OK maybe that is a little overly dramatic, but ya just never know what happens to one of your cakes after it's dropped off, and It's not always what you would expect. Let me backtrack-

July 29th, my church was having a celebration to welcome our new priest, (fr. T) and the Ladie's auxilary was ordering a cake from walmart (yuk!), well ONE of the parishoners thought it was a shame that they were not doing anything for our Pastor (Fr. Mike) 10th anniversary as a priest so she called me and ordered a cake for me to feed around 60 people, chocolate because that was Fr. Mike's fav. The reception was to be after the 4:00 saturday vigil so i met her at the parish hall before mass with this cake and she loved it, but I didn't attend this mass or the reception and didn't get any feedback afterwards from anyone saying anything about my cake (strange, but most of the people who know me well attend either Sunday morning mass or evening mass that I attend so i figgured the people who ate the cake just didn't know me)

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=848323

Well, after mass on Sunday, (the next day) I asked Fr. Mike how he liked his cake and he seemed a lil confused but just said "oh, oh yeah, it was good" and it seemed he didn't quite *remember* which cake i was talking about- also weird but Fr. M always seems to be a lil distracted so I didnt think much about it other than thinking I was really going for a better reaction than that (my ego in overdrive!)

SO TODAY is FR MIKE's BIRTHDAY. My brother and his wife attended morning mass and there was an open house afterwards. My brother called me and asked "Rose did you make ANOTHER cake for Fr. Mike or are they getting ready to serve a REALLY OLD CAKE?" I was like "what? no, I haven't made any cakes for church since July" And he said, "this is definately YOUR cake, the corners look like they were covered with plastic wrap but other than that it looks pretty good" so i told him to stick close and see what the outcome was.

I was so outdone! The product they were serving was NOT the product I delivered and I don't want my name associated with a month old frozen cake even though some may recognize my work! I can't beleive they did this! I mean its one thing to freeze a leftover cake to eat at home, but to serve a cake for 60 a month after it was intended, give me a break!
I just hope no one knows where it came from but I also don't want "paul's pastry" (the ONLY baker in town besides walmart) getting the credit for my decorating or taste (if it wasn't compromised by freezing) but if it picked up other odors, I want no part of the "credit".

I just wanted to vent a little to people who can appreciate how I am feeling about this, thanks for reading!

Sorry this happened to you. Maybe you should ask the woman who placed the order or that you left the cake with. If you ask you might find out why they decided to freeze the cake. Next time stay for the reception if you ever do any more cakes for them or don't take the order at all.

Well this is just my hobby, and I didnt have all Saturday evening to sit around and make sure they ATE the cake...i just ASSUMED that it would get eated at the party for which it was intended...is that not reasonable? No, I don't attend every party where i make the cake, who has time for that? Plus this was ordered by someone I had never met, she got my name from people at Church and she PAID for the cake so i was not going to stick around and take credit (like alot of them I do as donations) for a cake that she essentially PROVIDED even if i was the original owner of the cake, it was now hers to do as she pleased, no matter what that was. There was really no way to anticipate this happening, i was just upset that it did.

but to UPDATE- my SIL tasted it and said it was still moist and yummy with no extra freezer odors so that makes me feel a little better.

Wow. That is seriously messed up. To order a cake and not serve it??? Who does that?? Maybe they had too much food and felt bad about throwing it away...

Either way...to freeze it for a month and THEN serve it is way worse than if they'd just thrown it out. It goes to show that most people have no clue what a good cake is. To consume a WalMart cake over a homemade cake is just crazy!!

Ugh... When it comes to cakes for church, I'm pretty much just about finished foing them for freee... HONESTLY... Tithing is cheaper, for one, then comes the factor that they NEVER bother to at least acknowledge you're doing anything AS A BUSINESS when they will go for miles kissing other non-(pick the religion or parish you're in) businesses. That belongs in the "what burns me bin... ...

Last year I did 10 boxes of cupcakes up for the fall festival, while other businesses who donated got at least listed in the bulletin multiple times for multiple weeks, I never got mentioned ONCE and they knew it was an exchange for some marketing for why I was going to do them.. Then one time I made a going away cake for the priest that officiated over our wedding ceremony. That was the most unappreciated cake I've EVER made. Literally, I felt like picking it up in front of everyone, walking over to the trash, flipping it over, and leaving because it would have at least satisfied my ego... Yes, the cake went uneaten, or even CUT and got the sort of "eww" look...

