FAQ

What is a Custom Bakery?

• A Custom Bakery is one that specializes in baking products for a customers specific request. Ordering from a Custom Bakery is done well in advance of your event to ensure ample time for your order to be created.

Can we stop by and pick up some pastries, cookies or a cake today?

• Sorry there is never anything just waiting for purchase. This ensure you receive the freshest, tastiest bakery goods available.

How much time do you need to prepare my order?

• We bake all our products the day before you are scheduled to pick them up. However since baker availability is some times limited it is wise to get your order in as soon as you know you want us to bake your treat. Sometimes 24 hours notice is enough in our slow period but some date book up a year in advance. We don't like to turn clients away, but we want to ensure every product leaving our bakery is of the same freshness, taste, and quality and we will turn down orders in fairness to those who booked our services early.

What are your hours?

• Well I can tell you we are officially closed on Mondays, other wise we are a custom bakery so we don't have regular shop hours. We are open by appointment only. If you want to come in to see our designs or for a tasting simply let us know in advance and we will meet with you. Our show room does have some fake cake and samples of our work. But it is just a small sampling of what we do.

How many cakes do you do in a day?

• Here at Kyms Creations we don't have a quota of how many cakes or product we have to create each day, week or month. Since we are a custom bakery we could have one very elaborate cake or an event that will take up our time. We may be doing many smaller less time consuming products and can do more. The first person to book us on any giving day has our full attention and as orders come in we figure out if we can take that order with out compromising the other orders on this day. We will never compromise our services just to make an extra few dollars. Reputation is very important to us… our name and your party is on the line!

How do I book Kyms Creations for my event?

• You can contact us by phone or email. If you are not sure of all the details you can have us hold your date. We simply need to know you will be using us for the party, the date of the event, type of event, and approximate amount of guests, your name, phone number, time of event, and where its being held. We will pencil you in so we can reserve your baking time. Its much better holding your date then finding out later we are totally booked for your date. To hold your date it will require a $25.00 non refundable deposit made with cash or credit card. If you postpone the party for some reason you will not lose the deposit it will be used to hold the new date. Your deposit will be applied to your final cost of your bakery products upon pick up or delivery.

I saw a cake that I really like, can you duplicate it for me? How can I get the photo to you?

• The chances are we can most likely duplicate the same idea however your event should be special so we would prefer to use the idea you found and try to make it even more your own. Also understand what we do in the bakery is an art form…hand decorated, so even know you are duplicating the same cake they are still one of a kind pieces of work and will be similar but still different. You can either schedule a cake consultation and bring the photo with you at that time, or e-mail an inquiry to us with the photo attached to kymscreationscakes@yahoo.com.

We are having a small event but want a tier cake, what is the smallest size your willing to create?

• We have done small tier cakes to feed 32 guests which would be a 6” and 8” round cake. If your talking about making a small mad hatter design then the smallest would be a 5”and 9” round cake which will feed 38 guests. Understand that tier cakes are more work then your standard party cakes for the same servings. Tiered cake have special construction methods that have to followed to allow transportation to be successful as well as to withstand the stacked construction. They are priced per serving just as a wedding cake is priced regardless of size or event type. These are very popular for the 1^st birthday cakes, Sweet 16's, Anniversaries or other very special event celebrations.

We are having a special event and want to come for a Consultation and tasting?

• Congratulations! We would love the honor to sit down with you. Our personalized service will give you the time you deserve. This is your special day and your consultation will be one to remember. Simply take a look at our menu and pick out several cakes and fillings you would like to taste and then contact us with your choices. We generally like to meet with couples earlier in the week like Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday so that we can give you all the attention you deserve. Later in the week becomes our busy time and it makes it very hard to fit these types of things in with our baking schedule. However we are flexible, and will make it work for both our schedules.

What can we expect at our consultation?

• No matter what the event may be the consultations are pretty much similar. We will have a tasting of several flavored cakes, fillings, and icing of your choosing. Once we get the perfect combination(s) down we will move on to the designing of your cake. We will go through past cakes we have designed at Kyms Creations, some other idea books, and then we will work up an idea based on this information. Kim will hand draw or do a computerized rendering of your cake so you can get a real feel of what to expect at your event. You will receive an estimate of the cake cost, your flavor break down and the cake image. We will go over all your questions and concerns so that you can feel comfortable using our services. A 25% non refundable deposit is required to hold your date. The Balance for a large cake is usually due 2 weeks prior to the event. Payment is accepted as cash, credit cards, or money orders we do not accept personal checks.

