15 Things We Learned in 2015

For the past few years we've spent the last month or so in quiet reflection (ha, there's nothing quiet about our life) of the year we've had as a bakery.  We're a big fan of organized, meaningful lists, so we've come up with this as a way to laugh at ourselves, smile at the year we've had, and get ready for the new calendars we're preparing to hang.

We don't know about you, but from a bakery point-of-view we killed it in 2015!  Take a look at the list below to see all we've accomplished in the past 12 months!

15 Things We Learned in 2015

1. Setting a goal and achieving it is the best feeling in the world!

Last year we decided that for 2015 we wanted to book one wedding cake.  Just one.  We wanted to improve our skills enough that one sweet (maybe crazy) couple would say, yeah, you know what, let's do this, let's roll the dice and make this happen!

We didn't really have a game plan other than a simple, "Put yourself out there more!"  But it worked, somehow, because by December of this year we had made a wedding cake for 3 different weddings this year.  Three!  

It's so awesome to look back a year ago and see what a huge year it's been for us in the wedding world.  To others, 3 weddings may sound like nothing, but to us, it's hopefully the start of something great!

2. Wedding cakes are fantastic.  And stressful.  And fantastic.  And stressful.

As much as we've loved dipping a toe into the wedding world, we can't say it's been a smooth transition.  Something always seems to go wrong when the stakes are higher.  You know?

It certainly helps when you know what you're doing.  Or at least can fake it long enough to figure it out.  But our first few wedding cakes were not without their issues.  One of the cakes melted after we finished it, causing us to have a panic attack 45 minutes before we had to drop it off.  Another cake almost didn't survive the car ride to the reception hall.  

But at the end of the day, all 3 of these cakes represent 3 different couples who got married this year in Pittsburgh.  Each cake represents their own personalities: traditional, bold, romantic, quirky, unique, elegant, they're each one of a kind and pretty amazing.  And it's even more amazing to stand back and think, "Yeah, we did this!  We made these cakes!"

3. It's never too early to start planning out supply shopping trips

Our order volume has definitely increased this year, and it's something we've had to account for.  We can no longer just run to the store willy-nilly whenever we run out of milk.  Nope, like seasoned veterans we now understand that time management is crucial to a good baker. 

4. There's a thing to be said for stacking coupons at the store

Like our better time management skills, 2015 was also the year of the coupons!  With the price of eggs sky-high, it's important for us to remain competitively priced without losing money on the products we offer.  One way we've done this is through couponing.  Yeah, we've turned into one of "those" people at the registers.  But hey, it works, and in the long run it should make you happy too!  We didn't need to raise the prices on anything we offered this year, a savings we passed onto you!

5. Large cakes let our creativity shine

When we first started baking things for Pittsburgh, we still didn't have the training we needed to really conquer big cakes.  Sometimes it's still a learning process for us, if we're honest.  One of the downsides of being self-taught, the learning curve is much bigger.

But now that we've had the chance to make some awesome themed cakes this year, we must admit, it's a wonderful creative outlet for us!  There's nothing better than imagining a cake in your head and then watching it come to life before your very eyes!

If we had to pick a favorite cake we've designed in the past year, this would be top 3 easily.  Not because we're big boat enthusiasts, but because it was such an ambitious project for us to take on.  When we were approached to make this cake for a 60th birthday party, immediately this image popped into our head.  Let's make a boat shaped cake, stick it on some water, and serve it up.  But could we make this idea a reality?  

It took a lot of time, and careful detail work, but when this cake was done we were so proud of the results.  It was exactly how we imagined it, and the customer loved it too.  That's a win win!

6. Cheesecakes aren't as scary as everyone thinks (no really)

Another area we've really expanded in our bakery this year is our cheesecake creations.  Cheesecakes were always those big scary baked goods that no one ever seemed to want to touch.  They were too difficult, too fragile, too expensive, and just not worth the time.

But we decided to give it a whirl this year, and we're glad we did!  No, they aren't the easiest thing in the world to make, but it's a good challenging item for us to make, and an even better item to offer to our customers.  In November and December alone we sold 4 cheesecakes for the holidays!  That's some great additional business we might have missed out on in years past.

7. We still make mistakes in the baking world.  Major mistakes.

A week or so ago we were dipping pretzel rods into melted baking candies to make some Star Wars light sabers for a party we were attending.  Seems fairly simple, right?  Melt candies, flavor them, dip pretzels, let dry.

Except, we forgot you can't use an alcohol-based flavor on the candy melts, or it ruins the candies and you can't apply them to the pretzels.  So we ruined a huge batch of candies and had to go to the store for more.  It happens, and we're human.  Oh well.

