I am new to cake business and i had a last minute order last weekend for a birthday cake. The decorations went fine ...later my client sent me a message that the toppers were good but no one liked the taste of the cake much and now she was left with more than half the cake

I used hershey's chocolate cake recipe for both the tiers with fondant... (i have been using this recipe for so long with fresh cream and all but yeah without fondant and all my friends and family simply love it... this was my first time that i used this recipe with fondant on it with these fillings: one tier with cream cheese filling and chocolate butter cream ... for the second tier i used french vanilla with chocolate ganache......... i just don't know where i went wrong.......... i felt so bad... and i was so confident that they will love the taste of the cake... but this has made me so confused that i now have decided to change my chocolate cake recipe for all the future orders and also not to entertain any last minute orders..... please help me understand where did i go wrong and what should i reply to her?

Honestly I hate the ream cheese filling inside the Hershey chocolate cake. It leaves an odd aftertaste. So does my family. But we love it with any other filling. Are you sure it was the cake and not the cake/filling or cake/frosting combo?

sure she's just not trying to get some money back?

well... she din't know what filling should she be having... so she left it on me... i tried my level best to give my best shot... the kind of comment she gave it made me feel as if NO ONE LIKED THE CAKE at all.... it was a cake for 60 servings.. with an 8" and 10" round cakes...

i wanted to ask her exactly that what did she not like in particular... the cake... the combo or the fillings... but my husband told me not to do so... i am sooo confused... !!!!!!!

sure she's just not trying to get some money back?



I felt the same... but the cake was not that bad the way she presented it... she said NO ONE liked the cake much......... i dunno

if she had more than half the cake left maybe she ordered too much cake and is looking to get something back. i use the hersheys cake all the time and have never had anyone say they dont like it

So, one person made a sweeping generalization that 'no one' liked the chocolate cake so you're going to change the recipe that has worked for you forever. What's wrong with that statement? And why would you trust your business practices to the word of that one customer?

First of all not EVERYONE even likes chocolate cake! If I have to make a cake that will serve quite a few people, (i.e. tiers) I will always do vanilla or other flavors because invariably there will be people who don't eat the chocolate. I always tell people if there is a question on flavor between chocolate and vanilla, go with vanilla because everyone will eat vanilla, but not everyone will eat chocolate. If someone wants a chocolate cake it's usually because it's their favorite and they don't care if they have left overs.

I can't believe your husband said not to ask why? How else could you find out what the problem was? If she has cake left over then have her bring it by and taste it yourself. Then if it's OK, remind her that not everyone eats chocolate! It's true!

Bottom line is to find out what happened first and don't panic and think the recipe is flawed. It's the go-to chocolate cake recipe for many on here and me too! And you too until you heard one negative statement. Does that mean everyone else...including your family...were wrong about your cake?
Think about it. Then find out exactly why 'everyone' didn't like your chocolate cake and go from there.

She did say that no one liked the taste correct. Lets assume that means that everyone was plated and served a piece of cake which is normally what happens when you have cake. Now she has more than half left so was she ordering double thinking people would have seconds?

Also - given that you had two different cakes both with different fillings it seems unlikely that everyone hated both.

Did you happen to have any cake scraps left over that you happened to taste? Since she has so much cake leftover you should ask her to have a piece.

I participated in the chocolate cake scratch off and baked a version of the Hershey's chocolate cake (called Wicked Wanda's). Only a VERY slight difference in the recipe. No one in my family liked it at all. I was very surprised as that cake always gets good reviews. Upon further consideration, however, it seems that those who love that cake use high quality cocoa and use sour cream as well. Anyway, my point is that there isn't a cake out there that everyone will love. My family prefers Toba Garrett's Chocolate Fudge cake as they prefer a denser, fudgy cake. I always ask now when anyone wants a chocolate cake if they want it fudgy or fluffy. If fluffy, I use the Softasilk chocolate cake recipe.

Let's assume that no one liked the cake and she does have half left. Seems suspicious to me, but ok. If that is the case, why not ask for a piece of the cake back so that YOU can determine if there is a real problem or that she just ordered more cake than she needed.

Is she asking for a refund? Has she ever tasted your cakes before? Personally, for me, I think the Hershey Choclate cake is awful and I don't know anyone who truly loves it. The best I've gotten is an "okay" for it. But if it works for you, then I am sure it is fine. The only thing I can suggest is that you insist that the client picks out every aspect of your cake, including fillings, so there is no question of the type of flavor combos they like.

That cake is a proven crowd-pleaser if baked correctly. I use it as my basic, lower priced chocolate cake. I do use sour cream, quality espresso powder, and I adjust the leavening. I have several other cakes that use more expensive chocolates. I don't like any chocolate cake, but the higher quality cakes are much better tasting to me.

When I do charity events, I use this cake because of its widespread popularity. But don't ever discount the fact that something may have gone wrong with that cake. Mistakes can happen. Ask for a piece of the cake and you can both taste and discuss the issue.

Thank you Every one... after i read all the comments here... i took the initiative and asked her (my client) that what exactly was not nice about the cakes' taste ... she thanked me for giving the cake to her on time and said that the cake itself was nice but she din' t like the filling and frosting... so now i know where have i gone wrong... i told her that i will for sure improve my work in the future...

Now i feel so much relieved..........

For the frostings i used Edna's butter cream recipe