I don't even know where to start. I did a wedding cake this weekend, I thought it turned out really great. I was actually pretty proud of it....will have dh post for me when he wakes up. any way this cake looked like the wedding dress, with fondant draped around it and the top had lace and handmade gum paste sequence. when I delivered it, it looked fine. I got an email last night from the bride and she was very upset and wanted a partial refund. please help me figure out what went wrong!!! she said that the red velvet cake "leaked" through. the entire time I worked on the cake, I never once saw any indication that there would be a problem with that. I can't understand how it would all the sudden "leak though" ... what the heck happened?
then she said the cake was way too moist. don't understand that either. please help me. I baked the cakes on Tuesday, and put the fillings in on wed. and frosted the outside in buttercream on wed. I used cream based fillings, like the oreo cream and the strawberries and cream. I kept them refrigerated because of the creams. when I worked on the cakes, I had a problem with the fondant and condinsation so I put two fans in front of the cakes and they "came to temp." I painted the cake with luster dust, the pearl color, I used my knew kopycake air gun. all looked fine.
anyway, the bride said the cake was "gray" and she wanted white. I told her I was going to paint it pearl to match her dress. so that is something that could be considered a misunderstanding....but the rest? also, she said that it looked like it was about to fall over, it was leaning so badly.
ohhh what did I do??????
I am kinda wondering if the Elks lodge that I dropped it off at had the a.c. on cool enough, but why the heck would it suddenly have red velvet bleed through?
she was so upset with the cake that she didn't even take the traditional picture of the cutting of the cake. I feel horrible.......and confused.
please shed some light on this situation.....I am so depressed I am going back to bed.
thank you all very much for your help.
melody
If she doesn't have any pics showing the "problems", it becomes a your word against hers. Infortunately, since weddings are not just a dinner, but an emotional event, we usually end up going above and beyond to keep our rep in tact.
I would like to see some sort of photo showing the problem.
Maybe she didn't do the traditional cake-cutting pic, but in my experience, the photog is usually taking cake pics way in advance of the cake cutting ceremony anyway. See if you can contact him/her to find out if there are ANY photos of the cake. Guests are always taking pics of the cake. Surely SOMEONE has a photo "..... to help you understand the problem."
Too moist? What the heck is that? 
If she wanted dry and crunchy, she needed to serve Oreos.
That is one thing that I am learning is to ALWAYS take pics.
It almost sound to me that she ran out of money and needs it for her honeymoon and is desperatlly trying to find some money somewhere.
Someone has to have pics. I am sure she has some pictures somewhere. "To moist" sounds like and excuse to me.
I don't know what I would do in this situation. Your reputation is at stake but on the other hand so is your pirde. Maybe find pics and go from there.
Sorry I can't be more help.
I am so sorry! What an awful thing to have happen. I agree with everyone else, there have to be some pictures somewhere. Seeing them may help you to figure out what happened.
About the "too moist" -- it's possible that if the fillings were put in Wednesday for a Saturday wedding, the cake could have really soaked them up and become soggy where it was filled? That's all I can think of.
thanks guys. I took a pic. of the cake before I left, and it was fine....thats why I can't figure out what the heck happened. I'm sure she isn't trying to scam a refund back...but I would like to see a picture before send a refund. she is also upset that I didn't provide the plates and forks....which is something I don't even offer and not sure why she thought I would be providing those.
I dread emailing her back.
thanks
melody
Whoa, she wanted you to provide the plates and such??? I don't understand if red velvet is "bleeding through" then why is the cake grey? She may not be scamming you, but some of this isn't making sense either. If red velvet bled through, wouldn't it appear as a pink or as a red? Grey? Even if you painted it a pearl, it wouldn't be grey. Did she have a couple of toasts before the cake cutting? I don't want to trash on your bride, but some of this doesn't quite add up.
Certainly sounds fishy to me. I'm sure someone has a picture of the cake. The photographer would have taken a picture or those little cameras they put out on the tables or someone's cell/camera phone. If it looked that bad someone would have taken a "do you believe how bad this looks" picture. I'd show her a picture of what the cake looked like before you left and tell her that you can't help her without some sort of proof.
