I'm a little puzzled by an order I got this week. The lady wants 12 completely different cupcakes. 6 white, 6 chocolate, 4 of them iced in chocolate buttercream, the rest in vanilla. She wants each to have their own 'personality', each one being completely different than the other. One sports oriented, one decorated with flowers, and one with 'tie dyed icing', which, i'm not sure how i'd go about without it turning brown. She's a local restaurant owner here in my home town, and has her own 'Cooking with Debbie' show on our local news channel. I'm so confused as to what she wants with 12 completely different cupcakes!
Anyone know how to go about a 'tie dyed' icing?

Lol the first thing that hit me was that your cupcakes will end up as party examples on her show....sounds like something I would see on a "Kids Birthday Special"...maybe I see the worst in people but it sounds fishy to me...Just a thought


PS I like your logo!

you can get a tie-dye effect with airbrush, but on a cupcake that doesn't give you much room. I would do a multi-colored marble in white frosting. Just be careful not to mix too much otherwise you are right---it would be brown.

Maybe strip the bag with different color icing gels?

Sounds like she plans to use them on a show like previously stated.I sure hope you will get the credit for them if she does...

If she owns a show and a restaurant I'd casually ask her what they are for, say it will help you to better make the right designs if you can understand what kind of event they will be going to.

And I'd be charging ALOT...I usually have a minimum of 2 dozen cupcakes and only one flavor unless they order more than the minimum.

Turns out they were for a photo shoot she was doing for an upcoming advertisement and for a future cookbook. And, I did charge the dickens out of her, or I thought so, anyway... 42.80. I typically charge 24/dozen, but this ended up being the most mentally draining order I've had to fill for some reason )

Why would she want someone elses product for her ad and maybe a cookbook? I would assume anything she is advertising and in her cookbook is something she made. I don't get it. Glad you got it all done though, sounds like a really difficult order to have them all so different.

Denette, I wondered the same!! And I would think if someone was ordering something with intent of publishing it, they'd need to ask permission first?? I guess not! Well, Im glad you got the cupcakes done and that you charged her accordingly! And maybe you'll get a cut of her profits from her book since she's using your work.

Hope she credits you next to the pictures of YOUR work

Could you have use Wilton's color in a can? It says on their website that you can get an airbrush effect with it. I haven't used it yet, but just a thought.

Colleen

Healing: that stuff IMHO is NASTY! Has a weird taste.

Tie dye: can you do concentric rings of colors and then drag a toothpick through it from the center out, like you were making spiderwebs? (Does that make sense?)

I'm curious how you did the tie dye... I also think Color in can tastes funny if you are wanting 'darker' primary colors. I am looking for an alternative.

Not sure how TotallyBaked did it, but I've made the tie dye cupcakes in the past using whisperingmadcow's suggestion. It was actually pretty easy. Just evenly space 3 or 4 stripes of color on the inside of your bag before adding buttercream. Make sure the stripes go all the way down to the top of the tip for the best effect. I usually just brush the colors on or use a toothpick if I'm lazy. I'd say you can get to about 18 - 20 cupcakes before the colors start really meshing together to form a brown. The first 8 or 9 come out super vibrant then the next group starts blending in more and look sort of like pastels. They definitely come out looking tie dyed though and the kids love em!

I would have charged a heck of a lot more that $42.00, each one basically was a cake unto itself. I would have carged like the mini-cakes. If she didn't like that, I would have asked her to come and clean the 12 or more bags, tips, and couplers. Also, just the idea that she would use those cupcakes in a way as though she made them would make me furious. I do hope that she gave you credit, but to me it's kind of fishy. It's kind of like when you do one cake for a wedding and a friend of the family does the other as a gift thing, and they take the credit for making your cake, yes, indeed that has happened to me!!!!!

I have a 1 doz. per design/flavor minimum and this is EXACTLY why!!

