Website

[panini]

We're launching our revised website.
Would love some professional feedback.
I have intentionally omitted sugar and sculpted work because of a health issue. The visit bakery is totally redone and not loaded yet.
Please be kind, this is the work of my 16 yr old, who is much better at professional hacking then websites.
thanks
pan

the site, paninicakes.com

[m brown]

Pan,

It's beautiful.
It's clean and the galleries are sharp!
My only issue is the "about us" page, Just make it bigger, the page is in the middle of the screen and needs to be bigger to read the copy.(love the wedding pic!!!!)

Mazeltov!!!!!

[stir it up]

I agree, it's great!!! Great job, panini and spawn of panini!

I had the same suggestion as brown, that about page is a little hard to read, and the headings above too. Between the size and the faintness...

Isn't it wonderful to see the joy you've brought to those you've baked for!

I'm very impressed with your son's work, as it has decent design proportion, you don't often see that in the work of these young computer geniuses, so pass along the compliment. Your logo looks really nice on the main page.

[chefpeon]

Hey Pan......
very nice website.......very navigable. Beautiful cakes.
And I thought you were looking to retire about a year or so ago?

[Salliem]

Great website, stunningly beautiful cakes.

[tommybza]

WOW really ,I would have to agree the about us is a tad small but every thing looks fab . Give your kid a raise .
Best wishes .
TOMMY

[jessiquina]

amazing. i think the site is visually appealing and easy to navigate. and of course, your cakes are stunning!

[momoreg]

Looks good, Pan!

I don't remember it being much different before, but it's been awhile since I've visited your website.

Several of the links on your "About Us" page aren't active, but otherwise, the pictures are very nice, and it's easy to navigate.

Your son is dangerously smart!!

[Sadie1]

Panini your website, and your cakes, are beautiful. The only comment I have is to agree with others about the "about us" being a little difficult to read. Your son could have quite a business opportunity in front of him!!

I have one question for you though..I noticed you use a lot of chocolate covered strawberries. I have problems with them at times. If I make them the day ahead and refrigerate them, sometimes, not always, they "weep" strawberry juice. What am I doing wrong? Is it the type of chocolate I use (baking chocolate), is the chocolate too hot? Should I not refrigerate them (that makes me very nervous). OK, technically that's more than one question...

Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated!!

[panini]

Originally Posted by Sadie1

Panini your website, and your cakes, are beautiful. The only comment I have is to agree with others about the "about us" being a little difficult to read. Your son could have quite a business opportunity in front of him!!

I have one question for you though..I noticed you use a lot of chocolate covered strawberries. I have problems with them at times. If I make them the day ahead and refrigerate them, sometimes, not always, they "weep" strawberry juice. What am I doing wrong? Is it the type of chocolate I use (baking chocolate), is the chocolate too hot? Should I not refrigerate them (that makes me very nervous). OK, technically that's more than one question...

Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated!!

Hi Sadie,
Weep is a good term for those berries. They are actually suffering. Strawberries have a very sensitive skin. If you were to pick a berry fresh and place it between two fingers, you will find two burn marks later where you have touched them. There is no problem not refrigerating berries except for freshness. We set a 12 hour window. If the berry has to sit longer we use a manufactured chocolate coating that is basically a liquor with lethcin thinners and sugar. These types of coating will give you a shell in order to stand up for a while.
Most problems arise from temp differences. berries to cold, chocolate too hot. We dip at blood temp. and berries at 50-60 deg. we don't prepare our berries under proper FDA guidelines. We don't wash. We use damp side towels and craddle the berries and move side to side to remove all foreign matter.
You should really not to be in a position to use coating, berries are fairly fast going. We have a bucket of towels that we keep in hot water and we snake these on the table and place our dipping bowls in. When we start to feel binding in the choco we switch towels and stir a little. This saves a lot of time going to and from the stove. We do so many we found this to be better then to bring the baine marie right to the table.
wow long! chemo brain
hth's pan

[TableBread]

Beautiful site! I was wondering if you might want to add pic links to your 'Visit Our Bakery' links. Like muffins,scones,...etc.

Also, I didn't realize you were in Dallas, you might get a secret shopper soon

[katbalou]

jeff.
the sight is beautiful, but i couldn't read the "about us" page.
kathee

[huxley]

It is really very great designing of website with the most valuable contents too. I am convinced of the latent faculties of your adolescent child to do such professional jobs excellently

[CakesBySarah]

Panini,

Your son did an awesome job on the site, but it's missing some vital components. Props for the visual aspect of it -- it's beautiful!--But having the flash intro on the front page is killing your search engine rankings. If you were to google "Wedding Cakes Dallas", you'd notice that you're not really showing up, but your competition is. I'm a little biased because at my day job, I work for a web development company, but you may consider looking into some SEO (search engine optimization) services. They'll probably recommend taking the flash off your front page and adding some text that gives a brief statement about your company (and incorporates your keywords) so that when the search engines are indexing you, they'll pick your site up as more relevant to the topic.

Not trying to sell you anything or insert any plugs for my company, but it's something to think about!

Other than that, your cake are awesome, your logo is beautiful, and your son has a bright future in web design!