Cake Central › Cake Forums › Cake Talk › Cake Disasters › Ever had to deliver a cake you knew was ugly to a customer?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Ever had to deliver a cake you knew was ugly to a customer?

post #1 of 28
4/24/08 at 8:26pm
Thread Starter 
I had a cake order for a basketball cake. I never did one before but didn't think it would be that big of a deal........I was wrong, everything went wrong it ended up looking like a big ugly orange......If I had enough time, I would have dumped the cake and made a new one, but I had to drop off the cake tonight, which I did. I was so embarassed, the customer wasnt happy with it either but she nice about it. She had seen pictures of my other cakes and asked 'what happened this time?' Ugh! I want to crawl under a rock, its really bothering me. I ended up giving her the cake for free, she wanted to pay me at least half but I didnt want anything......except to throw that cake on the ground and stomp on it.

Anyone ever do a bad job on a cake but had to deliver to a customer anyway? I feel very discouraged.
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 28
4/25/08 at 4:36am
You were in a really tough spot. I looked at your photos and you do nice work. I would say maybe it wasn't as bad as you think but apparently the customer remarked it wasn't up to your usual standards. Maybe the best thing would have been to call her, let her know you had a disappointing result and tell her you would give it to her for free if she wanted, but you would feel more comfortable just getting rid of it and she would have to go elsewhere for her cake.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 28
4/25/08 at 9:20am
Im sure it wasnt as bad as you felt. I guess since she said"what happened" she knew it wasnt your best work, but im sure she also knew that she would have gotten alot worse if she ordered from a grocery store or something, maybe thats why she offered to pay b/c it was better than anyone else would have given. I think everyone has bad decorating days, i know i did recently. it was a baseball cake, i like you, thought it would be simple... i dont know how many times i scraped the icing off that stupid ball and redid it. in the the end it wasnt up to my standards but it was better than they would have gotten anywhere else. i did even post a pic but the family put it on there MYSPACE page. We are our own worse cridic(sp)
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 28
4/25/08 at 9:40am
probably about 8 years ago, i made a wedding cake for a friends family member .. it was simple. just borders. then florist dropped rose petal around and on top of it. i was so dissappointed in how i iced the cake, that i wouldn, t even take a picture of it. i just got out of there. when the mother of the bride brought back my stuff..... she said how beautiful it was and how delicious it was. i was speechless... i thanked her for the nice compliments.... never told anyone how i truly felt..just my daughter... daughter-in-law and grandson. they helped my set it up. i have wished so many times since then, that i had a picture of it to look back on. none of us are perfect..... and we are going to be disappointed in our work at times.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 28
4/25/08 at 9:41am
Next time allow yourself enough time to fix mistakes or re-bake if that's what it takes. If you really felt that bad about the cake, your customer may have picked that up from you. The last everything-gone-wrong cake I did, I just called the customer and told her to give me a few more hours and I would call her when the cake is ready. The one's we think aren't a big deal are the one's that get us.
MYW
Reply
MYW
Reply
post #6 of 28
4/25/08 at 9:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tyty

Next time allow yourself enough time to fix mistakes or re-bake if that's what it takes.



This is excellent advice and I try to do this for every order! You never know.....and now with the weather getting warmer, I've noticed my icing is acting a little differently and needs to be tweaked!
http://www.cleverconfections.com
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1639748767#!/pages/Brookville-OH/Clever-Confections-Wedding-and-Party-Cakes/121751374504069?ref=ts
Reply
http://www.cleverconfections.com
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1639748767#!/pages/Brookville-OH/Clever-Confections-Wedding-and-Party-Cakes/121751374504069?ref=ts
Reply
post #7 of 28
4/25/08 at 1:12pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you everyone for your comments!!!

I told the customer before she even opened the cake box that I was disappointed with the cake and that I was giving it to her for free....maybe I should've waited for her comment first but I was soooo embarassed.

tyty: you are absolutely right, next time I need to allow myself more time....just in case, that was the biggest lesson learned. I didn't plan my time properly as I had just assumed the cake would be no big deal. I'll never do that again for any cake.

Again, thank you everyone.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 28
4/25/08 at 5:43pm
Sorry I have to laugh (at myself)

I read your post (twice) but I read it as:

...Have you ever had to deliver a cake to an ugly customer?....

I had to click on the post & see what it was about because I'm thinking to myself "what does an ugly customer have to do with cake decorating/delivery?"

Once I read it it made more sense! See what happens when u don't read carefully!!!!!!

