I try to post pictures of most of the orders that go out the Steph's Sweet Treats doors, but nobody really knows the story behind the order, the customer, or the trials and tribulations. Sooo I thought it would be fun to give you some background information from time to time....starting with a few of last weekend's orders!

First up, let's talk about the super fun elephant sculpted cake I got to do!  I got a picture via text from this customer asking me if I could make a cake for her like the one pictured.  I was super excited to see the cute baby elephant looking back at me via text because it is a photo I have had saved on my own for quite a while, just waiting for the chance to make it.  I thought I was making a smaller version of the photo, but after it was all said and done, I think it was actually the same size.

I LOVE when somebody asks me for a cake I've never made before, or for something I've been wanting to try....but it is definitely nerve wracking.  I tell myself I can do it and keep reminding myself to envision the end product.  Because, as you can see from the top left picture, things aren't always pretty in the middle of the process.  

The ears of this little guy proved to be the most challenging...getting the right size and "wrinkles"... but not so much wrinkle that they would fold in half.  That plastic wrap was used during the drying process so they would stay put and get the shape I wanted...which was another battle on its own.

After it all came together I was pretty darn happy.  Even though new cakes and techniques can be scary, it is a great feeling to pull it off.  The only downside to new cakes, especially something sculpted like this, is that you have to guess on time, cake, materials, etc.....so you usually end up undercharging.  Which I did in this case...but it's a gain in my book since I got to try something new and learn!  So thank you customer for ordering a cake I have been wanting to make for a long time!  

Next up, the gambling themed cupcake cake.  I chose to talk about this cake because I have made several cupcake cakes for this customer now, and they are always fun...and I am given the freedom to fit their theme however I can make it work!  The order this past week was for the customer's mom and dad.  After putting in the order, her husband reminded her that her brother had a birthday a few days later....so we added him to the cake too!  Thank goodness her husband remembered the birthday or this cake would have looked very different!  Let me tell you why....

When the initial order was placed, I was told the parents like to go on the boat and play cards.  Now I'm not a gambler...so in my head I was making a boat and a set of cards, both on the same cake board.  So when she called back to add her brother, I asked if this boat was the sailing kind or fishing kinds....hahaha silly me...they gamble on the boat!  Phew!  So glad I got that cleared up!  (Note: I would have called to clarify the type of boat before making the cake-but it got cleared up/fixed faster since she called me first)

The other two pictures are of this customers other two fun cupcake cakes.  The turkey was for her husband's surprise birthday party and the other was for her twins.  Always know it will be a fun one when she calls!

The last story behind the order from last weekend is a fun pink, gold, and white cake.  This too was for a returning customer.  I got to make a firetruck cake earlier in the year for this customer; she returned for her daughter's cake.  She told me the colors and gave me two example of my cakes that she really liked.  One being a rosette cake, or ombre rosette, and a purple dotted cake I had recently done.  After telling me she liked those two specific styles she also said she trusts me, so I could do whatever I wanted.  

Hearing that a customer has given me some freedom because they trust me is always a great thing, but also very scary!  Because even though someone says they don't care, or they don't have something specific they want...sometimes they secretly do.  So since I can't see what's in their head unless they tell me, they may not be completely satisfied...which I never want!  

I went out on a limb for this order and tried something I thought she would like based on what she said....I also made it something I haven't done before, so it was new for both of us.  Risky?...not completely risky since I was confident I had picked up on the styles and aspects she wanted.  But isn't every order just a tad risky in a sense? You just never know what images the customer has in their head/if what their envisioning is the same as me.  In some cases, with a more elaborate cake, or if I need to clarify a design with a customer, I will sketch it out and send them a picture just to make sure the visions match.

All went well because she loved it!  I mixed the rosettes she likes in with another texture, and used dark pink, light pink, and white for a different play on ombre.  The gold pearls not only fit the gold in her theme, but also added a girly aspect, which she had talked about.  

