Dear Diary,
Today is the most-unexpected busiest day for my cupcake business.
I slept at 4am and woke up to the sound of my cellphone ringing (at 9 am!). I picked up my phone and answered like a Zombie who acted on his instincts. It was my friend, Dudu, ordering 3 dozen cupcakes for Jens Knuttel. Dudu and Jens are neighbors and the latter's Mom asked the former to order cupcakes from us. Jens was leaving for Manila this day and his Mom wanted to give him his favorite dessert: Cupcakes. If you don't know Jens, well he is quite a celebrity. He's a basketball player from FEU, you see him on UAAP games, he appeared on magazines and most notably is his friendship with Vice Ganda (in case you don't know, Vice Ganda was in Zamboanga city 2 days ago to visit Jens) and he's a constant mention in Vice's tweets. Well, the moment I heard it was for Jens, I thought he's gonna be a VIP client.
I got excited, I jumped to my feet and asked Dudu when is she gonna pick up the order. She said later in the afternoon. Oh God. I was in trouble. My ingredients were incomplete and I no longer have boxes. We usually take orders two days prior to pick up/delivery to buy time to get all the ingredients and materials ready. It was 9 am and they wanted it delivered by 4pm. The opportunity was so hard to miss so I said Yes, I can deliver it. And then I was in serious trouble. I'm given seven hours to buy the ingredients, buy cupcake boxes and bake three dozen red velvet and cookies and cream cupcakes. And worse, I was sleep-deprived.
So I rushed to LB supermaket to buy the ingredients. Sarah was not available this day because she's out of town so I'm left to deal with all these. Mom volunteered to help so I can finish the cupcakes on time. I was able to bake 2 dozen red velvets by 12pm. I ate my lunch and went to town to get the boxes. I arrived home at 2pm and then I continued baking the cookies and cream. By 3 pm I was done with the cupcakes. Time to make the frosting. It took me a good one hour making the frosting, frosting the cupcakes, garnishing them, and then packing them. By 4pm. The cupcakes were ready.
Dudu arrived by 4pm and picked up the cupcakes. I made it. ALL BY MYSELF.
It was a nice experience. Jens tweeted me to say thank you for the cupcakes. I just wish he liked the cupcakes I made. :D
Love Lots,
Godz
Biyernes, Disyembre 30, 2011
Miyerkules, Disyembre 28, 2011
December 29, 2011
Dear Diary,
The cupcake business was a success. Well, at least for a small scale business venture.
We got a huge amount of order during Christmas eve that Sarah and I spent a good seven hours baking, frosting and packing the cupcakes. We actually came up with another flavor, the choco-vanilla cupcakes as requested by one of our clients. It's a chocolate cupcake with chocolate chips inside and vanilla frosting and grated dark chocolate on top. It's the most delicious thing we've ever made.
Tonight, Mom and I will make red velvets for ourselves. I'm gonna try premium ingredients for the cupcakes. They always say that red velvets are not red velvets without a cream cheese frosting so tonight I'm gonna find out why (well, vanilla frosting on top of red velvets is fine but I'm still gonna try icing it with cream cheese frosting).
I figured out that it's hard to sell red velvets with cream cheese frosting here because they are relatively expensive for the conservative market in Zamboanga. Cupcakes are not that popular in the Philippines, let alone Zamboanga city. It's either we revolutionize the cupcake industry in the city or find another place to sell our cupcakes. Dumaguete is the perfect place because it's swarmed by Western people who love cupcakes (I actually lived in Duma for 8 months back in 2008 so I'm no stranger to that place).
Just wanna share with you about my future plans. The moment I graduate, I'm going to work to save up for my cupcake business. I'm going to enroll in a course that is dedicated to baking in a nice culinary school, put up a cupcake business (ideally in Dumaguete) with a good business partner and start the cupcake revolution.
I might sound ambitious, but I'm determined. :)
Love Lots,
Godz
The cupcake business was a success. Well, at least for a small scale business venture.
We got a huge amount of order during Christmas eve that Sarah and I spent a good seven hours baking, frosting and packing the cupcakes. We actually came up with another flavor, the choco-vanilla cupcakes as requested by one of our clients. It's a chocolate cupcake with chocolate chips inside and vanilla frosting and grated dark chocolate on top. It's the most delicious thing we've ever made.
