I think that's a brilliant idea Ella.....and don't forget to send follow up accounts with late fees, each month for the next six months. I would love to see the look on her face seeing an account for a design fee!

A#2821 of 282311 hours ago

[@]sweeTzippy[/@]SweetTzippy

Quote:

Originally Posted by ale122809 

I.was.pissed! All I could respond to her was, "Yes I am also sorry you wasted my time and basically stole my design. Next time shop around before wasting my time." Of course this was my way of ending the friendship, I'm way too irritated with her. And also thanks to her I also now require a deposit on ALL my orders.

Ugh!!

How interesting that so called "friends" feel they are allowed to treat us this way!

In my short experience as a home baker/cake designer I have found out that strangers or people that come to me by "word of mouth" tend to be more considerate than those "friends/acquaintances".

On the other hand, ale122809, did you not have an "inner" voice screaming "TROUBLE" while taking that order from the beginning or even the 1st time she contacted you to lower the price of the cake?  I think with time we do know in our inner core when a client is going to be problematic and we are better off just rejecting them from the start.

No, no gut feeling that this would go south....i guess I just assume friends (especially long time friends) wouldn't do such a thing but clearly I was wrong. When she changed her budget the first time I guess I understood where she was coming from only because before I started making/decorating cakes I was "that customer" that didn't see how much went into baking and often time asked the gal that made my cakes for options to lower the price when the cake I needed was more than anticipated. I didn't do it a lot but she got a lot a business from me that she'd work with me sometimes. Now I just feel bad for it because there really is a lot of work in cake decorating and I'm so grateful for her never complaining, at least not to my face. Lol. So that is why I try to be easier on friends and family but this was just ridiculously over the top for me.

A

A

Hah! Love it! I can only hope that people who ask this question are avoiding gluten by choice, and it's not medically necessary. I saw someone ask a local artisan bread baker on Facebook if they have any gluten free items on their menu! Apparently people don't realize that flour in a bakery kitchen is EVERYWHERE! lol! :shock:

AAha, an area where it's easier to be a home baker than have premises! I have two coeliacs who regularly order from me, both highly sensitive (one carries an epi pen) but as I can clean everything and ensure there are no contamination areas with no problem I can accommodate. I guess that's just not feasible in a large working bakery.

My cousin is a cake decorator in Tennessee.  She did a wedding cake for a couple.  The bride told my cousin under no circumstances did she want fondant on her cake.  She and my cousin agreed on SugarVeil,  My cousin worked on this cake and was having all kinds of humidity issues with the SugarVeil.  She finally gave up on the SugarVeil, used her best judgement and went with fondant decorations (did not cover the cake but made fondant decorations).  The bride boasted about how beautiful the cake was, talked about how much she, the groom, and the guests loved/devoured the cake, posted pictures on Facebook, the whole nine yards.  My cousin told me the bride called a few days later and demanded her money be returned to her.  She said she specifically told my cousin absolutely no fondant, she was completely embarrassed, and did not like the cake.  My cousin told the bride that if she wanted her money back, she would have to bring the entire cake back . . . 

I have a friend who runs a cake decorating shop.  She did a royal iced wedding cake (not so common these days)  And after the wedding the bridal party all said how pleased they were etc. etc.   Eight months LATER - the bride, groom and her parents pitched up at the shop with a tier - saying that the icing was too hard to cut and that they wanted their money back.   My friend took the offending cake into the kitchen got an ordinary knife and cut through it like butter.  Personally I would have shown them the door - but forever being kind she still offered them a discount on their next purchase.  I do not believe they returned.  Perhaps they realised they wanted money for a holiday or something and thought that the cake maker was the best person to try and swindle it out of!  Anyway they did not win.  But you cannot believe the cheek of some people.  Still work by the saying - whatever goes around comes around, so they will get their just rewards somehow.  Kx

Sorry cakecoachonline but I think that saying was just invented to make people feel better.  Don't think it applies to real life.

AHmm. Could always use cornstarch. Or arrowroot. Or just reduce the jus until it doesn't need thickeners (but by that point, it would probably be like sucking on a bouillon cube).

Note: We're within 200 posts of the 3000 mark.

I'm looking to start doing wedding cakes, and this very nice lady contacted me with a modest budget, so I did two designs for her both using some fake tiers so she'd have an impressive looking beast of a cake though it wasn't for many people. So she says yes, comes over and just talks the whole time about unrelated stuff, I'm sorry I thought she was going to pay a deposit and actually book it... anyway I chase her up two weeks later to be told "oh, I was meaning to call you, my friend has offered to make the cake for free" ! It felt like she wanted me to say "Oh right! Well in that case, I will also offer to do it for nothing!?!" AAAHH! That's me done!

APerhaps she was simply having trouble finding a tactful way of telling you you'd lost the gig. (I do my best to assume the best of people, unless they go out of their way to make that impossible.)

