I am kind of at an impasse. My portfolio of cake pictures is NOT impressive, not because I dont do good work, but because I dont have a lot of them. I am really bad about not taking pictures of cakes that I dont like , and I didnt even take pictures of the cakes until last year.

Now I usually have people who know exactly what they want when they order from me, or they leave the design up to me, so its no big deal. I have this woman who wants to order a cake, but she doesnt really sound like she knows what she wants. She said polka dots, I guess, cause that is what the mother-to-be's bedding has on it.

Now heres my dilemma, do I tell/show her what I can do with pictures of cakes that arent my own (Of course I would tell her that they are not my own creations, and explain that I cannot replicate exactly, that it would be my own interpretation, etc. ), or do I just go along with the polka dots that she suggested?

Which is the more PC thing to do in the caking world?

I'd show her examples of other polka dot cakes, if she wants to see them, or you could draw up some examples of what you can do, which might encourage her to add to the design or get more specific.

I had a request like that last year... they wanted an exact shade of blue, but couldn't tell me what it was or send me a pic of the item I needed to match, and they wanted the cake to have polka dots, like one in a movie, but not JUST like the one in the movie... Finally ended up with a very simple two-tier with brown and blue dots (had to mix the blue on site and pipe on the dots, when I saw the napkins. Sheesh!)

I would hand draw her some ideas, and also maybe suggest to her that she could search herself for a design. I know in the past when I have had pain in the tushie customers I actually had them draw what they wanted. Maybe ask her where the baby bedding is located, and search the store site online, so you can get a better idea, and then maybe the idea will hit you like a ton of bricks. I also don't think there is any harm in showing her others pictures and tell her to get an idea from those. Of course it would never be the exact same, heck I have done the same design cake myself a few times, and always seems to come out different. Good luck don't know if this helped or not!

I think as long as you have some picture of your own work to show her your skill level, then there's nothing wrong with showing her pictures of cakes that other people have done. Just make sure that you make it clear that these are pictures you got from the internet, not your own work. And tell her that yours would not look exactly like these cakes, they're just for inspiration. Oh, and don't post other peoples cakes on your website....big no-no. In an individual consultation, I can't imagine anyone having a problem with that, though. If they do, I kind of think they need to get over themselves.

I would never EVER post someone else's picture on my website. Just gives a bad impression all the way around. I am kind of weird about sending her someone else's picture anyways, but then I thought wait a minute, isnt that how MOST brides have their wedding cake done? They find a picture of what they like and then take it into the designer, designs something either close to the cake, or varies the design according to the bride's request.

I am kind of doing the same thing but in reverse. I just wasnt sure if this was good business practice or kinda on the tacky side...

I do custom sketches for just about every cake I do - mostly because I hate to EVER make the same cake twice. I scan them in and email to the customer - 2 or 3 choices after I get the basic direction from them. Sometimes I grab little pieces from other cakes, just a close up of a particular techinque if it is something that won't really show up in the sketch. I have shown pics that do not belong to me to a few people for inspiration - making sure to tell them they are not my cakes and will not look exactly the same, they are just supposed to be a jumping off point.