Tonight, Mom and I will make red velvets for ourselves. I'm gonna try premium ingredients for the cupcakes. They always say that red velvets are not red velvets without a cream cheese frosting so tonight I'm gonna find out why (well, vanilla frosting on top of red velvets is fine but I'm still gonna try icing it with cream cheese frosting).
I figured out that it's hard to sell red velvets with cream cheese frosting here because they are relatively expensive for the conservative market in Zamboanga. Cupcakes are not that popular in the Philippines, let alone Zamboanga city. It's either we revolutionize the cupcake industry in the city or find another place to sell our cupcakes. Dumaguete is the perfect place because it's swarmed by Western people who love cupcakes (I actually lived in Duma for 8 months back in 2008 so I'm no stranger to that place).
Just wanna share with you about my future plans. The moment I graduate, I'm going to work to save up for my cupcake business. I'm going to enroll in a course that is dedicated to baking in a nice culinary school, put up a cupcake business (ideally in Dumaguete) with a good business partner and start the cupcake revolution.
I might sound ambitious, but I'm determined. :)
Love Lots,
Godz
Sabado, Disyembre 17, 2011
December 18, 2011
Dear Diary,
It has been a long and busy week. We were finally able to come up with the final cupcakes to be sold to the market at a start-up price of P130/Box of 6 cupcakes in two yummy flavors, cookies and cream and red velvet.
Last Friday night, Sarah and I were busy baking red velvet cupcakes for our 1st ever customer, my friend Lyka for her 22nd birthday. We needed to make the cupcakes perfect for our 1st customer who ordered a dozen RV's. We decided to improve the fluffiness of the cakes and smoothness of the frosting because those were the comments from the people who had a free taste of our product. We discovered a way to making them fluffy, credits to my mom (did I mention she's a pro in baking?). The next challenge was to improve the frosting. The 1st time we did it, it was an epic failure. The sugar did not dissolve properly. We cannot frost the cakes with that quality. That will surely disappoint our 1st customer. We tried making the frosting again, there was improvement but still not the best frosting. Sarah was insisting that it was good enough but being the perfectionist that I am, I told her we could do better than that. So for the 3rd time, with the help of my mom, we tried making the frosting and by some sort of magic, it was the creamiest, smoothest frosting I've ever tasted. Why is my mom so good at making frosting It's frustrating for our part but eventually, we will learn her trick. :) We frosted the cakes and placed them in a box, ready for delivery.
Then came judgment day. I was very nervous the moment I delivered the cupcakes to Lyka. I was not ready for negative comments. I really didn't want to disappoint our 1st ever customer. Later that day, Lyka texted me to tell me that she loved the cupcakes. It was ecstatic!
Today, we will be busy making cupcakes again. Got 6 orders. Whew. Nice to know that the business is thriving at a snail's pace, but with word of mouth, I believe we will go a long way.
Love Lots,
Godz
It has been a long and busy week. We were finally able to come up with the final cupcakes to be sold to the market at a start-up price of P130/Box of 6 cupcakes in two yummy flavors, cookies and cream and red velvet.Last Friday night, Sarah and I were busy baking red velvet cupcakes for our 1st ever customer, my friend Lyka for her 22nd birthday. We needed to make the cupcakes perfect for our 1st customer who ordered a dozen RV's. We decided to improve the fluffiness of the cakes and smoothness of the frosting because those were the comments from the people who had a free taste of our product. We discovered a way to making them fluffy, credits to my mom (did I mention she's a pro in baking?). The next challenge was to improve the frosting. The 1st time we did it, it was an epic failure. The sugar did not dissolve properly. We cannot frost the cakes with that quality. That will surely disappoint our 1st customer. We tried making the frosting again, there was improvement but still not the best frosting. Sarah was insisting that it was good enough but being the perfectionist that I am, I told her we could do better than that. So for the 3rd time, with the help of my mom, we tried making the frosting and by some sort of magic, it was the creamiest, smoothest frosting I've ever tasted. Why is my mom so good at making frosting It's frustrating for our part but eventually, we will learn her trick. :) We frosted the cakes and placed them in a box, ready for delivery.