8. Christmas cookies are great, but they lead to sleep deprivation

As we're writing this list, we are officially done with cookie baking season for the year, and enjoying the normal sleep patterns that January-October afford us.  While we love Christmas cookies as much as the next holiday elf, we don't want to see another cookie sheet for awhile.

9. When you're an adult, no one will yell at you if your dinner is the extra better in the bowl

Sometimes baking = late nights.

When you don't have time to cook yourself something healthy, cake batter it is.  With lots and lots of milk, of course!

10. There will always be someone who doesn't like what you do

Earlier this year we met with a potential client about a wedding she wanted us to bake for.  We brought some samples of our work, and while we talked she sat and ate a few of the things we had made.  After a few bites she very bluntly told us she thought it was awful and didn't want to work with us, abruptly adjoining the meeting.

At first we were a little surprised.  No one had ever ended a consultation like that before (even if they didn't end up booking us, they were still polite enough not to walk out).  Then we were worried something was wrong with our offerings.  Maybe they were horrible and we shouldn't be doing this?

But after some time, we realized what we offered wasn't what this woman was looking for.  And that's ok.  There isn't a one-size-fits-all in any world, especially a baking world.  It didn't work out with this one person, but for the dozens of other people we baked for this year it did.  Sometimes that's ok.

11. You can conquer the baking world with a powerful stand mixer and 5 lbs of sugar

True story.  If you like to bake and haven't invested in a good mixer, get to it!  And before you buy, research research research!

12. Know your limitations and stick to them!

Sometimes when we get calls about new orders it's exciting to us.  We want to say yes to everything, because it's still such a thrill that people actually want to hire us!

But we also need to sleep.  And function.  And shower.  We're a small bakery, one, maybe two people work on your items when you place an order with us.  There's only so much we can take on.  Sometimes growing a business means learning how to say no to orders you can't possibly take on.  That happened quite a few times this year, and we've learned it's ok!

13. Don't be afraid to try something risky.  Even if it doesn't turn out

This year PSR had it's first international order (read all about our adventure HERE) that was a step outside of our comfort zone.  Our customer wanted us to design a dragon out of cake, that required us to use baking skills we had never tried before.

At first we weren't sure if the cake would turn out the way we wanted it to.  And looking back, if we were to do this cake again we'd probably change a few minor things.  But even though the risk was high, the reward was even higher when we managed to pull it off and impress our customer.  And isn't that what it's all about??

14. Do something nice once in awhile, just because you can

Our little brother (not so little as he towers over us in height) has had a fun year helping out our bakery.  He's taste-tested more odd flavor combinations than any one person should have to.  He's stepped in to bake in a pinch when we're low on time and have 750 cupcakes to get out by the end of the day.  He's driven us (verrrrrrrry slowly) to wedding venues and helped us set up wedding cakes, navigating traffic, grumpy pedestrians, and tricky staircases.

We wanted to repay him for his birthday this year, because he's been helpful even when he didn't have to be.  Our brother is an avid comic book and Disney fan, so this year's Big Hero 6 was a film that was practically made just for him.  We knew right away that we wanted to turn it into a cake for him.

It was a labor of love, and one that we offered up for free.  But the end result was pretty great.  The San Francisco Bridge wrapping around the cake, some awesome figurines that he could keep and enjoy, it is another Top 3 cake of the year.  And one we truly fell in love with!

15. Dishes still suck

Maybe 2016 will be better?  We're not betting on it, though.

See you next year, fools!! :)  We can't wait to see what 2016 brings our way!

Pittsburgh Bakery - Pokemon Birthday Cake

Well it's been awhile!

Consistent blogging is never going to be our thing, we guess.

But we're back, with a fun new project we just worked on last week that was a fun break from all the pies we baked for Thanksgiving.

A lot of our business comes from friends and previous client referrals, and we can't tell you how much we love and adore your support.  No really, without you guys talking us up so much we'd be watching a lot more Netflix.  A friend recommended a new order to us though 2 weeks ago, and it was a cake we had so much fun making: a Pokeball!

We're geeky here at this bakery.  We regularly supply Geek Girl Brunch Pittsburgh with nerdy treats for their get togethers.  Our favorite cake of the year so far would probably be THIS Big Hero 6 cake we make over the summer.  So when you request we create a Pokeball cake, of course we're going to be 100% in on this idea!

What we loved about this cake was how easy it was to create, as well as how cute the cupcakes turned out.  Who wouldn't want a pokeball or two when they're made of sugar and super sweet??

We have another fun birthday cake coming up this week that we're super excited about and then the holiday rush is upon us!  If you haven't gotten your order in yet for holiday treats, don't wait, we have a limited number of days open still.

Until next time...and we promise it won't be 6 more weeks!