Yea, I don't do cakes for church anymore...

I really liked the cake you made for Fr. Mike, It looked very well done. I love your writing. Mine sucks on cakes.

As far as what happened... your right, you have no control after it leaves your posession... but I would still be mad too. I made a cake for a blue and gold banquet for my son's scout pack, and they never even cut it. They said it looked too nice, and "didn't realize it was for the scouts" ... but they served it at the church coffee the next day. HHHMMMM It was not intended for the sponsoring organization, but oh well. What can you do?

Sorry this happened to you.

I'm to the point that I'll do a lot of organizational discounts to places like the local Volunteer Fire Department Personnel (that I would be a member of if not for DH's lack of understanding having not grown up in a VFF family that it's just something you do for no real good reason..), but also for active military, FFA Chapters, and a few others... When someone tells me "We'll list you in the advertising..." or "We'll put your cards out next to the cake" if you were to actually show up and follow up they don't... And even if they do, NO ONE READS the list of advertisers or businesses that made donations. I'll get more referrals by doing a good job at events and leaving a couple cards behind than I will ever get from a "charity organization". I'll also get more referrals by making people THINK they got a "good deal" with me (of course, that's the PITA factor discount... the easier they are to deal with the easier I am with my pricing - to a point )...

Whether it's cake or advertising, if I'm going to spend at least $65 on the materials alone to make a cake, plus 6-20 hours of my time @10.50/hr... That's a decent sized ad strategically placed in the local paper's bridal section. Two wedding cakes are going to pay for the Ad and the cost of the two cakes in that respect. Four graduation cakes or other misc. small sheet cakes aren't going to bring in the income that one wedding cake will...

In the Great words of "The Donald"... "It's not personal, it's Business"

LOL...I know how you feel. I don't mean to hijack your post, but I did a free cake for a church a few months back for their music director. It was to feed 40-50 people. Now mind you I only do this as a hobby so it took awhile, but I layered and iced 4-9x13's and then I carved a 9 inch baby grand piano to place on top, well they didn't cut the cake and serve it either. My friend that was there said when they asked the director and his wife about cutting the cake they said "no, we are taking it with us." She said they had another function later to attend. I was really kind of pissed about it, but what do you do? I did it because my hubby and I are friends with the couple that asked me to do it, plus the church is kind of in my neighborhood, so I knew that the people that were going to be there would be people I know. Anyway, I won't be doing anymore cakes like that. Not for free anyway. Lesson learned. It's amazing that this stuff happens at some churches.

If you are donating your cake to your church, keep your receipts for the ingredients. You can then turn in your receipt to your treasurer and they can put the amount on your tithing statement. You cannot deduct your time (the most valuable thing ), but at least the ingredients would help out some on your personal tax return.

I am pretty sure that you can deduct your mileage to deliver the cake and to the store to buy the supplies as well. FYI.

2508s42 you are correct! Sorry I failed to mention that. The key is good record keeping!

Sorry, I hijacked your thread but it hit a chord....

I have a friend who is constantly serving outdated food. I am often afraid to eat anything at her house, because I know she has no concept of when to discard old food. She works at a store that sells gourmet food baskets and she weeds out the outdated products and takes them home with her. She likes to "share". She brings me food packages from her freezer that have no dates, but major cases of freezer burn. It's like playing Russian roulette. I hate to hurt her feelings, but I am very careful about eating and serving outdated and/or improperly stored food.

Several months ago, I made cookies for a group I meet with once a week. She ate her cookie last week. Ahhhh, was it a little hard?

She served us hard boiled eggs last week and the ends were flat - this indicated to me they were old eggs that had dried out in the frig before she cooked them. I politely passed the plate to the next person.

She brought me a can of nut paste, since she knew I had made cookies last week with homemade almond paste. The whole can was rusty - I threw it out as soon as she left.

I made a cake for her husband's birthday and she decided she'd bring it to our social night Wednesday - this would be 5 days of who knows what kind of storage. Her husband called to thank me and I told him to go ahead and cut the cake, that it would be stale by Wednesday, since it was a scratch cake with out a bunch of preservatives.

Every time she comes over, she brings me more outdated cheeses from her job.

She makes me crazy. I tell her no more, but the stuff keeps coming. I tell her I don't eat that particular food, I don't like it or I'm allergic and she still brings it - telling me to share it with others. Arrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhh!

