Why do I tend to be suspicious of homemade confectionery and what criteria do I use to find a good professional

Lately, the number of specialists providing services in the comfort of their homes has grown significantly in several areas, especially in the confectionery sector. But not all customers choose to delegate making and decorating a cake for a special occasion to a home baker. It is enough to deal once with an imposter without proper training and knowledge, who insists on selling his products made from a few videos on the internet, to kill the desire to negotiate with a freelancer.

One of the authors of awesome.club reflected on the possible reasons that lead us to give up artisanal confectionery. And not bonusyou will find opinions from Internet users, both positive and negative, on the subject.

Let’s start with a mix-up that happened in my friend circle recently. My friend ordered a cake for her daughter’s 10th birthday. They received a pompous cake, decorated with characters from fairy tales. The birthday girl loved it. Her mother, delighted, went to cut the flagship of the party and the knife got stuck in a piece of polyethylene. Nobody understood how and why he ended up there. However, the taste of the cake was praised by everyone, adults and children alike. The only defect they found, besides the mysterious ingredient, was too much fondant. It often has a sticky texture and a somewhat dry taste, so it’s up to everyone’s taste. But this story got me thinking. For my mother’s 60th birthday, I wanted to order an original cake, so I thought of contacting a homemade pastry chef. But then I wondered under what conditions the candy would be made.

According to hygiene standards in the food industry, it is mandatory to wear a uniform and gloves in the workplace, in addition to regular cleaning and disinfection of all surfaces. Of course, one cannot rule out the human factor and cases of neglect of the rules on the part of officials. But, in my opinion, these are rare exceptions and, in principle, regulations are followed strictly. Self-employed pastry chefs usually work in their own kitchens, and their working conditions are often more difficult to control. It is almost impossible to prove whether they whether they clean the table before cooking, whether they wear gloves or whether their dough is always out of reach of children and animals. Not that it affects the taste of the sweets, but the high probability of finding fingernail dirt or cat hair in a cake with whipped cream gives me the creeps.

Another thing that bothers me is that finding a good specialist is quite a challenge. I often come across amateurs who don’t care about growing professionally and consider it sufficient to watch some videos on the internet to promote themselves as pastry chefs whose motto is “homemade food made with love”. Among them, there are also those who keep the truth about the quality of used products and their working conditions under lock and key. Undoubtedly, there are responsible people trained in the area, who have differentiated knowledge and seek to increase the clientele by opening their own homemade cake business. As a rule, they take care of their reputation, and the chances of delivering a poorly made cake and not knowing how to deal with criticism, disappearing from the map and blocking dissatisfied customers, are minimal. On the other hand, experienced professionals who value their work tend to have a full schedule, which can delay delivery if the order is not placed in advance. In addition, they usually offer their products for sale at a high price, which includes the expenses for quality ingredients, water, electricity and the value of their work. Therefore, depending on the customer’s requirements, the price can be very “heavy”.

There’s one more thing that makes me suspicious about home bakers these days. You’ve probably seen the molds of castles, cars and charming dolls made with fondant. But the mastery of the decoration often goes hand in hand with the complete lack of professionalism in the filling – dry and tasteless. The problem is that, influenced by beautiful and colorful advertisements, it is not uncommon to buy a pig in a poke🇧🇷 We can’t know for sure what’s inside before purchase, and we find out when it’s too late—all paid for, cake cut, and guests assembled. At these times, the urge is to throw the candy away and chase a cake on the market, supposedly made according to good manufacturing practices, regulated by the country’s health surveillance agency. But not everything is so perfect with industrial confectionery. The endless lists of dyes and preservatives make you spend hours in front of the packages trying to guess the taste of each of the cakes in the window.

Sometimes I get the impression that artisanal cakes are accessible only to rich people who can afford to pay well for high quality ingredients and for the work of a good professional. In my opinion, most of the time, homemade and cheap sweets are a scam; the risks of hiring an amateur who will do a dodgy job are high. As for me, despite everything, I’m going to take a risk and order a cake for the next family celebration. But I’ll look for the reviews on the internet so I don’t spoil the party. After all, knowing how to cook delicious cakes and pies for the family is not necessarily synonymous with professionalism.

I like to make cakes and I follow several baking pages. How many disgusting things I discovered during this time! There are so many people who usually decorate their sweets with dirty berries, disguise the marks of rat teeth with whipped cream and leave crafts within reach of children. And it doesn’t matter that they sneezed or stuck their fingers in the candy when Mom didn’t see. When I read these comments, I’m happy to know that I don’t need someone else’s help to assemble a cake. © Olga Vorobyova / Yandex.ZenAnd how do you all who are suspicious of artisanal confectionery eat at other people’s houses? Do they also require the host to show their medical certificate beforehand? Do they ask if the food was made using gloves and a chef’s hat and if all surfaces are regularly sanitized? I doubt that you yourselves follow these rules to the letter. © Alla Polyakova / Yandex.Zen

Who prevents a factory employee with an impeccable medical certificate from picking his nose during preparation or leaving the bathroom without washing his hands? With so much distrust it is better not to buy anything at all. Cleanliness leads to paranoia. © Miss Tutsi / Yandex.ZenI’m a pastry chef. I studied in Paris, Barcelona, ​​Moscow and St. Petersburg. Customers who ask for fondant decorations and dolls just make me sick. Those ugly cakes with an artificial look are a thing of the past. Try to enjoy sweets made with natural ingredients and give the diversity of flavors and textures a chance. © Podsluschano / Ideer

The ingredients of a good cake that will keep your customers coming back are high quality products, a lot of imagination and different decorations, as well as a special fridge to store food properly. Furthermore, many cakes take hours or even days to prepare. For example, it is recommended to leave the cake layers on cling film in the fridge overnight and bake meringues for two hours, which implies additional electricity costs. For example, it takes me two days to make such a delicacy and I don’t intend to sell it for a pittance. © Elena N / Yandex.Zen

This was the cake a clumsy baker made for my daughter’s wedding. Inside is a bunch of corn sticks glued together with something sticky. We saved the photo to remember and laugh later. © Alena Vlasova / Yandex.Zen

Have you ever bought cakes from homemade confectioners? What do you think? Share with us your experience.