I know it's tough not to let them bother you; I see what I feel to be the best cake of my carreer thus far slated on pintrest at times (http://cakecentral.com/g/i/2400199/a/2401199/) and it really bugs me for a while... but then I and my wife (the customer lol) both loved it and that's all that matters in the end right :-)

OP...the 'ugly' comment was not directed personally at you...though it does feel like it I'm sure.  The person who wrote it just didn't care for your design.  I'm sure there were others who didn't love it either only they had the good taste to keep it to themselves.  You have to remember that art is very subjective, and when you put work out there for the public to view, not everyone will see the hard work behind it.   They only see the end product which may or may not strike a note with them. 

  Isn't it funny how we start second-guessing ourselves as the result of one little mean remark made by someone we'll probably never meet? 

While comments like that are not appreciated at the time, I tend to look at them as a reality check.  If we get nothing but positive feedback from everyone, how will we know to get better?  Maybe that person saw something that you didn't notice or overlooked!  Tell the truth, once you saw that comment didn't you start scrutinizing your cake to see what they could be talking about?  And didn't you start noticing things?  Others pointed some improvements out and you agreed with them.    So all in all, this mean little comment can actually be a positive for you in the long run.    You just have to remember it's not personally directed at you. 

Any artist worth his salt has been slammed by critics at some point.  So congratulations!  You're on your way!

I'm sensitive as well and something like this would really bother me but you have to take it for what it is. Nothing you make is going to please everyone. It isn't my taste but it is not even close to ugly. Maybe they have a big aversion to green, or ruffles, etc. It isn't personal at all. Saying it is ugly was rude but it just boils down to it not being their preferred style. 

I just had a huge feature done about my cakes on SF Gate, which was picked up in over 20 different online newspapers nationwide.  I was over the MOON that they chose 30 or so of my past wedding cakes!

A few days after it went live I started getting some of the most horrible comments you could imagine, from people calling them ugly, to "cake wrecks", one lady posting that churros are a better option for weddings, one person said the brides that ordered my cakes must be bridezillas, on and on.  In 20 comments I had only one positive.  I was in tears, questioning my abilities and designs, freaked out and emailed the editors asking if it was normal to have so much negativity.

They responded letting me know the gallery had been viewed over 200,000 times.  In those 200,000, only 21 people felt compelled to leave a comment and the people that DO leave those types of comments are generally trolls and people that don't have anything nice to say about ANYTHING.

And then I remembered last year when a blogger decided to post an Erica O'Brian cake on their blog.  It was a very popular cake on Pinterest, a cake that's on a million bride's inspiration boards and even ran in Brides Magazine... saying it looked like rolls of toilet paper.  Bottom line, there is always at least one hater, no matter how flawless the cake.

I wouldn't worry about it, and do NOT respond.  It's someone's personal taste and isn't open to debate, so you win nothing except looking unprofessional by responding.

Good luck! 

It was unkind of them to comment in that way when no criticism was asked for.

I think you have a beautiful covering on the cakes and I love the design on the bottom tier.

However, the other drapes/frills are not to my taste.  And, my personal taste is for paler wedding cakes (but that's just my preference!!)

Perhaps what the person on FB meant, in not quite so tactful or eloquent of ways is that it's simply not to their taste?  I've seen many, many cakes which are not to my taste, although I certainly appreciate the work and talent that's gone into them.

I actually really like that cake! I'm a green lover and the draping is very pretty. Now, I've not worked with draping before to know any flaws with it like others were pointing out, but just as an inexperienced observer I like it!

I'm a sensitive person as well, and a comment like that would really get to me, too. People can be so inconsiderate online and don't think of how what they say can affect another person.

Great job on a beautiful cake!
 

seriously, don't sweat it. everyone's taste is different. hopefully, the organizer will remove the comment because it's not helpful in any way. 

Very true: if you don't want negative comments, you probably shouldn't be publishing pictures of your cakes anywhere that invites comments. Consider cartoonist Brooke McEldowney ("9 Chickweed Lane" and "Pibgorn"). He got tired enough of dealing with a proverbial peanut gallery that he finally had GoComics disable comments on his pages.

Somewhat analogous situation: I've been working on a novel, off and on, for many years. When I had a complete (but unpolished) draft, I signed up for a novel workshop class at the local junior college (having previously taken the short story workshop class for four semesters). To say that the class's reaction to my first few chapters was harrowing would be putting it mildly. It turned out that they were a veritable minefield of "misread-bait," and that virtually every "protagonist kisses baby" passage was being misread as "protagonist kicks dog." But it made me a better, more discerning writer, and made my protagonist much less of a spoiled brat.