Pittsburgh Wedding: Ashley + Eddie

Sometimes serendipitous things happen in your life that you can't explain.  Things you can't explain but that are awesome and fun and make your days brighter.  Baking for Ashley and Eddie's Pittsburgh wedding last month was one of those moments.

For those of you who are unaware, Ashley is a Pittsburgh-area crafter behind the Papyrusaurus site on Etsy (and Facebook).  We've been fans of her stuff for awhile, and always creep when we stumble across her booth at craft fairs.

A few months ago she contacted us to see if we'd make her a unique cake for her wedding day.  Um, of course we would!  Can you fan girl a crafter??  Not sure, but we were definitely excited to work with her.

What we love about weddings is it gives some people the opportunities to let their personalities really show.  We wrote a post earlier this year about why we think you should try the fondant-free wedding cake option, and Ashley and Eddie decided to go with that!  Yay!

They wanted a colorful tiered cake with lots of blues and greens in it, and we loved the idea of a non-white wedding cake.  Plus the wedding cake toppers they made for the big day were adorable too.

Oh yeah, and did we mention they have a love for maple bacon cupcakes too?  Because they do.  And it's a perfect addition to any wedding reception in our opinion! 

Congrats on your big day Ashley and Eddie!  So glad we could be a part of the celebration!

An Order to End All Orders

Ahhhh, fall!  Our favorite time of the year.  Crunchy leaves, bonfires, football, and pumpkin-flavored everything!  If winter didn't immediately follow it, it would be our favorite time of year!

We've had a busy month here at PSR (story of our lives), and we're still trying to get caught up with all of our blogging.  It always seems to come in spurts, but we're working on getting all up to date, promise!

A few weeks ago we had the honor of baking for Grove City College's homecoming weekend.    We didn't attend GCC, but a friend of a friend does and needed some cupcakes.

No, scratch that.  They needed a lot of cupcakes.  750 cupcakes, to be exact.

We wish we could show you how many cupcakes we had (well, we had 750 cupcakes, but we wish we could show you what it looked like!), but our phone went ka-put between the order and the blog post and we lost any good photos we may have had.  The only one still in existence is this very poor shot we took very late at night when we were too tired to care about silly things like lighting.

What made this order crazier is that we also booked a wedding for the same day.  So on top of all of this we had to make a wedding cake and 60 MORE cupcakes in addition to these.  But that's another story for another blog post.

What we loved about this order is it really challenged us to be creative -- we had to time manage like we've never done before, because most of our orders are relatively small and easy to knock out in a few hours.  It was an order that required us hiring additional help, making larger-than-normal size batches of batter, and staying up late making sure everything was iced and boxed and ready to go for an early morning delivery.  But when it was all said and done, it was a great opportunity to bake for the college.

And hey, for the first time in our lives a college owed us money instead of the other way around!!

Coming up this week we have a fun order for Geek Girl Brunch Pittsburgh, and if we're lucky we'll catch you up on the wedding we recently did too!  Fall orders are kicking in too, including our pumpkin cheesecake cupcakes.  Trust us, all you need is that and some apple cider and you're ready for the gorgeous weather!

We'll be blogging soon, we promise!!

Birthday Cake: High Sea Adventures

Oh my word, where has summer gone?  It’s mid September already??  Mid-September???  Every year we think we want autumn to arrive, and every year we’d trade all our pumpkin spiced yumminess for another week by the pool.

Blame it on the calendar, but we’re super far behind on our blogging too.  Apologies to the three of you who regularly read our site (and boy do we appreciate it!)

In August we had a fun order for a themed cake we’d never done before.  Sarah is an old friend of PSR, and her dad was celebrating his 60^th birthday.  She had no idea what she wanted for a cake, she only knew they wanted to celebrate that he was 60.  Enter PSR!

When we meet customers to discuss orders with them, most people are worried because they don’t have any idea what kind of cake to request.  Relax, we always tell them, this isn’t our first consultation.  We usually ask some questions about themes, ideas, visions, etc., and within 20-30 minutes we can make a rough sketch for you of our vision for your baked goods order.  For Sarah, she listed a few things her dad was into, including boating, and we latched onto that idea.  A few napkin sketches later, and we have our vision for this cake with Sarah’s stamp of approval.

This cake ended up different than planned, though, which is something bakers don’t always tell you about – we change our minds a lot, sometimes mid-assembly.  For Sarah’s cake, we wanted to have just a boat to eat, but the more we worked with the idea, the more we felt it was incomplete.   The boat itself was also very unstable, so we added a cake base to give it a little more color and support.  

The end result, though, is something we couldn't have planned better if we tried.  It was a perfect addition to a 60th birthday family celebration!

Up next: We've got a lot of orders coming your way in September, from an order for a College event to another Pittsburgh wedding.  Stay tuned for more details, we'll try to blog sooner rather than later!

The Dog Days are Over!