Debbie
Plates and forks?? who in the world does that? I'd definitely get more details here. And I also have a hard time believing she doesn't have any pictures. I'd say... "it was fine when I left it with you, I need to see pictures of the complaint" as nicely as possible. Hmmm.
I would not refund her anything based on just what she says. She is sure to have photos from her photographer if he/she did their job well. Compare your photo with her photo. Unless you are signed on to stay there and cut the cake, once you deliver that cake and step out the door your responsibility is over. Don't let the thought of a bad rep scare you into giving her money when she may not have any right to get any money back.
Hmmm? This sounds suspiciously like buyers remorse...as in she feels guilty for having spent so much money and is trying to recoup some...at your expense.
If you have a photo of the cake taken upon delivery and the bride can't produce a photo of the supposed problems, then you really need to stand your ground on this. Inform her you have the photo. Unless she can produce evidence to the contrary then there is no issue.
As far as you providing the plates and forks....she's really reaching on that one. Sounds to me as though she isn't mature enough to have gotten married.
If your reputation is solid otherwise then you will weather this little storm and get past it. You always have your happy customers as references.
Good luck.
"I'm so sorry you were not completely happy with your wedding cake. When I delived the cake, none of the flaws you mentioned were visible (I have checked the photos I took of the cake at the time of delivery). I will need more information to determine what happened after the cake was delivered, and whether or not any of the fault is mine. If you would please provide me with any photos you have of the cake so that I can see what you are referring to, I would gladly consider offering a partial refund if I am at fault. I take great pride in my work, and am very sorry you were unhappy. As soon as I get those photos, we can work something out.
As for plates and cutlery, I don't normally provide those as they are a service of the reception site. I do wish you would have mentioned something beforehand, and perhaps I could have included them in the price of the cake."
Well said Brandisbaked. 
Melodyscakes- you should never be afraid to email someone concerning your cakes. You know what the cake looked like before you left it so I would want to see a picture to see what she is talking about. I tend to agree with everyone else that the stories aren't jiving. You can't always take someones word for it you gotta see proof!
Don't let this get you discouraged!
Faye
I certainly hope that all turns out okay. I agree with everyone on this one and I think asking her for pics is the right thing to do because her story just doesn't add up.
I'll be doing my first wedding cake in a couple of weeks and while it's a simple cake I will certainly keep in mind your situation. Thanks for posting your story I know it'll help me. Let us know how it turns out. 
Plates and forks?? who in the world does that? ...
"Uh.... I do." she said, shyly raising her hand from the back of the room. But it's clearly stated as part of my package pricing. Or it's clearly stated as NOT part of my a la carte (drop-n-run) pricing.
However ..... as I have posted on here a number of times, when a bride buys my buffet but gets her cake from someone else, I am always running into the problem of the bride coming up to me and asking "Do you have plates and forks for the cake?" and I have to remind her, "No .... I didn't make the cake, so I didn't provide anything for the cake." (I'm not making any money on the cake .... why would you think I'd bring plates and forks for free for you?)
So it's not necessarily true that it's the responsibility of the reception site or the caterer .... it depends on the site and the caterer.
This has gotten to be such a problem that we had to add it to our Terms of Agreement that the bride is responsible for plates and forks if the cake is supplied by someone other than us. For all the details brides manage to keep track of, they never think of how they are going to serve cake to their guests! If this becomes a continous problem, you might consider adding a line to your contract, in capital letters, "Plates and forks are not included in the quoted price."
That issue aside, I think the fact that you have a photo showing the cake was fine is a great relief.
Well, since I deal almost exclusively with brides, here it what it sounds like to me. She noticed one flaw ( the red velvet bleed). Brides tend to be a little hysterical so as soon as it wasn't "perfect", the flood gates opened. Julia Child herself could have made that cake and it wouldn't have matched her dress and it would have been too moist etc. etc. etc.
