An interesting thing about the way we do business actually sets us up for a lot of questions and comparisons. It’s something we’d like to address here! As you may have noticed, pretty much every other cake person on the face of the planet charges extra for using fondant, rather than buttercream. We’re the opposite! Yes, it seems weird at first.. but there are two major factors that play into this.
1. We make our own fondant. As I’ve said before, I’m very “Type A”.. and I love having complete control over the flavor, color, and texture of my fondant. Truthfully, it’s kinda fun, too! Using icing sugar and marshmallows for ours means that our actual material cost for the fondant is much less than other bakeries. Commercially available fondant is NOT cheap! This is why we are able to offer fondant at a lower price than other bakeries. Most places won’t bother with making it… and end up paying $$ for that convenience. It’s definitely a matter of “whatever works for you”, and everyone has different feelings on all of it. Take Jessica, of Jessica’s Cakes. She buys commercially available fondant.. and has been using her particular brand for a LONG time now, after having tried every other kind of fondant available. She LOVES it. I just had a lovely convo with her, preparing for this article. Definitely not “just a convenience thing” for her, She did some serious raving about the virtues of her brand!
2. While the fondant we use is cheap to make, our frosting is more expensive to make than most bakeries.
Not all frostings are created equally! While most bakeries will buy Bettercreme, or any of a number of commercially available pre mixes, whipped mixes, etc etc.. some of us make our own, from scratch, using more expensive ingredients. I’m personally not big on anything with a 100+ year (maybe slightly exaggerated, but not by much!) shelf life, so I steer clear of the commercial stuff. LOL.
On our end, we make Swiss Meringue Buttercream. TONS of egg whites and butter goes into this, which makes it – for us – a more expensive option than our (minimal cost) fondant. This is my personal favorite for frosting – I adore it. Smooth, creamy.. it’s like eating a fine ice cream. We’re one of the only 2 cake companies that offer a meringue based frosting in MN, as far as I’ve heard!
Our frosting definitely cost us more than the companies who buy the other stuff out of a bucket, but it’s definitely a case of “you get what you pay for”. The frosting can really make or break the cake!
This entry was posted
on Monday, December 22nd, 2008 at 5:30 pm and is filed under Commentary.
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You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
“What’s up with the buttercream surcharge?”
An interesting thing about the way we do business actually sets us up for a lot of questions and comparisons. It’s something we’d like to address here! As you may have noticed, pretty much every other cake person on the face of the planet charges extra for using fondant, rather than buttercream. We’re the opposite! Yes, it seems weird at first.. but there are two major factors that play into this.
1. We make our own fondant. As I’ve said before, I’m very “Type A”.. and I love having complete control over the flavor, color, and texture of my fondant. Truthfully, it’s kinda fun, too! Using icing sugar and marshmallows for ours means that our actual material cost for the fondant is much less than other bakeries. Commercially available fondant is NOT cheap! This is why we are able to offer fondant at a lower price than other bakeries. Most places won’t bother with making it… and end up paying $$ for that convenience. It’s definitely a matter of “whatever works for you”, and everyone has different feelings on all of it. Take Jessica, of Jessica’s Cakes. She buys commercially available fondant.. and has been using her particular brand for a LONG time now, after having tried every other kind of fondant available. She LOVES it. I just had a lovely convo with her, preparing for this article. Definitely not “just a convenience thing” for her, She did some serious raving about the virtues of her brand!
2. While the fondant we use is cheap to make, our frosting is more expensive to make than most bakeries.
Not all frostings are created equally! While most bakeries will buy Bettercreme, or any of a number of commercially available pre mixes, whipped mixes, etc etc.. some of us make our own, from scratch, using more expensive ingredients. I’m personally not big on anything with a 100+ year (maybe slightly exaggerated, but not by much!) shelf life, so I steer clear of the commercial stuff. LOL.
On our end, we make Swiss Meringue Buttercream. TONS of egg whites and butter goes into this, which makes it – for us – a more expensive option than our (minimal cost) fondant. This is my personal favorite for frosting – I adore it. Smooth, creamy.. it’s like eating a fine ice cream. We’re one of the only 2 cake companies that offer a meringue based frosting in MN, as far as I’ve heard!
Our frosting definitely cost us more than the companies who buy the other stuff out of a bucket, but it’s definitely a case of “you get what you pay for”. The frosting can really make or break the cake!
This entry was posted on Monday, December 22nd, 2008 at 5:30 pm and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.