I'm Never Selling A Cake Again! (Long Rant Alert!)
Decorating By snocilla Updated 16 Nov 2009 , 4:04am by tasteebakes
While I agree on a PERSONAL level that kids dont "need" that much sugar, I dont think it's my business or my right to tell others how to treat/feed their children. Really it's a matter of what size/standard you plan on setting for your cakes and going with that.
I agree that it is not our place to tell people what a child NEEDS. However, that is not what we're doing when we set pricing. we are setting a pre-determined serving size, just like every single food item in the grocey, in a drive-thru, in a sit-down restaurant does, and base our PRICING on that. (Insert KFC story here.)
If they want to take a 8" square cake and cut it in half and hand out just two forks, that's A-OK by me .... but they are PAYING for the 32 servings it's DESIGNED to serve.
And yes, you can get 32 servings. Cut the 8" cake into 4 rows (2" each). Then cut those rows into 1" pieces (8 columns). 8x4=32. Easy Peasy.
When I tell people "A serving size is about the size of a folded over peanut butter sandwich", I can see the light bulb go off in their head as they say, "OH! Oh, well, that's PLENTY then!"
How many parents give their child a folded over peanut butter sandwich, then stand back and complain because the bread companies are making the bread too small? 
She was probably "advised not to contact" you by a reasonable, sane person who thought her complaints were ridiculous and that she should just drop it.
Good luck!
Next time charge appropriately, write a contract, have fun baking, package the product, and take picture after delivery. You may still have some crazy customers, but you will have solid back up for complaints.
........for a kid's birthday I would not use the wedding cake serving size as a guideline.....an 8" cake is way too small for 20 people...........
........even wilton's party chart says the 8" square serves 20........
I have not read alll the replies yet. This caught my eye.
She said it was a 2 layer 8" and very little was scraped when she cut the shape.
A 1x2x4" (wedding) serving *IS THE SAME* amount of cake as a 2x2x2 (party)piece.
Being as it was a 4" tall (2 layer) cake, cutting the pieces 2x2x4 is *way!* too much cake for the average kid to eat at one sitting.
We have to stick to an industry standard when quoting the size of a serving otherwise people would cut an 8" cake into 8 pieces! If they want/need bigger servings, let them order a bigger cake. Otherwise you are giving your cakes away much too cheap!
The customer is psycho. Don't worry about her, but keep posting any emails that she sends, because she amuses us with her craziness 
FYI I get all of my boards from cakedeco .com (Pfeil and Holing)
I like how she went against the advice she received not to contact you and contacted you just to tell you she has been advised not to contact you anymore...lol
Does'nt contacting you to tell you she can't contact you defeat the purpose of not contacting you?
Anyone else feeling dizzy?
I like how she went against the advice she received not to contact you and contacted you just to tell you she has been advised not to contact you anymore...lol
Does'nt contacting you to tell you she can't contact you defeat the purpose of not contacting you?
Anyone else feeling dizzy?
LMAO when you put it that way ...yes! Quite dizzy! I also agree with costumeczar, I feel bad for the situation with this crazy lady but she has become an amusement for all. I wouldn't worry one bit about her taking you to court or any of that jibberish. As everyone else pointed out, it would cost her way more than the original agreement to go there. And if she does she's plain foolish and any judge would tell her that!
If you need to cry go ahead and let it out and don't be ashamed! It is very healthy and healing. I have cried countless times over my cakes and customers. I've been poked fun by my family for it but it was all in fun and they know how stressful it can be. As professionals, beginners and hobbyists, we all put every ounce of energy and love into our designs no matter how simple or magnificently complicated. If I were in your shoes, frustration would have overwhelmed by now.
Keep your head up and remember we're all here for you. I love CC so much because everyone here is here for each other and not competing. Its a wonderful support group to have! 
I love you guys! 
If you need to cry go ahead and let it out and don't be ashamed! It is very healthy and healing. I have cried countless times over my cakes and customers. I've been poked fun by my family for it but it was all in fun and they know how stressful it can be. As professionals, beginners and hobbyists, we all put every ounce of energy and love into our designs no matter how simple or magnificently complicated. If I were in your shoes, frustration would have overwhelmed by now.
Like many, I've had issues with cakes and it's one thing when I know the bride is right. There have been times that I've been expecting their call; there have been times that I knew they were right. And while we never want to get those calls, those are a little easier to handle.
What just makes me pee crooked is when I KNOW there's not a dang thing wrong with the cake/catering and they are (as hubby would say) "HUNTIN'!" for something to complain about. I know they are wrong in that there was NOTHING WRONG and I'm banging my head against the wall in trying to resolve it. They don't want to resolve it. They just want to gripe.
CakeMommyTX wrote:
I like how she went against the advice she received not to contact you and contacted you just to tell you she has been advised not to contact you anymore...lol
Does'nt contacting you to tell you she can't contact you defeat the purpose of not contacting you?