August, where have you gone?  Summer, where have *you* gone??

It's been a wild 6 weeks here at PSR.  We spent a lot of time traveling and a little time baking.  Sometimes it just happens to work out like that when supper hits.  The call of the ocean, the mountains in all their glory, we headed out of town on several occasions and didn't think twice about it.

Ok, maybe we thought about it twice.  But that's it!

As August begins to wind down, kids head back to school, pumpkin spice EVERYTHING hits us, PSR is back with some awesome news and updates for you.

1. We have a fun themed cake coming up this week we're excited to share with you.  It will be a challenge, but one that we're totally up for.  Stay tuned on our facebook page for live updates, because we will be showcasing alllllll of the skills we've magically learned over the years.

2. PSR has signed up to help the Geek Girl Brunch Pittsburgh chapter with some awesome baking orders they have.  So be prepared to see a lot more geek-themed baked goods pop up in this blog and on our fb page.  We're super excited and already have a million ideas for some wonderful treats we'd like to eat!

3. As a friendly reminder to all you fall-lovers out there, our pumpkin cheesecake cupcake is available September - November only.  To borrow a phrase from 1999, it's the bomb dot com.  No really, it's amazing!  But it's only around for a few months, so be sure to order a few before it's too late!

It's Thursday, right??  We lose track of time some days.  Time to go enjoy the last few weeks of humidity in the burgh!

The Case for Fondant-Free Weddings

Happy 4th everyone!  We'd like to point out this holiday is a bit pointless, as we technically signed the Declaration of Independence on July 2 (they didn't have twitter back then, so communication was a bit delayed), but we'll go along with the masses and celebrate our freedom from England on this day with the rest of yinz.  After all, fireworks are the best!

Before we eat ourselves into a hot dog coma later today, we figured we'd continue with another "The Case for" post.  If you've missed any of our previous ones, they'll be listed at the end of this entry.

Today, we're tackling the non-traditional idea of going fondant-free for your wedding cake.  For many of you, the idea may seem sacrilegious.  No fondant on a wedding cake??  Who would dream of such a thing?

A lot of people, actually.  It's becoming quite a popular anti-trend, and you'll see them pop up with a little more frequency if you're in the midst of wedding season too.  A lot of couples are starting to think outside the creative box for their weddings, and their end result is a non-traditional cake.

So why should you consider whether going fondant-free is the right choice for you??  Here are 3 reasons why it might be a better decision for your wedding than you ever dreamed it could be:

1. Fondant-free cakes give you more aesthetic texturing options.

If you're one of those people who likes to live their life in a textured world, fondant-free cakes give you a range of options that traditional wedding cakes cannot.  Fondant covers up the cake, smoothing out and hiding any wrinkles or imperfections that might exist.  For some, this is exactly what they want.  But if you like to see texture, and design that is different, and unique (and maybe, in some aspects, not cookie-cutter perfect), giving up fondant is a way to achieve this look.  Look at the cakes below, none of which have fondant covering them:

All three are designs that are unique in their ability to capture more than just color and beauty: they capture texture too.

2. People hate fondant

Poll 100 people about their love for fondant, and 75% of them will tell you they hate the taste.  Hate it.  Why would you have a cake for others to view/and eat covered with fondant if it's something people routinely hate?  Granted, many reception halls will give you the option to remove the fondant from the cake before they serve it, but it's another step between cutting the cake and guests eating the cake that must be completed.  We don't know about you, but once the cake is cut, we want some!  No, really, waiting is the worst!

3. You can be creative with your design

Some couples like a simple cut-and-dry approach to their wedding.  They want everything to be simple, and planned and taken care of for them, especially little details they're not interested in, like the cake, or the flowers.  We get that, and there's nothing wrong if you realize you're that kind of person.  But on the other hand, some like to have fun with those little wedding details, make them unique and personalized.  And if that's more how you see your wedding unfolding, then a fondant-free wedding cake may give you a bigger range of creativity options with your design.

Don't get us wrong: if you want your wedding cake to be an exact scale model of the Death Star (please invite us to your wedding if this is the case!), fondant will give you the creative look and professional finish you're looking for.  Themed cakes like that almost require you to use fondant.  But this cake below, from this wedding blog, shows how two book worms can use their love of reading in their cake for a one-of-a-kind look that doesn't require fondant:

How beautiful is that?  Who wouldn't want to eat a cake covered in their favorite poem, or chapter from their favorite book??  It's a beautiful cake, and something as simple and as elegant as this can be achieved without fondant!  Crazy!

The bottom line, as always, is we encourage you to really think about what you want from your cake before you commit to what you think your wedding cake has to look like.  There are no rules when it comes to cake.  Except that you must eat it.  For some of you, fondant may not be the direction you want to go in, and that's perfectly ok.  Explore your options.  Don't be afraid to bake outside the box.  Take a small step towards crazy once in awhile and the results may be magnificent.

