The cake will be a table decoration for any occasion. Sometimes you want to surprise your guests with unusual baked goods, not bought in a store. In this article we will tell you how to learn how to bake cakes at home. Let's consider all the subtleties of preparation. But first, we’ll tell you where a beginner can start.
Sometimes a person has different desires. For example, one fine day the thought may come to mind: I want to learn how to bake cakes. Before you start learning the basics, you need to be aware that the process is long and requires skill, patience and imagination. And you shouldn’t be afraid to experiment. But this is when you will already get classic cakes with a solid A+.
Tools
You will also need tools:
- Be sure to have a mixer with different attachments; a whisk won’t hurt either. At first, he will be a lifesaver. If you don’t have a mixer and need to buy one, then it’s better to take a stationary one. Beating egg whites sometimes takes time. And while the mixer is doing this, at this time you can prepare other ingredients.
- Bowls of different sizes made of plastic, stainless steel and enameled.
- Different sizes of spoons, forks and spatulas.
- Forms for baking cakes. It is advisable to purchase detachable metal and silicone ones in different sizes. The shape can be varied; it is not necessary to buy only round ones.
- Be sure to have a kitchen scale that is accurate in grams. Sometimes just 1 extra gram can ruin a masterpiece.
- Measuring cups and spoons will come in handy.
- Pastry bag with nozzles. It is much more convenient and easier to use than a syringe.
- Stencils for applying patterns.
- Brushes for smudging and painting on a cream base.
- Equipment for rolling out dough. For example, a rolling pin.
- Food film.
- Apron and headscarf/cap.
The confectionery business is no longer a cake
The era of mousse cakes, macaroons, and marshmallows was coming. I would have to re-invest in training, equipment, ingredients, or change my field of activity. Then I started writing texts to order. And, lo and behold, it turned out that I could earn the same and more money much easier: without sleepless nights and surprises from the oil side.
Almost all home confectioners work illegally. Because there are requirements: a room of a certain area with tiles, ventilation, etc. Which is impossible in an apartment. For example, Inna registered an individual entrepreneur, but indicated the type of activity as “production of sugar flowers.”
There was a period when the tax authorities began to frequently check confectioners and fine them. In general, I thought this was a good time to finish the activity.
The last few months of baking cakes have been quite enjoyable. I had already gotten my teeth into it, I had proven recipes, I learned how to decorate well. But then I stopped. Because, it seems to me, custom cakes are a physically difficult, nervous and not very well paid occupation. It’s really possible to succeed in it if it’s really “yours” and you really love this type of income. But I'd rather do journalism.
lichnyy-opyt-iz-zhurnalista-v-domashnie-konditery-i-backno
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Think about the design of future products
You need to work on decorating the cake in advance.
- It is recommended for a beginner to start with mastic. This is a fairly elastic mass, reminiscent of unleavened dough for chebureks, and tastes sweet. You can simply cover the entire cake with it. And put an inscription or a kind of drawing on it. You can cut out decorative elements from it.
- You can buy a spray (confectionery) and cover the cakes with it, either separately or on top of the mastic.
- Or buy ready-made figures to decorate the cake. They are all edible. They can be in the form of flowers or with inscriptions.
- There is also simply colored sprinkles that will decorate any baked goods, not just a cake.
Sometimes it is recommended to start making cakes from store-bought cake layers in order to thoroughly master the process of assembling and soaking the base with creams. Moreover, the purchased cake is always smooth and perfectly round. Initially, the simplest cake designs are selected.
Recommendations that are important for beginners to heed:
- You need to learn to bake gradually. Don't be upset if the cake doesn't work out the first time. Next time it will be more even and soaked in better. Each professional also had failures at the beginning of his creative culinary journey;
- Buy a real good book with recipes for various baked goods. Such publications contain many useful tips and explanations that will help solve any problem;
- In addition to baking cakes and pastries, it is also important to understand the process of preparing icing, various creams, and caramel. Additionally, check out how you can decorate a cake so that the hero of the occasion likes it.
After some time, a beginner will be able to independently come up with his own variation of the cake and become a real professional. The main thing is not to rush! And if you fail, create again and again. And then any cake will definitely turn out great!
