Totally Shocked - No Separators And No Supports ............
Decorating By cakesbybert Updated 8 Aug 2011 , 9:03pm by Rudd
I was invited to a friends birthday party. She made her own cake. It was a three tier 6-8-10 covered in fondant.
She asked me to cut the cake for her, since I do cakes. Now I know she does wedding cakes now and again for family and friends. Though I have never been to a wedding she has done, since photos and they are okay.
Anyway I start cutting into the cake - - couldn't believe it there were NO cake boards or separators or supports in the whole cake!!! I had notice it was bulging a little when I got there but hadn't thought too much about it. And to top that off it was still a little froze. Found out later that she had stacked it then placed it in the freezer so it "would keep it's shape"
I'm pretty sure that if it hadn't been paritally froze it would have been one big pile of cake crumbs!
Omg!! It makes you wonder what a disaster it could have been!! I don't even want to imagine a wedding cake like that!! I would tell her about boards and supports. Has she ever had a cake collapsed like that? If she hasn't, she soon will. And I would hate to be the customer that it does that too!!
It just goes to show how stupid people are who have absolutely No experience doing cakes and think they do 
...I laughed out loud but I would sure be pissed if it were a cake for me or someone else that I paid money for...Can we say dissaster.... 
Seriously..... 
Wow. I mean, I don't think your friend is stupid but I am sure glad she hasn't had a disaster as of yet. Did you tell her that from now on she should use supports? Oh man, please tell her!
I didn't know about support either when I was 11. Maybe you could invite her over for a cake session, some "girl time" and show her how it's done!
I would tell her it would be best if she used supports/boards...but if she doesn't seem receptive to the WISE information, I'm with Debbief, Leah_s, Peg and Indy...LOL
Man I was thinking the same thing as indy, peg and leah!!! She has been lucky as I don't know what if she is doing wedding cakes this way! Wow!!!!
She probably learned how to make cakes by watching Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee. I've seen her stack 3 tiers with no support and she goes on and on about how easy and what a money-saver it is. I wanted to punch her in the nose.
one of my friends had a bride contact her and specifically request NO BOARDS NO DOWELS..my friend told her: sorry, no can do. get your cake somewhere else lol
I'd tell her. I doubt she's doing it to be arrogant or anything...she just simply doesn't know. And since you're her friend, and you know better, and you are now aware of her lack of expertise, it wouldn't hurt to educate her.
What would you say to her if she did someone's wedding cake and it collapsed...then she found out why, and you never said anything after cutting the offending cake for her?
I am only saying this because she's your friend...not someone you don't know or a competitor. 
one of my friends had a bride contact her and specifically request NO BOARDS NO DOWELS..my friend told her: sorry, no can do. get your cake somewhere else lol
Now you know just the decorator to refer this bride to!
It really is a shame that so many of you are responding so mean-spiritedly to this post... One of the most generous things you can do is share knowledge with someone without expecting anything in return. Why would you wish failure on someone when you could reasonably prevent it?
I say you let her know you noticed her lack of supports and give her a warning without making her feel like she is terrible at what she does. No use making someone feel bad for no reason, and no reason to knowingly set her up to fail. What kind of friend would she be then?
She's your friend. She made a cake for her own party. She wasn't ugly to you, she asked you to cut it because YOU do cakes (Not saying you thought she was ugly, but some of these responses are mean). I would tell her that she needs boards and supports since she obviously doesn't know. She will thank you for it I'm sure.
It really is a shame that so many of you are responding so mean-spiritedly to this post... One of the most generous things you can do is share knowledge with someone without expecting anything in return. Why would you wish failure on someone when you could reasonably prevent it?
I say you let her know you noticed her lack of supports and give her a warning without making her feel like she is terrible at what she does. No use making someone feel bad for no reason, and no reason to knowingly set her up to fail. What kind of friend would she be then?
Well said!
I'd tell her that she needs to use supports, you don't want to be responsible for someone else's horrible mistake if she thinks that's how it's done.
