Hello everybody,

I'm really stressin about this. I got a lot of good feedback from family and friends, but it is still driving me crazy.

DH informed me on last Friday we were supposed to attend a Christmas party for his work. It was a pot luck, so naturally he figured I'd make a cake. Cool. So Saturday I baked. Began decorating Sunday (plus a lot of other things I was doing). Didn't sleep that night. Continued Monday, stayed up till my brain crapped out on me from lack of sleep. Finished last minute touches on Tuesday morning. Wanted to make a bow, but didn't have time for the fondant to dry. Did ALL that work. Everyone I showed it to said it was awesome.

Fast forward to Tuesday evening, we show up to the party of about 100+ people from DH's work. As we walk in, we get several "oohs" and "ahhs" and "whoas" and "wows". So, awesome. I'm thinkin everythings great. People start to eat. They get dessert. Everyone ate the cheap stale storebought cakes, but NOBODY touched my cake. DH even went and cut a piece, and still nobody touched it. I was completely mortified!!

I've showed the cake to my family and friends and they all loved it. Trying to cheer me up, they said maybe it was too pretty to eat, but I'm just not convinced.

The top cake was butter cake with french vanilla filling. The bottom was chocolate cake, chocolate filling with peppermint patties. My husband said you could smell the peppermint just standing next to the cake. He said it smelled awesome. I just don't understand why nobody ate it. We left early, so I don't know about afterwards. But I was just too depressed to stay.

Sorry this is so long. Guess I just needed to vent. I'm going to add the pictures to my pics on here and post the link. Maybe someone could tell me if there is something wrong, or anything? I'm just so frustrated about the whole thing.

Thanks for listeing.

OK, so I guess somethings up with the photos so I compressed a pic. Hopefully this works.

Anyone got anything? I did all that work for a cake only for nobody to eat.

It's a great looking cake...could it be the fondant...if it's not something they're used to, maybe it turned them off.

or, perhaps some have had it before, but it was Wilton's, which is disgusting (I hear), so they assumed yours tasted bad too.

"We left early, so I don't know about afterwards. But I was just too depressed to stay."

Are you sure it never got eaten, after it was cut? I have found that yes, oftentimes people are afraid of gorgeous cakes, they just aren't sure if they should cut them. The "too pretty to eat" syndrome you mention. Plus if it was a party w/cocktails, people don't often eat too much dessert when drinking alcohol. Anyway I do wonder if more would have eaten it if someone had cut and plated several slices; sometimes that is all it takes.

Hope you feel better about this! It was a cute cake. If it didn't get eaten I'd be willing to bet you that people were fighting over who got to take it home.

Thank you both for your encouragement!

I'm sure the fondant would have deterred some people. I learned about the wilton kind long ago. This cake took about 3 batches of mmf (I only have a dinky little hand mixer) But this was a party with a bunch of military people. Half of them don't even know what fondant is. DHs friend even asked what I did to get the icing so flat.

It was a party for families, so no alcohol was allowed. At first, I had intended to whip up a bunch of cake balls, some with liquers, but DH said it was a no go, since kids would be there. I didn't even think to plate some of it. It was a self serve thing, so I figured people would just cut and grab it.

ceshell,

I hope you're right. I'm currently waiting for my approval for my vendor's license here on post, and I really wanted the cake to serve as an advertising piece at the party. But now I'm not so sure. I know I'm still learning a whole lot, and this is really the biggest cake I have made for other people. But I was really proud of it till last night. lol.

They think it was a center pieces or was afraid to be the one to eat it. I would of said something like you can eat it, it's not just a showcase. Some people are like that when the see a beautiful cake. They may of said to themself how dare your husband cut that beautiful cake. I think they have taking piece home to eat, who knows

The cake was just so pretty they did not want to wreck it. I bet if you had cut some of it it would have gotten snapped right up. I would feel the same as you. We always want people to eat are cake, darn it! You did a great job!!!!

Thank you all so much for your compliments!

Like I said, the general consensus with the family and friends was the same thing, but I just figured they were all biased. I hope ya'll are right.

