Keeping Up Appearances

May!  Wonderful May!  What a great month it's been!  And we're not just talking about the warm weather that's finally arrived in the Burgh (although that's wonderful too)!

Business has been booming, guys, and we couldn't be happier!  Between baking for the restaurant (more on that later), online orders, and fun "surprises" for friends, we cannot believe that we're already more than halfway through May.  Where has this month gone?

Today we had the opportunity to do something we've never done before: go shopping at Restaurant Depot.  For those of you who have no idea what RD is, it's similar to a Sam's Club in terms of it offers bulk food at wholesale prices.  However, unlike Sam's Club, which is tailored for families, RD is tailored towards, well, restaurants.  You can buy a 50lb bag of flour in one aisle, and then head over to the next aisle for a swimming pool of Heinz ketchup (slight exaggeration).  For someone who regularly flies through flour, sugar, butter, and flavorings, it was pretty much like Disney World on a rainy Saturday morning.

We ended up buying a 25lb bag of powdered sugar, which sounds like a lot, but that will not last us long.  Maybe we should've picked up another one.  Oh well, we can also go back.  We also picked up a tub of peanut butter you could fit a small child into, and a wonderful find of almond extract.

This picture above, we've added for comparison.  The bottle on the left is one most of you are probably familiar with, all major grocery stores sell it.  If it's on sale, you can snag that baby for $3.99.

The bottle on the right.  We bought for $9.14.  We could drink that bottle of almond extract, and the value is ridiculously good.  As we mentioned, the Restaurant Depot may be the best place in the world (don't get too excited, it's a pretty exclusive club...you actually have to own a restaurant to shop there.  Sorry guys!)

We need all this almond extract because we have been baking so much for our new restaurant deal.  It's definitely been an adjustment, baking every night getting stuff ready for our weekly delivery, but we have loved it so far.  And the feed back has been great...cheesecakes, pies, cakes, everything seems to be a big hit.

If you want to head out for some PSR treats yourself (and we think you all should!) you should head out to Champs Sports Bar in Penn Hills.  That's where everything available for you to buy and consume.  The address, for those of you up for a road trip, is 540 Rodi Rd Pgh.  If you head down, go for a meal, the food is good, and decently priced.  Just make sure you save room for dessert!! :-)  For example, this week this apple pie is on the menu (and trust us, it's amazing!!)

We will be updating later this week, we have a cake we're pretty excited to tell you guys about (it's a surprise delivery, so we can't detail too much here.  Just in case someone other than our mom reads this blog).  But check back, we'll be posting some pretty awesome pictures!!

Even though it's raining, enjoy the weekend!  We have two cakes in the oven right now, our work is never done!!  Talk to you guys soon!

Because I'm Happy??

What a week!  No seriously, it's been a crazy week of ups and downs.  Our computer has been on the fritz (computer gods, please help us out here), we messed up the side of our car in an awful no-win parking garage situation (thank you Pittsburgh Parking Authority) and today we sliced our thumb with a knife.  No seriously, this has been our week.  Can we get something happy?

To be fair, though, we've also had a lot of good things happen to us this week.  We met with a bride to go over some potential wedding cake ideas, managed to perfect our Ferraro Roche cupcakes (yes, you read that right), and we managed to make some delicious cheesecake.  So, does that mean our week was a wash?  A lot of good, a lot of bad, everything ends up just where it began?

We have so much coming up in these past few weeks, 60th birthday party cakes, a 2 year old's birthday, and let's not forget our Easter cupcakes that we're so excited to bake and ship out!  We also have 2 pretty awesome surprises in the works, but we can't leak any details quite yet.  We just know they're going to be some of the biggest cakes we've ever made!!  Sorry to tease you with such a sentence like that, we promise as soon as we can share more with you we will!

Until then, we'll be kicking back watching these Buccos, enjoying that spring is finally here.  Did you hear that?  SPRING IS FINALLY HERE!  Hope you're having a great weekend!!

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!!

Dog Days of Summer

Man, guys, it's so hot!!

We hate this stretch of the year, when the heat and humidity just kill any motivation to bake that we have.  It's no small wonder we love baking in the winter, when it's super cold outside.