Oh, and if you've missed any of our other The Case For posts, catch up on some reading now before the fireworks!

The Case for Fake Cake Tiers
The Case for Gluten-Free
The Case for Buttermilk

Enjoy the beautiful weekend, everyone!!

Birthday Cake: Big Hero 6

Maybe, just maybe, we'll be almost caught up on our blogging finally with this post.  Maybe!  Yay for rare weekends off!

Recently we've had a ton of orders for cakes, and not so many for cupcakes.  For some reason, it seems to come in waves.  All April we baked up dozens upon dozens of cupcakes for orders (we had to reorder cupcake boxes, that's how many we shipped out), but since then it's been a steady stream of cake designs.

Cakes are definitely more challenging to make and decorate than cupcakes, but they let us have a little more creativity, which we like.  After all, there's only so many things you can do to decorate a cupcake.

If you remember last year, we made a surprise birthday cake for our little sister, who owns her own photography business (don't remember??  It's ok, click here, catch up, we'll wait till you get back to continue).  We felt a camera cake would best fit her personality, and we were happy with how it turned out.

Fast forward to last week, our little brother was turning 23 and we wanted to make him a cake too.  He likes Disney movies, Asian culture, and goldfish crackers.  We took the first two likes and combined them into a Big Hero 6 cake.

The hardest part about this cake, ironically, was finding the figurines we would add to it.  Disney, stop marketing the crap out of Frozen, already, you have other wonderful films that aren't getting the attention they deserve.  Like Big Hero 6.  

San Frantokyo turned out pretty well for a last minute cake, and it tasted yummy too.  So now we've made cakes for both our siblings off our bucket list, finally!!

More cake updates coming soon.  We're excited to tell you about all this, guys!! :)  Stay dry out there this week!

Pittsburgh Wedding: Jessica + David

Catching up on some blogging this weekend, because June has been an absolutely crazy month for us.  You never seem to realize how far behind a vacation will throw your schedule until you look at the calendar and realize next weekend is Independence Day Weekend.  Yikes!

Earlier this month we made a wedding cake for Jessica and David, who were getting married in the North Hills.  We met Jessica and David back in February (remember when it was so cold you could barely move) and we all had this idea that it would be fun to have some creative flavors for their wedding cake.  And who doesn't love creative flavors??  We decided to go with a strawberry and chocolate cake AND a lemon raspberry cake.  Who doesn't love options??

About to head into the oven for some major baking. 

Raspberry icing, yummmmmmm

The cake was big enough that we needed to use some dowel rods for structural support, which is a very nerdy way to say the cake was pretty heavy.  Oops, did we just let a secret slip??  Yeah we probably did, but it's true, heavy cakes require additional support to keep them together.  It's not all smoke and mirrors, guys!

We're pretty pleased with how the end result turned out.  Humidity was working against us that day, and the minute we stepped outside the fondant started to pull apart.  It happens to the best of us sometimes.  We had to do a quick repair job to keep it stabilized, but in the end it came out how we had hoped!

A final congratulations to Jessica and David for getting married, and another order completed by PSR.  Yay wedding season!! :)

We'll be back blogging some more soon, don't miss out!

PSR Goes International (kinda)

Sometimes the baking business is the pits.  Dishes to wash, invoices to write, budgets to magically budget.  If you think our lives are some magical fantasy episode of Ace of Cakes or something, that's very far from the truth.

But for every ugly dish we have to wash and dry long after we want to crawl into bed, we have moments that are fun and special and remind us why we got into this business in the first place.  Moments like this weekend, when we completed our first international order.

An international order for PSR is like the Pittsburgh International Airport claiming it's an international airport.  Sure, they have a daily flight to Toronto and Cozumel, but most people don't think of the PIA as an international travel destination.  Same with a bakery in Pittsburgh.  International orders?  What?

Here's what happened, though.  A woman contacted us from the UK to let us know her son's birthday was coming up, and he was now living in Pittsburgh.  She was hoping we could bake and deliver him a cake.  It took some planning, since most of our customers pay with cash or check on delivery (thanks, PayPal!), but once the logistics were worked out, we decided to make a cake with a Welsh dragon on top.  And write "Happy Birthday" in Welsh on top.  Because, you know, we majored in languages in college (nope, we didn't).

The cake turned out fantastically, though.  Take a look at some of the photos below of the prep work and finished results!  And stay tuned, we still have another wedding cake and birthday cake coming up soon that you'll want to see (no, really, you will!)

The head and neck of the dragon were molded from rice krispie treats.  It's a light-weight replacement for cake that's easy to sculpt)

Also, if you're like us and didn't know the difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom, we found this handy dandy map for you.  This isn't just a baking blog, you guys, we're here to educate!!

