When I look at all these pretty cakes, I think "Oh I'd like to do that!" And further on down I see that other people want to do them too. But then I see that people ask, "can I use your idea", or "do you mind if I try to do this?" Do y'all really mind, or do you expect that other cakers are going to use this site for ideas as well as support?

I love it when people want to use my designs, this is a friendly forum for sharing ideas, its not like we are in competition with each other. I have learned so much from everyone here, I'm sure everyone has used someones ideas at some point. I think you should always give credit to the person who gave you the ideas.

I don't mind if someone uses an idea of mine. It'd be nice if they asked, but it's not necessary. But I'd like some acknowledgement/thanks that it was my design or idea, instead of them just soaking up praise for a design of mine that was copied.

Several years ago I was at a friend's house, she had asked me to bring my cake photo albums so she could look at them. She asked if I minded if she scanned some of my pictures to use as ideas. I said "sure, as long as you give me some credit for the idea when you make the cake." I was looking thru the galleries here one day, and there was one of my ideas she had used for a cake, and lots of praise for her originality, but not one word of credit to me. Just a simple "Thank You to SugarFrosted for the idea" would have been enough. Since then I have seen it copied by others.

This is one reason I don't have any pictures posted here in the galleries.

I see a few people say thanks to others for an idea or for help or for inspiration, but not nearly often enough.

By the way, someone else saw the same cake on my website and copied the design, posted the picture here and gave no credit. It must be a good design. (No, I won't tell you which one.)

Wow ...sorry...I sound petty...

I have saved several cakes as my favorite in hopes to make them myself in the near future. This way I'll be sure to give credit where due. If anyone wants to use my ideas, GREAT!!! Why on Earth would I get offended? We all LOVE baking/decorating cakes. Although, I might not like it if someone copied one of my cakes and did a better job LOL

While the old saying that imitiation is the sincerest form of flattery may be true, I believe that giving credit where credit is due speaks for one's character. I always try to give others credit when an idea is not original to me. Now whether that idea was original to that person, I have no way of knowing. And sometimes you see so many versions of a particular design that its true origin is undetectable (unless it's a copyrighted design).

When I first fell head over heels into cake decorating I was saving images to my home computer for future references. But the first time I used one as inspiration I realized I didn't have any idea who had made it or where I had found it. Luckily I was able to find it again. But, having said that, I discovered a really cool little software application call FastStone Capture. You can download the free version here.

It's screen capturing software with editing capabilities. Instead of right clicking on an image to save it to your computer, you "capture" the image from your computer screen. Basically it lets you draw a square around the area of your screen that you want to save. This lets you capture not only the image but perhaps the description next it. Then you can add your own "caption" to the image. (You can set it up so it automatically prompts you to do this everytime you capture an image). Then you save the image and your text as an image file on your computer.

So now I draw a square around the picture then I add something like "Buttercream roses cake found on www.someoneswebsite.com" then I save it to my computer (I won't even start to explain how I create my "intelligent" file names. That's a whole other story, but feel free to PM me if you're curious).

Here's what it would look like if you downloaded and saved one of my images from Flickr. See? I don't watermark my images (I know, I know) so you have no idea of whose image it is or where you found it.



Here's what it would look like if you capture the image and added a caption to it.



The description above the picture is part of what I captured from Flickr. The text beneath it is what I added to the capture.

You have options to have the caption appear above or below your capture, you can change your font and font size, as well as font color, and you can add a border in your choice of color. There are also other features that I have not described in this post.

Now you can quickly and easily save images for inspiration and when you use one you can give credit where credit is due.

Hope this comes in handy for some of you.

UltimateCakes...i too have a bunch of cakes saved in my favs (more than 15 pages) and i made a "cake goal list" of all the cakes that i wanted to re-create that i've seen on here that i know are hard work. So far the list is of 28 cakes and i've done 13 of them since i joined CC a few months ago.

But i do try to ask the person i borrowed the design from if they mind if i copy their idea. And i give them credit and thank them for the inspiration.

i happened to stumble on someone's photo yesterday and she said she got the idea from me. i was so flattered! i've also had several pms from people, asking me how i did a certain thing and that they'd love to try it. i don't mind at all. as long as they aren't taking customers away from me, have at it!

eta, that's supposed to be private messages (PMs), not pms!

If we didn't want anyone else to make the cakes, we wouldn't post them.

I do NOT expect anyone to ask permission ... ever. I don't even lose sleep worrying about if someone gives credit or not. Yes, it's nice, and yes, it's a courteous thing to do, but I'm not going to get my knickers in a knot worrying about it.

