i agree with indydebi too. i post pics and if someone copies it and doesn't ask it doesn't bother me..if they give credit great, if not no biggie either.
My favorite saying was a guy I was helping out told me I was handier then a pocket on a shirt!
i'll never forget the day we were in a restaurant in florida and two women came in and one said, 'it's hotter than hinges in here!' i thought it was the funniest thing ever! i love southerners!
Alidpayne, bless your heart! Thanks so much for that lovely compliment! You've made my night!
I do have to admit, that I've copied a lot of the cakes that are in my gallery from other very talented cake designers. I try hard to make note of where I get the ideas so I can give credit. We all learn from each other!! I so love this site. I've developed greatly as a cake decorator from all the ideas, information and advice on CC!
I can't believe that anyone would get upset if they weren't given credit. I have some pictures of cakes that I like saved on my computer, and I have no idea where or who they came from. I try not to copy exactly what someone else does, but sometimes it happens. GET OVER IT is all I have to say. I could care less if someone doesn't give me credit for one of their cakes, I mean, it's not going to be the same anyways (since it is done by 2 different people). I don't really think that anyone would copy my ideas, but if you ever do please don't worry about it. HAVE FUN!!!
haah isnt the saying "its hotter than hades (as in hell)"?
I admit it - I copy all the time (but always acknowledge). I haven't been making cakes long enough to come up with original ideas to see what works and what doesn't. So thank you everyone! 
Although one time a woman (my brother in laws mother) asked my aunt who is a caterer a recipe for something and she politely declined saying "its my livelihood - I cant give away recipes" anyway she seemed okay about it until my aunt came downstairs one morning and found her copying them out of a recipe file! hahaah *awkward*
PLEASE! Copy all of my cakes 
I have seen one cake where my name was given credit for inspiration and I was ecstatic! It would be awesome if I'd get a PM to let me know just so I can keep an eye for their version, but I don't expect anyone to ask permission.
Y'all is "you all", therefore the spelling "y'all" is correct 
"its my livelihood - I cant give away recipes" anyway she seemed okay about it until my aunt came downstairs one morning and found her copying them out of a recipe file! hahaah *awkward*
This just bugs the heck of me, when someone refuses to give out a recipe. What is Jane Doe afraid of? "Omygosh, Betty, your green tea cake is better than Jane's!"
Especially for us CC'ers who may live thousands of miles away. What could go wrong by sharing a recipe? I consider it helping out.
"its my livelihood - I cant give away recipes" anyway she seemed okay about it until my aunt came downstairs one morning and found her copying them out of a recipe file! hahaah *awkward*
This just bugs the heck of me, when someone refuses to give out a recipe. What is Jane Doe afraid of? "Omygosh, Betty, your green tea cake is better than Jane's!"
Especially for us CC'ers who may live thousands of miles away. What could go wrong by sharing a recipe? I consider it helping out.
It may be the difference between Aunt Betty and Cousin Jane's sharing a recipe vs. Bab's Wanna-Be-Bakery asking for Cater It Simple's recipe.
My oatmeal cookies? I'll tell 'em it's on the box. My choc chip cookie that I spent months tweaking until I got it just right? Goes to my grave, babycakes!! I make a living with that cookie and I spent time developing it myself.
If I just made cookies for the fun of it and my neighbor wanted my choc chip cookie recipe .... I'd share it in a heartbeat.
But like it was said above .... I pay my rent and feed my family with this cookie. To think I "owe" someone the recipe, and that I'm being selfish for not sharing it is ridiculous.
Why is that selfish?
I find it weird when people wont share the recipes they feed their family with but this is how my aunt makes her money - she's a caterer. On one hand I can understand where you are coming from (since I often ask people on this board for recipe - ones they often use for their own business) but other hand you wouldn't be upset if your local bakery wont give you the recipe for their buttercream? That being said, two things:
1. my aunt gives me all her recipes - but I don't pass them on either.
