knot, WEtv, Brides New York, and Wedding Wire.  Amy is also a recipient of 2010 Brides Choice Award and her sugar designs are featured in the Fall 2010 issue of Martha Stewart's Weddings. The Sugar Flower Shop was featured by the STYLE Network as part of the "Art of Cakes II" wedding cake special. She was also on the Martha Stewart Show, and a culinary presenter at Macy's Flower Show.  The Roundtable class fee is $60.00. For  more information, contact Dina at nyccakedecorators@yahoo.com

Cake Alchemy at 2011 New York Weddings Event

Meetup members Marisol and Cathy during a workshop with Chef Lauri.

2011 is looking pretty sweet for Chef Lauri Ditunno and crew at  Cake Alchemy.  Lauri is scheduled to  appear at the 2011 New York Weddings Event at the Metropolitan Pavilion, Wednesday, March 30, 2011, 5-8 PM.  Next week NBC's Today show will feature one of Lauri's fabulous cakes. Cake Alchemy has also been featured on several seasons of Amazing Wedding Cakes and Food Network Cake Challenge.

NYC Cake Decorators first Meetup with Lauri was a Cake Tasting and Q&A at her former shop The Cake Atelier in 2007.  Since that time NYC Cake Decorators has held several fabulous workshops with Lauri and her talented staff.  We are looking forward to partnering with Cake Alchemy for more fun workshops this year.

Lauri teaches selected cake and cupcake classes at her shop.  Contact Cake Alchemy for the details.

Cake Buzz: The "Cooperative Kitchen's" Recipe for Success!

Congratulations to member, Annette Villaverde, owner Ladybugluggage Gourmet Cookies and Cakes! Annette and five other small businesses who share 1,475 sq.ft of commercial kitchen space at Wooden Spoon Catering Company, Princeton, NJ, made the cover of their local newspaper February 10, 2010 issue!

Confectionately called "The Cooperative Kitchen", Wooden Spoon Catering Company, owned by Chris Crawford, has become an incubator kitchen for member Annette Villaverde (wearing the cap), Ladybugluggage Gourmet Cookies and Cakes, Nicole Wilkins Bergman, Simply Nic's Artisanal Shortbread, Jen Carson, Jen's Cakes & Pastries, co-owners Marilyn Besner and Pirosca Toth, Moonlight Bakers, and Pamela Giggie-Accetta, La Bella Cakery. The fact that these savvy women entrepreneurs are all small business owners, wives, and mothers is a common ground that has proved to be a recipe for success.

Annette learned about the availability of commercial space at Wooden Spoon Catering Company through word of mouth at her son's school. It was the right opportunity at the right time; Annette had honed her decorating skills with Colette Peters, Colette Cakes, Lauri Ditunno, Cake Alchemy, and Ruth Drennan, Ruth Drennan Cakes, and was ready to take her fledging business to the next level. In addition, Annette's hedgehog cupcakes were selected as a winning design for Martha Stewart's 2009 Cutest Cupcake Contest.

NYC Cake Decorators Meetup wishes "The Cooperative Kitchen" much success. And to our readers, we invite you to read the inspirational article about the "Cooperative Kitchen" written by Pat Tanner, "7 Women, 1 Kitchen: Savoring the Business of Food".

Cake Buzz: Free Online NYC Food Protection Course

The New York City Food Protection Course satisfies the city Health Code requirement that supervisors of food service establishments and non-retail food service establishments be certified as having completed a course in food protection.

The course is also available for a limited time online for free, and is now offered in Spanish, Chinese and English.

How to Start a Cupcake and Custom Cake Biz!

CakeDiva, upscale cake designer to such stars as Beyonce, Jay Leno, Michael Jordan, Queen Latifah, and ABC Soaps, has agreed to "tell all' at a 3 hour seminar hosted by NYC Cake Decorators in Midtown Manhattan on February 15th.