Anyone else feeling dizzy?
That's exactly what my husband said!
DakotaDesigns wrote:
If you need to cry go ahead and let it out and don't be ashamed! It is very healthy and healing. I have cried countless times over my cakes and customers. I've been poked fun by my family for it but it was all in fun and they know how stressful it can be. As professionals, beginners and hobbyists, we all put every ounce of energy and love into our designs no matter how simple or magnificently complicated. If I were in your shoes, frustration would have overwhelmed by now.
Keep your head up and remember we're all here for you. I love CC so much because everyone here is here for each other and not competing. Its a wonderful support group to have!
Thanks Dakota, this is one of the reasons I love this site so much!
Personally, for a kid's birthday I would not use the wedding cake serving size as a guideline. Consequently, I think an 8" cake is way too small for 20 people. She was likely expecting to be able to serve a healthy wedge to each child rather than a tiny dessert size piece. (With my relatives, if I tried to serve a wedding size piece of cake at a family birthday, they'd think I was nuts. They expect a good size piece and probably want seconds.
...and we wonder why we have fat kids. When my children were small I used to serve big pieces of cake to the kids at their parties. Invariably, I threw away half a slice of cake on nearly every plate. It was just too much cake for most of them. A serving of 1 x 2 x 4" is more than ample for kids. And even if it's not, it's really all they need.
Actually my daughter's school prefers that we send mini cupcakes for just these reasons.
1. The children do not need that many sweets.
2. A LOT of them dont even eat it all, even the mini ones! So you do end up throwing away a lot of cake.
So she emailed me again:
Stacey.
In response to your most recent email request for pictures of the cake you delivered, please find two pictures attached. In addition, a picture of the pictured emailed to me of the cake you would be making is also attached.
The quality of cake ordered and the delivered cake are completely different. (From the pictures, it is evident that the black icing was coming apart both on the number (15) for birthday and on the side swirls. Shortly after you delivered this cake, one of the tips began to lean as you can see within the picture. Additionally by the next morning two cracks on two of the tips also began to show as you can see in the picture.
The quality of cake not only differed from the shape of the emailed cake picture but also the quality. The cake delivered was not at what was ordered based upon YOUR sample emailed picture, nor would it have fed 20 individuals. Due to the limited amount of time (the next afternoon) we had to substitute a cake for my daughter's birthday from the grocery store. Unfortunately, we could not get a cake with the theme my daughter had wanted, but we were able to feed d all 20 individuals.
Have been advised to limit communication at this time, however was given the go ahead to forward these pictures as you requested. We will await hearing from you regarding this matter.
Sincerely,
XXXXXXX
My husband says that I should not reply at all, and that if she was supposed to limit contact, she wouldn't have written such a long email. He also says that I should not offer her any refund.
She says she is awaiting my response, but if I'm not supposed to contact her....
I can see now what she is talking about, but I still don't see where it's so horrible that she couldn't serve it.
Do you guys think I should reply? And what should I say? Should I defend the servings and the shape? Should I offer her a refund?
Is this the cake that you made, or the one that she wanted you to copy? I don't see anything wrong with this one, but there also isn't a "15" on it, so I have a feeling that it's a different one.
Well, the first problem is that it's a Wilton board, so it probably flexed and that's why the tips are moving off of the main part of the cake.
I don't see how that wouldn't serve 20, so I wouldn't even take that part of her issue seriously. However, since you didn't bring the cake in a box I think that they might have a legitimate complaint, because that's probably part of why the board was moving around and caused the damage.
I hate to say it, but I'd just send her a refund of the money and be done with it. I don't buy the whole "we had to go buy another cake" thing, but if the cake wasn't packaged when it was delivered they do have a legitimate gripe.
Um, I might be in the minority here - but if she was expecting the first one, and then got what she got - I would be a little dissapointed too (but not enought to want a refund - cake is cake, it all tastes good). It resembles the first cake, but not quite as clean.
Dont quit making cakes. We all have our "not so great, why isnt this working" moments.
I'd give her a refund and call it done. If you didn't have the pan required for the shape, you could have printed a template of the wilton pan or similar shape. The points on the star pan are not sharp for a reason, for stability. I too could see why she was disappointed if she was expecting the first cake.
However, I think the lady is loony to think that your cake would not have served 20 children. And I agree that the board caused a lot of the structural issues. Don't stop making cakes. Keep practicing! Chin up, it was a good effort.
I think I'd give her the refund, just to get rid of her. But make sure you have her sign something saying that y'all are even now.
Did she not want fondant? I'm wondering because it looks like there was fondant on the cake in the example picture.
