I have this friend who is a wonderful chef and he has really kicked up his catering business and I was asked to bid on a wedding cake for the reception he did last night. The cake was for 200 (square tiers and stacked, each with a different design) and she wanted a groom's cake as well. I gave the bride all the details and my price for each cake (which btw I thought was very fair given the amount of work this cake was going to be and since I wasn't charging her for the top tier, extra for the fondant bows, etc) and her reply was "you want that much just for the cake?! There's a very reputable bakery here in town that can do it for x amount per slice" So I thanked her for her time and wished her luck. Well, got an e-mail from my friend saying the bride was not happy-the cake almost collapsed because it wasn't stacked right, it was dry and was falling apart while they were trying to serve it. So she saved $180 bucks and got exactly what she paid for....

ps-am I a bad person for laughing just a little bit?

HAHAHA That so perfect!! She got what she deserved.

Now maybe she won't complain when/if she goes back to you!

NO!!!! And I'm proud of you that you told her to hit the road anyway!!!
You do get what you pay for!!!!!
What surprises me is that there are people out there who want to have these big weddings and then don't understand why it's expensive???
GOOD FOR YOU!!!! I'm snickering for you too!

No way! That's pretty funny. When are people going to understand that you get what you pay for!

I forgot to add-you should have seen the groom's cake-it looked awful!!! The wedding cake was pretty enough but if it falls down or if you cut into it and get those results what does the outside matter?? It was so tempting to write back and lower my price but then I thought she wouldn't haggle when walking into a regular bakery so why should I let her talk me down! I was shocked when I actually broke it down and it was a matter of a couple of hundred dollars that she was trying to save. I think I'll have a nice long laugh now!! Maybe I'll get to do her baby shower cake one day down the road!!

Old saying goes "Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it" well I would say she got it dry cake and all....

I don't think you're bad for laughing at least to yourself about it. People who can't do it, and let's face it, there's obviously a lot of people out there that think they can, if you go by the posts on this site, think that those who can and do this as a business, charge way too much, never taking into acount how labor intensive it is. Cakes, cookies Choclolates, etc.

Last year I made 380 chocolates for an Xmas party, just to get my name out there. I was paid a measly $80 for 14 hours of work. This included the chocolates and everything. So I lost my you know what, just to get the name out there. Fortunately it was for the restaurant that I worked at, and when the candies that weren't put out were stuck in the freezer after the party, I told them was takling them home. They said ok, and I did... So I felt I didn't lose as much money afterall. My family ended up eating anything I brought home.

After that, I vowed not to make less than 100 pcs for X amount of money.

In this business, you don't make what you are worth, unless you are making $6,000 a cake. Then you might be overdoing it a bit at times.

I'm left wondering how the bakery can stay in business selling wedding cakes that collapse and are dry.

Really! And I want to know what made her consider them "reputable"???

That's what I have to wonder too!! But those were her exact words to me. I wonder if she didn't really have all her ducks in a row and was trying to get my price down since I was working with the caterer. I also wonder if she even tasted what she was going to buy. She got so freaked out that I didn't even get to offer a tasting. Ahh, who knows! The good news is my friend just booked a reception a reception for next year and I get to do the cake! Yeah me!!

Well good for you. What I always try to tell myself about people like that is that haggling over the price wouldn't have been the last of your problems. Other things would have come up, they always do! Be glad that you did the right thing and stood by your price. I'm sure she's kicking herself!

I dunno why ppl do the whole bakery thing if they're no good. There is a bakery in my area (Melbourne Australia) that is supposed to be reputable. It's got a very good name but a few of my customers told me that even though their cakes look good, they taste like cardboard. I had customer order a communion cake that i was unable to do, even though she said that this place's cakes were dry as could be, she went back to them. My goodness, after the communion she sent me the picture of the cake which she was very pleased with, and i couldnt believe how horrid it was!! Just shows people have no idea. If it was me, i would find soemwhere else, until i find a cake that at least tastes good.
Nati

That's true about beautiful cakes tasting like poo. I recently did a cake for someone and the next day she emailed me and said that NO ONE could believe that the cake looked beautiful AND tasted good! At first I thought, HUH? Then I thought about it and she's absolutely right! The beautiful ones don't taste all that great!

What I don't understand is when people want a CUSTOM cake, but at the price of the Costco frozen slab sheet cake where they just write HAPPY BIRTHDAY INSERT NAME HERE....

Yep I have made 3D cakes for people and they exclaim that they can't believe it "tasted as good as it looked". I guess some people really don't expect a cake to taste good, esp if it looks unique.

People really truly do not understand what it takes to make a cake. If they have never done it before, all they know is that cake and powdered sugar are relatively inexpensive, and they figure you are a pro that can whip it up, and they probably assume you are in it to get rich quick. HA! I am thankful for the ones who truly understand they are buying a unique piece of art (not just "cake") and are willing to pay for what they want.

Oh mamafrogcakes how right you are! They drove my friend crazy. They didn't realize that the bakery or whoever made the cake wouldn't hang around and serve the cake too!!!! So they got my friend to do it (no charge) and then asked if they would also be the bartenders!! They very politely told them NO!! I can only imagine what they would have done!

It is so funny about the taste thing. My dh and I were talking about this the other day. Why is it that no one expects something as important as a wedding cake to taste good? When I got married 3 1/2 years ago, I didn't bat an eye when the lady told me $3 a slice because her cake tasted incredible and looked beautiful. She also did the most awesome cigar cake for dh's groom's cake for only $40 so it all evened out in my mind very fairly.

I'll never understand why so many of you live in areas where it's hard to find a decent cake. I'm not exactly in a cultural mecca here. The height of Indiana cuisine is greenbean casserole. Yet, I have no problem finding perfectly tasty cakes. I've been to a lot of weddings and have never, ever tasted a bad cake. Some were obviously just cakemix, but certainly weren't gross. I guess life in the heartland aint so bad afterall.

What i hate is that people will spend thousands of dollars on the place , reception hall and stuff but won't on a cake . Maybe it's a show off of some sort..
I mean have a nice place but gosh have good food and definitely the best cake.

AShiana