When you say the cake bled, I am assuming you made a cake from a mix, and chucked a ton of red food coloring into it ? Then put in lots of wet fillings...the fillings will absolutely cause residual color to leak from the cake, causing the cream fillings to turn pink to begin with. Then, since it was a complex design, I am sure it was assembled for quite some time allowing the filling to infiltrate the crumb coat, which I am guessing was a powdered sugar based icing instead of a high-fat meringue icing. The fondant would be wet as well from being in the fridge and voila!! red food color bleed.
I believe her when she says it bled. The rest I write off to bridal hysteria. In the future, you should always use a cooked-type frosting ( 7 minute , IMBC) etc. between red velvet and fondant, especially light colored fondant. The fat will act as a moisture barrier and help to prevent bleeding. Powdered sugar frosting has too much moisture and will add to the problem.
As for issuing any kind of refund, that is entirely up to you.
No one else has mentioned this, so maybe I am the only one questioning. But I have never heard of filling and icing a cake on Wednesday for a Saturday wedding. Does anyone else do this so far in advance? I can imagine that the cake became too moist from absorbing the buttercream into a cake that requires so much red food color. In that case I can imagine the red might show through the icing after three days. Still, I would want to see photos of the before and after. You have the before photo, someone at that wedding must have taken a picture, I would insist on an after photo to compare the two.
My only advise for the future would be, don't fill and ice a cake for a Saturday until Friday. Letting a cake sit filled and iced for three days even refrigerated is going to change the texture by the time it comes to room temperature and sits for a few hours at the reception.
On the cutlery, I have never heard of any bakery providing cutlery, nor any cake designer. I know every reception venue I have ever delivered to provides the cutlery, either through their business or through the caterer.
sounds like you did nothing wrong. if the hall was too hot, thats not your fault if anything happened afterwards. im thinking maybe it was warm in there or something.
i find it hard to believe she didnt take any photos??!! try to find out who the photographer was for her wedding and talk to them. or somebody else who may have attended the wedding. or even the elks worker that day.
check things out before giving a refund of any kind.
i always take photos of my cakes after delivering and set up.
I hate to hear this happened Melody. Hope everything gets straightened out (did you use the MagicLine pans? 
)~ I wouldn't do anything til you get to see some pics of the cake. If they thought the cake was bad then they had to have taken pics. Without pics I wouldn't give them a penny back. Crossing my fingers that everything will be ok with this!
Look at it this way, If I were the bride and had what I thought was a serious problem about the cake I would certinatly be getting pictures for proof. Maybe I just think differently but I believe that most people would be getting proof brfore eating the whole thing.
Hey Melody! I'm really dorry about this for you. I haope it works out and I would deffinately want some pics before doing anything else. I think Brandisbaked worded her reaponse really nicely.
ShirleyW, I was thinking that too!
Sorry that this happened. I have to agree with KellyM and ShirleyW. That is a really long time for fillings to sit in a cake. And I can see that the cake could have potentially been almost wet.
I bake on Thursday (maybe Wed at the earliest if it's a huge project) and assemble and decorate on Friday for a Sat wedding.
Could it be that the bride didn't know there was a cutting fee and it cost her as much as the cake so now she is trying to get a refund. Why else would she expect you to suppy the plates and forks she was charged for them at the venue. Call and ask if they charge a cutting fee. Hmmmm!!!!! might be what happened and its not your problem. I always take a picture and have someone inspect and sign for the cake before I leave.
I have actually filled a cake in that time frame before. As far as the bleeding If you iced and covered in fondant I could hardly see it bleeding through. I have done tons of cakes and never had that happen.
I see this all too often that people do not produce photos of a cake. If I were complaining I would surely have something to back this up.
could the "grey" and the "bleedthrough" be something as simple as lighting in the reception hall (or too many plastic champagne cups), and the leaning be the angle? I would want to give the bride the benefit of the doubt, but come on, this is a wedding, you know there were more cameras there than there were maiden aunts. Someone has a picture.
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