Get inside information on what you need to start a legal business in NYC and New Jersey; how to develop a winning portfolio, how to photograph your cakes/cupcakes, unusual sources of supplies...and more in this 3 hour seminar.

CakeDiva will share a wealth of inside information learned through over 20 years in the competitive custom cake business. A must have for anyone thinking about starting a new business or revitalizing their current business. Light refreshments will be served and plenty of time to chat and network. Contact Dina for more info.

Cake Biz Talk with Pink Cake Box

A Naked Wedding Cake -Only in New York City!

Start a Cake Business Today blog's subject matter is self-explanatory. Besides information about starting a cake business, the blog also has feature articles on cake and cupcake businesses. The totally unfrosted wedding cake shown here, featured on the cake business blog, is the creation of Momofuku Milk Bar in Manhattan, New York. And the price of this unique confection? This cake can be yours for $350.00.

What's Your Style?

Cake deigned by Colette Peters

Cake designed by former partners Lori Ditunno and Ruth Drennan

Cake designed by Sylvia Weinstock.

Cake designed by Margaret Braun.

There's a saying that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". Problem is imitating a work is often looked upon at the very least as someone trying to get attention for oneself by copying another's original ideas, and at the very worst, could get the imitator into some very sticky situations.

Cake designers who study under one or more outstanding sugar artist are bound to absorb some of their teacher's style, however, the ultimate purpose of such study is not to become their clone but to learn the technique and move on to develop your own signature look.

Start by looking at lots of cakes in cake decorating books and magazines and thinking about what you personally like or don't like. Do you love cute and whimsy, 3D cakes, lots of piping and floral work, clean minimalist shapes? Do you love lots of bold color or soft pastels? Are you trendy, edgy, whimsical, traditional or a blend of two or more points of view? Giving thought to what you personally love the best about cake decorating and sugar art can form the foundation of your own signature look. Each of the cakes created by the top New York City sugar artists listed above, has it's own distinct style. What is your style?

Cooking Up A Recipe for Success

You've made the plunge and learned how to bake and decorate fabulous cakes, cookies, and cupcakes and you've discovered that sugar art is your passion. Or perhaps you have an heirloom recipe for brownies or pie that you would like to market. What do you do next? Many bakers/cake decorators begin by giving or selling their decorated cakes, cookies, and cupcakes to family, friends, co-workers, and community organizations. However, cake decorators in New York City who want to start a part-time or full-time business soon realize that they must be licensed, have insurance, and operate from a commercial kitchen. Costs for start-ups to open a commercial kitchen in New York City are prohibitive. However, there are ways that the most determined sugar art designer can start a legal business:

• Get Free counseling from S.C.O.R.E. For example, on April 30th, the NYC branch of S.C.O.R.E. will host a seminar on writing a business plan and on May 2nd they will host a seminar for women on how to start a business. LaGuardia Community College Small Business Center also offers advice on how to start a business.
  
• Get licensed. In NYC you will need a Food Handler's license from the Department of Health and possibly a NYS Agriculture and Market License. Currently, you can take the Food Handler Protection course online for free.
• Get a tax ID number and tax resale ID number.
  
• Get product liability insurance. Travelers is one company that offers such insurance but certainly is not the only company, so do your research.
• Get a copy of Bringing Home the Baking: How to Start a Licensed Home Based Baking Business by Quincella C. Geiger.
• Get connected with a kitchen incubator. A kitchen incubator makes it financially possible for most start-up businesses to legally operate in New York State by offering leases or daily/hourly rates for commercial kitchen rental. There are several well-known incubators in New York City such as Mi Kitchen Es Su Kitchen in Queens, Kitchen for Hire in Brooklyn, and DRM Baking Center Incubator in Manhattan. Outside NYC are several kitchen incubators such as Chef Delivery Kitchen for Rent in Long Island, NY.

If you are outside of New York State the online Kitchen Incubator directory will connect you with kitchen incubators in your town.

Get ready to put in the sweat equity you are going to need to cook up your own success story!