I did a tie-dye cake years and years ago. It was with the t-shirt pan. I first iced it with regular buttercream frosting. I then took paint brushes and stuck them in straight Wilton gel color. I started in the center with the first color just "painting" in a circle towards the edge. I then took the next color and blended it with the first color just on the outer edge. So on and so on. It turned out great!! I agree that this might be difficult on a small cupcake but if you use really small brushes it might not be so bad. I would have to dig through some old photos to find the pic. I can pm it to you if you need or would like??

I did a sort of "tye-dye" icing on a cake last spring. I used color gel.

I know this is old, but a little update;
The customer just released her cookbook. A friend snapped a picture of the beginning of the Desserts section for me, and there were all my cupcakes, lined up pretty, right beside her recipe. Wow. The gall of some people. I sent her a message, congratulating her on her release, and asked her if any of my cupcakes made it in her head shots (as she claimed they were going to be used for props for her head shot photos). Then, I thought it may be wise, to print our facebook messages history from the year before when this all happened. Glad I did, because she deleted the entire thread, wrote back that some of them were in there, but not the ones for her publicity photos. I kept my cool and asked her how she referenced my work, to which she said she didn't. That we didn't barter that. That only photographers were referenced for their time. And that she 'bought them from me and vaguely remembers giving me the option to donate them if I wanted to be referenced for my work.' Wow. WOW!!! I just don't know how some people sleep at night. I know for her reputation that she's a little sue-happy, and just this side of loony. I've talked with a friend of mine that is in law, and think I'm going to go the route of 'CHECK OUT SOME OF MY WORK IN DEBBIE DAVIS' NEW COOKBOOK "I OVERCOOKED MY FAMILY, BUT THE MUFFINS TURNED OUT ALRIGHT" ON PAGE xx' all over my facebook, personal website, and possibly business cards. At my highest point of rage, I wanted to write a letter to the editor, contact the local news station that her cooking show is on, and run her name through the mud any which way I could. I'll let karma come back to her for all of that and rely in my Lord which tells me not to seek vengeance on my enemies, for He will take care of them for me. Deep breath now......

Oh WOW, what gall

Wow, that's really horrible. I would contact the show she is on for sure! I think people would want to know this woman flat out stole your work! I'm SO sorry that happened to you!

I wonder who she stole the recipes from! Clearly she has no integrity!

On the other side of the coin, IF she listed her recipes next to the cupcake pics and referenced your name to the cupcakes, maybe some folks would be confused and think that is YOUR cupcake recipe in her book, bake it and think they are nasty, maybe a blessing your name is not associated with it except by your own doing (like posting it on your FB like you did)!

Wow, some people!!!!
Good thinking on printing your facebook messages.

If she thinks she is so wonderful to have a cookbook and show why on earth would you (ie if any of us were her) want to put someone elses work in your book, surely you should think you are better than everyone else?
I guess I would never even think doing something like that so trying to work out how someone like that thinks is pretty pointless!

I wonder if she actually made any of the food in her book.

Okay...so the cupcakes pictured NEXT TO the recipe are not the recipe at all. So what was the point of having a picture if it is in no relation to the list of ingredients?
Was she explaining how to decorate the sample cuppie?
And how would she know since she wasn't even in the kitchen when THAT happened.

I'd have a difficult time being quiet about this deception.
Next time demand a contract and use provisions.

Not cool.
mommachris

I would tell everybody. Get this book... you will love it... Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3000, by Pete Blackshaw. It will outline just how to do it. That is so deceptive to the readers and her viewers. You will probably find allies in the "meat", "vegetables, and "starters" cooks.

Amazing!!!
TotallyBaked your blessing will come from being obedient to his word.... this could have been a test to see how you will react.
God bless!

Just....wow! Sometimes you think people can't sink any lower then taking credit for other people work. But wow....I don't know what to say. I'm at a loss for words. I think it's odd...the way she specifically contacted you and the order. Ugh...so sorry. Keep us updated on what happens next.