My bride mentioned that her bottom tier cake was frozen and she didn't like the taste. I set the refrigerator to the highest setting because she had ordered a super soft icing and color and I didn't want the color or icing to run. My plastic dowel rods went into the cake so I thought it was fine. The cake was beautiful but now she is asking for the full price of that bottom tier back. She was trying to get a deal throughout the ordering process and that should have sent a red flag to me to tell the bride, "thank you for stopping by, Good Bye", BUT I didn't. If this has happened to you, did you give any money back? What can be said to the bride? I can clearly see she is trying to get over. They used the term they were unhappy with the service . . . and had made a list of things that I easily discredited. I don't want the bride to bad mouth my business, what would you do?

I mean does anything else in your frige freeze? That would be the clue. I mean the cake would have had to have been frozen minus zero solid to stay frozen throughout the delivery and the lead up time to the reception and still be frozen enough to get served frozen.

I think you need to tell her that nothing else is frozen in your frige and that her assertion is impossible assuming all the caveats I listed are indeed true.

Plus it would sweat like crazy if it was frozen.

I'd tell her professionally that her assertion is not valid and then do the "anything else I can help you with?' And be done with her.

I was thinking the same as k8 .... cakes thaw in just a couple of hours or so .... so unless it was frozen solid and you delivered it minutes before they cut the cake, this sounds like a made up story to me.

Was the cake frozen? Did the bride have a tasting prior to the wedding? Did they eat the cake at the wedding or throw it out?

My personal opinion is that unless the cake was inedible and they threw it out then a refund is not appropriate. However, if the cake was not servable, someone should have called from the reception. At this point it sounds like she's just trying to get her money back.

Call the reception place and try to talk to the person who actually cut the cake and served it. They'll be able to tell you whether it was frozen or not - sounds crazy to me.

Definitely something fishy here... If you didn't notice only problems with your fridge at the time or since, and didn't feel any unusual resistance when doweling, I don't think the cake could have possibly been frozen at the time it was served, unless the reception site had put it in a freezer for some reason. I keep my fridge on the coldest setting, and my cakes have never frozen. Cakes don't have that much moister, so they don't freeze that easily.

Was it a scratch cake, made with butter? Did the icing have a high proportion of butter? If so, then the cake make have still been chilled enough on the inside to be firm (but not frozen) at serving. I have noticed that wedding cakes, especially stacked ones, will stay cool for a very long time on the inside, and will be firmer than usual (which i think is a good think for cutting!). Had she tasted your cake before ordering?

I think she's just trying to get money back. If the cake was served, I would give no refund, maybe just a coupon for money off a future as a gesture of good will.

ITA with what everyone else has already said. I would not give her a refund.

It was probably just still cold....and she wanted a deal...

I agree with all of the above and even if she tries to bad mouth you, people will know she is a cheap a$$ and probably not give her the time of day!

Did she returned the cake to you?, I only refound the cakes that are bring back to me.

Did she say anything about the other tiers? I'm assuming that they were all stored in the same refrigerator so how could one tier be frozen, but the rest weren't? Just curious

If the cake was frozen, how was she able to taste it? I've never heard of anyone eating frozen cake. My question to her would be what did you do with the cake?

I freeze my cakes overnight and when I cut the tops off in the morning, I of course taste the tops. I find the cake tastes soooo good frozen! She's definately just out to get some money back. Don't give her any back. Do some research and find out if the cake was actually frozen.

Definitely sounds fishy. I agree calling the reception place and seeing if you could talk to someone there who cut the cake would be a good idea.

It sounds odd to me as well..I have taken cakes out of the freezer frozen solid and they were defrosted in just a couple of hours..completely! I would call the venue and ask for information as well.

If you want to ease any issues you could offer her a free party cake or a discount on a party cake or something. When she realizes she isn't going to get any money back, she will go away.

Sounds to me like she just wants some money back for no valid reason. I think if she served the cake and everyone ate it she shouldn't get anything back. If she bad mouths you to her friends I wouldn't worry about it, I wouldn't want that kind of business anyway!

I really don't think I would be able to put supports into a frozen cake.
Perhaps the guests ate all but the bottom tier, and she would like to get a refund on the extra cake they had.
I agree that the venue should be contacted to see what happened.
I would not be quick to give her a refund. Things just do not sound right.
Did you eat any of the cake when you leveled it?

-Debbie B.

I just had the weirdest thought...is it possible that whoever tried to cut the cake accidentally hit a dowel on the first try? That would be the only thing I can think of hard enough to seem frozen. And cake civilians often times have no clue about the interior support needed to stack a wedding cake.

Just a thought...

Other than that, it sounds like she just wants money.

Mydor,
I thought I would check back for an update. Were you able to contact the venue to get their side of the story?

-Debbie B.

I agree, there was no way that the cake could still be frozen at serving time. Could the bride be intimating that the cake "tasted" like it had been frozen and thawed and that she did not like how the cake tasted. Was the bottom tier the one they cut and tasted at the "cake cutting ceremony". Were any of the other tiers complained about? I would not give her a full refund of the bottom tier price. After all the cake was served and consumed. If you think she would badmouth you I would offer her a partial refund (not that I would be happy about it) just to help protect my reputation.

Thanks everyone for yoru comments. I called the reception hall. They make it a point to try every cake bought to their facility. Only thing is they try the cake after the mad rush is over and they see some cake left to try. She told me it tasted very good and I asked if it was frozen and she said NO. I think the cake was cold. It might have been very cold in the middle, but she said they only served half the cake. If she had told me she cut around the edges of the cake and had the center left, than that would have been a problem. She also complained that the cake had a crumb texture when cut. The first cut of any cake is hard to get out. Plus, how can the cake have a lot of crumbs if it is frozen? She told me she had half the cake left, but, if you cut the cake too late a lot of your guest are gone. Plus, a lot of people did not show up at her wedding leaving even more cake. The wedding and reception was at the same place and I stayed long enough to know all of her guest did not show up. I have to find the caterer. I will call the venue on Monday and see if they had the caterers name and number. They cut the cake and they would know if it was cold or frozen. So far, the venue said the cake was very good and not frozen. If the caterers tells me it is cold, no way is she getting back a dime.

Hmmmm.... a lot of no-show's, potentially cutting it late so those that DID show up left .... half the cake leftover .... sounds like buyers remorse to me!

Did you bake ahead and freeze the layers? I don't think this bride meant that the cake was frozen when she tasted it.....you wrote that she said the cake tasted frozen and she didn't like the taste of it.

It sounds like she is saying "it tasted like a frozen cake." If she has not returned any of this cake, so that you could taste it, than I would not offer her any kind of refund. I would than tell her you called the venue and the person you spoke to said they tasted the cake and it was fine.

Good luck with this PITA Bridezilla