OK. Yes i want people to praise me 24/7 for all the amazing skills and talent i have not to mention my stunning good looks and great demeanur sp?
BUTT... Does it bother anyone else when you make a cake for them (mainly good friends) and they don't say thank you.... or tell you it's a cool cake or give you some sort of feedback. I haven't posted any of the cakes but i thought they were good....
What do you do in that situation?
My oldest sister, who is also my best friend, is always my advisor. I'd suggest you ask a good friend to be perfectly honest with you and give you their opinion of how your cakes look. I tell my sister all the time not to "sugar coat" her opinion because we're sisters and give it to me like an adult, be it good or bad feedback. I have to say, she tells me like it is too! Sometimes, we don't agree at all on design; other times, we think exactly alike.... it's all in a person's perspective of how they see things... so my suggestion would be, find a good friend and ask them to tell you are they good, bad, where do I need to improve and go from there 
I think I wouldn't make these friends anymore cakes.
I always bring cakes into work for feedback as well, but mostly people are just glad there is free cake and could care less what it tastes like. And I hate it when people don't even say thank you.
Time to find a new group of taste testers!
Angie
Yup. New testers is right. My hubby tells it like it is for the most part. I'm kind of harder on my self.
Me and cakes is kind of like trading spaces.... You watch is from the begining and it's going smoothly but then in the middle you freak because the design looks like it could be really ugly. But when it's all put together it looks pretty cool....
does that make sense? I did the work thing but they were just excited for cake.
LOL. I know how you feel. I have never seen a 10 inch cake disappear in less than 60 seconds. Co-workers are not your best bet.
My friends are helpful. My sisters and mom are good. My husband and his friends only eat my chocolate creations.
Sometimes you just have to trust your instincts.
Angie
The first cake I did for a friend was for her birthday party. We ate at a restaurant and they provided a free dessert with the dinner, well - instead of having a tast of my birthday cake that I had worked so hard on, she didn't even eat any cake the entire time. She just took it home. I was so insulted and will never make her a cake again.
Rachel
Don't do it again for this person, since she is very ungrateful.
Next, is hse ask you to make her a cake...let her pay, but secretly add the cost of the cakes she didn't say thank you for.. 
I'm right there with ya, Prettycake! 
Along the same lines, my best friend is a hair dresser. She insists on doing my hair--FREE! But, I'm always telling her how great her work is, how talented, how much I appreciate, etc. That's the way to be with people! I also make cakes/cheesecakes for her as needed. She absolutely loves them, and she lets me know!
If she DID ask you to make another cake, do what Prettycake said! 
--Knox--
Hello
Iknow what you mean about not getting a thank you or any thing. I used to make a cake every sunday for our sunday night get togethers at the church. They allways ask me to make on but i never get a thank you or even how good or bad they are I stoped making them if they do even car to say any thing.
Time to find a new group of taste testers!
Oooh!!! Ooooh! Pick me! Pick me!
Or how about people who don't appreciate how much time it really takes to do a cake. I am doing a cake this weekend for a friend, an 11 x 15 cake with a filling. She wanted a "cars - the new movie" theme so I found little cars candies and bought the Witon black spray to make the cake a black checkerboard. Not to mention I did a royal transfer of the cars logo. So she asks me what I want for payment. I tell her that my local grocery store sells them for around $18 (noncustomized and not filled mind you) but that I spent around $25 because I bought the extra supplies. Since she is picking it up I said that I'd like to be paid in that price range but she can take off a couple of dollars because she is picking it up. (I had no intention of making money on the cake, but would have liked to at least break even). Her response back to me was $15 but with the price of gas it should be free!
Or how about people who don't appreciate how much time it really takes to do a cake. I am doing a cake this weekend for a friend, an 11 x 15 cake with a filling. She wanted a "cars - the new movie" theme so I found little cars candies and bought the Witon black spray to make the cake a black checkerboard. Not to mention I did a royal transfer of the cars logo. So she asks me what I want for payment. I tell her that my local grocery store sells them for around $18 (noncustomized and not filled mind you) but that I spent around $25 because I bought the extra supplies. Since she is picking it up I said that I'd like to be paid in that price range but she can take off a couple of dollars because she is picking it up. (I had no intention of making money on the cake, but would have liked to at least break even). Her response back to me was $15 but with the price of gas it should be free!
