This was definitely the year of the sugar flowers for us, not just for wedding cakes but for bridal showers and baby showers, like these cute mini cakes.

 Lovely sugar succulents and roses on this classic dotted cake


and a oh so beautiful sugar magnolia on this modern square cake.
Hats of to 2012 as it was a great year!

 Here are some other wedding cakes we made over the summer, no sugar flowers but equally beautiful!

 This was by far my most favorite flower to make. Its intricacy is in the simplicity of its look and its delicate vibe.
 The ruffly cake and the dessert studded table complemented this beautiful flower very well. Enjoy!

 I loved loved loved this cute cake, the sweet colored sugar flowers were my favorite!

 This summer was full of beautiful weddings, from elaborated cakes with sugar flowers to clean and simple.
I have been away from writing and publishing photos.
Lets get started with a couple!

I have been thinking about writing this post for a while now after seeing this post.
We love what we do and wouldn't change it, but it is sometimes uncomfortable to have to explain why we can't lower our price when asked: why is that cake $X dollars?
Today I would like you to take a tour with me through our behind the scenes expense reality.

Overhead:
Food related business, this includes your pastry chef/cake designer, have the highest overhead of all of the businesses involved in a wedding, yet these are the first places most people want to find a way to "cut down their cost" and or try to get a deal by asking for a discount.
Overhead includes rent, utilities like water, energy, gas, trash, recycle, phone and internet services, insurance and let's not forget all of the regulations placed by the health department and their fees.
In this category we can also include equipment purchase and maintenance. It is very expensive to open up a commercial kitchen and have the right equipment that the health department approves and it is an investment that has to be recovered by the business, specially if your baker has taking a loan to make it happen not only he/she has to worry about the investment but also about the interest needed to be payed on the loan.

Food cost:
This changes based on the quality of the ingredients used by your baker but it normally equates to 25% - 30% of the total price of the sales, sometimes we go over based on ingredients that go up in price when we have already committed to a price with a client and we hold our word regardless of running on a little higher then we should

Labor cost
Boy this one is pretty big! Labor cost can take 30%-35% of the total sales. This doesn't mean we are getting payed all of this money, what this means is all the expenses that come with having employees register with the state plus their actual salary.

On top of the above expenses we have the constant changing nature of the wedding business which means constantly getting new tools to fulfill the new designs, books and classes to make sure we are on top of the game and can offer our clients the best service and skills for their money.

Other expenses:
Gas, office supplies, packaging needs and support pieces for each one of the cake, cleaning supplies, accountant's fees, attorney's fee, bank fees for the business account, credit card charges for all of those credit card payments and a few more...
Of course some bakers charge more then others based on their experience, education and skill level and to put this into perspective is like going to the general medicine doctor or going to a specialist.

I hope this post helps you understand the way our business works and why we price our goods the way we do... as I mentioned before we love what we do and we want you to love what we can do for you!

 We are so EXCITED to be in the group of "Most talented cake designers and bakers in Colorado" by Brides Magazine Colorado
The super talented Becky from Becky Young Photography captured our cake beautifully and showing of our hand made sugar flowers giving us the chance to get the full page feature in the magazine.
Check out more of Becky's picture from this event here