A"do my best to assume the best about people unless they go out of their way to make that impossible" priceless, james

Well, the lady definitely followed the "not saying something to the baker" on that one.

But no one is required to read minds.  There's no guessing or mind reading in baking for someone else.  If you don't have it in writing, or a deposit confirmed, it really never happened.

Who, What, When, Where, Why, How, How much   etc. etc.  Flavor, Color, Theme, & servings.  If the conversation steers from here, it's going the wrong way. (Like John Candy in Planes, trains, & automobiles.)

[another driver is trying to alert them that they're driving on the wrong side of the highway]

Neal:  He says we're going the wrong way...

Del:  Oh, he's drunk. How would he know where we're going?]

Hang in there Edible Art Co, and be glad that you didn't fall for the old "give it to me free" story.  It could be a straight up falsehood. I'm not sure what it means when you said ""That's me done!""  I hope that you just mean that you're done with her.  Your cakes are too nice to not charge appropriately and confidently for them.

Thanks guys, it's just frustrating to be super helpful to people (as I'm sure you know) and then they don't want you anyway... don't worry, I'm only done ranting! Onwards and upwards :)

AOmg this has also happened to me. I had a girl keep asking me if i would tell her how to male a filling of mine and she was so persistent that i had to get real with her lol

They never ate the cake....

I made a drum cake for my a friend to give to her boyfriend in May.  (He's a drummer).  We visited them this past weekend and I was looking for something to nibble on.  I see a tupperware cake box on the counter and peek in.....What????  There is the cake I made for his birthday.  My friend shrugged her shoulders and said, "He couldn't bear to cut it." 

Of course the fondant was hard as a rock and the cake still looked pretty good.  It had settled about 1/4 of an inch.  Wonder what that thing looks like on the inside.  I keep thinking about that scene in Christmas vacation when Clark cuts the turkey and dust flies from the inside. 

Actually, something like that happened to me, with the cake I baked for my parents' 55th wedding anniversary.

You may recall, it was a 9x13 sheet cake with a speed limit sign on it (what could possibly be more obvious for "55"?), via edible printing, served in-pan. When we had to cancel a visit from the neighbors, the evening of the anniversary, I cut around the sign, hoping that the neighbors would make it the next evening. That continued for a few days. Eventually, after a visit from the neighbors was no longer an issue, and the foil covering the cake in the refrigerator had stuck to, and ripped, part of the decoration, I went on my fall vacation. A week later, the (by then stale) cake was still in the refrigerator, the undecorated portions cut away and eaten, the decorated portion severely damaged by the foil cover, but completely uncut and uneaten.

It's a CAKE, for pity's sake! You don't eat it, it'll eventually go bad!

wonder if anyone had heard this before  ;A customer walks in and ask: how much is a 6" cake? what about 8"?then what of a 12"? I tell them the individual prices, next I hear the total of the 3 cakes, then for the shocking part, please put them on each other to form a 3 tier cake.

 my reply; oh ok, i'll make your individual cakes, when you get home you can go stack them yourself

When asking for a budget to stay within for a cake I am to decorate "however I want and whatever she will think is cute" for a family member she replies "just keep it at a minimum but still make it cute." agh!!!

I've read through some of these posts, they are way too funny!

This one is great. After I finished my burberry purse cake (in my birthday album), it literally took me hours and hours to do the detail work and stripes and paint with gin, a few coats. So I was so happy to be done, elated. And my friend who was playing a video game (he is not in the business) takes a look and says, "oh wow, great job. I'd buy that for 35$!" Buzz kill anyone? I was like, you are soooo off. 

A woman I met recently messaged me on Facebook the other day asking about making a DJ table cake for her husband for his birthday. "The only places I can find that do that kind of thing are like DC cakes, and they charge as much as a wedding cake for that crap!"

...

...

I told her that "they" charge that much because the hours and materials that go into it are huge. But that I would quote one out for her when I got around to it (she's in no rush). I almost don't want to bother... but then again, I kind of want to see her reaction when I give her my quote.

Only just today I had a woman contact me via Facebook of course! For this cake, in fondant, for 50 people, with "Good Luck in Texas" written on it and she told me she was only willing to pay $50. She also needs if for next weekend, and that I would have to drive to her house and as she put it "I'm assuming you won't be charging for that either since its such a big order"...

 No problem, I'll just wave my wand...needless to say no cake for you lady. 

A

For $50, I would deliver to her house. At least , I'd do a drive by, and throw some ingredients out the window in the direction of her front lawn. You know, kind of like the paper delivery guy, but with a lot less love. I might even toss in a hand drawn map of Texas, because $50 is such a big order, it deserves a special bonus.....

"i'm only willing to pay..."

that cracks me up. though it sometimes works, i'm thinking you have to get somewhere closer to the actual price.