Vanilla

If you're a longtime reader of this blog, you know we sometimes wax poetic about flavorings.  In our humble opinion, many a good baked good can be ruined if the flavoring of something is off.  Too strong a taste, it cancels everything out, too little a taste it leaves you feeling underwhelmed.  It's what can make or break a baked good.

Vanilla, then, is the master flavor to us.  Even if you've only ever baked chocolate chip cookies using the directions on the back of the package, you've used vanilla.  Our sister (who claims her kitchen is her 'walk-in closet') even owns vanilla.  That she purchased on her own, at the grocery store.

The problems casual bakers have, though, is there are too many vanilla options anymore.  Which one do you use?  The paste, the extract, the imitation, the seeds??  What started as a quest to just make some chocolate chip cookies to go along with the chick flick you're about to dive into has turned into a colossal headache in front of the spice rack.

We feel your pain. And we're here to help.

We own just about everything in the world vanilla-wise.  No, seriously.  We're going to break it down for you in an easy-to-understand guide right now.  So that next time, you won't have to stress about which vanilla to use.  You will look like a vanilla guru because you'll already know.

1. Imitation Vanilla

Imitation Vanilla is what you owned in college when you had to bake something for that bake sale your favorite club was holding but still had to make rent that month.  It's cheap, especially when you see the list price as $2.99 and the pure vanilla extract at $5.59.  Heck yes, imitation vanilla all the way!

When to Use It:  We use imitation vanilla sometimes, and don't want you to think it's a cop out.  In certain situations, it's not.  Here's our rule of thumb for vanilla: if it's not one of the main flavors you should be tasting, then use the imitation.  Vanilla enhances the flavors in products, makes them pack a punch in your mouth.  If your chocolate cake recipe calls for some vanilla to be added to the mixture, the writers of your recipe didn't lose their minds -- the vanilla is there to make the chocolate taste punch.  But, since you want to taste the chocolate in the cake, use the imitation vanilla in this situation.  Half the cost, same effect.

2. Pure Vanilla Extract

All of your grandmothers had this stuff floating around in their kitchens like it was milk.  You'd ask for vanilla, they'd head to the pantry and return with 12 of these bottles, because they were on sale, and who doesn't want 12 bottles of pure vanilla extract??

Vanilla extract can run from your supermarket off-brands to bottles full of "Tahitian Pure Vanilla".  That's code for liquid gold, pretty much.  Yes there's a taste difference between the Shop-N-Save Pure Vanilla and Tahitian Pure Vanilla, but there's also a price difference.  Generic pure vanilla will run you $7 for 4 oz. on a bad day.  Tahitian Pure Vanilla is $15 for that same 4 oz.

When to Use It: If you don't have vanilla bean paste (see below), use this whenever you're baking something where vanilla is the main flavor you want to come through.  Vanilla cake, blondie brownies, even chocolate chip cookies.  And whenever you're making icing!

3. Vanilla Bean Paste

Ahhh, have we ever told you of our love for vanilla bean paste?  We LOVE vanilla bean paste.  It is the nectar of the gods, we swear.  Vanilla bean paste can be used measurement for measurement the same as vanilla extract.  Vanilla bean paste, though, is thicker, like a syrup, and full of actual vanilla beans.  When you make something with vanilla bean paste, you'll be able to see the beans in whatever you bake.

This stuff is expensive too (the 4oz. bottle above was $13), but my oh my we cannot recommend this stuff enough.  Once you switch over to this, you'll never go back to vanilla extract.

When to Use It: Whenever you want to die and go to vanilla heaven.  Anything where you want the vanilla to shine through, that's when you should be using this stuff.  And it tastes amazing in a vanilla buttercream icing.  Trust us on this.  No, don't trust us, go make some right now!!

4. Real Vanilla Beans

Where it all begins...getting back to the roots of nature with an actual vanilla bean. If you've never worked with an actual vanilla bean before, have some patience, and buy an extra one just in case.  It takes a lot of patience to split it open and scrape out the seeds inside.  The result, though is fantastic -- vanilla in its purest form, the way it was meant for all of us to enjoy.

When to Use It:
You can mix in a real vanilla bean seeds any time a recipe calls for vanilla (along with some vanilla extract, to help it mix throughout).  One of our favorite things to do with a vanilla bean is to make vanilla sugar.  Find an air tight container, fill it with sugar (both white and raw will work), split open a bean and nestle it deep into the sugar.  Let it sit for a long time.  Long time as in you forgot you even put that container up on that high shelf until it's time to make Christmas cookies and you're looking for your gingerbread cookie cutter long time.  The vanilla will seep into the sugar and you'll have some wonderful vanilla sugar for baking with.  Or for coffee.  Yum, vanilla sugar in coffee is amazing!