I don't think anyone is naive enough to actually think having a publicly published photo means you will never receive negative feedback. Doesn't mean you have to like it though, lol.

I've been lucky, (I also publish very little of my work), but every time I get a FB notification I have this moment of, "omg someone has said something bad!" haha

I just don't understand the mindset behind trolling, I don't expect it to stop magically for my cakes though.

It may be the color... for some people, it's just not a good color for cake and it's not an indictment on your abilities as a cake designer, it's just personal preference. Calling it "ugly" is rude and not needed, but I see nothing wrong with someone saying there's just something unappealing about it.

I had a 5 tiered spiral wedding cake back a few months ago that I got rave reviews on -- it was kind of a Mario-inspired design, with hundreds of pyramid blocks...16 hours just in making those blocks.....ugh... but I digress....) Anyway, the cake color scheme matched the wedding colors of this same shade of green, and orange, with white block pyramids. The cake was arranged in a spiral, offset way, with alternating tiers of orange and green.

The bride loved it. The mother of the bride called to tell me a few days later that it was the hit of the reception.

Meanwhile I had to bite my tongue because I HATED that cake. I hated the color scheme. I hated the alternating colors. I hated the spiral setup. And I HATed the little itty bitty squares that had me bent over for 16 hours.

It just wasn't my thing. I found it unappealing.

But the client loved it, and her guests loved it. So that's all that matters. It won't be going on the front of my portfolio book because *I* don't want to keep staring at it, like I do some of my other cakes, but there will be someone, someday who sees a photo of that cake and it will be the PERFECT cake for them.

And then I can refer them out to someone else to do it, because I don't want to spend 16 hours cutting and applying little squares ever again. I find THAT unappealing, too. :)

I think it's a beautiful cake :) A coworker of my husband said he thought my buttercream was too sweet (not knowing I had baked it) and I began to second guess EVERYTHING about what I bake, even though he loved the cupcake itself and most people who have had them love them. It's frustrating when self doubt takes over :) but that's social media for you. everyone has an opinion.

A

I would not have put so much draping on there. I probably would have repeated the pattern from the bottom tier on the second tier, or done something a little different (brushed embroidery?) for more variety/impact.

AI kept trying to think of what I would do differently, and I think you nailed it with the brush embroidery!

AI think it's a gorgeous cake. I even love the second tier, which is vaguely reminiscent of a petticoat (through my eyes, anyway) and not in a negative way. I would have been thrilled with it, as I'm sure your customer was.

The internet has always been home to trolls, and the advent of social media has made them unafraid of attaching their names to the piles of excrement they leave sitting around the web (in the form of "comments").

There is also something weird going on in society now where people describe themselves in ways such as "I'm naturally blunt and I always have to say what's on my mind," as though lack of social graces is acceptable and even desirable.

AWhile it may be rude to some to be blunt and tell the truth, I think it is rude to lie. Obviously you don't have to say something is ugly and be rude about it, but it is perfectly acceptable to say it is not your preference, you don't have to gush about something you hate, to he polite.

And this doesn't apply to the op's cake, but I think that when someone shows off a horrible cake that is as poorly done as it is ugly, and people gush about it, that is even more rude than saying it is ugly. Not telling at least a portion of the truth leads to some very unhappy brides and ruined parties, wasted money, and defeat. Falsely saying wrecks are fabulous doesn't do any favors at all. (Once again, this doesn't apply to the cake in this thread, it is skillful, just not my preference. )

IIf everyone liked your art 100% of the time, I'd think you weren't pushing the creativity envelope at all.  The cake is beautiful.  Try to have enough confidence that a periodic negative comment is not bothersome.  If you want to acknowledge the comment, skip asking what they don't like about it (I would instantly lose faith in any vendor who shows signs of being defensive or argumentative); instead, simply say something like, "We certainly understand that each bride has her/his own sense of style and we are more than happy to accommodate each of you.  You can see other cakes at insertyourwebsite.com."

It's not personal.  It's a simple difference in preference.  Brush it off.  :)

AI agree, this diarrhea of the mouth is getting to be everywhere. It's not open season for criticism on anything you come across. I think it's attention seeking behavior when people do stuff like that. "omg Brittney, like did you just say thalike say thaaaaat?" "Yeaaaah, you know me, tee hee, I have no filter!" "omg you guys LOOK what she said!"

And it's definitely not just teens or ignorant youth. It's previously isolated people who have a brand new way to make online friends and act like jerks because it's anonymous in a way.