I hope you enjoyed the look at the stories behind of some my orders.  Don't forget about the open day next Friday and thank you for another week of orders!

I haven't done a post with fun facts about myself since the very first blog post.  If you haven't read it, you can read it here.  Anyways...I thought it was time for a fun blog post about some of my favorite things.  Clearly most of my favorite things are baking related...so I made sure to leave those out.  

Ice Cream
Yes, yes, I know....I bake for a living.  My secret??  I'm a total ice cream addict!  I can't help it; I love it!  And when I say addicted, I mean it.  I have it in my head that I need it daily and I'm also convinced I have a separate stomach for dessert.  So even if I stuff myself, there's always room for dessert..especially if it's ice cream (or custard)!  What's my favorite ice cream?  That's like asking a parent who their favorite child is....you just can't do that!  I love most ice cream, but if I had to list a few favorites I'd say:

• Cake batter ice cream with sprinkles and whipped cream mixed in from Coldstone Creamery.
• Almost any custard from Culver's...I probably won't turn it down, but I usually get an Oreo and caramel mixer.
• Schwan's ice cream is usually in my freezer and it cycles through chocolate chip cookie dough, cookies and cream, chocolate marshmallow and sometimes a seasonal flavor.
• I love going to Grab-a-cone too!  My go to at ice cream shops is a caramel sundae, but I branched out this summer and I got a different flavor of Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream every time .  So many options!  

Coloring
I'm an adult who likes to color....   I have always liked to color.  In fact, I was a bit of a coloring fanatic when I was little.  My dad taught me how to color in Precious Moments coloring books (which were my favorite) and I have been hooked ever since.  I loved getting as many crayons as I could; I always had to keep them pointy; and I always had to put them back in the spot they came from.  If I had more than one crayon out, I would put a pencil in it's spot so I didn't forget where it went.  So....I was a little OCD with my crayons.  I'm not that crazy about it now, but I still enjoy it and it's a stress reliever for me.  I bought an "adult" coloring book (and have a new one coming in the mail!).  I use colored pencils instead of crayons...because somehow that makes it feel more grown up, and I don't insist on putting the pencils back in their original spots.... 

Reading
Another thing I have LOVED since I was child is reading.  I would go through five books in a day if I could; I'd wake up early on the weekends and read under my covers with a flashlight; when I earned my own money I'd spend it all on books; for Book It in second grade I think I read and did book reviews for well over 100 books...and not for Pizza Hut rewards, just because I wanted to; I competed in Battle of the Books in middle school; I read everywhere we went!  My nose was always in a book.  If I could read as much as I use to, I would love it, but there's never enough hours in the day!  Now when I read, it's usually in the car.  If I am working for my parents Argyle and don't have to leave to go the bakery/drive myself, I read to and from work; if my husband and I go to Platteville, Madison, or anywhere with a bit of a drive, I will read.

While I love most books, I think my favorite subject matter is mystery/suspense/crime.  I also love Law & Order, Chicago PD and Blue Bloods, so that explain that...  I recently discovered Lindy Zart who is from Boscobel, Wisconsin.  I have only finished one book so far, but I was obsessed with it! It was called Take Care, Sara and was one of the best books I have read in a long time.  I had a lump in the throat and burning in my eyes almost the whole book.  It makes you want to burst into tears and never take a day for granted. Plus, it takes place in Boscobel and has several other local references so it was neat to be able to relate to it in that way.  If you haven't check out her books, I highly suggest you do so!

Talk Radio
I'm totally hooked on talk radio.  I work alone, so I love listening to conversation on the radio.  Even though I listen to talk radio, it's not the intellectual NPR kind of talk radio....although I did listen to it before I got SIriusXM.   I get the most use out of my subscription on my computer, which is great because I can listen while baking.  My favorite things to listen to are entertainment shows. As you can see from my list of favorite things (coloring, books, and talk radio)...I'm a bit of nerd!  

