13 Things We Learned in 2013

Last year we wrote a semi-whimsical blog post about all of the things we learned in 2012.  In 2012, if you remember, we officially launched our baking business, and boy did we have a lot to learn.  Our look back at the first 9 months of our business proved to be humorous, as we made plenty of mistakes and slowly grew and learned from all of them.

A year later, we decided to revisit the idea of a look back, and to see what funny stories, lessons, and growing we did in 2013.  So, with no further ado...

13 Things We Learned in 2013

1. Cell phone calendars are the best invention in the world.  Seriously, it's amazing having your entire life organized in your hand wherever you go.  We've been blessed this year to have more and more business, and the only way to keep track of all the delivery dates and orders is with out cell phone.  No matter where we are, we can keep track of our business through our phone, not only with our phone planner, but with constant email contact and website communications.  How did bakeries exist before cell phones?
2. Wine makes even the longest days better.  Seriously, it does.  We work a full-time job and bake on the side.  Sometimes we're up until midnight, 1am baking, and while we love it, it does sometimes wear on us.  That's where a good glass of wine, a Netflix marathon, and a spatula fit together perfectly.  
   
   The combination has gotten us through many a long night of baking when all we want to do is curl up in bed and sleep.
3. Gluten-free is actually really tasty.  At least our gluten-free products are (not to brag or anything).  If you missed our post earlier this year, we're not ones to really jump on the gf fad, but we feel we've really perfected the art of making gf cupcakes.  And it's not just us...we had 6 people (friends and strangers) who have gluten allergies test out an assortment of our gf products.  The results were resoundingly positive.  For once, our tinkering in the kitchens paid off big time!
4. Cookie cakes were quite the fad this year.  Quite the fad.  We made a TON of cookie cakes this year, from simple birthday wishes to complex Minecraft ones.  Cookie cakes are fun and easy for us to make, so we had no problem whipping up a dozen or so.  We were just surprised that so many orders for them came in throughout the year.
5. Business cards end up in amazing places.  We had an email earlier this year from a customer we'd never met looking to order some baked goods from us.  They had received one of our business from a friend who had been at a party that we had baked for.  Sometimes we feel like we could wallpaper our home with the business cards we have stashed around, but in one case, it worked out for the best.
6. Having a good baking playlist is essential.  We have awful tastes in music (we've been told this by many a soul who has been trapped in the car with us)  We like 90s pop, Bruce Springsteen, and Ke$ha.  That's not a typo...that's the music we listen to.  Judge if you want, but we can't help it.  we love us some Spice Girls and Hanson and Third Eye Blind.  It regularly plays in our kitchen.  Sing-a-longs are not mandatory, but definitely encouraged.  And if you know all the dance moves to Nsync's Bye Bye Bye, well...you get to enter our coveted Hall of Fame.  
7. Creative baking is our favorite kind of baking.  We love baking in general...but we really come alive when we are given the opportunity to make some creative cakes and cupcakes.  Take a look at some of these creations we've made in the past year:  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   We can't say they've been easy, but the joy we get when they're complete...and the joy our customers get when the products are in their hands, well...that's what we live for.  We hope that 2014 gives us just as many opportunities to be creative.
8. Baking has its ups and downs.  Sometimes we have so much business we don't know how we have time to sleep.  Sometimes we are so bored we start re-watching Lost (bad choice).  It's frustrating during those times when we don't have business, but as we've learned this year it comes in waves.  We have to be thankful for the business when we have it, and thankful for the down time when we don't.  After all, Lost is better the second time around...right...??
9. Cheesecakes are fun!  We are always looking to expand our baking repertoire, and this year we delved into the cheesecake business.  Our first cheesecake was quite the doozy: a bacon toffee cheesecake for a friend's 40th birthday.
   
    It's a lot of prep work, and a lot of stars aligning quite perfectly, but what can we say, they're pretty fun to make.  Oh, and they taste amazing! :-)  
10. What is better than creative decorating?  Creative flavoring.  We made a bunch of fun flavors this year, and we love experimenting with tastes until they turn out quite right.  Our favorite creation this year had to be a chocolate whisky cupcake we made for a birthday celebration.  
    
    I mean, chocolate and whisky....is there anything better than those two things in this life?  Plus, when all was said and done we were happy with how they looked too for delivery.
11. Taking time to recharge is essential.  In August we went on what we call a North East World Tour.  In the course of 3 weeks we visited Ohio, Philadelphia, and New Jersey for vacations, family catch ups, and birthday celebrations.  We didn't think about baking for 3 weeks, and it was a wonderful time to recharge.  If you do something you love, eventually even that will burn you out.  Closing down shop for a few weeks was a breath of fresh air, and it let us return to the kitchen rejuvenated and excited to start up again.
12. Taste testers are everywhere.  It's a hard lesson for us to learn...we love to bake, and we love to share, but at the end of the day if we're not making money we're not operating a business.  Sometimes it's hard to turn people away when they're asking for donations.  But it's a lesson we had stick to this year, and our bank account is very thankful for it.
13. Blogging helps you get to know us.  Of all the things we did this year, we've received more positive feedback from these silly blog posts than just about anything else.  Apparently you guys like to read about our ridiculous baking world.  And we like to tell you about it.  It's a great give-and-take.  Honestly, this year if we learned anything from this business, it's that you guys like to hear about how it's run from the inside.  Thousands of you checked out our blog for updates, and got to see the fun side of starting your own business.

