Once your cake business hits a certain level, you need to make adjustments to keep up with your orders. Additional staff will help, but training takes time, and wages are expensive. Investing in equipment is a much better option as specific machinery can do the work of several people and make your cake preparations a lot easier.
High Volume Mixers
Your usual mixer might not be enough once you’re getting orders for hundreds of cupcakes or 6-7 tier wedding cakes. Mixing separate batches, especially on a looming deadline, increases your chances of making a mistake and ruining your mix. You’ll need a larger mixer, preferably one that can process 20 quarts or more. This allows you to make more batches of cake batter (around eight mixes), cookie batter, dough, icing, and many others in one go. Not only does this save you time; it also ensures that your mixes are more uniform in color, texture, and flavor. You might need to make a few twitches to your recipes because of the higher volume and keep a separate recipe book for your large mixes.
Tabletop Depositors
When you’re dealing with 20-quart mixes, doing things manually might take more than a bit of your time and effort. Whether you’re icing or filling cupcakes, it takes a toll once your orders pass the hundred mark. You’ll need to fill your piping bags and wing the measurements continually. Tabletop bakery depositors — even a single-nozzled one — can make your job a lot easier and cut your processing time by 50-70 percent. These machines will eliminate the need to manually measure every portion, providing uniform amounts every single time. Tabletop depositors usually have replaceable nozzles, so you can still create the designs you want for your baked goodies. Once you reach Cake Boss levels of baking, it might even be worth purchasing a multi-station depositor. These are tabletop depositors with multiple nozzles and a conveyor system that’s designed specifically to handle bulk orders.
Large Fondant Rollers
Kneading fondant is difficult. It requires a bit of strength, a bit of endurance, and a lot of patience and skill. Manually preparing fondant for a simple 8-inch cake can take 5-10 minutes. However, once your cake’s dimensions get big enough to be featured in network TV, the time it takes to knead fondant can take hours. Larger pieces of fondant are almost impossible to roll manually. Not only will it require a lot of space; breaking and cracking become severe problems. Large fondant rollers take care of these problems. They can roll large pieces of fondant and still maintain the necessary consistency and texture. These machines cut your kneading time and also make your fondant appear more professional. This allows you to take your mind off making perfect fondant and concentrate on the more critical details of your cake.
To grow your cake business, you need to make a few investments. Once you hit it big, additional baking machinery becomes more of a necessity than an indulgence.