Our sister is a photographer (shameless plug, click here to view her ridiculously good photos) and she always talks about how her wedding business has a "down time", usually in the winter where not a lot of people choose to get married.  We wish we had the same "down time" in July with our baking, but alas we don't.  It seems you people always want to eat cake!

So through these hot months we crank up the air conditioning and pray for cooler days.  As in, nothing like this past week.

Nevertheless, baking still goes on.  We have quite a few orders in these hot and humid summer months, which is great news for us.  Starting a business is a ridiculously slow process (we think we've seen paint dry quicker than this business take off), but we're happy to see things starting to snowball. We have more orders now than we did a year ago, and it's a trend we're looking to continue in the coming months and years as we move into the next phase of our "Build a Bakery" stage.

We have another themed birthday next week that we're excited to tell you about in future posts.  If you follow us on Facebook you might already know what the cake is going to look like.  It should be a blast to make, and will allow us to do something we've never done before.  This blog is all about new experiences, so we're happy for the chance.

We're also trying to find some good reasons to spread our skills around for reduced or no costs.  If anyone reading out there knows of a good cause in or around the Pittsburgh area that might have need for some baked goods, give us a call.  Your talents and gifts are wonderful things, but they mean so much more when you share them with others.

We're out to go cool off the kitchen.  Wheeeew-eeey, this heatwave needs to break!

Stay cool, friends!

12 Things We Learned in 2012

Man, what a year!  365 days ago PSR was just a twinkle in our owner's eye.  It was a far off dream, lacking in skill, time, money, and hope.  Sure we liked to bake, but to actually sell what we made to people?  Book weddings and stuff like that?  Really?  Sounds unlikely.

And here we sit, 365 (366 for those keeping up with their leap years) days later, in awe at what has happened in this past year.  Are we where we ultimately want to be?  Heck no.  But we are much closer to our end goal than we ever thought we could be last December.

To celebrate the past 365 days of awesomeness that 2012 has brought our baker, we present to you a list simply entitled

12 Things We Learned in 2012

1. It is never too late to try something new.  We say that only being 26, so maybe that sounds a little funny.  But 4 years ago we graduated college with a degree in history and secondary education.  And now we're trying to start a new business.  It's amazing the path our lives take if we simply open ourselves up to possibilities.

2. Baking is not as simple as following a recipe.  There's so much more to it than that.  This is not a simple "Follow steps A-G" business.  This is artwork, this is creation, this is pure joy and love.  If you don't love baking, and you're a baker, your customers will see it in every piece you create.  My pieces may not be 100% perfect, but you can tell I put my heart and soul into each one.

3. Practice makes perfect.  I've had some pretty big mess ups this year.  Some of which people still lovingly accepted.  Some of which I quickly pitched.  But working at something until I get it, it's such an amazing feeling when you can pull off the unthinkable.

4. Powdered sugar has a way of ending up in really strange places.  Always wear an apron and never wear an outfit that you look at and think, "Hmmm, maybe I could go out later tonight in this."

5. Never bake on an empty stomach.  The customer will suffer, as will your waistline.

6. Put yourself out there.  Take risks, be adventurous.  Don't be afraid to say, "Hi my name is Lis and I run a small bakery!"  You never know who might remember that one line later down the road.  We've been selling that line for the past 6 months, and have booked 1 bridal shower, 2 weddings, and several parties.  It feels great to know that my enthusiasm for my business has lead to a steady growth in business.

7. Take your finances seriously.  Don't put your business money in with your actual money.  Open up a separate account, and act all "adult-y" with your funds.  Spreadsheets, finance trackers, find a way that works for you and stick with it.  You will only regret it later if you don't.

8. Find your weakness and educate yourself.  I'm not a business woman, never have been.  So I took tons of classes, read books, and asked for advise from business professionals in the area.  It's amazing what I've learned in the past year about running your own business.  It's hard work, that's for certain.  But if you're passionate about something you love to do, make sure you learn all the ins and outs of it.

