Yes we do!
Most bakers don’t make their cakes on their birthday. Among the reasons are:
- They want to try other popular cakes or
- They are too tired from always baking for others, resting on their birthday is already a treat itself!
The first one is I think essential since you want to try other popular cakes to check how it tastes or to get an inspiration/idea for your future cake creations. I used to do the taste testing part when I was starting out in the business but over the years I have become more confident with my taste buds’ judgment on what is good or not. After all, I don’t really want to be a copycat but I want to create something that is unique to our business or different from other bakers.
As to the second reason, I wish it will not happen to most bakers to be always too tired because personally I believe life should be about balance, and we should learn how to price our cakes right so we can afford to delegate and go on days-off, too!
As I have said earlier, as much as possible I make cakes for myself and my family on our birthdays. Our cake business was only a result of a desire to treat the family. I believe our BIG WHY we do the things we do is our FAMILY. Yes, trying to juggle to make a cake for ourselves aside from the cake orders is an added effort and has no corresponding payment, but I always try to not forget the reason why we are in business in the first place.
These are some of the cakes I did for myself:
When our baby was still young, we used to make grand cakes for her but now that she has grown and doesn’t want parties anymore a simple cake will suffice.
These were some of her cakes:
Last November 26, my sister celebrated her birthday and though we are miles apart I still made her a cake because it is my way to make her feel loved. I had a caramel cake order that day and I baked extra batter for her cake but then my husband’s officemate asked if we had extra cake. I ended up making the extra cake to another caramel cake for the rush order. Good thing I still have a whole custard cake in our chiller supposedly for snacking. Before we had it for snacks, I took it from the can and made a minimalist beach inspired cake since we both already miss the beach so much.
Celebrations in the family are opportunities to actually do cake designs you dreamt to do. Being able to make a minimalist cake is actually my dream. I attempted making it last time on my hubby’s birthday but my daughter was against it- but that is another story.