For those of you who have ever worked in a bakery, I have a question. I went to my nephew's birthday party this past weekend. His mom purchased his cake from one of the "trendy" bakeries in town. Beautiful cake, shaped like a spooky castle, three tiers, the botoom tier was two layers, with a whipped buttercream icing and filling. Very cool cake. BUT...it tasted like it was not fresh. It tasted like one of those cakes that Baskin-Robbins uses for their ice cream cakes (I was told once that they use Sara Lee).
Silly me, I assumed that when you buy a cake from a bakery that it is baked by the bakery. Are bakeries in the habit of just buying the pre-baked cake and then decorating them themselves? I didn't ask, but knowing my SIL, she spent a very pretty penny on this cake. Another thing, the cake was primarily decorated in purple and the icing was bitter. I felt bad for her. She's newly married to my brother and she wanted to impress the family, but the cake was so bad no one even ate seconds or took any home (that does NOT happen with my family normally).
Any insight from bakery employees?
Mickig 
The bakery I worked at was small so they baked their cakes that day or the day before. The other bakeries bake theirs but they freeze them for later. Sometimes the cake is just a few days old and that will make it taste bad. I would complain to the bakery.
I worked in a commercial bakery and most of our cakes came in frozen un-iced. 9"rounds choc and van, as well as full slab choc, van and marble. Then we could cut them to either 1/2 or 1/4 slab ourselves depending on what the orders were and how empty the cake case was. I guess they tasted all right...defenitely nothing special though. You have to be very aware what you are buying, just because you're buying something out of a bakery doesn't mean that it's baked fresh, quite contrary to popular belief...I feel bad for your SIL
Thanks for the info. Yeah, I felt bad for her, but I don't know if she even realized that it might not be a fresh cake. I think that she assumed that, since it is THE new fancy-schmancy bakery in town, that she was getting a premier product. I noticed the difference right away because I bake all the time. But I don't want to hurt her feelings because she sincerely was trying to make a good impression on the family. By the way, doesn't Duff, on that Food Network cake show (sorry, the name escapes me), use pre-baked cakes?
Mickig
. By the way, doesn't Duff, on that Food Network cake show (sorry, the name escapes me), use pre-baked cakes?
Mickig
No he does not. As a matter of fact, the opposite. Duff doesn't even freeze his cakes.
There is a lady I know who is doing a bakery now, and she bakes all her stuff from natural ingredients. Because of this, her cakes are dry in one day. You think about it, a wedding cake may take a day to decorate and then not even delivered that day...some people like that dry flavor because it taste "homemade"
I bet the bitterness was from the dies they used in the buttercream.
Hi,
I agree with mthiberge the cakes come frozen, also you can buy the buttercream prepared from food companies, as well as the dough for muffins etc. In one ocassion they bought (at the restaurant that I worked) buttercream and kept it frozen, the flavor was not nice and we ended up not using it.. So bad for your sister in law, hopefully she gets her money back for it..
I own a bakery in the Houston area an let me tell you...when I first opened I had several vendors pop in wanting to sell their bakery products. Dawn Foods was one of them. I was in shock! Many bakeries resort to buying frozen cakes and bucket icing (higher quality of course than grocery stores but full of chemicals just the same) because of the demand. They simply can't bake and decorate enough cakes to meet the supply and demand. I also know that many places buy special mixes from these companies that only require water be added. YUCK! I sent the guy packing but I can see, especially in the busiest months, how it might be tempting! It's very hard to find a bakery that actually makes everything...it's all I can do some months to stay true to my vision..."from scratch...the way it should be".
I don't work in a bakery, but ... our daughter's roommate recently wanted to have a birthday party for her dog. I baked a cute little cake, and the roommate bought a standard birthday cake from the local bakery with a 35+ year reputation for "fine cakes."
Well ... we tasted both ... the bakery cake (which was expensive) tasted like sawdust with sweet crisco on top. It was SO dry, we all nearly choked.
The next day, some of their friends came by, so they did a "blind taste test" with them all. My cake won, hands down.
People pay a premium price for this bakery's "reputation" -- and they get cakes that taste awful.
I don't understand ...
I don't work in a bakery, but ... our daughter's roommate recently wanted to have a birthday party for her dog.
I am sorry, off the subject, but did I read that right? A birthday party for her DOG??
Did you get it some treats from Three Dog Night bakery? (some of their stuff looks good enough to eat!)
Yes, you read that right. A birthday party for her DOG! It's a long story. You'd have to know her to appreciate it 
We love her a lot, but ... a birthday party for your dog????
Anyway -- she bought party hats, horns, balloons, decorations, ice cream, champagne (she's 22 years old), the cake from the bakery, gifts (toys and clothes), and treats (not from Three Dog Night, but from a local equivalent).
She's a tad bit overprivileged, but she's truly a sweet and smart girl. Her parents are living overseas right now, our daughter is her roommate in the family home, and we are kind of her fairy godparents in the meantime.
At least we've educated her as to what a truly delicious cake tastes like!
laepple, I'm in Old Town Spring - just North of Houston!
My Aunt worked at a deli/bakery in one of the supermarkets for a while. People used to rave on how good her cakes were, as she was the only cake decorator employed there (small town) She always smiled and said thank you.. I often wondered why she never admitted that they were bought frozen cakes, and icing from a 5 gal. bucket. She is such an excellent baker, and decorator... guess she thought as long as they were happy who needed to know.....
I have a friend that is a Bakery Salesperson. I was shocked to find out that some of the real bakeries that are in my area are buying pre-made cakes and icings. Of course it was priviledged info. I know that it is real common in the grocery stores, but thought that a real bakery would make a better effort at the scratch stuff. I have a bakery, and I pride myself on making things from scratch, more work, but know that my customers are getting fresh products. I always have to snicker, under my breath when someone orders from me, and then lets me know later that the cakes they had gotton from the other place were not very good. I would never tell, just thank them for the compliment.
i've worked at several bakeries...all but 1 had thier cakes shipped in frozen....the one that baked still tasted dry.
and icing came from the truck in a 50 pound cube....just carve some off mix with water and here ya go.
i make my icing from scratch...it's far more labor intensive....but yummy!
speaking of making cakes for dog parties......
i made a triple tier wedding cake for dogs that were "getting married"......... 
sometimes i learn not to ask to many questions.... 
I have worked in the bakery recently and they used frozen un-iced cakes and pre-made icing (the one with the big white bucket). They prefer to use this kind because of their large orders from customers. They don't have time to make everything from scratch. I've tasted it and I personally think it has too much of the artificial taste to it.
If I owns this bakery, of course, I would use fresh - not frozen. I'm glad that I worked in the bakery because I get to learn all kinds of decorating tips from my supervisor, MORE than what I learned in Wilton classes at Michael's.
Now, I'm working on getting my home-based cake business license soon 
Okay, I gotta ask --
Exactly how difficult is it to throw some Crisco or butter and powdered sugar and flavoring in a mixer? BC lasts forever - take an hour a week and mix it up, and have it FRESH. Same with cakes - mix, water, egg, oil, bake, decorate. We all do it, some even do different flavors from scratch for each customer. Why not make it homemade every 2 days?
Exactly how lazy are people?
***Off my soapbox now.***
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