9. Always thank those who help.  Starting a business takes a little luck, a lot of planning, and a mountain full of help from friends and family.  When help comes from loved ones (and it will), make sure you acknowledge how much you appreciate their time, services, and support.  I have a stack of cupcake-themed thank you notes that I constantly use to let people know how much I appreciate their support.  You can't open a business by yourself.  Make sure you take time to let those who have helped know how much their helping hand means to you and your business.

10. It's OK to make messes.  Just remember to clean them up.  No matter how tired I am, everything at least gets rinsed out before I go to bed.  Waking up to dirty but rinsed mixing bowls is much better than waking up to dirty mixing bowls with dried on batter.  The bed can wait 5 more agonizing minutes.  The dishes cannot.

11. Be open to new opportunities.  This is a hard one for us to remember sometimes, because we have a dream idea in our head about how our business should look 5 years from now.  It's good to set a plan, but keep yourself open to new opportunities.  We never know where it might lead.  Personally, I started out as a teacher, but allowed myself to slowly be lead to baking.  Who knows where I might be if I hadn't allowed myself the chance to try something new.

12. Have fun or get out of the kitchen.  Baking is an absolute joy for me, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  If the time ever comes where I think, "This isn't any fun for me" I need to either readjust or hang my apron up.  Good baking comes from the heart, not from a recipe card, and I need to remember to have fun each and every day I step into the kitchen.

There you have it, 12 lessons from 2012.  Keep following our bakery in 2013, we have some amazing things planned for you!!

Happy New Year, readers!

Lis

The Weekend Warrior

What a crazy weekend this is shaping up to be.  Lots of baking.  Lots of bakery-ing.  Little time to blog about it.

Yesterday was my first actual decorating class, and boy was it interesting.  For those of you who don't know, I've never taken a baking/decorating/business class in my life.  I am what the French call "Le Self-Taught".  But since I'm trying to open up a bakery, and convince people to buy my goods, I feel I should do everything in my power to get as much training, practice, and information I can about baking, decorating, business, etc.  So I signed up for a beginner's decorating class.

I was a little hesitant to sign up for this class, because, let's be honest, I do know my way around a kitchen.  I can fill a pastry bag and decorate cupcakes and cookies and cakes.  I can make delicious icing, in a million different flavors, and easily ice a cake.  I can roll and dye fondit, spread it on a cake, and decorate fun designs all over the top.  So a beginner's decorating class seems a little...redundant.  But, at the same time, I have to be humble with my skills: everything I've learned, I've taught myself or Googled "How to..."  What if I learned something incorrectly?  Or could do something more efficiently   I needed to start at the beginning, to make sure I didn't miss anything.

How many holidays did I celebrate with my cookie cutters this weekend?

The class was pretty dull, because it was the first one.  We learned how to fill pastry bags, how to make icing, and how to ice cookies.  Pretty slow.  But next week we're going to start in on some actual skills: creating leaves and vines on a cake, torting a cake, making a floral display.  None of which I've actually done.  So I'm trying to keep an open mind, because I do believe there are some things I can learn from this class.

Last night I had a huge blessing, for which I couldn't be happier about.  Ever have a pretty stressful week where you think, "Honestly, can I NOT catch a break this week?"  That was my week.  I was feeling pretty bummed out, and then a good friend came to me with several gifts.  Not only did she decide she wanted to donate supplies to my Christmas fundraiser (flour, sugar, powdered sugar, butter, etc.) but she needed me to make 150 cupcakes too.  Yay!!  Business, and supplies, and a way to keep my mind off of the craziness that is my life.  Talk about major blessing!!

Now it's time to study, and study hard.  My ServSafe exam kicks off in less than 24 hours, and I'm nervous about it.  It could either go really well, or really awful.  A lot of it is common sense (for example, do not put food in chemical bottles), but then there are all these small details I need to remember, like the distance shelving units need to be from the ground, and the height that a sneeze guard needs to be at on a salad bar.  Time to memorize, memorize, memorize.  And maybe write out a few flash cards too.

So, it's time to turn on the Office, throw in a load of laundry, eat a sugar cookie or 10, and get studying.  Par-tay!!

Lis