So there you go.  You feel like such an expert now, right???  You're welcome!!

The Case for Fake Cake Tiers

In our ongoing (though often neglected) "The Case For" series, we examine some unconventional baking ideas, habits, or recipes that might not be what you'd see in your typical bakery.  Click here for The Case For Gluten Free and here for The Case for Buttermilk.

Wedding cakes!  We'll admit, we have them on the brain recently!  We have a wedding coming up in less than a month's time, so we've been slowly prepping everything for the big day.  (also, the wedding happens to be the day before PSR shuts down for a well-deserved week of sun and sand and vacation, so getting to that wedding is our only goal right now).

There are so many people who will tell you so many things about choosing the right wedding cake.  You've probably heard all of these and more before:

"Choose a baker who will offer you a discount."

"Avoid fondant at all costs."

"Skip the big cake, go with a small one to cut and sheet cake for the masses."

"Skip the cake all together, go with cupcakes or pies or something memorable."

"Never over-order cake, not everyone eats it."

"Go with classic flavors."

"Go with crazy flavors."

"Save money by requesting fake cake tiers."

Some of these we agree with...some of these make us cringe.  Eventually, if we ever have the time, maybe we'll debunk the pros and cons of each of these.  For now, though, we'd like to take a look at the last one: Saving money by requesting fake cake tiers.

It seems like a novel idea: if you want to save money but still have an amazing cake for all to admire, the cheap solution (and the one that doesn't leave you with mountains of uneaten cake), is to go with a fake cake.  Simple, right??

Well, it depends on who bakes your wedding cake.  Bakers greatly differ in opinions on whether they will offer a discount at all.  A very common theme for many bakers reads something like this: We still have to decorate the cake, whether it's real or imaginary, so it's the same price!"

To the baker's credit who make these arguments, fake tiers are not easy to decorate.  They are usually made of Styrofoam, which is not easy to cut or carve.  It is also extremely light-weight, which makes it hard to decorate it as you would a nice, thick, dense cake.  Often times it can slide right off the tray when you go to press icing to it.  

Bakers too, have to purchase the fake tiers, which usually doesn't run super cheap, and keep them well preserved until the big day.  That sentence might make you laugh until you accidently drop a 20lb bag of flour on the tier and the Styrofoam warps, leading you to spend more money to replace it.  Trust me, it's happened to me.

Our argument for a reduced price, though, is very simple: we're willing to discount the cost of fake tiers for the flexibility it provides to our bakery.  In the baking world, that cannot be understated.  Because cake is fresh, and must be served fresh, there is only so little "prep work" a bakery can do to get ready for a wedding.  Yes, we can buy all the supplies early, make sure everything's cleaned and ready to go, sometimes if we have to carve a cake we might even bake and freeze it ahead of time so that we can manipulate it as needed, but when it comes down to it there's very little we can do prior to the 48 hours before an event when it involves real cake.  God forbid an actual emergency pops up in our real lives or something.

Fake tiers give us the flexibility of time, though, which is so cherished.  If we want to start decorating the tiers a few days earlier than usual, it doesn't matter.  No one's going to eat it, so as long as it still looks good, we can afford to start the decorating a little earlier than usual.  This allows us time to make sure every last detail is correct and perfect, and gives us enough time to shower before we actually deliver our cake.  

Laugh all you want, but showing up for a delivery with powdered sugar in your hair is not all the rage we thought it was going to be.

The bottom line, if fake tiers are what you're looking for, you need to shop around for a baker who will discount it for you. Some will and some won't.  We discount fake tiers anywhere from 25-40%, depending on what you order with us.  That discount is for the flexibility we have as bakers when we're tasked with decorating a fake tier.

No matter what, your wedding day is about you.  So make sure you choose a cake that fits your needs.  If you want to save money and still have a beautiful cake, do your homework and find a baker/bakery who can help you with your vision.

And if you want to discuss fake tier pricing with us ever, we'd be glad to sit down with you and go over it all.  It's definitely worth the meeting with us!

Wedding Season

By springtime, we're itching to get outside again.  Throw on some shades, find some new shoes, soak up some of those almost-forgotten-about rays.  Winter in Pittsburgh just goes for so long, doesn't it??

Springtime also means we're in full baking mode.  Most of your New Year's resolutions have been abandoned by now, and will birthdays, weddings, and graduations all being scheduled, PSR is usually in overdrive with orders.  This spring is no exception.

We took a month or so off for some personal changes (we moved!), but now that spring has arrived we're back in full swing here.  We are booked solid for the next 3 weeks, and have weddings planned for this summer already!  