DH jokingly said next time I should just make a crappy cake so people will eat it. lol. Well THAT won't be happening, but I don't think I'll be spending so much money and tearing up my mind and body (by not sleeping for nearly two days. lol) for a free cake.

Please don't stress about it SugarNSpiceDiva. Your cake looks very pretty. In my experience, with a pretty cake, people (except children!) are often very nervous/scared of being the first to cut into it. What I've done a couple of times if I'm is to cut the cake myself if I'm at the party and hand it out.

I agree with everyone else--your cake was so pretty that nobody wanted to be the one to "ruin" it. Your husband's cut probably didn't do much to keep people from thinking that cutting it would spoil the prettiness of the cake.

Even people who should know better, it seems, still act this way. Last summer, I made a cake with a Beauty and the Beast logo for a theater cast party, and dh thought he'd get things going by cutting part of the cake. He very carefully cut lots of itty bitty pieces out of the edge of the cake, leaving the logo intact. The pieces that were cut went quickly, and then nobody would cut into the Beast. There my poor cake sat, mostly uneaten.

DS finally grabbed the knife and started to chant, "kill the beast...kill the beast" and made the first cut into the artwork.

lol redpanda, that is a great story!

Thanks SO much fellow cakers!!!!! Ya'll are truly awesome!!

I guess I'm starting to get the whole "cake muggle" joke going around here. lol. I just figured it would be common sense. You know, "Its cake, eat it, its good..............really!" lol. Why would I make a cake to LOOK at? Ha Ha.

I'm still not a pro. But baking and caking is what I REALLY want to do. So I guess I get pretty emotional about my cakes. I guess I should have been flattered instead of insulted.

redpanda,

I'm sorry you went through the same thing. That is TOO funny though that your DS did that. I think next time, if I make a cake, I'll just stand there and serve people until they realize they really CAN eat it. lol.

OH!!!! I forgot to mention that somebody MOVED my cake at the party!! DH and I set it on the table, and not 5 minutes later, two ladies tried to rearrange the table and move it along with the other desserts. I thought I would have a HEART ATTACK!! They didn't even know how to pick it up. They looked at it for quite some time before realizing they could separate it. I ran up there to try to move it, and they already had it in their hands. I was SO not happy. lol. I know they didn't know, but I was freakin out. lol. Maybe I'm a little TOO emotional about my cakes.

Next time, you really need to cut the (first pieces of) cake youself.
I notised that often people think its play-dogh instead of an cake.
And if you tell them its a cake, and that you can eat all of it, then they find it difficult to destroy the cake.
So if you cut the cake without feeling sorry (and with a big smile on your face), and tell the people that that is the whole purpose of a cake (even when its so pretty) they will eat it!
Make sure you don't cut around the decorations (except when you can remove them), but cut right through them.
Then the next one who want's a piece isn't so scared to do the same.

Oh, and don't wait untill the people already had a other dessert/cake.

Really it's not your cake......it's the scary people.

That is truly a GORGEOUS cake and if I were there based on your description of the flavors I would have had noooooo problem cutting into that!
Maybe they were already full. I dont know. but I do know how you feel! I've been to potlucks where I made foods that NO ONE touched and it does kinda hurt to see your work just sitting there!! I feel for you! Big hugs!

People are just afraid to cut into a pretty cake like that. If they didn't eat any while you watched, howdo you know that people didn't like how it tasted? I have no doubt that it was just because it looked pretty, had nothing to do with the taste, and that nobody wants to be the pig that starts eating a cake like that.

That's why you hire a caterer at a wedding to cut it. If the guests had to do it nobody would ever cut a wedding cake.

I've had to march up and cut pieces out of cakes before, and not just one piece. You have to cut a few and put them on the table for people to take to get the ball rolling. Once a few people are eating, other people feel okay about cutting pieces themselves, but nobody want to be the one to massacre a cake first.

Next time cut and put servings on plates.

Sometimes people are afraid to cut into a cake if they are not sure how to serve it. Many have never seen a cake that "leans" and aren't quite sure how to manage it.

Even though I do most of the birthday cakes at work, I still have to be the one to cut the cake, no one else will - once several slices are cut, then they will help themselves and take more later in the day.