I would have tried to smack her through the phone...LOL 
People act like it is nothing more than putting a box mix in a pan and slathering a little icing on it, but yet they want it to look PERFECT!!!
I made a basketball cake for my nephew and my sisters MIL asked how much I would charge for a cake like that and I told her and she said but I would get a big discount since I am family, and I responded by "you are not related to me", and I walked off
KAY52178
tELL HER $25 AND DELIVER IT TO HER....
KAY52178
Apparently people think that since you're friends that you owe them a little extra...that's so ridiculous. You should charge the $15 and then hand her the reciepts and get reimbursed for all the "extras" I think it's funny how people won't say a word at a grocery store and pay an arm and a leg for a cake that they too have to pick up, but with us, it's like a flea market bargain. Good luck!
Ami
I have to say when i send my cakes to my hubbys job they send me feedback like if the icing was too sweet or if the cake tasted good. They are really good and now i dont mind sending them cakes. The only thing they dont mention is the design but they are guys and i cant expect much in that department also i cut the cake before sending it, i usually send them practice cakes so i do the designs for myself. If they never said even thank you they would never get a cake from me again.
KAY52178 I dont understand why she would think the cake should be free, you are not doing it for yourself, she's not doing you the favor. she wanted a cake and because she has to come pick it up she thinks it should be free??? i just dont get that. When she goes to the supermarket and buys a cake does she tell them that she's not paying because she had to buy gas to drive there? how ridiculous.
Jennifer293 i only wish i could answer people like that, it was great!
What kind of a friend is that? 
If I am asked to do a cake for someone, even a good friend, I expect to be paid, for really good friends I give a discount. If I volunteer a cake, that is free, but I am cutting down on those. I will keep on doing them for my daughter's class for special occasions, but otherwise it just gets too expensive. Up till now, though, everyone has given me feedback, mostly nice ones. I was even offered the price of ingredients for the class ones, but I refused those.
Can you imagine a grocery store reimbursing you for the gas you need to go to shop there? Your friend needs a reality check.
Sorry, but this post has got the hairs on my arms to stand up, I can imagine how you must be feeling. I wouldn't do anymore cakes for her after this one.
You aren't charging enough for your cakes. You cannot compare yourself to a grocery store cake...your cake takes a lot more work and is fresher and tastes better, too! It's not mass production. So charge an appropriate amount, but tell them UP FRONT what the cake will cost.
I used to donate cakes for our local battered woman's shelter for holidays and the like and I didn't get even ONE thank you. So I stopped. Now I donate cakes for our two local Ronald McDonald houses and the folks there practically cheer when they see me (ok, they only cheer when they see me with a cake, but you get the idea).
Sell your product...fresh ingredients, made from scratch, sugar artistry!!!! I just sold 3 dozen decorated cookies to a friend for $125. and she felt she got a great deal! My usual 8 or 9" cakes are sold to friends for $40 or $50, and if I do a lot more work the price reflects it. And if it is for someone outside family/friends, the price is higher. It takes awhile to get the nerve to charge for your work, but you'll get there, and you'll get the money!!!!
Kay-I can't believe that you are still going to make this cake!!!! You are worth more than that!
I made a FREE cake for my SIL, and I attended the party, and this witch never even acknowledge the cake! They cut it and everything, but never said, anything about it! I was sooo hurt. I had worked on it until 1:30am, and I was quite proud of it. I cried all the way home......it's the spiderman cake in my pictures.
Denise
Wow, y'all are right, y'all have rude friends........ I get thanks, and oh how beautifuls, and on several occassions, gift certificates that say Thank you. I don't know if I would keep doing it if I didn't.......
What I do for family is free. My family is full of grocery store cake buying people. They have never ordered a cake in their life! They think I'm crazy what I will spend money on....... but God love them, most of them barely get by on minimum wage, and they love me, so they get free cake, and they make a big fuss over how beautiful it is.......
But if you ain't a Wiseman, you pay full price for my cakes, and I am cold-blooded about that! My ex-in-laws, they pay extra! Not that they would ever order a cake from me, LOL, they hate me too much! LOL
All the time while I have been reading this thread, I have had a knot in my stomach. I know EXACTLY how it feels. People expect so much and are unwilling to give even a simple Thank You in return. 