P.S I'm sure your cake wasn't as bad as you think!

Have a great day! icon_biggrin.gificon_biggrin.gificon_lol.gificon_lol.gif
KJV - PROVERBS 15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.
Reply
KJV - PROVERBS 15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.
Reply
post #9 of 28
4/25/08 at 5:58pm
I maded the (MOST)UGLY CAKE CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THAT GUY IS CALLED BUT HES THE STICK MAN, THE KIDS USE TO OR MAY STILL DO WATCH ON CARTOONS. IT WAS SO UGLY MY WORK WAS GREAT.. BUT IT WAS JUST TERRIABLE TO ME BUT THEY LOVED IT.. SO DONT FEEL TO BAD JUST WAIT AND SEE THE LOOK ON THERE FACE IT WILL TELL IT ALL.
''Big Willie Nelson Fan''....Only I have green eyes crying in the rain.......Dont Sweat The Small Stuff....
Reply
''Big Willie Nelson Fan''....Only I have green eyes crying in the rain.......Dont Sweat The Small Stuff....
Reply
post #10 of 28
4/25/08 at 6:00pm
I just looked at your cakes-beautiful. I bet you are being to hard on yourself.........It's hard not to be I know. I think it's was very customer savvy to give her the cake-chances are she'll come to you again knowing what a stand up person you are. Remember in the end all that matters is that it tastes YUMMY!
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 28
4/25/08 at 7:35pm
Yes, the cake was prpobably fine. I always feel inferior when I finish a cake. But then I look back at the photos and realize that they were actually pretty good. P.S. good P.R. to give her the cake. She will not forget you!
My passion is cake decorating.
Reply
My passion is cake decorating.
Reply
post #12 of 28
4/25/08 at 7:58pm
Yes I have.....and they loved it. We see all the flaws, all the time.

The last one I did was for the restaurant next door. The governor of Indiana was coming thru with his motorcycle buddies and were stopping for dinner at the restaurant. So I donated a motorcycle cake to the restaurant. omg, I thought it looked horrible! I didnt' even take a pic! And I thought it was horrible because it was the motorcycle pan on a sheet cake; the motorcycle decorated with the star tip .... geesh, I'd forgotten how bad I hate doing those stars! Why did I say I'd do this? What was I thinking?

Restaurant manager said the guys loved it; thought it was awesome looking and great tasting! They told the manager, "She must be sumthin' to make this cake for us!" (ahem! Mgr said, "oh she is!" icon_biggrin.gif )

Oh.....and the governor never showed. dunce.gif
Cake Cutting Guide: http://cateritsimple.blogspot.com/search/label/cake%20comb
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55969028@N00/
www.cateritsimple.blogspot.com
http://debiswritingcollection.blogspot.com/
Reply
Cake Cutting Guide: http://cateritsimple.blogspot.com/search/label/cake%20comb
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55969028@N00/
www.cateritsimple.blogspot.com
http://debiswritingcollection.blogspot.com/
Reply
post #13 of 28
4/25/08 at 9:05pm
I recently was asked to make a pair of ears....yes human ears! Anatomically they were correct but as cakes go "ewwwwwwwwwwww". I couldn't figure out how to make them anything but just ears. Did add button earrings but there was nothing to make them look good. I kept a picture to remind me to say NO next time, but I'll never share that picture.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 28
4/27/08 at 3:11am
i've given a couple of ugly cakes away....i hate when the customer comes up with something i never tried before....cause you just never know.

we still laugh about the "baby hitler" cake my partner made years ago.....HA HA HA....she made a buttercream baby with a blanket...the more she messed with it the worse it got......i can't remember which one of us looked at it and said..."gee if ya gave that baby a lil mustache...splittin image of hitler.

the free ugly cake is a right of passage....she got a free cake, you got some experiance...no harm done.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 28
4/27/08 at 3:17pm
Once, I was asked to make an 80th birthday cake for party held at a ritzy country club. They asked for bright colors with the main color being turquoise. Every time we spoke, the requests grew to include all kinds of things that the lady loved. I had so much on that cake, it looked horrible. I refuse to upload a photo of it because it is so ugly. Anyway, most everyone who saw it thought it was ugly, but I didn't say a word to the lady who ordered it and guess what? She liked it! No telling what people's standards are... I'm just relieved they were happy with it, but I want to erase it from my memory. icon_rolleyes.gif
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Cake Disasters
Cake Central › Cake Forums › Cake Talk › Cake Disasters › Ever had to deliver a cake you knew was ugly to a customer?