Newbie mistakes:
How to learn to bake cakes from scratch
Before you start practicing, it is recommended to watch several videos on making simple cakes. Then start learning how to make cakes. A perfectly smooth, well-baked and fluffy (sometimes not fluffy) cake layer is the basis of a beautiful cake.
Description of making a cake from scratch:
- Buy special confectionery flour. It contains less gluten, so the dough is not as fluffy as in buns. It is sold in any grocery store. If it happens that it is not on the shelves, then you can cook it yourself.
- To do this, take 1 empty glass with a volume of 250 ml. You need to pour 60 g of corn starch into it and fill the glass to the top with wheat flour (highest grade). Pour the mixture from the glass into a bowl of the required size and mix thoroughly. After this, the resulting flour must be sifted. To make the dough more fluffy, it is recommended to sift it 2-3 times.
- Before you start kneading the dough, you need to prepare all the necessary ingredients. You need to start by mixing all the dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly so that you can use it immediately later.
- Recipes often call for the use of milk and even specify its fat content. It is not recommended to deviate from the recipe at first. But you need to know that whole milk can be replaced with its analogues.
- Be sure to keep track of what kind of oil is required in the recipe: butter or vegetable. If it is creamy, then it must first be melted in a water bath. Sometimes it also needs to be whipped. If the oil is mixed up, the taste of the cake will not be the same, and this will also affect the appearance.
- Use the mixer only to beat egg whites. In other cases, use a whisk or spatula.
How I wrote one ad and received orders for 20 thousand
At the training, we were taught to write selling texts using the AIDA formula (attention-interest-desire-action), I made an ad “The Real Napoleon” and put it up for a local auction (similar to “Avito”). After a couple of days, I noticed that the cake was viewed much more than my mother’s advertisement for registering companies, although an advertisement was launched on my mother’s.
I realized that cakes are a popular topic, and I decided to try taking orders.
Once I wrote a text using the AIDA formula for a landing page - I wanted to launch a course on making money from cakes. A friend of mine took this text and converted it into an advertisement for her course on daily rentals, replacing some words. I decided to read what she came up with. The landing page was so convincing that I finally bought this course on daily rentals. This is probably the only case when a person sold himself something unnecessary.
It worked to my advantage that it was the end of December - the best time for home pastry chefs. I immediately received 3 orders and earned 5 thousand rubles without deducting cost.
At that time, I had not yet thought through the issue of packaging; I had to make some kind of improvised stands, covered with foil, and cover the top with cling film.
Orders continued to arrive after the New Year. For many confectioners, January is a low season, but for some reason my ad worked, maybe because I connected advertising for 2,000 rubles. per month. In general, at the end of December and January, I sold 20 thousand rubles worth of cakes. Sometimes I baked 2 cakes a day.
Making Napoleons was perhaps my most successful project - the cost of this quiche is minimal, unlike other expensive recipes. It takes some work to bake it. But I soon got used to it and got the hang of rolling 10-12 cakes very quickly. Everything then took me 2–3 hours.
Step-by-step preparation of sponge cake
The ingredients are for one large cake or two medium ones. Required:
- 4 chicken eggs (elite);
- 450 g pastry flour;
- up to 7 g salt;
- 17 g baking powder;
- 350 g granulated sugar;
- 250 ml milk (whole milk or its analogues);
- 25 g vanilla sugar;
- 180 g butter (pre-melt).
You should start preparing the dough by mixing: flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Be sure to mix everything very thoroughly.
Add milk, melted and cooled butter, eggs and vanillin to the dry mixture. Stir until the mixture becomes homogeneous. It is better to use a spatula to mix the dough.
While the dough is preparing, you need to preheat the oven. The temperature should be 180 degrees. It is better to cover the mold with baking paper, do not grease it with oil. If one cake is baked, then the baking time is 45 minutes. And if there are two cake layers, then bake for 30 minutes. Until the baking time is up, it is better not to open the oven. Otherwise the cake will lose its fluffiness. When it's ready, it will have a brown crust on top.