AAnd false praise doesn't do any good either, I agree. I think we have all seen some facebook pages full of that from well meaning family and friends, when anothet decorator would be.encouraging that page to take some lessons and maybe a business class or two. It only takes a few inappropriate "amaaaaaaazing, you should be on Cake Boss" comments to encourage someone to open shop and fall on their face. That's sad.

I'm guessing this person didn't have the time or didn't care to take the time to explain why they didn't like the cake.  It was rude.  It's easy to misunderstand the message someone has written with out the expressions and tone of voice.  With this, I will try to be careful how I word this. 

I want to say up front you are very talented.  I will have to take the time to see if you have other work posted.  I will admit, my personal taste, I don't like the cake.  The green is too dark.  I can't seem to put my finger on it but there is something about the drapery.  I do love the bow.  I think it would have worked better to put the large drapery on the bottom layer and eliminate the ruffle coming from the top of the drape.  The drape on the second layer maybe narrow it and allow more crease. 

Now, I have to be very honest with you here.  This cake is unique there are going to be people out there that will love it.  But, I don't think the majority will and that will be a reflection on your work.  It's good to have a picture of a cake that is out of the box (pardon the pun) that shows you can do something for the bride out of the ordinary.  Then again you want to have one that will attract the taste of the majority.  This can be hard.

Going back to the color.  I ordered colored fondant for my Grand-daughters Baptism cake. Wow, it was a dark, dark, pink.  I mixed with white and lightened it but it was still too dark.  With no time, I had to use it.  The cake was beautiful but when my daughter walked into the hall she said;  "Wow, that's really pink".  I was pleased with my work so I couldn't dwell on the color.

A note on individual vision.  I can see the frame of a house, nothing but 2 x 4's and see how the house will look finished.  Others will only see wood nailed together.  If I was a bride looking at this cake I would see the talent and have the vision of what it would look like with a few changes.  But, so many can't.

I can appreciate that not everyone has the same taste and will like the same things. This cake was actually a display cake I did to showcase some different techniques. Not that it matters, but I chose the color because I knew the Pantone "Color of the Year" was Emerald, so I was going for a deep, jewel tone green. I know a bold color for the background of the cake (Instead of doing white as the background with colored decorations) is not as universally liked or traditional, that's why I did it! To do something different. 

It's ok, it's been a week, and I'm over it, I promise!  I was just kind of surprised initially because of the place she chose to post the comment (on an advertisement of our business for a bridal show). Like I said, I'm working on the thick skin thing, be patient with me please! 

AI have noticed the horrible way people talk to each other. Just because it is over the internet and they feel they are safe doing so. There is a way of being honest without being mean about it. I am a very honest person, if I don't like something, I will let you know. However, there is a line between, "That isn't my personal taste." and "That is the ugliest thing I have ever seen." Maybe it is my mother teaching me manners when I was growing up or maybe it was being raised in the south where manners and waving to neighbors as you drive down the road are prevalent, but I was always taught you can catch more flies with honey. It gets you nowhere to be a sourpuss.

First of all I don't think you should let other people's comments define you as a baker/cake decorator overall. If you think about it there is not one field of work whether it be cakes, food, clothes, shoes etc. where everything is done perfectly all the time. Second if you put things out in the public for people to view and comment on throw your expectations out the window people will comment as they see fit and their words are not always "seasoned with salt" but that is their opinion only and they don't speak for everyone.

From the looks of your cake you've obviously put forth a lot of effort in developing your skills in certain areas, I think your actual cakes are great as they are at perfectly leveled heights, very neatly stacked, covering of your cakes is beautiful and your piping is great as well. You may just need to spend more time practing your draping skills or decorating skills, I find as a baker/cake decorator you always have room to learn and grow as there always new and exciting techniques to venture into. I'm not going to comment on the color of your fondant because that is not the problem, suppose you get a client who wants that color green or maybe they want some other color that is not to your liking, if that's what the client wants that's what they get your job is to make it work and turn it into something beautiful regardless of the color they choose.

How did you feel when you finished your cake? Were you pleased with the outcome? I would like to advise you to listen to your feelings and your gut instincts as that's usually a clue that something is wrong, you mentioned that your fondant wasn't cooperating with you that day and that to me would be the first sign that things are not going to go as planned and when that happens you need to reevaluate what you are doing and come up with a plan B. If your design is not working as you want you need to revise what you are doing so that the finished product represents you in a good way that you feel proud of no matter what anyone says. If there is something off with my cakes whether it be during the baking process or decorating I would fix it no matter what because it's ultimately my name and my reputation on any product that goes out.

You are very talented and have more "good" things than bad going on with this cake so don't let it get you down just take it in stride and improve on what you didn't like. If it's bothering you that much do the cake over to your liking and then have it reposted otherwise just let it go.

Thank you!