As another year ends, we are thankful for every one of you who has supported our business through the year, through business, support, advice, or free supplies (we always take free supplies).  As business continues to grow, we could not imagine being where we are today without any or all of you.

From our kitchen to yours, happy New Year!  May your 2014 be as bright as ours is shaping up to be!

Orders, Orders, Orders

Is there such a thing as too much of a good thing?  When you're starting your own business does that even exist?

This past week has been INSANE for this small bakery.  We feel like we're just now getting the chance to take a deep breath and clean up our kitchen.  Last week we had 5 (count 'em!) orders, and none of them were small by any means: 3 dozen personalized cookies, a birthday cookie cake, a toffee bacon cheesecake, a red velvet cake for a party, and 2 1/2 dozen cupcakes, including some gluten free ones.  Whew!  By Sunday, this was kind of how we looked:

It was a great week for our business, though, there's no doubt about it.  Not only did we make some nice money baking all this up, but we got to catch up with some old friends on a few of the deliveries and make some new friends on others.  Starting your own business is all about making connections and letting the world know you're there and open for business, and we certainly completed that mission this past week.

One of our favorite treats from this past week has to be our order for vanilla bean and butterscotch cupcakes.  A customer randomly emailed us asking for a last minute order, and it's been awhile since we had anyone asking us for these.  If you've never sampled this before, take a look, it's a beauty...

Sometimes the best treats are the simplest combinations.  We're not breaking any taste barriers here with this combination, but man if it isn't one of the best.  The understated vanilla bean plays off wonderfully with the homemade butterscotch, which, secret, we sometimes eat straight out of the bowl if there's any extra left.  If you've been thinking about ordering some cupcakes for awhile but have been unsure about what to order, might we recommend these?  You really can't go long, and it's a hidden delight on our cupcake menu.

This week we have some more orders coming up, including some more involving bacon.  You people and your pork products!! :-)  Keep looking to our Facebook page for more goodies, and perhaps a small flash sale later this week.  If we can get our act together!

Have a fabulous week, friends!  

Lis

Catching Up with the World

Maaaaaaan, has it really been a month since we updated??  Sometimes time seems to warp forward at an alarming rate.  Doc, where is that flux capacitor?  We need to jump back in time immediately!

Until our Delorean arrives (and we're not holding our breath) we figured we would update all of you loyal readers with what is going on in our baking world.

We haven't been updating recently because one of two scenarios were taking place:

     1. We were slow on orders, so we were busy catching up on our social life
     2. We had so many orders we couldn't keep it all together

We're currently dealing with option 2.  In the past 72 hours we have baked a cheesecake from scratch, 3 dozen cookies, and a large birthday cookie cake.  On top of that, by the end of the week we will have also made a red velvet birthday cake and some gluten-free cupcakes.  Whew!  Is it too early to start hiring some additional kitchen help?  We may need it if this kind of ordering volume keeps up.

Our favorite order so far this week has been a candied bacon toffee cheesecake.  It was a first for us on many levels: We'd never candied bacon before (now that we've had candied bacon, though, we're not sure we can go back to regular bacon), we've never made a cheesecake for a customer, and we've never chopped 2 pounds of toffee candies for a dessert.  It took a ton of prep work to pull off this birthday present, but we are so proud of the finished result.  We dropped the cheesecake off for an office party, and were told within the hour the cheesecake was gone and people were asking for a contact number for the bakery that created such a ridiculous treat.  Can you blame them, though?  Just look at this beauty!

For now, we're heading off to do some inventory of our supplies.  Look at us, sounding all official-like, "doing some inventory".  It's kind of thrilling.

Have a fantastic end of your work week, folks!  We'll talk to you soon!

Cookie Cakes and Cream Puffs

^Could you get a higher calorie count in a blog title?

Hello friends!

Happy Labor Day Weekend!  We love extra long weekends, they make everything seem sooo much more relaxing.  Instead of 48 hours to squeeze in all the fun you want in your life, you can stretch it out for 72.  That sounds much better!

So we've been a little busy these past few weeks, and our blog posts have been limited.  Sorry about that. Sometimes the world just kind of gets ahead of you.  Since we have 72 hours to enjoy our weekend, though, we thought we'd update.

We told you in our last post that people have really been loving cookie cakes this summer, and last week was no different.  We made a fun cookie cake for a co-worker's dad's birthday as a surprise.

Apparently he loves cookie cake but didn't ask for one for his party, so his daughter decided to make sure he had a fun surprise waiting for him.  He thought he was getting just a regular old birthday cake, but instead had a PSR original cookie cake.  Yum!!