Tonight we're celebrating the wedding of a good personal friend of ours.  Kara has been in our lives for 11+ years, and this weekend she is getting married.  This is Kara (and a rare picture of Lis too!):

Timing didn't work out to make her wedding cake (plus, it becomes a lot harder to do that when you're in the wedding), but we decided to make her a cake tonight for her rehearsal dinner.  Because there's no such thing as too much cake when it's your wedding weekend!

Kara loves purple above all else (well....lime green too, but who wants to see a lime green cake??) so we went all out on the purple shades for this cake.  And the flavors underneath are just as yummy: lemon raspberry, vanilla bean almond, and chocolate mocha!  If you haven't forgotten about your New Year's Resolution by now, I bet this is testing your will power!

We'll be back soon with lots more updates, since we have lots of work coming up in the near future.  If you're planning on contacting us for some baking work, might we suggest you do it sooner rather than later??  We're already scheduling well into June for customers!

Enjoy this beautiful weekend, guys!

Unexpected Surprises

Isn't life funny sometimes?  You think you know where your life is headed, and then you get thrown a curve ball.  We had a pretty steady week planned out for the bakery, one order for this weekend, one consultation, nothing major.  It's January, most people are still trying to work off that holiday weight they packed on.

And then, out of no where, it all was flipped upside down.

On Tuesday we received the most unusual call from a bride-to-be.  She's getting married this weekend and at the 11th hour had lost her baker and her wedding cake.  She needed something, anything, for her reception.

At first, we said we couldn't help.  We're leaving for an out-of-town visit this weekend, and the last thing we needed to add to our schedule was a wedding cake.  But then we thought about it...she was frantic, and we could probably throw something together by Friday.  Honestly, we could rearrange a few things, right?

So we made a simple cake for her to cut this weekend on her wedding day.  We cut out lots of rose petals (see above), and shaped them for the cake topper (this is such a labor-intensive process, you have no idea).  We baked two cakes, covered them in fondant, decorated the heck out of them, and after a few hours of work, we're pretty proud with the end results.

We never got around to publishing our goals for 2015 (apologies to the 5 people who actually follow this blog), but one of the things we really hoped to accomplish this year was to become more involved in the Pittsburgh wedding scene.  We have two more consultations lined up next week with brides-to-be, and maybe nothing will come of either meetings, but at least we're getting our name out there more.  We don't want our business to stagnate, and sometimes last year it certainly felt like it was.

So 2015 is off to a great start for us!  Here's hoping it continues past January! 

New Year, Same Blog

Hello readers!!

Welcome to 2015!!  What a crazy end of 2014 we had!  You guys loaded us up with orders (thanks!) and we spent most of December baking for all of your holiday needs.  Dozens of cookies, cupcakes, and loaves of bread (yes bread!) went out this holiday season, and we couldn't be more humbled by the love and support you have shown us.  What a way to end the year!

Aren't Christmas cookies the best, though?  So yummy, so sweet...so bad for you!  Yeah, we might have eaten a few too many cookies this holiday season.  Do the pants feel a bit tight, or is the washing machine mis-set again??

Crazy enough, our New Year's Resolution is to get into better shape.  We go to the gym, but our goal is to do it on an increasing basis (not just when Penguins hockey games are on so we can watch the game for once), and to cut all added sugar out of our daily diet.  Yes, you read that right....cut sugar out of our diet.

Sanity Police: Ma'am, you do realize you run a bakery, correct?
Me: Yes officer, I'm aware.
Sanity Police: And you do realize most bakeries use sugar in their day-to-day operations?
Me: Wait, what?!?

It hasn't been easy, we'll tell you that.  When you cut something out of your life, you begin to realize just how much it was in your life to begin with.  Sugar's in EVERYTHING!!  And we decided to cut out artificial sweeteners too, which rules out diet drinks (including juice), and even some "healthy" dessert options.  If it wasn't naturally found in the product to begin with, we're not touching it.  We've been eating a lot of fruit...a LOT of fruit.

Sometimes fruit doesn't cut it, though.  Sometimes you need something that you baked for dessert.  And we found a fabulous recipe we thought we'd share with you today.  It has no added sugar!!  And it tastes really yummy!!  Seriously, jot this one down!!

Banana Walnut Cookies
(no added sugar.  Yield: 12-18 cookies)

• 3 extremely ripe bananas, mashed up
• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 cup raisin (optional)
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Combine all ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

^That, folks, is the easiest recipe you'll see all day.  You dirty one bowl.  And we mashed everything together with a sandwich baggie over my hand, so we didn't even use a spoon.

We'll be honest, we're not always a fan of banana-flavored things.  We trade the banana Runts candy like we're on the stock market floor.  But after not having anything sweet for dessert in almost 2 weeks, this was like mana from heaven!  So delicious, and really simple to make!