For the record I do cakes for friends and family and try not to do "stranger" cakes as I do not want to deal with the assorted Bridzillas, MOB and the people that over spent and now find numerous reasons why you should give them their $$$ back. I'm still attempting to improve my skills with each cake I do and know it!

My daughter's MIL who I usually do cakes for neglected to call me as she knows I like to have at least a weeks notice and decided to try out a new bakery in her little town at the last minute. She was in such utter shock and disbelief that she paid the $60 for these 2 cakes and left the shop, fuming the entire weekend over the obvious lack of decorating skill and was completely embarrassed at the party. All of the women in this family try to outdo each other when it comes to the cake - it is a huge deal.

When my daughter showed me these pics, at first I was shocked that someone would consider them sell-able and then I felt pity for the shop owner as she should hone her skills before offering decorated cakes. I have toyed with the idea of going to the shop with these pics and offering her some help but not sure if I should butt in or not. My DH says to let nature take its course but I feel that she is not going to last long at this skill level. Any advice?? Should I leave it alone??

I'd leave it alone. Her skills (or lack thereof) will stand on their own. Let that be the testimony, not you.

Trying to attach the pics - not sure what I am doing wrong. I will upload them into my gallery. They will be the white roses on chocolate cake and the "football" cake. The most recent 2 cakes posted. After awhile I will delete them from my gallery.

I would have your daughter encourage her MIL to contact the shop herself. We don't know what the situation is or even who decorated the cake, it could have been a kid working for minimum wage with no decorating experience. In any case, she may even get some or all of her money back.

I think the bakery would be much more receptive to a customer complaining than a competitor...and I'm not sure if you're licensed or not but you could face retaliation from the new bakery.

At the very least either your daughter or her MIL should post the pictures along with a review on Yelp so future customers won't be disappointed.

Not sure about the family dynamics but it seems like something that needs to get worked about between your daughter and her MIL. I'd stay out of it.

I know I should stay out of it but I feel so sorry for her. She is an older woman and she decorated the cakes as she asked my DD's MIL if they were okay. MIL was so stunned that she paid and left, although not happy about the quality! The write up in the local paper did not mention if she did wedding cakes or not just party cakes. I'm pretty sure MIL will just let it go and so shall I.

You know the saying... "I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole?" That applies here.

Flip the situation. Would you want someone coming into your shop, not having been the customer, no matter how nice you say it--and offering to help them fix their issues..

I know you mean well, but no way!!

I would stay out of the whole thing...do you really want to tutor someone for free? Or were you going to ask for a job? If someone opens a bakery and they don't have the skills to make cakes that someone wants to buy, that's not your problem. They can take classes or advertise to hire a decorator.

You don't really have a "dog in this fight", so walk away.

What some people consider a total wreck and absolutely unacceptable, others consider beautiful and/or perfectly acceptable. If she's in business and is doing the quality of work she is, obviously she has a customer base that is happy with her work, and that's great. If your daughter's MIL was not happy, then she herself as the customer either needs to take issue with the bakery, or she needs to just find another bakery to buy her cakes from. I say leave the poor bakery woman alone. I cannot imagine what I might say to someone coming in off the street unsolicited by me offering to fix my "decorating problem" I was perfectly unaware of. They'd probably walk out with a bowl of icing on their heads and a big slab of fondant hanging off their rear end.

"Flip the situation. Would you want someone coming into your shop, not having been the customer, no matter how nice you say it--and offering to help them fix their issues.. "



Exactly.


Not your issue...if people still buy from her, that's on them!

I am almost sure he/she is aware of his/her decorating skills.
Those cakes look like a joke.

Thanks for the input! I love this site as I know that I can always get a completely honest perspective without any emotion tied to it. I always welcome constructive comments and I always assume that other people do to. Beauty truly is in the eye of the creator and the beholder, whether it is in sync is another matter entirely. REALLY, I just feel sorry for this lady, nothing more! No other motives!

I would leave it alone.....if there is a poor level of work leaving that shop....time will take care of it.

I say to leave it alone also, your constructive criticism my be taken as criticism. Perhaps all of her work does not look like the pictures you posted and maybe the flavor more than makes up for her decorating skills, or lack of. It is nice of you to want to help however, to her it may be just butting in.
evelyn

Christeena, I am going to go completely off subject if you don't mind and ask a question. I went to look at those cakes and in the process of course looked at your cakes. Too cute btw! I LOVE the Camryn lady bug and have noticed lettering like that on many cakes. How did you make those letters? Are there cutters that do that? Probably a dumb question that I should know the answer to...

Cargen, Those are JEM Funky Alphabet Tappits. You can get them at GSA. You need to roll the gumpaste or fondant very thin, wait a couple of minutes, press and lift, then tap them out carefully! Takes awhile to get the hang of them and they can still frustrate me sometimes. Thanks for the compliment!

I Love your work, too!!!

the photos of the cakes that are 'in question' look like they are great candidates for "Cake wrecks"! Hard to believe that someone like that was able to establish any kind of business!! I doubt that she has repeat customers!!

I worked at a cake shop for a very short time, the person I worked for didn't always care about the quality of work she was doing, it was more about quantity....therefore, many of the cakes were wrong, or downright ugly! Lots of complaints from customers, and I simply didn't want to be associated with that type of business anymore, so I quit! Now, I just do cakes for family and friends, practice my own skills and try to improve on the basics....not only do I NOT make any money, I spend a ton of money making free cakes!!

I say the cakes look the amount she paid for. 60 dollars is not a lot to spend for two cakes from a cake shop.

MYOC....(mind your own cake) lol...... Let them deal with it. I don't see costumers wanting to go back to that shop again if they get cakes like that the first time around.

Did you remove them from your photos? I couldn't find them. I think you should leave this bakery alone...she may improve over time and impress you after all. Or, they will continue providing this level of skill and their customers will be the deciding votes if they remain in business. If you didn't pay for it, don't worry about it.