Cookie cakes are a ton of fun to make, because the time we have to devote to real cakes isn't involved.  Bake the cake, let it cook, decorate it with some icing, it's very, very minimal.  Not that we don't love decorating, but if we only spend 2 hours in the kitchen instead of 8, well...that's a win in our books.

In addition to updating our blog this weekend, we're also going to try our hand at an old standard, the cream puff.

We've made cream puffs before, but it was eons ago, before we learned all of our important baking knowledge we now possess.  They're fairly simple if you pay attention to them (think of them as an adorably cute puppy that will pee in your house if you're not careful) but our biggest challenge will be trying to find a good pudding/icing combination to stuff them with.  Any suggestions?  Hit us up in the comments.

It's September, folks.  Where did this summer go??  Have a fantastic extended weekend with friends and family.  We'll be updating the blog a few times in the coming week as we have two big projects coming up. Chocolate lovers...you're gonna wanna buckle up for the one order we have!

Cheers everyone!

Sweet Relief's Back (Alright!)

We need a little BSB to set the tone for this post...

(sorry if you a) weren't a preteen/teenager during the 90s boy band craze or b) have no idea who BSB even is...we grew up on these musical gems, you're gonna have to deal with it)

GUYS, WE'RE BACK!!!!

We had a FANTASTIC vacation with our friends and family.  For those of you who haven't stalked us religiously (we'll forgive you this one time) we headed to Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Wildwood NJ for a nice, relaxing, well-deserved break.  We rocked out to some 90s boy band music (including the gem above), patched up the crack in the Liberty Bell (wait, no, that was Davy Crockett), and relaxed on the wonderful sandy beaches of New Jersey with a book in hand.  Oh yeah, we celebrated our birthday too!  Woot!  Best of all, the ovens stayed off, and we simply recovered from a very busy past few weeks.

Little sister Allison is a really good driver through the streets of Philadelphia

As wonderful as the break was, though, we are happy to get back into the kitchens and to get baking.  What's that saying, absence makes the heart grow fonder?  Well, we definitely missed all the baking, decorating, and designing of all our favorite baked goods.  No matter how crazy everything in the kitchen might get at times, it's a familiar crazy, something we're used to and can manage.  Trying to negotiate the streets of Philadelphia during rush hour...??  Not so easy to deal with.

In the coming two weeks we have two big orders heading out, another cookie cake for a birthday (you guys are really loving your cookie cakes this summer!) and some cute themed cupcakes for a baby shower.  On top of that, we received some new birthday presents that we're eager to try out too...from pans, to cookie cutters, we're going to be playing around with some fun flavors.

Until then, have a great weekend, Pittsburgh!  We are PSYCHED for the beautiful weather that will be rolling through the city this weekend.  Sounds like the perfect pool weekend!

Cookie Cake: Minecraft Edition

Hello friends!  Another beautiful weekend has come to an end, and we're not sure where all the time has gone.  Probably into the kitchen, where we've spent a good chunk of our weekend.

We had a fun task this weekend of making a very different birthday cake: a Minecraft themed cookie cake.  Carson's birthday party is Tuesday, but he's not a fan of cookie cake.  That's ok, though, because his mom told us he was a huge lover of cookie cake (who isn't?)  She wanted to know if we could make a cookie cake themed after a video game he loves, Minecraft.

If you've never played Minecraft, it's an interesting concept.  It's like Legos meets survivor meets Erector Set.  The game involves building homes out of different "element blocks", creating things through mining, and pretty much wasting a bunch of time you already don't have.  What's interesting about this game is how many people are flat out addicted to this game.  Kids as young as 5 play it, as well as some of our friends who are in their 30s.  It really doesn't have a limit to what it can do, unless your imagination limits it.

The graphics of the game is somewhat different and takes some getting used to.  Everything's very geometric and simple looking.  We felt like the game walked off our 1992 family computer.  Once you get past that, though, it's easy to become addicted.

With the idea of cookie cake as the background, we wanted a tasty cake that was decorated well.  We decided to make it 3D with some fun cookie blocks we built, that really kept true to the spirit.

So what do you think?

These pictures seem a little blank, and it's true, they're missing some things.  There are some Minecraft figurines that need to be added to the cake too, but they won't go on the cake until it's ready to be eaten.  We'll post some updated pictures later this week.

Happy birthday Carson!  Hope you have a fantastic day!!

And to the rest of you out there, hope you have a wonderful week.

**UPDATE**

Finally got a picture of the completed cake.  Looks like it was an awesome party!!

Yep...It Happened

Welp, folks, our morning started off really well.  Wanted to try out a new recipe, and we figured what better day to do it than an overcast Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Then...well, then this happened...

One cookie cake in 20 pieces on our counter.  Yep.  Happy Sunday to us!

We've told you many times for every wonderful thing we make we make an equal mess that ends up in the garbage.  Here's proof.

If you're in the area, though, it tastes delicious.  We added 3 types of chips, dark chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, and butterscotch, as well as some walnuts.  Yummmm!! :-)