2. The woman was being dishonest - my aunt politely said no and my brother in laws mother was a guest in her home - she should have just accepted it and moved on.
i've been asking my mom for her recipes for years and i swear she gives me them and either leaves something out or changes something, lol, because mine never comes out the same as hers! ha ha
for a lot of the dishes i cook for my family, i don't use a recipe and therefore, can't really give it out. i can give you the general idea, but i tend not to measure and it's never the same twice. if you want a cake, frosting or other business-related recipe, you just better not take my customers from me and you're welcome to it!
i probably wouldn't have many recipes if it weren't for other people, so who am i to keep them from others too, kwim?
If I had to credit all my inspirations, I'd have to track down the designers of sofa prints, drapes, ladies clothing, wall art, you name it. I'd love to see copies of "my cakes". The only time I was a little hurt was when someone got a good bit of advice on the engagement ring cake I did and then I didn't get a thanks or anything, even in a PM. But I got over it. Funny how things will stop bothering you over time. I'm definitely in the GRITS club, and use to spell y'all completely wrong. Then one day, after working on contractions with my daughter, stopped and analyzed it and realized you all would turn into y'all not ya'll...unless you were maybe combining ya all. Which I suppose wouldn't be unheard of in the south. As far as recipes go, the only recipe I'm funny about sharing is my potato soup recipe, and I don't make a penny off of it. But I truely enjoy making a big pot of it when the first good cold snap happens, and going around and sharing with everyone. It's my little way of spreading a bit of warm joy in everyone's tummy. If they can make it themselves, then I loose that. So I'll keep it to myself....besides, I tell everyone my secret ingredient is me. I jokingly say that I dip just the tip of my finger in to make it that much sweeter...
I tell everyone my secret ingredient is me. I jokingly say that I dip just the tip of my finger in to make it that much sweeter...
that's awesome! i dip my fingers in everything, regardless, so maybe i'll start telling people that too! 
I still don't get it ...
Unless you have a catering company and give away all of your recipes and another person opens a catering compny in the same town with the exact same menu....
It will always irk me when someone says they won't share a recipe.
My husbands grandmother took her pasta sauce recipe with her to the grave so we will never, ever, again enjoy her amazing spaghetti.
My friends may make the same cakes that I do, but they don't decorate like I do. Even they decided to start their own cake business and use my recipes all the power to them! If I lost customers it wouldn't be because her cakes taste better.
for a lot of the dishes i cook for my family, i don't use a recipe and therefore, can't really give it out. i can give you the general idea, but i tend not to measure and it's never the same twice
I do the same thing, it usually comes out the same, but I just add this and that and more of that until I get it. So when someone asks, "how do you make your....." I have to say, "well about this much of this and about this much of that and some of these and more of those and you just have to taste and add. And that's for a big pot so if you want less, use less...." I'm not a measurer. (Probably why I'm not a scratch baker....shhhh.) lol
I rarely share recipes but when I have, I've almost always been disappointed. An example (forgive the length please):
When I was a little girl, our next door neighbors had kids my age and we played together all the time. I ate at their house often. The mom, whom I called Aunt Helen, made an amazing dish she called "Goulash"... veggies and meat and amazing spicy tomato-y yumminess. She gave the recipe to my mother and my mother's attempts tasted exactly the same. When I became an adult, I made it often and was always transported back to my childhood by the smell and the taste. So you know this was a special recipe to me.
I made the goulash for a my sorority chapter for a dinner at my house. Everyone loved it. One sister begged me for the recipe. She called me the next day and asked again. She continued to ask each time I saw her. Finally I made her promise that if she wouldn't vary the ingredients, and that she wouldn't give the recipe to anyone else, I would give it to her. She agreed.
