Springing into April

It finally feels like spring outside!!  Well, minus the snow we had on our car this morning!  Is it too soon to say we've finally put this horrible winter behind us?

In our last post we posted about what dull February it was for our bakery, probably because everyone was too cold to order anything.  March started out with a trip we took to Texas (did you know Texas is warm, even in winter?  Because Texas is warm, and PSR may migrate south soon if next winter is awful too), and then we came back for a nice booming week of business.  Easter cupcake orders have come in, as well as two specialized cakes, and we have a separate cupcake order and wedding cake order currently in the works.  You'll be seeing this blog blow up in the next few weeks as we get underway with our spring time.

Speaking of Easter cupcakes, don't forget to place an order for yours, we only bought so many Cadbury Eggs for our cupcakes, and when we're out, we're out!  We already have half of the spots filled, so don't wait too long.

Check back here in the next few weeks, we'll be updating the blog more frequently with all of the wonderful creations we have in the works.  :-)  Can't wait to reveal them all!

Dull February

Man, it's been awhile since we updated!  Our apologies to the 5 of you who read this blog religiously!

It has been a slow February for us, and it's driving us slightly crazy.  We have a lot of "potential projects in the works" with people, but right now it's a lot of sitting around, doing inventory (the worst thing in the world!), and marathoning Parks and Recreation.

Sometimes when business is slow, it's hard to not freak out and rip your hair out and stress about the lack of business.  But we should be used to business being slow in February...it's February.  No one wants to get married in Pennsylvania in February, and the only major holiday, Valentine's Day, is a day dedicated to candy.  It's something we've become used to over the years.

For now, we will just keep working to create some more business opportunities for ourselves, and keep working on the 3 projects we currently have in the works for the upcoming weeks.

Stay warm, Pittsburgh!  We can't wait for March, and spring, and plenty of baking opportunities!

Big Dreaming

We're a few weeks late with this, but we wanted to talk to you today about our New Year's resolutions.  Not our personal ones, mind you, but our bakery resolutions.  It's good to look forward into 2014 to see what we should be aiming for, right?  Well here are 3 resolutions Pittsburgh Sweet Relief has for this coming year.

1. Build an Epic Cake
We've made some pretty awesome cakes in the past 18 months of business (hellllllloooo, who could forget that we made this awesome cake...twice!) but this year we're thinking bigger and better.  We're thinking lots of tiers, lots of colors, lots of whimsy and imagination.  Honestly, we're thinking we want to go a little crazy here!  Our goal by December 31, 2014 is to have successfully made a truly amazing cake for someone that beats everything we've previously done!

Oh, and if you're on the fence about whether you want a big crazy cake for your birthday party/wedding/graduation/retirement/shower/etc you should drop us a line.  We're gonna offer huge discounts to the first person who lets us try this out for their event.  Monumental discounts.  So contact us.

2. Increase Our Business
This is a no-brainer, but it had to be said: obviously we want our business to grow.  We want more of you guys to fall in love with everything we have to offer.  This requires more dedication on our end, though.  2013 was a crazy year: We changed jobs, made new friends, sort of reinvented ourselves.  Personally, it was great, but all the time we devoted to training for a 5k was less time we had to devote to building our business.  It still grew, thanks to the wonderful support of all of you, but this year, we want to focus back in on what we love: baking wonderful things for you, and telling everyone about it.  Easy peasy, right?? :-)

3. Perfect Something New
In the past year we've learned a lot of new tricks to the trade.  We've learned a pinch of salt can go a long way.  We've learned that macaroons will always continue to be difficult for us to perfect.  We've learned that making flowers out of gum paste is a really relaxing way to spend 6 hours.  We've learned 365 days later we still don't like doing the dishes.

This year, though, we want to take something, learn it, and perfect it.  You know our staples are cookies, cakes, and cupcakes, and we don't feel like there's anything wrong with that.  In the past year we've dabbled with cheesecakes, bread, pies, and pastries, and we've learned lots of secrets to all of them.  Now it's our turn to step it up.  We're going to perfect the art of something, and add it to our repertoire.  We're going to make the effort to continue to educate ourselves about the baking world, and not stop until we've become successful at something new.

Big goals for 2014, we realize that.  But if you don't aim high, you don't achieve big things, right?? :-)  Anyway, these are our goals.  If you see us, hold us accountable.  Maybe we'll give you a cookie if you help us hold up our end of the bargain.

Polar Vortex Round II starts this week.  Get those fuzzy socks back out, it's gonna be a cold one out there!!

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!

Tis the Season: Holiday Bake Sale

Aw man, it's almost that time of year...It's almost Christmas time!!

(it's never really Christmas time until we see this commercial on tv)

Are you ready?  We're not either.  We don't even have a "Christmas list" ready for all the relatives who ask us, "What would you like for Christmas?".  Oy.

(Maybe we'll just play this song on repeat.  A social experiment) 

If you're like us, you have no idea what to get certain people for the holidays.  We understand your pain.  Might we help you take some of the guess work out of your predicament?

Our second annual Christmas bake sale is going on right NOW!  And it's so easy to get fresh cupcakes and cookies for your friends, family, or even a treat for yourself!  And, even better news, this year we can ship cookies anywhere you'd like!  Well, within the USA.

Click the link above to fill out a form.  Trust us, you'll want to do this sooner rather than later.  If you wait too long, you'll be trolling the aisles of the mall wondering what you can buy for your uncle this year.  Instead of knowing you got his some delicious made-from-scratch holiday cupcakes for him to enjoy all by himself!

Last years sales were great, and the feedback we received from customers varied from, "These were the best cupcakes I've ever had!" to "Why did I only order one box?!"  It's a limited run, so be sure to sign up now to reserve your holiday treats!

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!