I am a home baker and my husband is my cake designer. I wish I was gifted with the ability to draw, but sad to say I am lacking in the creativity aspect. But I’m glad I have a husband who fills the roles that I am not capable of doing (whether in parenting or in cake making).
When customers request a cake quote, I usually ask them to first find a photo inspiration of the cake design they prefer. However, there are times when they just give a concept, and it is up to us to turn the ideas into a cake. I prefer to present them with a cake design sketch so I can be sure there is “a meeting of the minds”. I want to make sure that the customer understands what we are capable of, and we understand customer expectations. I usually ask my hubby to draw a cake sketch for customer discussion and approval.
Cake conceptualization entails time and talent. This is one of the reasons why customized cakes are expensive. There are even some bakers I know that charge extra just for a custom cake design.
ABOUT THE BIRTHDAY CELEBRANT
We had a cake order for a male celebrant who was turning 80. According to his daughter (cake customer), they wanted a cake that would commemorate the glorious days of his father in basketball. Back in the days, her father earned the nickname of “Kalabaw” (Carabao). This nickname is given to basketball players who inhibit known characteristics of a carabao: strength and toughness. The style of play usually involves aggressive defense, strong rebounding, and the player’s overall tenancy and determination on the court. The celebrant’s basketball idol is Ginebra’s Robert Jaworski, who’s Jersey number is 7. These details needed to be part of the cake design.
DESIGN CONCEPTUALIZATION
I told the client we will send a sample cake design on a particular date. I nagged my husband about the cake design drawing because he kept on delaying (the CONS of having a hubby as a business partner).
This is what my husband finally came up with and the customer did not approve it.
We had a totally different understanding of what the customer had in mind. We were already lagging behind our planned timeline. We have regular jobs, so time management is very important. Redoing the cake sketch will take more time.
I decided to try Bing Image Creator and wow I was amazed. By simply typing some key words, it generated detailed and original images.
It saved us a lot of time, but I realized, this Artifical Intelligence (AI) image generator application also took away the task of a highly skilled cake designer. This could in a way threaten the job of a designer. Thankfully, in cake making, this is not the sole job of a cake designer. Cake designers transform cake ideas to edible art and AI simply cannot do this. AI cannot completely replace the jobs of those who are in the food industry (especially those that require physical mobility and dexterity).
THE FINISH PRODUCT
After some discussion with the customer, we finally agreed on the design she wanted. This was the finished product:
As cake makers, let us not be threatened by the rising popularity of Artificial Intelligence but instead use it to our advantage and make our cake making lives better.
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