What should we bring to our appointment?

• At your consultation it would be great to see your colors, flowers, invitations, table setting, and anything that will give us a feeling for you and your event. After all, no 2 events are ever the same.

What forms of payment do you accept?

• We currently take cash, credit cards, and money orders. We do not take a debit cards where you must enter your pin, or personal checks. I realize this might be inconvenient for you but this will help keep the cost down on our products. With the recent economy we have been experiencing a high volume of bounced checks and it is very time consuming, and costly to keep doing business this way.

Do you accept the State Access Card?

• No we don't at this time. We have requested information regarding this and perhaps at some point in the future we may.

Explain the NON Refundable deposits?

• A $25.00 deposit is required just to have us hold a date for your party. This is when you're in the planning stages and know you want us to do your party but are unsure of your plans, guest count, and all the other details. A 25% deposit is required when you have a formal cake consultation and decide you want to use our services. This deposit will help us buy any special equipment, and supplies we may need to complete your idea, and ensure that if you back out we are compensated for our time and effort we put forth in getting ready for your event. Both these deposits will be lost if you decided not to use or services for any reason. If you simply postpone your event to a date we can accommodate then we will apply the deposit to your final bill. Please make sure you want to use our services before placing a deposit.

Explain the Refundable deposit?

• A refundable deposit is one that is placed down for equipment you plan on using at your event but then will be returned to Kyms Creations upon completion of your event. All items must be returned in the same condition it was in when picked up. They must be cleaned, unbroken and in usable condition. If any item or items is not in satisfactory condition and must be replaced the current replacement cost will be taken out of the returned deposit fee. If the item(s) are returned after 7 days of the event a late return fee of $25.00 will be charge unless agreed upon before the event happens.

Do you deliver? How far are you willing to go?

• Yes delivery is available. There are times when we will specify the cake must be delivered such as if it has a complicated setup procedure or it its just not going to fit in the standard type of vehicle that the customer may own. Our wedding cake prices generally include complimentary delivery services unless it's outside our local area. For smaller type events there is a delivery fee starting at $15.00 and goes up from there. It seems costly to some but with the price of gas, commercial insurance, and the hourly rate it costs to leave the bakery it all adds up. We can only be at one place at one time so sometimes delivery is impossible. Please understand its based on our availability at the time. We do not have a certain territory we cut our delivery off at if your willing to pay the delivery fee. Please keep in mind these are cake and the longer they are in transport the more problems that can surface due to vibration, unknown roads, and other unforeseen circumstances. We have safely delivered to about 1 ½ hrs from our bakery in the past. Call us and we will see what we can offer for its safe arrival.

Do you ship your cake?

• No. Our cakes are baked fresh and never frozen so they will not survive the brutal shipping process. We have tried shipping other products without any success, so we only deal with our local customers.

How can I find out about the pricing of your products?

• Since everything is custom baked it is very hard to list our pricing on the Internet. You must either contact us at (610) 435-4756 or kymscreationscakes@yahoo.com to discuss your needs. We basically need to know how many people we are to feed, what products your most interested in, if its pick up or delivery, and any other details you have. Your email can also include photos you want us to see to base pricing on similar items.

Why is a tier cake prices per serving?

• There are many cakes that are priced per serving due the the extensive work involved in the cake construction and decorating. Also you may have 90 guest at your wedding however the smallest tier cake to feed you guest will serve 100. So you will be paying for an extra 10 servings that would not be payed for if it was based on another type of pricing structure. These cakes also usually include an elborate support sytem to keep the cakes up right and in many cased include delivery. We base the serving size of all our cakes on the Wilton Serving size. Attached it the link so you can see what we use as a guideline.

Do you offer wholesale prices?

• No. We prefer to deal one on one with our clients instead of having huge accounts.

What is a fake cake and do you offer fake cakes?

• A Fake cake is a cake that is made from Styrofoam and then covered in a form of real icing, either fondant, royal, or even butter cream depending on the clients needs. Many cakes seen in bakery showrooms or at bridal shows are fake cakes and represent styles or ideas that can be created out of real cake. Yes, this is an option for your event however sometimes it is not as cost effective as you may think. But if this is something that may interest you we will price out your options and leave it up to you.