Um, I might be in the minority here - but if she was expecting the first one, and then got what she got - I would be a little dissapointed too (but not enought to want a refund - cake is cake, it all tastes good). It resembles the first cake, but not quite as clean.
Dont quit making cakes. We all have our "not so great, why isnt this working" moments.
I'd be pissed, not a little disappointed. Sorry, Snocila. I would refund and swallow it down for a lesson learned.
I hate to say it, but yeah, I kind of agree with her. If you didn't discuss how different your "similar" was going to be, then it's perfectly reasonable for her to expect the fat star and all that. If she wants a refund, I'm sure she'll ask. Otherwise, I would leave it alone. She didn't ask any questions and is suggesting limited contact so I don't see what there is to reply to. That seems like a petty game that she's playing when she should man up and just say what she wants to say which is "give me my money back."
ok, i looked at both pics and noticed that the one picture of the cake that she wanted you to make exactly like it is covered in fondant. that is the reason for the clean look. cake like that (star shaped) is hard to ice smooth on the sides. plus it would been better if you used a star pan because carving a star can be rough. If she was so displeased, then why did she not return the cake back? And why did she not ask for a refund instead of telling you she will be praying for you? She should of been upfront instead of playing games. Take heart, there will be more cake orders comming your way, if not from her.
Why is there a fork right on side of the cake? And more importantly doesn't it look like there is something (maybe icing) on said fork? 
Or that could be my bad eyes, lol.
The difference in shape does make a big difference but from her email it seems like she is concentrating on having to spend more money on supplemental cake, but that cake should have served how many she wanted.
I am no pro so I don't know what to say as far as a refund is concerned, but I am sorry you have to go through this.
I mean the lady says, "the cake that you left here' Like the op balanced the cake on the sagging pumpkin sitting on the porch, rang the bell and ran or something. She delivered the cake, for free I might add.
I was crying I was laughing so hard at this. Thank You, I needed that.
Heather
Wow. I can't believe how petty this lady is.
To me, it's similar. Call me crazy.
The icing is a little less clean on the 2nd version, but I still say this lady is petty. It's a $40 cake! We're not talking about a wedding cake that collapsed or something. Sheesh!
Wow. I can't believe how petty this lady is.
To me, it's similar. Call me crazy.
The icing is a little less clean on the 2nd version, but I still say this lady is petty. It's a $40 cake! We're not talking about a wedding cake that collapsed or something. Sheesh!
To most people who don't know about custom cakes, $40 is sort of a lot for a cake. So, to her, she didn't get what she wanted either in size (which is still debatable) or in quality. Yes, it's similar, but the differences seem large enough to the average person that it would be worth complaining over. Especially since, in her mind, she paid decent money for this cake.
There are a lot of things this woman seems to be from her email correspondence, but I wouldn't list "petty" as high as you do.
I guess maybe you're right. I'm just not the type of person to take an issue to that level unless it's a big issue.
However, you're probably right about the price thing. To us, $40 for a cake is nothing, but maybe to her it is a lot..
I would offer her something if it were my customer. I would probably have offered her something from the beginning. But I don't like to drag things on either. Sometimes, it's just easier to get it taken care of right away.
Oh man, I'd be way ticked if I ordered the first cake and got the second. As someone said, yeah, they are somewhat similar, but the differences are far greater than the similarities.
I probably wouldn't ask for a refund, but you'd better believe I'd never order from this cake maker again.
I've been following this post. This is small stuff in the grand scheme of things. Give her the money back and don't think another thing about it. Learn from what went wrong and work to improve. The shape is a booger no matter if you use fondant or buttercream. Even if you'd had a star-shaped pan it wouldn't have been easy, but you did some extensive carving! Scrollwork isn't a walk in the park either. Very few can do it perfectly. We all have struggles with something. I made a cake the other night-- it was made to look like a gift--- square--- Whoa was it difficult! I immediately came home and ordered Sugarshack's video on buttercream. We're all trying to improve on something. Please don't be discouraged! 
You know I read this whole post from start to finish and the one question I have does not seem to be addressed. It seems key to the whole problem. Do any of you think that sending a customer a photo of a cake and telling them you can make something similar is the problem?
The customer repeatedly says that she didn't get what she was expecting from the photo she saw and she is right...the cakes do not look the same.
I learned a long time ago to NEVER show anyone other people's cakes as examples of what I could possibly do AND to not even show photos to give someone cake ideas because:
1. They expect to get EXACTLY the same cake and usually don't understand the concept of artistic freedom.
2. They won't understand if my talent level does not allow me to create the perfect cake in the photo.
3. A buttercream cake can never look like one done in fondant. How many of you have heard the words "I want this exact cake but I want it covered in buttercream, not fondant." Those are scary words to me.
Of course this fear of recreating other people's cakes might be my personal "cake-self-esteem" issues. I'm just wondering if anyone else has a problem with it.
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