Baking to order

Now, then, I'm basking in having the most comfortable kitchen I've ever had - nothing fancy, just old-fashioned, and with room to work - so I wouldn't hire out the fun part of doing any actual baking. I'm having too much fun honing my skills. Experimenting. (OK, playing.)

On the other hand, there are some recipes I don't want to tackle but I would like to serve.

If I lived in the Chicago area (and thought I could afford it - details, details), I'd have somewhere to go for those, according to Janet Rausa Fuller, staff reporter Chicago Sun-Times, Just like grandma used to bake (October 23, 2006):

Home cooks lacking the skills or energy to attempt that treasured family recipe for seven-layer coconut cake need not throw in the towel just yet.

Bring the recipe to Flourish Bakery and Cafe in Edgewater and they'll bake it for you. No questions asked -- or maybe a few, if that recipe is too smudged with fingerprints to make out.

The bakery's "family traditions recipe support" system isn't limited to sweets -- or to strictly family recipes. Bread recipes are welcome, as are savory dishes, owner Dan Fitzgerald says.

Pricing depends on how complicated the recipe is. A 9-inch cake may cost between $30 and $40.

[snip]

Hand-me-down recipes, if they're written down at all, are often vague on directions -- a pinch of this, a handful of that. The bakers at Flourish will try to fill in the blanks and may even make it better than you remember, Fitzgerald said.

Full article.

Brave people. I salute their spirit. I wish them luck.