Wednesday, August 24, 2011

My First Referral Order!

I know I have been talking about this referral order A LOT and not giving any details, so here you go (or at least I would like to hope some of you were biting your nails in anticipation of this moment - no?). A couple weeks ago, my coworker Eileen last-minute ordered some carrot cupcakes to take to a friend's party (see story here). The next day at work, she told me they were a hit, and that I shouldn't be surprised if I received some order interest afterward. The next day, I noticed an email in my Dolce + Decadence inbox from a woman's name I did not recognize. The email lauded my carrot cake and asked if I would be interested in providing dessert for her upcoming baby shower. My response: YES!

Milestone #1: First Referral Order  - COMPLETE

This was a moment I had been dreaming of for awhile: the day a person that I did not know placed an order. And this was it - Friday, July 29, 2011, exactly 75 days after starting my blog/business. Not too shabby!

The woman said she was interested in a cake, most likely carrot, and possibly some favors. I offered to throw together a proposal of some ideas for both. For cakes, I suggested various varieties, including carrot, red velvet, flourless chocolate, or baby-themed (blueberry, strawberry, etc.). For favors, I suggested cake truffles, mini pies, and mini flourless chocolate cakes. After some back-and-forth discussion, the shower honoree and her sister (the shower host) decided upon a carrot cake for the shower, and dark chocolate hazelnut cake truffles for the favors. Time for me to get to work!

The carrot cake was easy, as I have made a lot of them lately, if you hadn't noticed. I think I may be digging myself into a carrot cake hole (which isn't a bad one to have to eat your way out of, I guess). Oh well - nothing wrong with having a specialty, especially if it brings in orders! Maybe my niche could be carrot cake, and my bakery can specialize in carrot cake in all its glorious forms: cake, cupcakes, truffles, cookies, whoopie pies, cheesecakes, bars, etc. (now I'm just making myself drool...). Anyways, I digress. So I made another three-layer carrot cake. And here are more pictures of it. 'Nuff said.










Anyways, the more interesting, newer item: the dark chocolate hazelnut cake truffles. After receiving feedback that the wedding favor brownie truffles had great flavor but were a bit too crumbly, as brownies typically are, I decided to make these chocolate truffles with cake instead, since cake lends a moister texture to truffles. I baked up a dense, dark chocolate cake, promptly destroyed it (oh!, the baker's dilemma!), mixed in some hazelnuts and rich chocolate frosting to bind into a dough, and shaped the truffles. I then dipped them into melted dark chocolate to coat and then sprinkled crushed hazelnuts over top. Basically, a dark chocolate lover's dream. They wanted boxes for the order as well, so I ordered little truffle boxes, which I sealed with my label.







I delivered them to the shower site as the party throwers were setting up. The sister seemed really pleased, so I hoped the shower honoree would be as well. I emailed them afterward to check in, and they said the desserts were delicious and well-received. If anyone that attended the shower happens to read this post,
  1. Thanks for paying attention to my cards and packaging!
  2. Leave a comment telling us what you thought!

5 comments:

Jessie Reuteler said...

The truffles are so beautiful...

Anonymous said...

I was at the shower! I loved the truffles -- beautiful and delicious!

Cindy Schwitz said...

Nicole,

Courtney showed me your blog. I am excited for you. Everything looks absolutely delicious and your logo and labels look great! I wish you all the best!

Anonymous said...

I was at the shower and LOVED LOVED LOVED the truffles, they were the BEST truffles I have ever had and TRUST me, I've had many truffles in my life. I am in the foodservice industry and traveled to many food trade shows and your truffles were AMAZING. I didn't know until now that you also made the carrot cake, it was AMESOME! Thank you! I wish you the best of luck!

Nicole said...

Oh wow, thank you! That's so flattering! If you're in the foodservice industry, I'd like to talk to you some more! Email me at dolce.decadence@gmail.com.