The cakes should remain in the pan for about 15 minutes after they are removed from the oven. This will make it easier for them to come away from the paper. And they don’t deform too much when transferred to a plate. The advantage of the prepared cake is that you do not need to beat the egg whites separately; the dough is prepared without any difficulties. Plus, the finished product can be consumed immediately. Or you can lubricate it with: boiled condensed milk with butter (200 g of butter per can of condensed milk); You can soak it in regular yogurt and so on.
An additional advantage of the cake is that it can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 days; before serving, it must be warmed to room temperature, this will take up to 4 hours.
It’s better to start mastering the culinary art of making cakes with recipes like these. You can also experiment with decorations on them. Then you can complicate the recipe for the cakes and diversify them with creams.
Honey cake is also considered one of the simplest. Although there are nuances in preparing the dough. You can try making cakes based on dry biscuits.
Secrets
- Don't be afraid to add a little salt to your baked goods. This will only emphasize the sweetness and aromas with which you have saturated your dish.
- Before beating the egg whites, soak a cloth in lemon juice and wipe down the metal bowl and beaters. This way your whites will whip much faster and better.
- There is no need to quench baking soda with vinegar and add it to baked goods. There is no point in this: all the bubbles that could raise your dough disappear at the moment of reaction. Use modern baking powder.
- Some types of dough like to rest. So don't neglect this part of the recipes. Leave the dough for a while and go for a walk or watch a TV series.
- Remove food from the refrigerator an hour before cooking so that all ingredients are at the same room temperature. This way the dough will turn out perfect.
- A secret for those who are especially impatient. Do not look into the oven with dough every 5 minutes. Every time you open the door, the temperature inside the cabinet drops 5-10 degrees. Because of this, desserts fall off.
Tips from confectioners
Now let’s figure out how to learn how to bake cakes according to the advice of experienced chefs. You should always follow the recipe exactly, taking the exact quantities of all ingredients. They are calculated by trial and error. Be sure to use scales. The components must be placed in strict sequence. Any, even minor, deviation from the recipe can result in failure. Experiment and add other components only when experience has already arrived. There it will be possible to determine by eye the required number of components.
Be sure to observe the temperature regime. If you set it a little less (for fear that the cakes will burn), then there is a high chance that they will not bake and will settle when they are taken out of the oven. If you rush and increase the temperature, the cake will most likely burn, but the dough inside will remain raw.
For cooking, use only clean and dry dishes and tools. Even a small drop of water can ruin everything. This is one of the important rules on how to learn how to bake cakes.
When mixing ingredients with a mixer, sometimes you should turn it off and mix with a spoon. It is good to scrape the contents from the walls. There may be lumps left there.
If the cakes were baked in advance, they should only be stored in the freezer. In the refrigerator they lose moisture and become stale. To make a cake from a frozen crust, take it out in advance so that it comes to room temperature.
You can decorate only completely cooled cakes. Otherwise, the butter decoration may melt or heavily saturate the cake. And this can cause it to become dry and begin to crumble. Don't overdo it with sugar. Of course, it will sweeten the product, but because of it the cake may burn, and the dough will not have the desired consistency.
If the recipe does not specify what the product used in the recipe should be (warm or cold), then all ingredients should be taken out of the refrigerator in advance so that they come to room temperature. This is especially true for eggs. Otherwise they will not beat well.
The dough should fill the pan only halfway, since during baking it rises almost 2 times. And as a result, the edges will be uneven, plus the escaped dough will fill the entire apartment with a burnt aroma.
If the cake is made from several cake layers, you should not simplify your work and bake one and then cut it. It's better to bake several. Then the chance that they will bake will be 100%. Give the cakes time to cool in the mold, and only then remove them from it. This way they will keep their shape better. The cream is applied in two stages. At the beginning to soak the cakes. Then for decoration. You need to wait at least 15 minutes between them.