Can I have a smaller cake out on the cake table and then do sheet cakes for the majority of the servings to stay in our budget?

• We here at Kyms Creations are willing to work with you on keeping our serves in your budget. We have been know to create smaller tiered cakes for the display table and then kitchen cakes in the back, however, simply altering the setup of your cake may also save you money. There are so many beautiful cake stands available today that can make it appear to have a stacked wedding cake but in reality it is on a cake stand and it will save you money. We will work with you when you come in for your consultation. We will price different size tiers and vary the cake sizes and options. After all it is your event and if you want a Kyms Creations Cake then we want to make your wish come true.

Can you recommend a popular flavor?

• I personally love Vanilla cake, with Butter Cream icing. For me you can dress it up with any number of fillings or or dress it down. Everyone has a different taste palette and you need to go with what you and your crowd may like. I can tell you out of the 50 different flavors the top 5 flavors in this order are, Vanilla, Chocolate, Oreo Cookie, Black Bottom, and Red Velvet. If you want us to help you further please ask and we can help you decide on what will work for your event.

What is the difference between White Cake and Yellow Cake?

• There are several differences between the two types of cake beside the obvious color. White cake omits the egg yolks as an ingredient giving it the pure white color and give it a wonderful vanilla flavor. White cake is also called Vanilla cake so the terms are interchangeable. Our white cake is also very moist because we use applesauce in our recipe. Many local bakeries don't make this flavor cake because they tend to be dry. Yellow cake includes the egg yokes, and make it yellow in color. Its hard to say what flavor yellow cake is, and although it includes just as much vanilla as the White Cake the flavor seems to be cancelled out by the addition of the yolks. Other characteristic of a yellow cake is it tends to me slight more “heavy” compared to the white cake but not like a pound cake. It is a personal choice but most people choose the White/Vanilla cake in our bakery over yellow cake. Order one today and you can compare for yourself.

Allergy or Diet Concerns Statement

• At Kyms Creations we bake many different types of products and us many ingredients from numerous suppliers. We can not say that any one of our product is free from a certain ingredient. With all the different manufactors, processing plants, storage and handling it is almost impossible to know what has come into contact with one another. We would love to do business with you but if you have a specific allergy we would prefer to know and we can make that determination if we are the correct bakery. Some of our known allergens are Soy, wheat, milk, egg, butter, peanuts, tree nuts,apple sauce, all types of berries, gluten, sugar, and chocolate just to name the biggest ones we know.

Do you offer Baked good for Specialty Dietary needs?

• Our bakery is not equipped to offer Vegan, Kosher, Allergy free goods such as egg, dairy, or nut allergies. We can do some sugar free items and most of our cakes are baked with applesauce verses oil so they are considered low fat.. We say they are nutritious but mostly delicious. We have started checking into doing gluten free cakes since there seems to be a great demand but we are still trying to find a cake that we feel is quality. Please check with us if you have a concern and we will work with you or can recommend another bakery in the area who can accommodate your dietary needs.

What advice can you offer if were having a party and only one guest has an allergy?

• Many times the guest is aware of not eating food prepared by an unknown vendor especially depending on how severe the allergy my be. I recommend talking to that person and asking if there is a special treat you could provide them with. Many clients tell me fresh fruit, pretzels or a commercial procuct that can make a correct allergy statement.

What if the allery is not severe?

• We have a clinet and her child has a mild peanut allergy and she gets his cakes with us every year and has never had a problem but that is a risk that mom chooses to take because she know her sons reactions and can look for it on her own. She also makes us aware of the allergy so we can be aware and bake her products first in the day, and store them away from other products that have peanuts in them. The risk is up to you and deciding how bad your allergy is and if it triggers how to handle it. We would never want to say its gonna be 100% free of anything but we will try our best to make accomodations for your needs.

We are trying to follow a low fat/ low cholestrol diet can is there anything I have have?

• We are proud to say most of our cakes are baked with applesauce instead of oil which helps bring down the fat and cholestrol levels consideralbly. We say our cakes are nutritious but mostly delicous and this is why. The addition of the applescause also help keep the cake light in texture and moisture then most cake we have tasted in the area. The few cakes that are not low fat are Carrot Cake, Banana Cake brownie,and our muffins, they all contain some degree of vegetable oil and we think its because of the already high content of moisture in the cake. Although the cakes are low in fat our icings are not, our whipped buttercream includes crisco, and real butter. To Stick to your diet we would just add a thin layer for decorating purposes and keep it to a minimum.

