I'm just wondering.... Has anyone ever just plain ol' forgotten to do a cake for someone?? I have...twice.

It seems that there just aren't enough hours in the day, and I got side-tracked.

The first time I forgot, it was when a good customer of mine showed up for her cake, and I didnt have one for her! I appologized profusely, and explained that I had been out of town taking care of my brother who was very ill at the time...She was very understanding, and told me not to worry about it, and she is still one of my very good customers... The second time was when I got to work one day, it kinda dawned on me that I thought I had a cake due, but had no contact number for this customer, although I remembered from my caller ID that she worked for a very large company locally...So I basically just hunted her down, and she was so surprised that I was able to figure out where she worked. I told her that If she wanted to still have the cake for 1 day later, I would do it for no charge. (Her party was a workplace baby shower.) Well, she took me up on my offer and has become one of my best customers!

A friend asked me to make a birthday cake for her daughter for a Sunday. I wrote it down but completely forgot. She showed up at my door as I was in my pj's vaccuming the house. ACK!! I asked her what time her party was and proceeded to make the cake and take it to her down the street a few hours later. Thank goodness it was someone I know. I made a bigger cake than she'd asked for just because I felt so bad.

Totally embarrassing but she loved it!
KimAZ

Can't say I have forgotten one yet....but close. Grad week here I had 7 cakes due and I am a home baker so I almost forgot my best friends grand babies 1st bday cake. Luckily I remembered! That is why I print my orders and put them in order on my fridge. That way when one is done I tape it to the box and the other is right in my face reminding me of what I need to do and when it is due.

Thanks for the great idea patticakesnc!

No, afraid not. I have a calendar that is carried with me constantly, and reminders that go off two days before to remind me to shop (or just plain remind). Plus, a live calendar on my website, since I'm on that a thousand times a day, I can't foresee this easily happening.

Why yes I have....In all the time I've been doing them, two years ago I missed seeing a cake scheduled on my calendar...It was a Valentine Anniversary cake....Thank God it was for a friend of mine...She walked into the shop, and announced she was there so pick it up...I had to have looked at her like she was nuts....But there it was in black and white....
She was very understanding about it....To make up for this, when it was time, I made her a tray of chocolates that she takes to an annual event she attends....You talk about wanting to crawl under a table the day this happened!!

I have allways been afraid that I would forget so I use the alarm on my cell phone and set it for the day I need to start the cake. That way I allways get a reminder.

I have allways been afraid that I would forget so I use the alarm on my cell phone and set it for the day I need to start the cake. That way I allways get a reminder.

Oh, this is also helpfull. When I set that alarm I also add the items I need to make that cake onto my shopping list which is also on my phone. I use the notepad option and as I need things I add them to the list then when in the store I delete them as I get them in the cart. Even my husband knows that if he needs something (shaving cream etc) he jsut adds it to my list. Now if I could just stop him from putiing his "personal" needs on the list all would be good.

No, but I have had nightmares that I forgot a cake! I had a dream the other night that I was 2 hours late delivering a 1st birthday cake for my neighbors and after that they hated me! It was terrible!

This is ONE of my greatest fears (of many!!). Like Jamie, I've developed a system with multiple back-ups so it'd be next to impossible to forget. I can't trust my menopausal mind to remember anything anymore, so I have several fail-safes!!

I like the clipboard system Duff has on Ace of Cakes, and I have something similar in my office so the orders are up there in my face in the order they need to happen.

One of my fears too, and yes, it happened to me the day of my grandmother's funeral. Luckily I had baked the cake, I just completely forgot to do anything else. I had to leave the wake to go finish the cake. 2 hours late, but the customer still comes back. Thank God that some of them are so easy to work with!!!

Not yet! Thankfully. But, I did have a dream once that I forgot to make a cake for a lady at wk.

Not yet either...I've had the nightmares about it, but not yet.

I have a BIG binder that I use to organize all of my orders - weddings get filed by month, and party/regular orders get filed at the front of the binder by day/week - the ones coming up first in front and so on. The binder sits on a shelf in the kitchen that I can pull out every day to see what's on the schedule.

But I do like the idea of a whiteboard to organize the week at a glance!

Nope. I also use the cell phone alarms in conjuction w/ google calender and the paper order.
For the cell phone...I mark the order for when I need to start preparing it, and 24 hours before it is due. I make sure all of my cakes are finished 24 hours in advance, just in case something comes up.

I did forget a cake bite order once. It was around Thanksgiving. The girl was very understanding and just said she would reorder for Christmas. I doubled the amount and tried to give them to her for free, I felt so bad. She still paid me (the original price) and said she hoped I would forget to make them for her again some day

Stupid question moment ~ What is a cake bite order?