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The TieredOrders magazine

The Cake Board

Craft, costing, delivery and food rules for American bakers who take custom cake orders one date at a time.

  • Nine guides, published
  • Written by Jimenez Julien from onboarding calls with US bakeries
  • Costing, food rules, delivery and the shape of the production week
A white cake box steadied by a baker's hands on a flat vehicle floor with a non slip mat under soft daylight mistakes to avoid

Wedding Cake Delivery Mistakes That Cause Tiers to Collapse

Collapsed wedding cakes usually fail for the same handful of reasons: no internal support, warm buttercream, a sloped car floor, and a cake stacked at the shop instead of on the venue table.

8 min read

White bowls of flour, eggs, sesame seeds, almonds and cocoa arranged on pale linen over a marble counter regulation and compliance

Allergen Labeling and Cross Contact Rules for Cake Orders

Nine major allergens must be declared by name in the United States, sesame among them since 2023. What federal labeling law and state cottage food rules require on a custom cake order, and what you cannot promise about cross contact.

8 min read

A three tier buttercream cake on a turntable next to a kitchen scale, butter and an open notebook case study

Costing a Three Tier Wedding Cake From Flour to Delivery

One three tier buttercream cake for one hundred servings, costed line by line: butter and flour, boards and dowels, decorator hours, delivery mileage and card fees, ending with the price the order needs.

8 min read

Butter, a carton of brown eggs and a bowl of cocoa nibs beside a folded invoice on a marble counter trends and outlook

How Butter, Egg and Cocoa Costs Reach Your Cake Price List

Butter, shell eggs and cocoa move on three different clocks: dairy futures, avian influenza culls and West African harvests. Here is how those swings arrive on your distributor invoice and when to reprice.

6 min read

A baker on the phone writing notes at a marble counter beside cake sketches and a raspberry ribbon swatch checklist

The Custom Cake Intake Checklist for the First Phone Call

Date, servings, flavor, filling, allergens, delivery address, setup window and retainer. The fields to capture before the caller hangs up, in the order that keeps the conversation moving forward.

6 min read

Graduated round cake pans, a metal ruler and fanned white cake boards arranged on a marble counter numbers and benchmarks

Cake Serving Counts and Batter Yields by Pan and Tier Size

Party servings and wedding servings are cut to different sizes, so one pan yields two different numbers. Batter volumes, bake times and serving counts for round, square and sheet tiers, pan by pan.

7 min read

A small bakery kitchen with racks of wrapped cake layers, a turntable and offset spatulas on a steel bench field report

Inside a Two Person Cake Shop's Week, Tuesday to Saturday

A small custom shop runs the week backward from Saturday: orders and shopping Tuesday, bake Wednesday, fill and crumb coat Thursday, finish Friday, deliver Saturday. Here is how those days really load.

8 min read

The Cake Board is written and kept current by Jimenez Julien, publisher of TieredOrders at MLJ, SASU. Corrections and questions go to jimenezjulien42@gmail.com, or read how this magazine is put together.