Promotion. How to advertise yourself for free
After you get your hands on making cakes for your family, start switching to acquaintances and friends. Surely by this time your portfolio will have recipes and photographs that you are not ashamed to show. Be sure to create a group or page on VKontakte, Odnoklassniki and Instagram and try to fill them out regularly, keep active, invite friends. You can publish not only your own photo reports, but also photos of cakes from other masters and inspiring ideas. Try to keep your communities not too banal - people like a lively approach, live emotions, and observation of the process. Remember that the main thing is your customers, so set telephone notifications for incoming messages, try to respond to orders as quickly as possible. Over time, you will realize that social media can be your launching pad for much more. Many cake makers, through social networks, are starting to gather an audience for their own master classes, holding promotions with free tastings, posting educational videos, and holding competitions with reposts. Remember that in the name of your accounts you must use the word “cakes”, “custom cakes” and so on so that you are sure to be found during searches.
Pay increased attention to your Instagram page. Up to 80% of your customers will likely come from there. Food photography is one of the most common types of blogging on this social network. Learn the basic principles of food photography. Consider examples of the best Instagram accounts about confectionery art. As a rule, food photos with a natural light source are successful. In the light of lamps, any food looks plastic and unattractive. The composition of the frame, angle, and background are also very important. Here's a good article on how to properly sell food on Instagram, which can give you some useful ideas. Also, take a good look at tips for designing Instagram profiles—there are a lot of articles written on this topic.
Many people decide that the most important thing when starting a home-based cake business is to create your own website. And it is desirable that the site design looks richer and more expensive. But you need to take this step only after carefully considering the consequences. Otherwise, there is a risk of getting what the majority gets - a lot of wasted money, a crooked page that is bypassed by Yandex and Google (and therefore not seen by your clients), periodic blocking and a whole set of technical problems hitherto unfamiliar to you. that distract you from your main activity.
Secondly, in human psychology, a website is more than just a set of pictures. This is your official representation, a kind of administration, from which the demand is increased. As a rule, a website is launched by those stores that have already found their own identity and stand out from their competitors in some way, and have well-functioning mechanisms for interacting with the client. Now imagine that instead of the image of a pastry shop with hundreds of exquisite cakes and a designer interior style, the customer will come to your home for an order and see stained old wallpaper and you pulling a cake from the balcony in slippers. It is unlikely that his expectations will be met.
If you already have something to brag about, then it’s a different matter. Then you have to create a website, which must contain a catalog of your products, current prices, an individual order form, and contacts. When you have something to be proud of, you can add elements of status,
publish the faces of satisfied clients, their wonderful reviews of their work, and so on. In the meantime, gain experience, collect photos of your creations, reviews of those who tried them, develop, but it’s better not to start a website.
The taste and shape of the product are important!
Those who are interested in learning how to bake cakes to order should definitely pay attention to the taste of the product. Its beautiful shape is a secondary thing to strive for. Even the most beautiful cake, if tasteless and dry, will not be in demand.
At first, you only need to experiment with one recipe until it tastes and looks the way it should, without any flaws.
Friendship is friendship, but cakes are without a discount
What do confectioners dislike most? When asked to make a 1 kg cake with mastic. In a cake that is slightly larger than a store-bought one, the weight of mastic and decoration is exactly 1 kg. Or when they ask for a cake in two tiers for one and a half kg. Or a cake with an intricate design for tomorrow.
I also didn’t really like making orders for friends. After all, they want the cake at a discount, but it’s still just as beautiful and complex as without the discount. And it’s inconvenient to refuse.
Where can you learn to bake beautiful cakes?
When you manage to cook cakes without mistakes, you want to know where you can learn how to bake products. There are several options here:
- Attend one-day courses. They often talk about all the new things in cooking, without knowledge of which you can begin to lose even regular customers. These courses are important for those who want to learn how to bake custom-made cakes at home.
- You can just watch online video lessons on the Internet, but there is a minus. Mostly simple recipes are considered and the most important features are not revealed, without which masterpieces will not be created.
- A good option to learn how to bake custom-made cakes at home would be to attend paid courses. The so-called from A to Z. All the intricacies of cooking will be explained there. There will be feedback from the pastry chef and you can figure out why the dough has settled after baking, or why the cake crumbles so much, and so on.
