I made a full sheet cake with two tiaras..a large and a small out of royal icing. The tiaras dried several days and I had brushed them with luster dust and handled them many times before placing them on the cake. So..I am very nervous about all of my cakes so I double check everything right before the customer picks them up or right before delivery. I had covered this cake loosely with cellophane because it was too large for a box. I checked the crowns to make sure they were not broken!!! This morning the customer called and said that the cake was fine last night but when she woke up this morning, the large one had disintegrated...broken in a hundred pieces. There is no time to make another because the event is at 2pm today. She thinks I had it covered too tightly but I know for a fact both crowns were intact when she left with them. She and her daughter carried the cake out. I have never had any complaints before and I feel terribly so I bought two tiaras from the cake section at Wal-Mart for their cake. This made my husband furious because he says it was not my fault. My questions are... Is there a better way to make the tiara stronger? I went over it with icing 5 times. I thought about candy melts but the cake is going to be in the fellowship hall of a church and I am worried about humidity. This IS Alabama. I tried the darned clay gum but couldn't do a thing with it. Also..I have lost a lot of money on this cake. I had no idea what to charge for a full sheet cake to begin with. She insisted she could get one at Sam's for $38.00 so I only charged her $65.00 to begin with and now I have forked out $40.00 for tiaras. What is the normal price for a full sheet? I couldn't attach the picture here so I'm going to put it in my gallery. Thanks in advance.
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I wish I could help with tiaras. Sounds to me like you did all you could do.
As for the pricing, a quarter sheet serves about 25. So a full sheet should serve about 100 people if you cut 2x2in pieces. I'm thinking you would have been ok to charge between $150-200, especially with tiaras on it.
I'm so sorry this happened to you.
First off if she insisted she could get the same size cake for so much less at Sam's you should have let her, they would not have made anything nearly as nice as what you did.
The only thing with the tiaras that could possibly have been your fault at all would be if they had broken down because they were on buttercream. I don't think they would be broken into tiny pieces because of that but ask her if the peices still feel hard.
My guess would be that you should have told her once it left your hands it was her problem, someone at her house probably broke them. If the wrap was on too tight it should have pressed them into the cake before they broke I would think.
I agree with mbelgard .... if you want to buy tiaras I get them from the dollar store or from a local party place (much cheaper than Walmart).
I know how you feel about making your customers exactly what they want and what you envisioned, but there is only so much responsibility you can take after the cake leaves your hands!
I don't have any alternatives for you making the tiaras as I haven't made any myself ... sorry!!!
I didn't think about the buttercream breaking them down but she said the top part is what fell apart.
If it was the top part that broke, I think someone at their house must have broken it. I made one and was so cautious with it, THEN, my kids started to play with it (was just practice tiara) and it still didn't break. So, I don't think it's anything that you did. Maybe next time, put the tiaras in a seperate box with tissue paper and let her put them on before the event so there's less chance of "something" happening to them. Just my thoughts on it. I think you did a great job with them too!
Thank you. I do regret now not putting them in a separate box. Here's an update. She didn't want the tiaras I bought so I drove the 25 miles to the church to look at the damage and see if I could repair the icing tiara. The entire top half was broken off but not in one piece. It was definitely not fixable. I did the best I could to remove what was left of that crown and I put the small crown on the pillow. I put some roses all around where the crowns had been. But I forgot my green icing for leaves. And the humidity had caused the plastic to stick to one of the names so I had to cut around the plastic there. I am not a happy camper with myself today.
Sorry that you have had such a bad time with this. I have done a couple of the tiara's now, and I have good luck with the white candy melts, you may want to try them and see if they work better than the royal icing does (if you ever decide to do them again!) I don't think the royal icing would hold here too well in the summer either.
I've been experimenting with royal icing tiaras and it sounds like your customer (or someone in her family) touched the top of the tiara which disintegrated the entire top. When my tiaras break, they shatter into tiny little pieces b/c they are delicate. I have used various tips to make my tiaras and the smaller the tip, the more reinforcement needed.
It sounds to me like the precious daughter tried to pick the tiara up and play with it. Something smells fishy.
Theresa
I am in the process of making a tiara out of pliable gumpaste. I was afraid the royal icing would be too fragile for the party (its a 4yr old princess tea party). I will let you know how it turns out when its dry.
Yes, please post pictures. I made a gumpaste one yesterday in haste out of a lace mold but of course I tried to hurry it to dry and it broke it. It would have been very pretty with luster dust and pearls.
Your tiaras are cute. i haven't tried it yet, but would love to learn. Are they hard to do. Chrysb
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