I dont like super sweet icing what do you recommend?

• We offer many different types of icing in hopes to satify the most picky palet. Most clients love our whipped buttercream icing. Our buttercream icing is the best for colorized, fully decorated cakes, and does not need refrigeration. We do offer many other icings but they have limitations so if that is something you want to do we will advise you how it will effect your final design.

We like the icing at our local supermarket, what do you use?

• Our Icings are made the old fasion way, butter, shortening, butter, flour, eggs, vanilla, salt and a few other ingredients. Our Buttercream Icing is whipped for a long time so it is light, fluffy, and not sweet like some buttercreams.most of our clients order the buttercream for the first cake and love it and never change. If buttervream isnt really for you you can try our whip cream which is made from real heavy whipping cream , needs refrigeration, and the base color is a very pale yellow and other colors come out more pastel, but may bleed into one another. Our whip cream is only practical for fancy cakes where there is a basic boarder and simple writting is all that is needed to decorate it, or we can be used as a filling in your cake.

  Whip Cream icing as melts sugar, edible images and fondant decorations. There are many flavors of icing we offer so check them out and enjoy them at your next party. Most supermarkets use a commericail icing that come out of a big tub and only needs to be whip before use. It is usually Bettercream or Whip'n Ice. Both products are not real dairy product and are used because of the extremly long shelf life and do not need refrigeration. If you really dont like homemade icing after trying it and want a commercial product we could use Whip'n Ice. Which has the stiff texture of old fluffernutter, and a flavor like cool whip from the frozen section of your local grocer. Its the commercial whip cream type icing and needs no refrigeration and has no design limitations. This is a very special item that we need time to order since we rarely use it at our bakery.

Tell me about Fondant, can you do Fondant covered Cake?

• Fondant is a type of rolled sugar icing that has been made popular by all the fantastic cake shows on Food Network, and other TV stations. It is also generally featured in the bridal magazines because it is flawlessly smooth. Fondant cakes have advantages and disadvantages. You either hate it or like it. It does not seem to have a middle ground. My personal experience with it is almost like taking a piece of chewing gum that has very little flavor left and eating a piece of cake with very little butter cream icing. I am still chewing the fondant when the cake has been swallowed already. So you have to decide what you think of it and if you want to offer it to your guests.

  Fondant adds extra cost per serving to the cake which may make it unfordable for the budget minded bride. Kyms Creations tries to give you the best of both worlds. We will use our delicious whipped butter cream icing on the outside of your cakes and then we will use fondant accents to get desired effects such as drapes, swags, roses, dots, stripes, and other decorative items that will make your cake everything you want. After seeing our cakes that use very little fondant most clients do not see the need for a fondant covered cake. We suggest taking a taste, and looking at photos before making you final decsion.

What are the differences in your cake style?

How Do I know what size to order?

• Serving sizes vary greatly by who is cutting the cake, and what food is being offered at your party. Below is a basic break down for the average party piece. If you are having your party catered or at a banquet hall they will cut the correct servings for each cake as shown on the wilon link below. Earlenes Cake link is more realistic for those who do not often cut cake or want more generous serving sizes. For pricing “per serving cakes” we use Wilton standard wedding serving charts.

If I give you our family recipe can you bake my items with it?

• We do not mind taking a look at the recipe to see if it maybe something we can work with however many time its not something we can do. We are use to our cakes and how they bake in our ovens, handle our icing and how they will handle the fondant, and other thing we have to to create the final product. Many of our tried and true recipes did come from friend, and relatives to get our massive menu.

Do you offer Baked good for Specialty Dietary needs?

• Our bakery is not equipped to offer Vegan, Kosher, Allergy free goods such as egg, dairy, or nut allergies. We can do some sugar free items and most of our cakes are baked with applesauce verses oil so they are considered low fat.. We say they are nutritious but mostly delicious. We have started checking into doing gluten free cakes since there seems to be a great demand but we are still trying to find a cake that we feel is quality. Please check with us if you have a concern and we will work with you or can recommend another bakery in the area who can accommodate your dietary needs.

Do you do anything besides baked goods?

• Yes, we offer Edible Images, Cricut Cake Designs, and customized Fondant or gum paste flowers and figures for those who choose to create a personalized master piece for their event. Please call us with your needs.