Earlier this month, I got an order for a 3D ducky cake for the owner of a well known B&B here. I was so excited! This job, if all goes well, will allow me to bake for her steadily for her breakfast entrees and catering her weddings! I wont have to pay for a licensed kitchen because I can bake on premisis! Fantastic. I did a trial run on Mr Ducky Monday night, as I am not used to the 3D cake thing. The pan is a nightmare to use! I had to wrap it with embroidary thread to get it to stay shut, and the "testing" hole wasnt nearly big enough so when I stuck the toothpick in, it "looked" done. Well, I didnt bake him long enough (47 minutes using my scratch pound cake) and he was raw in the middle! Lesson learned! So Thursday night, I bake Mr Ducky again in that dreaded pan, use a skewer at several spots throught the cake to check for doneness, bake it for an additional 23 minutes and pray to the Lord that it is done. I leave it out to cool overnight and Friday evening after work, I take him out and he's smooshed on one side! The darn duck didnt rise all the way! I had no time to rebake the lil' jerk so quick thinking I decide to do an extra thick crumb coat on the smooshed side and that will compensate for the flatness. Placed it in the freezer, and made more BC for the star tip effect I was going to do. RAN OUT of BC 3/4 of the way down the duck! Quickly grabbed some MMF I had and made "bubbles" around the base of him for the rubber duck look. Anaway, except for a few minor cosmetic flaws, he looked good! I was so happy and thought that nothing else could go wrong. Well, I get in the car, load him up and drive to the B&B to drop him off. It's 830-ish and I hit traffic. I call them to let them know I'm on my way. No answer. Ok, maybe they are in the middle of something. I call back again a few minutes later. No answer, but I leave a message on the machine. I get there at 855 and the place is dark. I park the car, leave the lights on with Mr Ducky in the air conditioning, and ring the bell. And knock. And call. And ring. And knock. And call. No answer. I walk around back and see only the terrace light on. Both of their vehicles are in the driveway. I call. No answer. I sit in the car for a few minutes and wait. Nothing. I call and leave a message letting them know that I have been here for almost a half hour, my car is in the driveway and I've been calling, knocking, and ringing to deliver this cake. I tell them that I am going to turn around and go home and if they would PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE call me the minute they hear this message. I tell them I can bring it back in the morning but I do have other clients I need to meet that day so PLEASE just call me. I go home upset and wondering what on earth could have happened. I'm not worried about the payment as they paid me in full beforehand. ANd in my rush, I forget to take a picture of the demon duck for my portfolio! ( Did it mention that I didnt use any dowels? AND IT WAS STEADY!)

730 this morning, I call and get them! They apologized, said they were home all night, not sure why they didnt hear the phone, door bell, knocking or my car. I say that's OK, do you still want your cake? Yes, of course, please bring it by now. I get there, they are nice about it, slip me an extra $10 for my gas and mileage and say that Mr Ducky looks great. However, they checked their phone messages and there arent any from me. Really strange considering that I KNOW I left them and I can recite their machine message by heart at this point. Strange, but ok. Whew, relief. Then they ask am I still interested in catering and I ask them for their email just in case the phone fiasco happens again.

After all of this, I really hope their isnt a raw spot in Mr Ducky or I'll die especially because I am in the process of renting a new kitchen in a small town where news travels fast.

oh dear....such escapades!!!

glad it -- finally -- all turned out ok.

yep, those 3-D pan are a real pain!!

here's to better days and a great contract w/ the B&B

I don't know, frankly, if I would want to do business with them. You call and call, you leave messages, you knock on their door......... I just don't believe they didn't hear you AND they didn't get your messages. Never mind the fact that you were expected, you didn't just show up out of the blue while you were in the area. Doesn't sound like these people are on the up-and-up. I would bet that if you do more business with them, you will get more runaround from them...........

Just my opinion, of course............