Competition. What cake to surprise the sophisticated
“The Brownies.” They “sit at home in their kitchen and try to bake to order”…. “They don’t have a health certificate, they don’t have special equipment.” This is “the absence of any control over the production process”... Some seasoned confectioners, whose interviews can be found online, can demotivate you with their words. But try to react less to them. Despite the huge competition, anyone can stand out with their confectionery products and make money from it. Even someone who is not very knowledgeable about public catering, does not know SanPiN standards and does not have a chain of confectionery shops behind him. To figure out how to stand out, you need to do two things. The first thing is to see what offers are available in your city. Secondly, see what offers are not yet available in your city. It’s worth paying attention not to the assortment of large confectionery shops (although knowing their cakes and prices won’t hurt either), but to what private traders offer. The best way to search is through social networks. A simple search with the word “cakes” and the name of your city will give a lot of food for thought. For example, the request “Moscow cakes” on the social network “Vkontakte” produces 1838 responses, “Krasnodar cakes” - 414 responses, and even “Pyatigorsk cakes” - 34.
But do not rush to despair of such beating! Surely half of these groups are dead. Their number is well illustrated by the number of failed attempts to start a business. Look at the quality offered by the largest and most active groups: this is what you should strive for. Here you can also look at techniques for doing business on social networks, but more on that later. Please note that no one offers regular Napoleons and sour cream to order anymore. Most often these are all kinds of children's and wedding cakes: romantic and funny, bright and stylish. A huge number of stories. Someone makes chocolate portraits, someone sculpts confectionery trees, someone produces edible Disney cartoons...
No matter how sad it is for you, all the cake ideas have already been invented. On the one hand, this is good - there are many examples for inspiration. A good selection with 300 ideas for decorating cakes from the “1000 Ideas” portal. On the other hand, you won’t be able to invent anything radically new. If you don't believe me, try this experiment. Go to any Internet search engine in the pictures section. Type the phrase “cake in the form of...” and then substitute any words that come to your mind: “piano”, “iron”, “elephant” and so on. Whatever request you make, someone has already come up with all the cakes. Moreover, the peculiarities of the cake business are such that the main creative inventor is sometimes the client himself, sending you a photo of some cake in the form of a cap or a pink laptop with a request to bake exactly the same one and no other. Here we are gradually approaching the fact that the idea itself does not in any way guarantee you 100% success without a lack of skill, a willingness to take on any order and, of course, without the right approach to promotion.
Income from the sale of one cake
I have heard that in pastry shops where cakes of this kind are made, the price is set per hundred grams or kilograms. The cost for each figure is added to this price.
Thus, the cake can cost 3,000 rubles or more.
I set the price (or rather, my friend set the price when she first ordered, and I just continued to work according to it) - 1500 rubles per cake and chose a weight category of 1500 grams.
It is not profitable to make cakes that weigh less.
It takes the same amount of time to produce, but the benefits are less.
I spent 400 - 700 rubles on making one cake. Benefit – 800 – 1100 rubles.
Online training
At one time, in order to learn how to bake cakes, I went to pastry courses in another city. It was not easy, because we had to move all our plans. But there was no way out, because online education was not so widespread then.
You have a huge advantage. There is no need to rush headlong anywhere; you can study online. Right from the comfort of your home, in your own kitchen. This is a great opportunity to save time, effort, and of course, your money. Virtual courses cost several times less than real ones, and are not inferior in quality.
If you are in doubt whether it is worth giving money for some abstract classes on the Internet, then first try free master classes.
I have simplified your life and found one such lesson that you can take tomorrow without putting it off for a long time. This is a live broadcast, so you can ask any questions that arise while preparing the dessert and immediately receive an answer from the teacher.
Nothing is required from you. Just follow this link, register and connect at your chosen time. And so as not to forget, you will receive a reminder before the start of the broadcast.
Free master classes are a great chance to practice. But they are most often used to prepare simple desserts. Complex cakes simply cannot be prepared in a short time.
Therefore, after practicing and realizing that you like this format, move on to full-fledged step-by-step courses. They are held in the format of small pre-edited videos. So you don't waste time waiting. However, all stages of cake preparation are carefully covered, so you won't miss anything.
Teachers and curators work with you, who are always in touch and ready to answer any question. They will not abandon you in trouble, they will help you if it is difficult, and they will certainly bring you to the result.
Upon completion of the course you will receive a personal certificate. All students look forward to it, because it is a confirmation of your competence and a symbol of the completion of an important stage in life.