The fact that someone wants to try to duplicate it is a very high honor.

I love it when someone wants to make a cake that I have done, to me, its the ultimate compliment. I too have recreated some cakes that I have seen on CC, but I like to mention who I got the inspiration/idea from. I agree that if you did not want for people to use your ideas/cakes then you would not post them.

I agree with everyone else. this is a site for sharing ideas so if someone wants to use anothers design for inspiration that's perfectly acceptable but you should ALWAYS give credit to the original designer. I get ticked off when I see a cake that looks familiar and the person didn't post a thank you to the original designer or at least acknowledge it was based on others designs. I think that's disrespectful.

First of all, you are one of the few people I've ever come across who can correctly spell "y'all"...so kudos to you on that!

Secondly, while I doubt anyone would copy my cakes, I would be flattered if they ever wanted to. I don't care if they ask permission. I don't care if I get credit. It would be nice to receive credit, but with so many cakes uploaded every second on this site, I doubt I'd even see the cake to notice if they gave me credit or not. Now if someone used one of my cake designs and did a better job, I might get a little upset.

indydebi, you took the words right out of my mouth!

indydebi, you took the words right out of my mouth!

how else would you spell y'all?

I agree with everyone! It's a bit like fashion design..... nothing is really new... just recycled or updated. I love it when someone asks me for advice.. and I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't recieved help from others willing to share!!!

If you don't want people to copy your cakes, don't post them. I agree with indydebi - I know that when I post my pics, I will not always get credit or permission for my ideas nor do I expect it.

I do try to ask permission to "borrow" ideas. Most folks on here are so willing to help! I haven't figured out how to link to the original cake in my comments section, so I usually just try to put the decorator's name in my comments.

I do have to say that my YEAR was made when a certain decorator from Indiana said that she was going to attempt one of my cakes (and I am sure that she will do it so much better!!!). It was an idea that I got from someone else, so I gave props to the original decorator, but I still walked around the rest of the night with a smile so big you would have thought a coat hanger was in my mouth...!!!

Thank you all for your responses. As for y'all, you are shortening the word "you" therefore, the apostrophy (sp) goes after that word. The other way people spell it is ya'll. I can't spell much else, please forgive, but G.R.I.T.S. should all know how to spell y'all, and of course, "Bless your heart."
P.S. GRITS means, girls raised in the south,

Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit!
It is so nice to see another G.R.I.T.
My mother gave me a shirt with that on it. I do just love all the amazing cakes on this site. I hope to one day aspire to have one of my cakes copied. A girl can dream can't she.

Shoot fire, not only are we G.R.I.T.S., but we're full of grit and determination as well! And, we're proud of it! : )

Now, on to the subject at hand... the thing that bugs me most is when people post a well known designer's cake (example: a Debbie Brown cake such as her Enchanted Tree) and they give no credit for the design. Then everyone falls all over themselves with compliments and the OP still doesn't say, "aw shucks, it was a Debbie Brown inspired cake." That is just a pet peeve of mine. That being said, I think it is courteous to say that you derived your inspiration from someone, or somewhere, but not always necessary because sometimes it's something you saw years ago and stored in your rectal data bank until you could pull it out and use it one day.

edited for a typo.

One of the things I have run into is there are several bakeries in our area that do not mark their photos. A bride will bring me a photo from their web site and say "I want this cake". I don't ask them where they got them from (why bother, they don't remember). I did a cake topper that a bride brought me and then discovered a few months later it was the same cake topper a friend of mine has put on their web site! I felt pretty bad, as they may have thought I stold the idea. Who has time to look at all the web sites on different bakeries and ask for permission? I also will get requests of a fondant cake and ask to do it in buttercream. Sometimes they turn out better looking! Do I write to that bakery and say Sorry, it looked better in buttercream? hahahahaha!

i and everyone else spend hours , weeks, day, months to make these cakes sketch, design and fighting with them and i would be a little insulted if you saw one of my cakes and didnt wana use the idea or borrow a techinque or at least get another idea from looking at my cakes we spend long nights dreaming up cakes to impress and inspire each other! so please (when i put up pics!) used my ideas

I recently had my very first request from someone to copy one of my cakes. I scared the heck out of my husband when I shreaked, "OH MY GOD. I HAVE ARRIVED!!! Someone actually wants to copy one of my cake." A very happy day of my cake baking life, indeed.

I so agree - I have been told that to be copied is the highest form of flattery and admiration. I too am thrilled to have been copied already. Please be my guest. Dusty