I once had a decorator who had been asking me all kinds of nosey questions about my business tell me that she used spaghetti in her cakes for support. I am not kidding. Even though she had been sneaky and was obviously trying to get free business advice, I told her that she was crazy to do that, if only to save some poor bride from her construction skills. Yowza 
It really is a shame that so many of you are responding so mean-spiritedly to this post... One of the most generous things you can do is share knowledge with someone without expecting anything in return. Why would you wish failure on someone when you could reasonably prevent it?
I say you let her know you noticed her lack of supports and give her a warning without making her feel like she is terrible at what she does. No use making someone feel bad for no reason, and no reason to knowingly set her up to fail. What kind of friend would she be then?
+1
I really don't think most people were really being mean. Maybe very sarcastic, and for shock value, but generally, most were not.
...she used spaghetti in her cakes for support.
Freaking unbelievable!
I saw a bakery cake a friend of mine ordered...it was like three tiers, but each tier was that 3" solid-cake-high, and made of pound cake. But it was stacked with no supports or boards. Hard to serve! They asked me to serve it and I could not figure it out, so I served one "tier" at a time while totally messing up the icing under each "tier" as I served.
It didn't collapse since each "tier" was only 3" tall and it was pound cake, but it was so stupid to try to serve that thing.
Maybe the "caker" had worked for a bakery or something? Whatever.
Be a good person and just tell her how to use the cake boards. Why purposely watch somebody fail. 
Be a good person and just tell her how to use the cake boards. Why purposely watch somebody fail.
I may be wrong, but I don;t think she was purposely watching someone fail. I think(as her title states) she was TOTALLY SHOCKED. Sometimes it is hard to compose your thought, let alone a sentence when you are in this state. And a tactful sentence is almost impossible! Have you ever seen a woman with her skirt hem tucked in her pantyhose? Or a guy with a used toilet paper trailer hanging out of his pants? Or a huge spinach leaf stuck to someone's tooth? What do you do? All of this is shocking and most don't know what to say or do, but you are embarrassed FOR them, and you don't want to look but they need to know, and you don't want to be the one to do it. I imagine the OP felt the same way about a stacked cake with no support frozen to "keep it's shape". It is GHASTLY! (BTW, I will go tell tell them, after I compose myself and look to see if anyone else will do it, and think of what to say, it takes a few seconds!)
Anyway, IMHO, I don't think that anyone on here deserves to have SEVERAL people come here and tell them what meanies they are. It has been said. And I really think people were joking or just being flippant.
edited because of some extra letters!
Be a good person and just tell her how to use the cake boards. Why purposely watch somebody fail.
I may be wrong, but I don;t think she was purposely watching someone fail. I think(as her title states) she was TOTALLY SHOCKED. Sometimes it is hard to compose your thought, let alone a sentence when you are in this state. And a tactful sentence is almost impossible! Have you ever seen a woman with her skirt hem tucked in her pantyhose? Or a guy with a used toilet paper trailer hanging out of his pants? Or a huge spinach leaf stuck to someone's tooth? What do you do? All of this is shocking and most don't know what to say or do, but you are embarrassed FOR them, and you don't want to look but they need to know, and you don't want to be the one to do it. I imagine the OP felt the same way about a stacked cake with no support frozen to "keep it's shape". It is GHASTLY! (BTW, I will go tell tell them, after I compose myself and look to see if anyone else will do it, and think of what to say, it takes a few seconds!)
Anyway, IMHO, I don't think that anyone on here deserves to have SEVERAL people come here and tell them what meanies they are. It has been said. And I really think people were joking or just being flippant.
edited because of some extra letters!
I think you must have missed this post and the posts from all the people agreeing with it (NOT from the OP):
maybe i'm a b@#$h but i wouldn't tell her a thing. Let her learn the hard way or let her take/pay for a class like most of us have had to do.
I think this is what people are commenting on when they say the OP should tell her about supports. I think the post I quoted above was a bit harsh and I was a little surprised to see how many (and who) agreed with it.
Did anyone notice that the OP did not say that this person did this for a business? To quote the OP: Now I know she does wedding cakes now and again for family and friends. So why not give her a little advice, especially if shes your friend?
Sorry, I wanted to let this thread die and I usually don't get involved when these discussions move in this direction. I just wanted to defend those people that you thought were calling people meanies.
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