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dkelly
Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Aug 16, 2008
Posts: 3663
Location: Red Sox Nation
Birthday: Nov 16
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 Posted:
Mon Oct 26, 2009 5:56 am |
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How would you deal with this?
Have you ever been at an event/wedding where you've made the cake, given the venue a cutting chart and then sat there as they served "paper thin" slices of your cake?
I ask because this happened to me this past weekend.
I gave the venue coordinator a detailed cutting guide and told her that there was extra cake so be generous with the slices (I made 200 servings there were only 112 at the reception, but my niece wanted extra servings so they'd have leftovers for the "after party" at their home).
When the servers started bringing out the plates with the cake slices they were about 1/2" thick instead of the standard 1". I'm really upset about this, it made it look like there wasn't enough cake provided.
At the end of the reception I told my sister (MOB to be sure to get the rest of the cake because there was no way they cut it all based on those slices that were served.
Turns out that 3 tiers of the cake were not cut, they served 112 slices from the 14" cake alone. 
Here's my question......do I call the venue to discuss this issue with them? I'm just wondering if they "skimp" on the cake slices all the time.
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tbittner
Frequent Member
Joined: Mar 13, 2006
Posts: 444
Location: Mentor, OH
Birthday: Oct 01
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Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:19 am |
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I would call. I had the same thing happen to me last weekend. I did a cake for my cousin's reception and was told the caterer would cut and serve it. Great, as I hate doing that part!! I turned around after she started and she was cutting wedges out of the 8" tier! I politely went up to her and suggested she cut it into the 1"x2" squares as shown in the diagram I gave her! The beginning pieces looked terrible but at least it tasted great! She also left 1/2 the bottom tier becase she cut the peices too small. Oh well, I was still greatful I did not have to cut it.
Tracy |
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jillmakescakes
Frequent Member
Joined: Jun 04, 2008
Posts: 447
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Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:22 am |
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I'd suggest making an appointment to sit down with the service manager to discuss this in person.
As a cake professional, it is a valid concern and you can simply present this as an observation. Then, go on to explain why this is such a disservice to the guests. If you are so inclined, you could offer to host a 'training seminar' to show their staff how to cut the cake.
I'm thinking that if you had already given them a serving chart and it was ignored, a phone call will get the same treatment. |
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adven68
Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Jul 06, 2005
Posts: 2666
Location: BKLYN
Birthday: May 13
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Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:40 am |
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Yes, this happens all the time to me as well. The worst scenario was once I delivered a cake for 200 people, but instead of serving each guest, they placed the cake at the dessert bar as part of the "Venetian hour". The client complained to me the next day that "people weren't eating the cake". Less than half of it had been cut.
well, DUH!!
If you put a cake in the middle of 50 other desserts, including candy apples, pastries, cotton candy, ice cream.....what do YOU think is going to happen?
Meanwhile, I had advised the maitre'd to serve it....not my problem that he didn't.
I also have had the same issue with being able to see thru the cake slices, they were cut so thin. It's pretty embarrassing when you are actually a guest, becasue, as the OP said....the other guests think that I didn't provide enough cake. |
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cfao
Regular Member
Joined: Mar 29, 2007
Posts: 156
Location: massachusetts
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Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:52 am |
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I have had this happen also. When the daughter of my husband's boss got married, she had her wedding at a hall I do most of the cakes for. I made the cake much larger than needed and told them to cut the slices larger than usual. When we got our slices of cake served, they were 1/2" thick at best. It seems every time I deliver an evening wedding at this hall, there is always at least a tier, some times two tiers left over from the morning wedding sitting on the staff table for the waitresses to nibble on. I think some cake cutters have done this for so long that they have their own "standard size slice" that they are used to cutting and no matter what, that's how big they are going to cut them. |
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Mike1394
Forum Fanatic
Joined: Feb 20, 2008
Posts: 1836
Location: Michigan
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Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:53 am |
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I'll tell ya there aren't to many people that can actually measure by eye. I've seen it happen in every area of work. I would check just to see if they actually KNOW how big an inch is.
Mike |
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rvercher23
Frequent Member
Joined: Aug 04, 2007
Posts: 257
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Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:57 am |
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I have had this happen to me too, when I called and talked to them about it, they said that they cut it smaller because they want to make sure that everyone gets enough. I guess they think we're lying or just dont know what were talking about when we say ur cake will feed X amount of guests. |
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kakeladi
Forum SuperStar!
Joined: May 26, 2004
Posts: 6253
Location: Northen Indiana
Birthday: Aug 11
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Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:34 am |
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| jillmakescakes wrote: | | .As a cake professional, it is a valid concern and you can simply present this as an observation. Then, go on to explain why this is such a disservice to the guests. If you are so inclined, you could offer to host a 'training seminar' to show their staff how to cut the cake. |
Wow, what great advice! We should ALL take this to hart and do it. |
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indydebi
Forum Matriarch
Joined: Jul 07, 2006
Posts: 22137
Location: Indianapolis IN
Birthday: Jan 19
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Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:04 am |
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| Mike1394 wrote: | I'll tell ya there aren't to many people that can actually measure by eye. I've seen it happen in every area of work. I would check just to see if they actually KNOW how big an inch is.
