Morning everyone................I don't know what to think.............I emailed the girl I made the firetruck wedding cake for, and asked her how she and everyone liked it, 'cause that's how I am .......I think I gotta have feedback.........well, I got it...........here's what she said:

"The cake looked amazing! The fireman and the bride had so much detail and looked awesome. We have saved the fire truck for our 1 yr. anniversary and went ahead and cut the top layer. But we want to be honest. We thought the fondant was kind of thick and chewy and the cake didn't really have a lot of flavor. But it was absolutely adorable and we had a lot of compliments on the appearance of the cake, but also had some complaints on the taste."

To say I am devastated would be an understatement......I have made this same cake many, many, many times...............how can a double chocolate fudge cake with fudge filling and vanilla buttercream not have any taste???????????? But I get the fondant thing, some people like it, some don't...........just how it goes...............
I have a wedding cake to do in November for a good friend of mine, but I think after that, I don't know if I will be doing any more wedding cakes..................don't know if it's worth it...............................
Thanks for listening......................

Don't get discouraged, everyone has that happen once in a while. Some times without the very nice compliment on the finishing. It will be OK!!!

Beautiful cake. You asked and got an answer. so where do you go?

Don't give up. Investigate and test your product. How long before you served the cake did you bake it?

Is the cake sweet enough? If the fondant is very sweet and the cake is not, the cake might seem more like bread than cake. Like when you drink a soda with cake - never tastes sweet.

Does the flavor need to be punched up a bit? You never know. Bake a cake. Frost it, fill it, and put some fondant on it. Then leave it for the same amount of time you left this cake. Does your cake hold up over time? Some flavors fall off with time. You may need to add more background flavors to your chocolate, ie vanilla, salt, coffee, butter - all can enhance the flavor profile.

So don't get discouraged. Maybe they didn't like it. Who really knows? It sounded delicious. But, If it was me, I'd bake a test cake and get some honest feedback.

I'm sorry this happened to you and I send you (((HUGS))). BUT....don't let it get you down. Everyone has their own idea of what tastes good.
Prime example....my mother absolutely LOVES a classic white cake....I don't care for it. To me, it tastes funny and I would rather have a nice fudgy chocolate!
Also, I have some friends who absolutely love the WASC cake with extra almond flavoring....to me....YUCK!! To them, DELICIOUS!!

Keep your chin up and don't quit doing something you love doing!

No worries and don't let this one stop you from doing wedding cakes.

Just think about it: some people like Crisco BC, others hate it; some like SMBC; others hate it; some people like raspberry filling; others hate it; some love chocolate, others hate it (like my cousin, serious!).

You can't please everyone and it might benefit you in the future not to do follow-ups. There really is not point and unless they really have an issue with something, they liked it well enough not to contact you.

Did they do a tasting of this cake before ordering their wedding cake? If so, did you follow the recipe to a "T" like with the tasting? You can't please everyone, so don't throw in the towel.

Thank you all for the hugs and advice! It really helps!
I know you can't please everyone all the time...............guess I just needed to get the sting of it out of my system.........and aswartzw, you're right...........I guess I don't need to do any follow ups!!!!!!!

Well, that sounds like what it was. It was so much chocolate and not another flavor, so it didn't have that same punch as the mint chocolate cake. I am the same way with a chocolate on chocolate on chocolate anything. I love chocolate, but that much can be over powering.

Yea, and some people THINK they like it. I was the same way. I was like "I loooove chocolate, so I can eat that much at one time with no problem". Lmao, I quickly found out that it's not for me. Now, that mint chocolate cake you spoke of, that's me all day. Yum!

They did save the one cake so it could not have bothered them that much.
So.....who at a wedding is mean enough to say the cake was not good. ?

In my opinion...doing follow ups is just asking for trouble or something for the client to complain about..Don't get me wrong..I welcome and appreciate feedback but when you ask... some people spill it all like verbal vomit and may have never done so if you didn't ask..About fondant..I always make the customer aware that it is a type of rolled icing that is not always liked by everyone and you either like the taste and texture or not..That way you have given them the heads up and they can then decide if they want it or not.As for the cake flavor..maybe test it to see if there is an issue and adddress it.Don't quit..We all have days and customers who upset us and makes us doubt our abilities and worth...Head up!!

Don't be discouraged! Learn from this and grow from it!
I made a cake for a friend's wedding. She didn't say anything at all, (she actually raved about it and kept thanking me), but I was at the wedding myself. The cake was totally dry. I saw lots of people only took a bite or two and put it away.
I did feel sad about it, but I didn't give up. I looked for the cause of the dryness and improved my recipe.
Last weekend was my b-i-l's wedding. I made the same cake flavour, it was a hit! I am so glad I didn't give up my passion.
I'm sure you'd feel the same next time a good cake is produced from your kitchen!

Wait a minute, she had some "complaints on the taste?" Who complains about a wedding cake to the bride, apart from the groom and her immediate family. It's certainly not random guests. And even then, when are they casually eating this cake that they can sit around and analyze it? The next day after it's been in the refrigerator and gotten stale? (because average ppl tend to store cake there).

Seriously, cake is cake. It is flour + butter + sugar = delicious. Unless someone mistook salt in place of sugar, it's all good, and I think anyone would happily eat it unless they didn't really like cake to begin with. Most of us cakers have a pretty discerning palate when it comes to cake, so I would say a caker could complain about the taste, but not the average joe, who is used to grocery store cake. And even as a caker, I might comment on a cake being too dry or something (like at Cake Love), but I certainly wouldn't turn it down if offered some.

My cousin got married a few months ago and later that night a bunch of us were gathered in the kitchen at my aunt's house eating cake, and a few of us noted it was very almondy, but that didn't stop us from eating a few pieces each. So I think she may be exaggerating a little when she said she had some "complaints on the taste." I wouldn't take it personally.

Don't give up! It happens sometimes. If you can, have a tasting before hand. I hear that people charge a small fee for it(to cover cost of ingredients, etc) that way they can tell you right then and there how they feel about the cake. It's probably in the best interest of the client to insist on a tasting.

Plus, didn't you solicit feedback from her? I wouldn't really call it a complaint because she didn't seek you out to discuss her displeasure with her cake. You contacted her to get genuine feedback, right?

I thought the bride sounded quite sweet,especially when you read some of the way other brides have communicated with their vendors after the fact. She must have felt you were asking for an honest critique and she gave a really positive one. Look at the compliments on your design - how everyone loved it: "amazing" "awesome" "adorable" "compliments on the appearance" those are words to warm your heart! you know you got the whole design thing down! The concerns about the taste are something to consider and you have already got good feeback on that.

Have you just begun to charge for your work, or have you been doing this professionally for a while? Most pros I know don't ordinarily request feedback. Of course, you want to make sure your cake tastes as wonderful as possible, so work on the fondant and try out some new flavors/recipes and keep growing.

From the Bride's response it sounds like a really impressive, fun cake!