 

Oh...and margaritas are pretty tasty! :)  I actually only had my first margarita a few months ago at Aztlan Mexican Grill here in town.  Yummy!  And look at that thing...it's the size of my head!  Now I feel like I should go on a mission finding the best margarita by ordering one wherever I go....or maybe that's just me wanting one everywhere because they are so yummy....

I also have a coffee addiction!  It's my favorite thing to drink.  My newest favorite coffee drink: caramel latte from the Kwik Trip Karuba Gold machine!  I even have a Karuba Gold refill cup..which means I get them cheaper...which gives me an excuse to get them more often.  I usually get them Monday's, Friday's, and Saturday's....sometimes more.  I try to make myself resist them.

Before I sign off I want to throw out a few reminders:

• Next open day: November 6th
  
• Halloween: If you want cupcakes or cookies for Halloween please let me know ASAP; it's going to be a busy week!
  
• 2016 is filling up for weddings (I have the most openings in the the spring, June, and July.  If you know someone getting married, you refer them to me, and they book...you get a gift certificate!  If you are getting married and are interested, feel free to set up a wedding tasting with me.

Thanks for another week of orders!

I have a lot of fun ideas to throw at everyone so I hope they inspire you to order some fun fall goodies!  I don't have pictures of everything, so I apologize in advance....you will have to use your imagination and trust that these ideas will look cute!  If you are having Halloween parties, need a school or work treat, or are having a Packer party in the next month, this post is for you. There's also a fun section at the end of this post...it's a shoutout to my open day helper...aka my husband!

If you came to the open day these cupcakes and cookies may look familiar.  These cupcakes are cookies are simply decorated, but scream fall.  Candy corn and pumpkin frosted cupcakes anyone?  How about fall leaf or pumpkin frosted cookies??  These particular designs can go all the way through Thanksgiving.  If you are looking for something a little more Halloween, how about jack-o-lantern face cupcake, Frankenstein cupcakes, ghost cupcakes, or any of these in the form of a cupcake cake?

The small photo collage are some examples from last year.  Cute Frankenstein cake, jack-o-lantern and one eyed monster cupcakes, as well as some neutral fall cupcakes with leaves and scarecrows.  The possibilities are endless! I have a lot of other ideas, so just contact me if if you want to order and I will be sure to design something around your wants/needs.

Not into the whole "fall" thing?....well lets hope you are least into the Green Bay Packers!  Now, now, settle down if you are fan of another team, I can bake goodies for your team too....I'm just going to focus on the Packers...well, since I cheer for them!

If you are throwing a Packer party you need dessert!  I can do cupcakes, cakes, cookies, or a combination of these to fit your party.  Along with the edible image and swirled frosting, I also have little Packer helmet and football cupcake toppers.  Now, I'll take a moment (a small one) to mention that I do have images and toppers for those of you who may be Vikings fans.  I won't even yell at you for cheering for the wrong team if you order them :)

My open days have been getting bigger and bigger.  More cupcakes, more customers, more traffic....all of which is amazing, but also VERY hard to do on my own.  My mom helps me out when she can, whether it's running the cash register for the day, or stopping by after she's done with work to watch the front while I run around like crazy in the back trying to finish weekend orders and do dishes.  

Well....for the October open day, I asked my husband if he wanted to help me.  He does wedding deliveries with me...he even does wedding deliveries solo now when we have multiple deliveries!  So he took a vacation day from work to help me at the bakery...allll day....all 13+ hours.  I can't park in front of my building due to the 2 hour parking regulations, so I rent a spot nearby.  Since I only have one spot, my husband came in when I did...wakey wakey at 3am!

I kicked off the morning by baking what I needed to bake for the weekend orders (the ones that didn't go with the open day).  While I did this, my husband chilled a bit until I could take a moment to give him something to do.  He wanted to help, so he added the last minute touches to some of the cupcakes (pumpkin on the pumpkin cupcakes; chocolate covered pretzel on the sweet n' salty), and he put the finishing touches on the pumpkin bread by adding a baker's twine bow.