Mike |
Agree. As I say frequently, most people hear "one inch" and they think "paper thin" .... it's not.
Bend your thumb. The distance from the middle of your knuckle to the end of your thumb (not the end of your overgrown or made up thumb NAIL, but the end of your actual skin covered thumb) is about 1" inch. If you show them, using the thumb-ruler, they get it.
I was at a small bridal show yesterday and I served actual slices of cake ... 1x2x4. I took the opportunity to educate every mother, every bride adn every vendor ".....this is a normal wedding serving. This is what a 1x2x4 piece looks like, which is plenty of cake for a dessert size serving." I used my thumb to show them it was 1". More were impressed with the thumb-thing than they were with the cake!  |
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7yyrt
Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Mar 25, 2006
Posts: 3674
Location: Pacific Northwest
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Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:54 am |
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| cfao wrote: | | It seems every time I deliver an evening wedding at this hall, there is always at least a tier, some times two tiers left over from the morning wedding sitting on the staff table for the waitresses to nibble on. |
This part caught my eye...
What are they doing eating someone else's cake?
No wonder they cut the slices small, they want to eat it. |
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indydebi
Forum Matriarch
Joined: Jul 07, 2006
Posts: 22137
Location: Indianapolis IN
Birthday: Jan 19
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Mon Oct 26, 2009 9:01 am |
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| 7yyrt wrote: | | cfao wrote: | | It seems every time I deliver an evening wedding at this hall, there is always at least a tier, some times two tiers left over from the morning wedding sitting on the staff table for the waitresses to nibble on. |
This part caught my eye...
What are they doing eating someone else's cake?
No wonder they cut the slices small, they want to eat it. |
I see this mentioned on here once in awhile and I'm always shocked ..... I understand not boxing up leftover food (health dept regs) but leftover cake always goes home with the bride or bride's family. |
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cfao
Regular Member
Joined: Mar 29, 2007
Posts: 156
Location: massachusetts
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Mon Oct 26, 2009 9:08 am |
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7yyrt,
This hall does 3-5 weddings every weekend, so they alway have plenty of left over cake. I just wish they would make the servings larger for the wedding guests, a lot of cake either gets taken home by the servers or thrown out at the end of the weekend. I don't understand why they just won't use more of the cake, they know there's always plenty to go around. To cut and serve a real slice of cake would reflect better on them also, considering the cake is part of their package. |
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dkelly
Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Aug 16, 2008
Posts: 3663
Location: Red Sox Nation
Birthday: Nov 16
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Mon Oct 26, 2009 11:14 am |
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Thanks so much for all of the responses.
The cake was taken back to the kitchen to cut, so unfortunately by the time I was served my slice they had already cut all they needed and were serving it. I mentioned it to the venue coordinator and she agreed that they were cut too thin.
I am going to phone the manager this week...I know they are closed on Mondays.
The thing that bothered me the most was that the cake was the actual dessert.
All of my tiers are 4 layers of cake and 3 layers of filling like many of yours are.
Well some people at my table barely had the 4th layer of cake because not only were they so thin, but they were not evenly cut (1/2" tapered down to about 1/4") ughhh....
I'm just so angry about this and it makes me wonder what happens to the wedding cakes that I don't get to see get served?
Well, thank goodness most of the guests were at the after party, so we were able to serve them another piece of cake if they wanted it. |
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cfao
Regular Member
Joined: Mar 29, 2007
Posts: 156
Location: massachusetts
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Wed Oct 28, 2009 7:15 am |
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Deb,
You're right to wonder about the cakes that you don't see what happens to them, which for me is 99% of them. I had a cake this summer that the bride & her mother spent a lot of time on the design, encorporating entwined hearts and a certain scroll, etc., all done with a #2 tip. For some reason, she had left the cake top (one of those acrylic squares) with the florist instead of myself or the hall. When I delivered the cake, the florist wasn't there yet, so I told them I would be back in 20-25 minutes to place the top since I had brought a base for it to sit on and place the 2 single roses she wanted on each edge of the square. I went & delivered another cake to a nearby hall & returned to find the florist had placed dozens of full blown roses around each tier, pushing 2"-3" stems through the design of the cake. I almost cried when I saw what he had done. There were no spaces between the roses, just a huge ring around each tier. I spent the next hour trying to save what I could while he shrugged his shoulders saying he doesn't usually flower cakes, so he had extra roses and just started placing them. This was the first time in 20 years I have ever raised my voice at another vendor, he totally hid and destroyed the design on this cake. I then get an email from the mother asking why I had ruined her daughter's cake by pushing all those roses into it. I wrote back I hadn't placed any flowers on her cake, I took off about 3 dozen and had to leave some because of how badly the florist had ruined the cake design. My husband said what if you hadn't gone back at all, you would have gotten this email and wondered to yourself what flowers, that cake had no flowers on it. It really made me wonder what the hall or other vendors such as florist really do to our cakes once we leave them off. I always take a picture before I leave & sent the mom over a couple of the cake intact before the florist touched it. |
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