My Customer Forgot That She Ordered A Cake And She Is In Another State!!!!
Decorating By A Cake A Day Updated 12 Feb 2014 , 6:07am by A Cake A Day
Okay, so this lady I go to church with referred her daughter to me to make her baby a 1st bday cake. We discussed some options and she decided on a design and price range. Then later she contacted me and said that a friend of her husband's had wanted to make the cake and that she was sorry that her husband agreed before discussing it with her, so cancelled her order. That cake was a complete disaster and so the mom contacted me because she was going to have family over and get 1st bday pics with a good cake. We decided on a date, which was this Saturday Nov 9th. I contacted her last night to see when she wanted to pick up and she said she had forgotten it was so close and she was in Mississippi (we live in Arkansas). So, when I ask her when she will be back in town she says by NEXT WEEKEND!!! I have a completely decorated two tier bday cake in my freezer...how long will it keep? I have went 3 days, but I am not sure about 7 :/ It is decorated in BC and MMF
This is the cake, just for reference....The only thing I really worry about is the owl.
AShe can either have someone pick up the cake and figure out how to freeze it themselves, or eat it without the guest of honor, or she scan ask you nicely to freeze it for her until she can pick it up herself. Either way, you made the cake that was requested and attempted to deliver it on the requested date. Anything else is her problem.
I'm assuming you got paid upfront for this cake...
Box the cake and wrap the box in several layers of saran wrap and a layer of foil. 24 hrs. before pick up, place the wrapped box in the fridge. Several hours before pick up, place wrapped box on counter. Right before pick up, unwrap box, it should be fine.
To be on the very safe side, I'd make an extra owl, allowing it to dry on the side of the same sized cake pan [put a piece of wax paper or parchment behind it]. I'd check the cake about 3 hours after I put the wrapped box on the counter. If the owl is drooping, I'd gently remove it and put the new one on it.
A
Original message sent by maybenot
Box the cake and wrap the box in several layers of saran wrap and a layer of foil. 24 hrs. before pick up, place the wrapped box in the fridge. Several hours before pick up, place wrapped box on counter. Right before pick up, unwrap box, it should be fine.
To be on the very safe side, I'd make an extra owl, allowing it to dry on the side of the same sized cake pan [put a piece of wax paper or parchment behind it]. I'd check the cake about 3 hours after I put the wrapped box on the counter. If the owl is drooping, I'd gently remove it and put the new one on it.
Don't make the extra owl without charging for it unless you're sure you'll be able to use it for something else if the client doesn't need/want to pay for it at pickup.
The OP didn't do anything wrong and should not have to suffer financially because their client can't organize themselves.
Well, I'm sure the OP knows what she's comfortable doing and charging. It's none of our business whether she charges the client or not--she didn't ask for advice about that, anyway.
Everyone makes mistakes. This wasn't some malicious plot by the client to damage the OP.
Personally, I'd spend the $1 on materials and half an hour of my time and consider it a good insurance policy so that I could provide the client with something I was happy with. I'm not going to go to the trouble to freeze the cake and then hand something over that's sub-par.
ASure, that's the OP's call, but a surprising number of people don't realize that they're not actually responsible for their clients' errors and I don't think it serves anyone to just assume that they do.
AY'all both make good points. Another issue, is as a professional who has no experience freezing whole cakes, I'd be worried the cake would be subpar in terms of both appearance and eating. I'd want to put a big sign on the cake saying, hey, not my fault... Lol.
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Y'all both make good points. Another issue, is as a professional who has no experience freezing whole cakes, I'd be worried the cake would be subpar in terms of both appearance and eating. I'd want to put a big sign on the cake saying, hey, not my fault... Lol.
Well, as a professional who has experience freezing whole cakes, I know that I don't need to put any disclaimers on the cake regarding appearance and eating because the cake will be as fresh and attractive as the day it was made.
It's not my preferred way of doing things, but when I've had to do it, I know that my method works--or I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't ever suggest something to someone else unless I had complete faith in what I'm proposing.
I was my first guinea pig. I'd just finished Wilton 3 and had a 3 tiered buttercream cake with red royal icing poinsettias sitting on my counter 4 days before Christmas. I'd asked my instructor in class if I could freeze it and she gave me the instructions that I continue to post here 8 years later. The frozen cake, boxed & wrapped, was driven 10 hours to New Hampshire. Not a single flower broke, fell, or stained the pale pink buttercream.
My family was very impressed. The cake was the centerpiece for the dessert buffet Christmas day and then we had desserts covered for the rest of the week. It was moist and flavorful.
If a cake ever deserves a sign that says, "Hey, not my fault..." then the cake goes in the trash.
I thought your idea about making the extra owl was really good. Most of my cakes involve too much decoration to be making double anything and I guess I was thinking about my cakes in terms of freezability more than the cake posted in this thread. Although sometimes I make stuff that's easily removed before freezing. I'm not disputing what you're saying - the whole thing just sounds terrifying to me. I used to be terrified of making cupcakes, though lol
AIt has been a while since I started this post...I did not get paid up front...I was making for the daughter of a lady that attends our church...I did not box the cake as I did not have a box to accommodate...I places in freezer for bout 1/2 hour, took out and put as many layers of Saran Wrap as carefully as I could on that thing...put in the frig the day before it was to be served and had them keep at room temp all that day, giving instructions not to touch if it was sweating and could also place I. Front of a (clean) fan...no dust bunnies in my cake, made that mistake before :( the client was extremely happy with the cake and said it tasted wonderful!! I believe I kept in the freezer for 4 days...
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