A few months ago, a girl at my church was going to have a baby. No one was making a big deal about the baby but I believe that every baby should be celebrated, no matter the circumstances. Well, I gave her a shower and made the cake. Everyone at the shower raved over it and said it tasted great. We are a small church in south La and we're all very close. Well, back to the story, the girl said nothing! I was really miffed but then I saw that she didn't say anything to anybody! You know when at a shower the bride or mother to be opens gifts and raves over them and passes them around so everyone can touch? She barely even removed the wrapping paper! I only did the shower and cake because her mother and sister are good friends of mine and do so much for the church. But, I learned my lesson. I won't ever do a cake or party for her again. Not even the next time she's pregnant, her baby's 5 months old now so I give her another 6 months. Hope I didn't sound too snarky! Anyway, I hope that this expirence has not squashed your servant's heart. I know how the actions of others can damage it, but always remember that good things come back to those who can rise above the hurt. Not to sound preachy.

rosiecakes,

Sorry this happened to you.... I followed the link that you posted and have to say that you made an absolutely beautiful cake!

Taking a look at this from another angle. Church ladies who run things are usually very frugal. I've dealt with a good many of them, some who go to the extent of washing disposable plates. *bless their hearts*

Sooo.. I'm thinking they saw the crowd for the original celebration was smaller than they anticipated and decided not to serve both cakes. I can just see their little blue haired heads whisking the 'pretty one' off to the kitchen for safe keeping. They rememebered that Father Mike's b'day was coming and since it already has his name on it, we'll just save it for then.

Nothing vicious, just frugality in action. I grin through clenched teeth at times over things like this, but I love their commitment and dedication just the same

Maybe this was all an innocent misunderstanding. It could have been a situation where two cakes were too much and they knew Father Mike's birthday was coming up, so it made sense to freeze one. It's a valid point that the taste could have been ruined and your reputation was on the line, but I would assume that the people didn't know that and they had Father Mike's best interests at heart. The person that bought it could have said that it was fine, not really realizing that there could be problems in freezing it. Luckily, it was fine, but I think you could be doing a disservice to your church by assuming it was done for nefarious purposes.

People put their hearts and souls into cake-making so sometimes it's hard to step back and look at a situation objectively. Maybe they thought your cake was so beautiful (and it was) that they wanted to save it for his birthday where everyone could truly appreciate it. They just didn't realize that there could have been ramifications from the freezing process. Hopefully this will help in making you look at the situation from a different perspective. I would imagine they didn't mean you any harm.

oh boy! It was a beautiful cake! I will bet that if it was frozen properly, it probably still tasted great...I do emphasize the word "IF" though!

That really is a beautiful cake.

I kind of had the same thing happen to me at work a few weeks ago - I made a coworkers birthday cake, and was about to take a picture of it when someone picked up an old rusty knife (from who knows where) and almost dug into it. I stopped her, took my pics, then started to cut the cake myself. Wouldn't you know that I was told I was cutting the cake wrong????? It was a 10" round for Gods sake. I mean, you don't serve huge wedges out of that. I was cutting it the wedding cake way. Well, I ended up letting the hyenas have their way.

oh sugarnspice, that is a pet peeve of mine too, I have told my coworkers time after time that pie is cut in wedges and cake is cut in slices but someone will inevidably cut themselves a big ole wedge with whatever they can find. I have made peace with the fact that once I bring it in, it's no longer mine and when it's gone it's gone, I can't sweat the small stuff and HOW they "enjoy" my cake is really small stuff...of course that is just work, At parties I generally do the cutting to insure that I get the number of servings needed.

How odd, I have the opposite problem!

Once the cake is made and delivered I could care less when or how it gets hacked into, but invariably if I'm there, I have to go make the first cut or the thing will sit there all day. No one wants to be the first one to "mess it up".

Someone always walks up and says, you're not going to destroy it are you? I just tell them, it's a cake, it's meant to be eaten. Once I make the first slice, you should see them hacking away at it, but no one wants to be the first.

that is so funny. I have the same problem. Everyone always wants me to cut the cake and I hate it. It sometimes hurts to cut up something that I spent so much time on. I have even tried to "disappear" when it is time to do the cake and they just wait for me. As soon as I make the first slice though, I can't cut it fast enough for them. I'm glad I'm not the only one.