A couple of years ago I was asked by a client if I would donate a half sheet cake for The Juvenile Diabetes Walkathon, for which she had a specific design. I agreed and made a cake I was proud of. She never even said Thank You. So this year when she called, I told her I was booked up. 
The last several years I have been asked to donate a cake gift certificate to the silent auction for the Girls Scouts annual fundraiser here, which I am happy to do. They ALWAYS send a lovely Thank You note (and they don't even get any cake!) I give people one chance, and that is all. After that, they get nothing free from me. And because of my policy about this, I make sure to thank anyone and everyone who ever does anything for me.
Since I began doing cakes for others, I have stated up front that there will be a charge (even for family and friends) if only for my costs. Most are happy to pay full price, because they know my cakes are worth it and far better than anything they can get at the grocery store. Your time costs money as do all the ingredients and electricity and water and gas for the car. Make sure they know. Because nowadays, people don't RSVP and they don't send thank you notes anymore. It is also apparently too much trouble to say Thanks in person for a lot of people. 
Another thing, my clients always pick up their cakes. If I have to deliver, I charge them. And with gas prices like they are, I think I will charge by the mile.
I'm reading this thread and I am getting upset too. This year I have been really trying to get some business with my cakes. All of my friends and family kept telling me to start selling my cakes because I was so talented. Well, then one family member asked me to do a cake for "Habitat for Humanity" as a donation (Its in my photos). I agreed due to she telling me that she would pass out business cards and I would definatly get business. Well she picks up the cake and oohs over it, but no thank you. Well I waited a week on how the cake went over at the meeting for Habitat and she said. Oh it went well. Everybody gobbled the cake up. And that was that. No thanks, no business, no nothing.
Well now that side of the family continues to ask me for cakes for occasions, for like every occasion, but then tells me as soon as I bring it to the occasion that they are sick of cake! They don't eat much cake and never buy it. WHAT! I am always asked to make on, encouraged to start a business, but now everything I do has to be free for them and I get whinning.
I don't understand... And I get the feedback that well Costco sells sheet cakes for $14.99. You need to be grocery store prices, but then they ask for tiered cakes covered in fondant painted in Luster dust.
So I am at my wits end with "my family". Not sure if I will do a cake again. It has been two months since I have made a cake. My SIL's baby shower is coming up and I am wondering if they expect the cake or will ask. I will probably just make the cake without question since I love to make cakes and this is for my little soon to be nephew. I have to think of it that way to get me through.......
sorry had to vent...
I'm reading this thread and I am getting upset too. This year I have been really trying to get some business with my cakes. All of my friends and family kept telling me to start selling my cakes because I was so talented. Well, then one family member asked me to do a cake for "Habitat for Humanity" as a donation (Its in my photos). I agreed due to she telling me that she would pass out business cards and I would definatly get business. Well she picks up the cake and oohs over it, but no thank you. Well I waited a week on how the cake went over at the meeting for Habitat and she said. Oh it went well. Everybody gobbled the cake up. And that was that. No thanks, no business, no nothing.
Well now that side of the family continues to ask me for cakes for occasions, for like every occasion, but then tells me as soon as I bring it to the occasion that they are sick of cake! They don't eat much cake and never buy it. WHAT! I am always asked to make on, encouraged to start a business, but now everything I do has to be free for them and I get whinning.
I don't understand... And I get the feedback that well Costco sells sheet cakes for $14.99. You need to be grocery store prices, but then they ask for tiered cakes covered in fondant painted in Luster dust.
So I am at my wits end with "my family". Not sure if I will do a cake again. It has been two months since I have made a cake. My SIL's baby shower is coming up and I am wondering if they expect the cake or will ask. I will probably just make the cake without question since I love to make cakes and this is for my little soon to be nephew. I have to think of it that way to get me through.......
sorry had to vent...
dtmc- you do a beautiful job and thank you for putting it all on the web for us to do. I would tell your dear dear relatives that you would love to do the cake but they need to pay for the supplies and your time and creativity is free.... Start there! I have found that if you bring a cake everywhere they do get bored. I get bored. I think i'm going to expand into pastries and what not but oh well.
Bring them to your favorite people every once and a while. My favorite is my dad because he loves cake : ) My grandma is now in a nursing home so i might start bringing them there : )
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