Then came judgment day. I was very nervous the moment I delivered the cupcakes to Lyka. I was not ready for negative comments. I really didn't want to disappoint our 1st ever customer. Later that day, Lyka texted me to tell me that she loved the cupcakes. It was ecstatic!
Today, we will be busy making cupcakes again. Got 6 orders. Whew. Nice to know that the business is thriving at a snail's pace, but with word of mouth, I believe we will go a long way.
Love Lots,
Godz
Lunes, Disyembre 12, 2011
December 12, 2011
Dear Diary,
Today, my Mom, Sarah and I spent the afternoon making vanilla frosting. Mom is like the frosting and cake guru. Her creations can even match those of popular bakeshoppes in the city. We're just happy that she can pass down this legacy to us and hope we can duplicate her skill in baking.
Unsurprisingly, the frosting turned out to be the best we ever tasted (no bias here). It was mom's trademark, not too sweet, just sweet. :) Then the next thing we did was to learn how Mom makes her trademark swirls. We weren't able to get it on our first try but the subsequent tries were not futile. We were able to come up with decent, if not fancy, swirls.
On the right side is a snapshot of the soon-to-be best cupcake in town (we're still brimming with optimism). They're red velvet cupcakes topped with vanilla frosting and red sprinkles. We concede to the fact that we still need to improve on the presentation but the cupcakes are yummy, to say the least. :)
Love Lots,
Godz
Today, my Mom, Sarah and I spent the afternoon making vanilla frosting. Mom is like the frosting and cake guru. Her creations can even match those of popular bakeshoppes in the city. We're just happy that she can pass down this legacy to us and hope we can duplicate her skill in baking.
Unsurprisingly, the frosting turned out to be the best we ever tasted (no bias here). It was mom's trademark, not too sweet, just sweet. :) Then the next thing we did was to learn how Mom makes her trademark swirls. We weren't able to get it on our first try but the subsequent tries were not futile. We were able to come up with decent, if not fancy, swirls.
Love Lots,
Godz
Sabado, Disyembre 10, 2011
December 10, 2011
Dear Diary,
Our attempt to achieve a perfect red velvet cupcake was an epic failure last night so we gave it another try today. This time we used a different recipe that uses less cocoa to make sure that the red velvet comes out red and not brown or any other color.
Sarah and I religiously followed the instructions to make sure that we achieve the red velvet cupcake that we desire. When the cupcakes were already in the oven, we were kinda apprehensive that it will be another waste of resources.
We constantly checked on the cupcakes, inserting toothpicks every now and then to make sure that they will not be over or underbaked. When the toothpick came out clean, it was a signal that the cupcakes are ready.
And at last, the red cupcake can live up to its name. It was bloody, deliciously red. The taste was also fantastic but we can improve its sweetness by adding a little more sugar. Tomorrow, we will dedicate the day to the making of vanilla frosting. My mom makes the best frosting and she will help us tomorrow so I believe we won't be having a hard time.
We are sure that we can achieve perfection in the subsequent tries. :)
Love Lots,
Godz
Our attempt to achieve a perfect red velvet cupcake was an epic failure last night so we gave it another try today. This time we used a different recipe that uses less cocoa to make sure that the red velvet comes out red and not brown or any other color.
Sarah and I religiously followed the instructions to make sure that we achieve the red velvet cupcake that we desire. When the cupcakes were already in the oven, we were kinda apprehensive that it will be another waste of resources.
We constantly checked on the cupcakes, inserting toothpicks every now and then to make sure that they will not be over or underbaked. When the toothpick came out clean, it was a signal that the cupcakes are ready.
And at last, the red cupcake can live up to its name. It was bloody, deliciously red. The taste was also fantastic but we can improve its sweetness by adding a little more sugar. Tomorrow, we will dedicate the day to the making of vanilla frosting. My mom makes the best frosting and she will help us tomorrow so I believe we won't be having a hard time.
We are sure that we can achieve perfection in the subsequent tries. :)
Love Lots,
Godz
Biyernes, Disyembre 9, 2011
December 9, 2011
Dear Diary,
Earlier today, Sarah and I bought the ingredients needed for our cupcakes and also some cupcakes from our soon-to-be competitor. We were brimming with optimism and excitement because it's our 1st time to bake cupcakes and we wanted them to be pretty and better than the competitor's.