I did one loaf to show him and then let him go to town doing the rest.  It was pretty funny since most guys don't tie little bows on a regular basis.  He struggled with getting the loops up to his standard...thankfully there were only 11 loaves!  Sorry for the crappy photo... I was in a hurry so I ended up cutting his head off and the front lights were still off so people didn't think I was already open. Oops!

Around 5:45 am he started getting nervous because I had yet to show him how the cash register works.  So we got that taken care of, did a practice run, stocked the cases and opened the doors...and it went smoothly all day.  So smoothly that I told him he now needs to help me at all open days!  I don't know if that will happen, but a girl can dream.  If he wasn't running register, he was helping me restock the cases, packing an order if there was a line (I'd do one, he'd do one), holding the door to the case if it made things faster, or grabbing stickers.  

The mornings have gotten really crazy since customers now know that if you don't come early, you may not get what you want.  By 11:00 Aaron was exhausted.  Ok... he wasn't really exhausted, but it was definitely a lot of running around and once the really busy morning hours pass, sleepiness sets in.  He even did my dishes for me!  Ahhh so nice. Did I mention how much I love this guy?!  (And yes, he really stands like that when doing dishes...apparently bending hurts his back so he just does that) 

It was another successful open day for sure!  We ran out of quite a few flavors in the morning and were limited to just a few most of the afternoon.  I promise I made a lot; I'm sorry if you did not get any or you were disappointed to only find limited flavors available. Just how many did I make/sell? 

888 cupcakes
51 cookies
11 mini loaves of pumpkin bread

 P.S.- for all you chocolate chip cookie dough lovers who didn't get any- I started with 133 of them and ran out by 9 or 10am- I feel like I can never make enough of them. Sorry!

Thanks for another week of orders and for another successful open day!!

I apologize for the corny play on words for the title of this post.  I just couldn't resist! This blog post is a two for one special...there's a short review of my stitch fix items, and then and important section on timeliness.  Please read that bit, it is especially important.

First up...my October stitch fix box arrived last week. I went over a month without getting a box! In case you don't know what I'm talking about...

What you need to know about Stitch Fix:
-You fill out a detailed style profile of your likes, dislikes, sizes, how much money you prefer to spend, etc. 
- You choose how often you'd like to receive a fix.  Each time you can ask for specifics if you have something specific you want, or have an upcoming event to attend.  
-A stylist chooses and sends you five items based on your wants, style profile, fashion pinterest boards, etc.  Items can include clothing and accessories.  
-You pay a $20 styling fee for the fix, BUT if you keep something from you Stitch Fix the $20 is credited towards your total.  So the only time you "lose" $20 is if you send everything back.  Bonus: If you keep all five items you get 25% off everything!
-You get three days to try on your items and decide, then you checkout online and send back what you don't want in the prepaid shipping bag you get with your box.

This month I asked for transitional fall pieces.  When I opened my box I must admit...I wasn't very excited.  For some reason I think that I need to see a whole bunch of colors for it to be a good box...and that's far from the truth!  Here's a look at what I got, and if you want to sign up and give it a try, click here.

You'll notice I actually put the clothes on for these pictures (I normally just take a photo of the clothes on a hanger)...but I still cut my head off.  Sorry, a long day at the bakery doesn't make for great photo face and hair...if you've done a pickup from me after I've been baking all day you know what I mean!  Side note- don't you love my phone cover?!

From left to right:

Fate Eliza Jacket-  A few years ago I realized I have a jacket problem...and by problem I mean I had far too many of them!  I stopped buying jackets and I got rid of the ones I didn't wear (okay I bought a new winter jacket last year...but I needed it I swear!), but I don't really have a "fall" jacket.  I love military green and the sweater sleeves of this jacket had me right away.  I also loved that you can pull in the waist a bit by tightening the strings.  A keeper for sure!  Now I can be done buying jackets....

