I just saw your picture - I can't believe they did that to your cake. I would have been SO UPSET - especially after seeing how the bottom layer cracked like that, and you KNOW it's because they put it on that uneven chair and just let it sit without a second thought.

I am so sorry for you!!

Hate to say that their are people out there like that but there is. Most people will say thank you or something with a business transaction but their are people that were not raised that way and think that there is no need to say thank you. I say thank you when Im at a drive up window getting fast food, but that is just me. Not everyone is going to act that way. Like Cathy said, you need to treat it like a business transaction. Definetly get things in contract form because if you dont, that will be the one time that you will be kicking yourself for not doing it. And like she said, she can come back and say that the cake didnt hold up, etc. so she isnt going to give you the t-shirts in return. If you had a written contract stating that the cake "shall be placed on a stable table" and that "you are not liable for damages due to improper treatment/placement of the cake" she has no leg to stand on then. Whether it be your neighbor, your brother inlaw (which usually family is the worst of all of them on doing something like this), you need to get it in writing. Im so sorry that this happened to you and hopefully you can take it as a learning experience from it. I hope all works out for you and future ventures!

[quote="gatorcake"]

They didn't pay for it. She did it as a trade that has not taken place yet. And yes I would expect a compliment or at least a thank you for doing this as a result of that.

Cake is not air conditioning repair. It's an art form that usually elicits a response when received...good or bad. To me if they say they love it, wonderful. If they say they don't, you fix it. If they say nothing, there may be cause for concern and then it's time to ask. If they say it's fine, then they can't come back later and say it's not what they wanted. It's all in your expectations. If you expect nothing, then that's usually what you get.

And whether this was a trade or purchase or what, I just know that if I was a guest at the place where my cake was, I would make damn sure it was going to be in a place where it was safe and not falling apart--I don't care if it technically was 'theirs' or not! If someone gave me a cake for a party and I knew they were going to be there, I wouldn't stick it haphazardly on a chair where it wouldn't get noticed or eaten! What disrespect! I mean if they obviously didn't care where it went, then they wouldn't be too upset if someone put it where it was safe.

Sure, if she hadn't been there she never would have known about it...but she was...and to me she was perfectly within her rights to move it where it belonged, and IMO she should have!

I saw the photo and must agree that it's a lovely cake! As are all your cakes.
Since you say the "grandma" made the deal with you, I'm wondering if there may be any family "issues" with or between the grandma and someone in the family. Unfortunate, but you know how that is....Just a thought...

That is a hurtful thing they did not only to you, but to the person that ordered it in this case being the grandma. If your transaction goes through, you could try, very carefully and gingerly tp broach the subject with her and see where it goes.
I'm sure there is an explanation to this baffling puzzle, that would interest us all, at least it would me anyway!

Good luck and don't take it too seriously, I have a feeling this has nothing whatsoever to do with you or your beautiful cake!

[quote="carmijok"]

ITA. Very well said.

I'm sorry about all this. I don't know what I would have done in that situation. Did you ever see that episode of Ace of Cakes where Geoff made the jeep grooms cake? After he set it up the groom and some of his buddies went all ape sh*t and massacred the thing right in front of him. He was really upset by it all and so were all the other decorators in the shop and Duff. So that whole its their cake they can do whatever to it and you need to grow up and deal with it attitude isnt really fair. Its cake. You expect people who order cake to eat it. Not throw it in a chair, not wear it as a hat, not tear it apart with their bare hands and eat it like animals etc. Especially such a nice cake and if Im seeing the pictures correctly it looks like it was a first birthday cake. Thats a pretty important event and the first birthday cake is usually one of the significant elements of the party. To just throw it in a chair like it didnt matter? And then invite the decorator who created it to the party to see it like that and blow them off? Monumentally rude.

Bartering sometimes works in your favor and sometimes not. We own a technology business and a rental business. We had a contractor who needed some work done on his company network and we had a wall in one of our rentals that needed some big holes repaired. We figured that while our work would be worth more then his we REALLY didnt want to mess with trying to repair those hole ourselves so we worked out a trade, we fix his network snags and he fixes the holes. We did our work but he didnt. He did come out and put some mud over the holes (which were way to big for that) and tried to sand it down and when the mud cracked and fell out he disappeared and stopped answering our phone calls. There was no contract so there wasnt anything we could really do to go after him. Lesson learned though.

I hope you get your shirts and they are exactly what you want. I always like to think positively but considering how awful they treated your cake Im not holding my breath about how far youll get with those shirts though. You need to get on that though.

I totally agree with carmijok if it were my cake I would have picked it up and either go ahead and put it in a safe place or ask where I could put it because it was not safe where it was. She is the cake lady so she was well within her right to take care of the cake. And I would have felt hurt because these items were designed to get a reaction out of people and these people were her friends (she was a guest at the party) they should not have treated her like that.

On another note I made a cake plus thirty cupcakes for a co-worker recently (she paid for ingredients, I wasn't working there that long) and I put great detail into the cake but when she came to collect it she said "let me see it" and then she closed the lid NO REACTION!! I wasn't hurt (I knew I did a good Job but my taste may not have been hers) but I was a bit put off so I ASKED "would you like me to add/remove/change anything?" and she said "no its good" and i could not tell if she was telling the truth or not though I left it at that. Come Monday morning I asked "was the bachelourette pleased" she said "yes thank you" still very cold. I never spoke of it again. (and she never spoke to me again and tries to get me fired) About 2 months later someone delivered her flowers and I was all excited when the guy came in so I called her to collect them personally, the delivery guy put them behind his back and then pulled them out in an attempt to suprise her.. LOL and again no reaction and I could tell the delivery man wasn't used to that. LOL . A few months later I brought cake for everyone in the office including her and all of a sudden she started talking about the cake i made for her and how pretty it was, that everyone loved it, I should be doing this for a living. I'm very talanted all of that. Then she never spoke to me again. LOL... Very weird. Anyway sorry for the loooooong comment.

Thank you everyone for your kind words, I guess sometimes thats all we need to feel a little better, just someone who understands

That's rough to see it being treating so shoddily, but please come up for air and use paragraphs and punctuation!