We got a handful of recipes from the internet and we decided to follow the simplest one that we found for red velvet and cookies and cream cupcakes. Maybe we missed some instructions or maybe it was a faux recipe because the cupcakes didn't turn out as expected. It was frustrating but it's our 1st time to bake cupcakes (too bad we didn't have the spontaneity in baking or at least beginner's luck). Giving up is not an option. Not now. :D
Tomorrow is another day. We will try again! :D I believe we will be needing my Mom's help. She was busy this day so we weren't able to get her to assist us with the baking.
Love Lots,
Godz
Earlier today, Sarah and I bought the ingredients needed for our cupcakes and also some cupcakes from our soon-to-be competitor. We were brimming with optimism and excitement because it's our 1st time to bake cupcakes and we wanted them to be pretty and better than the competitor's.
We got a handful of recipes from the internet and we decided to follow the simplest one that we found for red velvet and cookies and cream cupcakes. Maybe we missed some instructions or maybe it was a faux recipe because the cupcakes didn't turn out as expected. It was frustrating but it's our 1st time to bake cupcakes (too bad we didn't have the spontaneity in baking or at least beginner's luck). Giving up is not an option. Not now. :D
Tomorrow is another day. We will try again! :D I believe we will be needing my Mom's help. She was busy this day so we weren't able to get her to assist us with the baking.
Love Lots,
Godz
Martes, Disyembre 6, 2011
December 07, 2011
Dear Diary,
Today is the 1st day of becoming RICH... Earlier in my Franchising class, my Professor talked about starting a business and, for some reason, pointed me out as the person she sees a lot of passion in. I didn't know if that was meant as a challenge or a motivation but I felt motivated to start my own business. Doing business is not new to me. My mom runs her small business and I'm kinda exposed to stuff like that. I am motivated to start a cupcake business (I have penchant for sweets especially cupcakes. My mom makes good cupcakes. Also, I got the idea of cupcake business from my favorite sitcom 2 Broke Girls) this Christmas season. I see this as a good opportunity because sweets are popular this season. So I immediately texted my cousin (and soon to be business partner) Sarah about my business plan and she agreed to help me in this endeavor. Sarah has a background in baking so I could really use her skill in this. I also asked my Mom to teach us how to make cupcakes and she agreed to help us this weekend! Yehey!
Earlier, I posted on my Facebook account about my plan of starting a small cupcake business and the response was quite overwhelming. Some of my FB friends were willing to try my cupcakes. A relative from overseas even ordered twenty-four dozens. Wow. We're going global and we haven't even started our biz yet. :D
I'm now watching DC Cupcakes (it's a reality show about two sisters running a Cupcake shoppe) to get inspiration. I wish this cupcake dream will not disappoint... Anyway, I'll update you on the progress of our soon-to-be-real cupcake shoppe.
Love lots,
Godz
Today is the 1st day of becoming RICH... Earlier in my Franchising class, my Professor talked about starting a business and, for some reason, pointed me out as the person she sees a lot of passion in. I didn't know if that was meant as a challenge or a motivation but I felt motivated to start my own business. Doing business is not new to me. My mom runs her small business and I'm kinda exposed to stuff like that. I am motivated to start a cupcake business (I have penchant for sweets especially cupcakes. My mom makes good cupcakes. Also, I got the idea of cupcake business from my favorite sitcom 2 Broke Girls) this Christmas season. I see this as a good opportunity because sweets are popular this season. So I immediately texted my cousin (and soon to be business partner) Sarah about my business plan and she agreed to help me in this endeavor. Sarah has a background in baking so I could really use her skill in this. I also asked my Mom to teach us how to make cupcakes and she agreed to help us this weekend! Yehey!
Earlier, I posted on my Facebook account about my plan of starting a small cupcake business and the response was quite overwhelming. Some of my FB friends were willing to try my cupcakes. A relative from overseas even ordered twenty-four dozens. Wow. We're going global and we haven't even started our biz yet. :DI'm now watching DC Cupcakes (it's a reality show about two sisters running a Cupcake shoppe) to get inspiration. I wish this cupcake dream will not disappoint... Anyway, I'll update you on the progress of our soon-to-be-real cupcake shoppe.
Love lots,
Godz
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