I really love making cakes as a hobby and about 30% of my cakes are designed from a fresh idea made by myself. However the other 70% if from people show me a picture and saying "I want the cake to look EXACTLY like that."  Does anyone else feel skittish about copying other artist's design? What do you say when your customer shows you a picture and wants you to copy?

Thank you for any feed-back. 

I say I cannot copy another decorator's work exactly. Everyone works differently. But it will look very similar.

Thats a good idea @ElizabethsCakeCreations ‍I am going to give that a try! I have a customer looking to get a baby shower cake in a few weeks. It is a small cake (8 inch round) however the flowers on the thing are itty bitty (some smaller than a pinky nail.) I cant find the cutter or mold for them anywhere and I hate to break it to the customer that the cake is not going to look "exactly" like the picture. 

Absolutely tell people you can't copy another decorator's design exactly. I can't even copy my own work sometimes! But then again I rarely get the chance to make the same cake twice.

Definitely what Elizabeth said.  And pastrybaglady too.  I seldom can copy my own designs EXACTLY.  There is always something different about them.  

Thank you all for the advice. That is definitely true! I haven't had the gift of being able to make the same cake twice, but I think it would probably not look exactly like the first one either! I try to make at least one thing different on a cake than what the original design had. I think I need to just start stating that in the beginning that the design wont be exactly alike. 

What they said.

Also, the reason you're getting requests like this is that most people have zero ideas about what is possible with cake design, so when they see one on Pinterest or google, they get all excited and want their very own version of "that cake".     The downside to this is that many of the cakes seen on Pinterest or google are exquisite cakes done on  styrofoam cake dummies which cannot be eaten and which were created for a photo shoot.    The person handing you the photo has no idea that many of these are FAKE cakes; they just want their own piece of "cake art".

That is a great point @Apti ‍ and most of the time customers are shocked when you tell them "That's not real, cake can never do that." LOL! 

you asked if anyone feels skittish about copying and i have a little different opinion -- i'm not skittish -- it's how it's always gone with cake deco -- as a pro it's what's required -- copying is a nothing more than another skill -- it's good for businesses -- there'd be a lot of reasons to acquire this skill like for production bakeries and for any special client who want a replica of their wedding cake from x number of years back or for tons of reasons like because that's how people often order cake --

if some of us don't want to offer that to our clients no problem-o but it's a viable portion of work for some of us -- it's not copycatting or copycaking -- it's just how it goes

@Miss.Reynolds - I am a member of a large Cake Club that has a show each year.  The rules stipulate that for sculpted cake entries:   "Entry must be at least 50% reproducible in cake".     Many of the Pinterest "best-of-the-best" cakes that are sculpted use armatures and all sorts of piping, lights, etc. to get the final effect; just like many of the Cake Boss TV show cakes that light up and whiz around.

I agree with K8memphis above on the copying issue.  As a hobby baker, I get nearly all of my ideas from looking at photos on the internet, then using some or all of the elements. 

That is a really good point @-K8memphis ‍ That puts me more at ease. And I do love the crazy cakes @Apti ‍  and try to make mine a little more "unique" each time acustomer says the want something. 

"puts you more at ease" thank you -- what a compliment -- 

best to you 

I'm another hobby baker. I have to agree with all of the above.

If I'm asked to reproduce a cake in a photo I try to sus out from the person exactly what elements they like in that cake, as well as any other themes, colours, mood, styles, etc they would like to portray. I explain that, whilst I can be inspired by other cakes, I can't copy someone else's work. I may suggest ideas I have, based on our discussion. I always ask for creative licence and no-one has refused me that. Of course, it may be different when it's a business transaction.

I didn't think I would ever duplicate somebody else's cake either until I was actually asked.  Then I couldn't help myself because the cake was so unique and there were elements about it that I really wanted to learn ... and so I said yes.  I have since done one other and I find that I really love the challenge.  I always give the original cake designer credit and say that the customer requested it.  I also let the customer know on the front end that it will be my version of the cake so if there are some minor variations they are prepared.  Out of the last 20 or so orders I have done, I have only gotten 2 orders for duplicates.

nancylou -- you said it exactly -- i love the challenge too -- it's fun -- it stretches you out beyond your borders in a good way -- exactly what you said

Wow. @Nancylou ‍ that makes perfect sense! 

I HATE challenge.....  My last challenge was a tiered square wedding cake that nearly destroyed me.  Wanna do easy sh*t from this point on..... (little teeny tiny lol here)

Hahaha, you are cracking me up @Apti ‍.  Yeah, the second one I did was a 3 tier square cake that was originally done for a magazine cover a couple of years ago.  It involved triangles and gold leaf - both a first for me.  Very scary, but I invited Mr. Darcy along and everything turned out just fine.

@-K8memphis ‍, and @Miss.Reynolds ‍, here's to embracing the challenge.

you made me laugh, apti -- i feel yah!

nancylou, high five 

 lol! @Apti ‍ . If I had a dollar for every challenge that nearly destroyed me I would probably have a down payment for a bakery! @Nancylou ‍ I accept the cheers! lol  

I'm also apprehensive at times...but I've learned so much by trying to duplicate really great work. Whenever possible I like to take the client's favorite features in the cake and design my own. Most repeat customers give me a theme and I do what I want. I love those!

High five back to you Kate ... one day we will have to do that in person neighbor.

Yep, I totally can relate to those frustrations as well - some were even tear filled.  Now, I try to leave enough room in my cake week schedule for those times when an extra day would have made all the difference.

@Nancylou -  Ha ha ha..... "an extra day would have made all the difference".      

Uh....yeah.....

You think cake muggles have any idea that we wish for an entire extra day?????

Oh lord no! @Apti ‍ They seriously think a cake can be done in 2 hours with eight men figures, two cars driving off the cake, a box half open with water inside, and "happy birthday kiddo, we love you" airbrushed across each tier! 

Oh my why not?!?!?   Did anyone see (an old) Amazing Cakes segment this a.m.?  The CakeGirls did a "pantry" shower cake w/bags of sugar and flour; eggs and who knows what else pouring out of aspilled bowl on top w/a bag of bread on the side - all in about 10 minutes - YAH HAHAHAHA!!!

I say just as Elizabethscakecreations says "I will not and can not copy another bakers cake exactly" I always put my own twist on it and I'll try making it look similar though ☺