THML Knoll Pullover- I also happen to love plaid shirts.  I normally wear them in a button-up version, but I loved the play on plaid in this pullover! Instantly knew I wanted to keep it.

Laila Jayde Salderas Hooded Cardigan-  I love cardigans, especially cozy ones.  This one was a gorgeous purple color, thick, and it had a hood!  The downfall....it kind of looked like I was drowning.  I don't mind longer cardigans, but my husband refers to them as my blankets....so I knew I shouldn't keep it considering I have a few blankets in my closet already.  

Urban Expressions Elisha Zipper Accent Structured Satchel-  Cute, cute, cute!  I wasn't immediately sold on the color of this purse, but the more I looked at it and the more I carried it around, the more I fell for it.  I annoyed my husband by asking him a million times if it went with my winter jacket....because it goes with the jacket I got in this fix, but I wanted to know about my winter jacket.  He was no help since he says it didn't matter....it's a purse.  Men...   He liked it. I liked it. So I kept it.

Just Black Connely Skinny Jeans-  Note- I didn't post a picture of these jeans.  These jeans are one of the most comfortable jeans I have come across.  They are a cross between jeggings and jeans.  They are stretchy and comfy like jeggings, but a little thicker like jeans.  Only problem....I have this exact brand, black, skinny jeans....but with an ankle zipper.  The only difference between the two pairs was the ankle zipper, so I couldn't justify putting them in my closet.  

I loved the jacket, purse, and pullover so much that I wore them all at once...which is what the first photo in the blog is of, but you can't see my shirt.  Needless to say,  I really enjoyed my fix!  I loved the variety of items, I loved that my stylist gave me what I wanted, and it is just fun!  If you want to try it for yourself just click here.  

Time is Money
Ok...now onto something I have been needing to acknowledge and address for quite awhile, but have just been dreading doing it.  Being on time.  Now, before anyone starts thinking I am talking about them, or apologizing if you have done it....I am not talking about anyone in particular and I am not doing this to point fingers, make people feel bad, or to make people mad.  

I have had a really big problem with customers showing up late.  It has always been a problem, but is getting progressively worse as time goes on.  I do not want to punish customers, but I feel that at this point, it may be my only option.  I am a by order bakery without regular business hours.  When I fill an order and arrange a pickup time, I am there for you at that time...or in some cases, my father-in-law is there for you.  Which means I expect you to show up at that time out of respect to me and my time, which I find very valuable.  

Now I"m not talking 5-10 minutes late...that happens.  I have had an issue with people showing up 20 minutes to an hour late without any notification, or without notifying me until 30 minutes past their pickup time or until I have contacted them to see if they are still coming.  Some of you may be thinking what's the big deal if I am there baking and waiting for a customer? Sure, having cameras makes it easier for me to see people if they are outside and I can watch for them if they are late.  But there's certain things I can't start if I am waiting on people to show up. That can really throw off my day.

When it happens on a week night or weekend it becomes hard for me because I do have other places to go or even deliveries to make.  Time is money; time is limited; time is precious; and there's never enough hours in the day.  I get it, things happen...you run late, you can't get the kids out the door, you get stuck in traffic, you get stuck at work....I get it.  I'm just asking for people to make a conscious effort to be on time or let me know if you anticipate being late.  

If this continues to be a problem, I will have to start enforcing a late fee.  Before you freak out...if you tell me you are going to be late or something has happened causing you to be late ahead of time, you wouldn't be charged.  The fee would be for the no show, no warning until the pickup time has already come and gone, or the excessively late without being told.

Again, I HATE to do it, and I hate even having to say anything...but trust me when I say it is a last resort and I am only saying something because it has become such a problem.  Please remember, I am not pointing fingers at anyone, this is for everyone to keep note of as a whole. 

Thanks for another week of orders and I hope to see you Friday at the open day!!