I made a cake for a rehearsal dinner this summer, and the bride and groom wouldn't cut it. the next day at the wedding, they were talking about bringing it out and setting it next to the wedding cake, but they never did!! They both work with my husband, so when they came back to work he asked them about it, and they said they finally had to cut it and eat it and it was so much better than the wedding cake. Wish everyone could have tasted it!!!!

Your cake is really pretty. It sounds yummy too!
I agree with everyone who thought they may have been afraid to cut into it.
We went to a pig roast this summer for DH's work and I took a cake
everyone loved it, but they were afraid to be the first to cut it. So after a while I found the host and she asked me to cut it because no one wanted to touch it!

It happens all the time to me! They think they are too pretty too eat. I just have to grab the knife and cut it - then they start lining up.

My guess is they just didn't want to wreck that beautiful cake.

Jen

Happens to me all the time. I have brought many tiered cakes in to work and no one ever wants to cut first. Now I just start cutting them myself at our first break.

It also helps because no matter how many cakes I bring in, they can't figure out how to cut them. They will constantly try to cut a 10" round like a pie. So I start cutting the first row for them, hoping they can see that it should be cut in four rows.... but usually by the time the cake if half gone they start hacking the other side like pie again....

Someday they will figure it out though.... I have faith in them.

I get that a lot too. I made a gift package cake for a Christmas party a few years ago and nobody would cut it until I did the first slice.

I call them "cake civilians"! LOL...they think pretty cakes are "FOR DISPLAY PURPOSES ONLY".....If you don't cut it up...they will not. I couldn't even get someone to grab a frickin cupcake from my christmas cupcake cake at my family party. I was offering $5 to my nephews. They all said "No way! I'm not gettin in trouble". And also, people don't know how to cut cakes either. If I have the opportunity, I will cut up some servings so they don't cut a pizza shaped slab out of a round. I made my nephew a cake shaped into a can of bud light. He stared at it for 3 days. Finally his mom took it to work because he wouldn't cut it. Take uncut cakes as a compliment...though you do wish they'd see how great they taste! If you don't jump in...they will sit!

I totally agree with all the previous posters--no one wants to destroy the work of art--because that is how they are looking at it--they forget it is cake. I brought two (non-decorated cakes--just didn't feel like decorating that week, LOL) cakes to my cousin's house for Thanksgiving. When dessert was being served, I went over and sliced both cakes; otherwise no one wants to be the first one to cut into any cake; if it is decorated, they are never going to touch it. Consider it a compliment!

I know how you feel. I spent 8 hours making a cake (it is the turkey in my pictures) for my company's thanksgiving lunch. They refussed to cut it. They used it as a center piece. I was so upset. I couldnt believe it. I actually took my complete cake home with me. I was very hurt. This year everyone asked if I was making another cake I said no, why would i know one last years.

I think your cake is great. I know it is the oh that cake is to pretty to eat. I tell people all the time that it is cake EAT IT!!!

A potluck? With a fancy cake like that? Of course they attacked the store bought crap. People probably thought your cake was a inedible centerpiece. Unfortunately, to get it through their thick heads, you would have needed to slice and plate each piece....and then maybe they'd get it. Duh. And totally ruin the presentation of the cake, but ya know.....Oh you eat it? Ah, ok! Double doh!

I had the same thing happen. 3 tiered cake.

Finally I cut a piece - then a couple others cut small pieces but that was it.

I got so many compliments - 55+ people there.

I don't know what happened. I think its the whole fondant thing or they are just afraid, who knows?

Your cake looks so beautiful. I agree with other comments, people were afraid to be the "First" to cut. Also keep in mind that this was a company party, most everyone is on their best behavior. Employees don't want to do anything that would be considered inappropriate or just plain look dumb infront of the boss, spouse/date, and coworders. Being the first to cut into such a pretty cake was intimidating. I would have thought, "Is the cake for decoration or eating", "How do I cut the cake", "Man I hope people don't think I'm a pig"....it's sad but some/maybe most of us have these internal converstions/doubts and opt for the safer route which in this situation was the crappy cake!

You did awesome and I'm sure your cake tasted delicious!