About a year later, the chapter schedule had rotated around so that the dinner was at her house. She called me the week before and was so excited...she was going to make "my" goulash and wanted me to be proud of her effort. I wished her good luck and reminded her if she followed the recipe it was foolproof. The day came and we were all seated around her table and she announced she had made "Anna's Goulash recipe." The plates were served and on my plate was a clear broth with mushrooms and carrots, no meat, and very little flavor. It reminded me of that Stone Soup book from when I was little. I was embarrassed she had attached my name to it. After the dinner I asked her if she remembered my request about following the recipe. She said she had "tweaked" it to make it with items she had on hand. I asked her for the recipe back and that she, in the future, call her version "Susan's Soup" or whatever, since it was so different. I think I hurt her feelings, but at that point I didn't care. Matter of fact, I still don't.
Some recipes are just too special to share.
1. I am proud to be a G.R.I.T.
2. SugarFrosted: I am 41 years old and I still have my Stone Soup storybook. It's one of my favorites.
3. I have a mother-in-law who has always REFUSED to give me her crab and corn bisque recipe (that's crab and corn chowder to the Yanks ). Since DH is a mama's boy I asked him to try to get it from her. She finally agreed that she would hand it over to HIM. Said she would email it to him. Still waiting. It's been about a year now. 
I can see both sides of this argument. Some people spend a lot of money and several years developing recipes that are proprietary to them and are responsible for their success. DH is a MAJOR barbecue fanatic and I can't begin to tell you how much drama there is in that industry. People have bankrupted themselves developing seasonings and rubs and sauces.
And let me tell you something else...those people don't share!!!
I was so surprised at how welcoming CC was and how willing everyone is to share their tips and tricks and even RECIPES!!! Now I'm thinking that it's because CC is primarily women...comforting, nurturing, take you under the wing kind of people. I know, some of you are men, and I thank you, too.
But it's a different story on the BBQ forums...heaven forbid you post a question as a newbie...it's every man for himself. You are usually ignored or shunned (we all started at the bottom and had to figure things out for ourselves, why would we want to help you)...unless you are praising someone for their expertise and then asking for a little advice but not so much that they may have to divulge a secret method for doing something. The posts are usually a)Mister Expert bragging about how great he is, b) his groupies singing his praises, c) someone bashing someone else. Not at all a nurturing environment...DH got so tired of all the BS that he has assumed identities and he spends his time stirring the pot!!!!
I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that these people travel around the country competing on a regular basis to the point that they figure everyone is their competition. And, unlike the big cake shows that I've seen on TV where you can actually watch people working, I've actually attended competitions where these men put up curtains so that no one could see what they were doing!
Gosh I love Cake Central!!!
hi everyone, kim in cajuncountry, at least you haven't gotten the wrong recipe, i had ask my mil for a recipe that my dh loves and she gave me the wrong ingredients. gee i love her! (not!!) this is a whole other thread but my mil is absolutely horrid. anyways..... have a great day everyone!!!
There are just some recipes that I refuse to share. My great grandfather was a baker, who had his own shop in Poland, where my grandfather was born. My grandfather came to the US, and immediately enlisted in the navy, and went to work as a cook on a Naval Submarine. He still has his fathers cookbook, that is falling apart.
His most famous bread was this pumpkin bread, which was heavy and dense and full of pumkpiny flavor. I took his recipe, and tweaked it for YEARS, until I came up with something that was flavorful, and a little bit lighter. I refuse to share that recipe with ANYONE outside our family. The same with my grandmothers old German recipes, that were passed down to her from her mother, who ran a bakery out of her home to bring in extra money in war torn Germany.
These recipes bring a tear to my eye, they have been passed down to me, who at 5 years old was left my great grandmother's cookbook in her will, because 'one day she will be an incredible baker.' I always liked to help my grandmother cook, can, and bake.
Ok, off the box now, and I need to find a kleenex.
Jayde, what a lovely story. Thanks for sharing it. *needs a kleenex too*
I usually don't ask. But if I do follow someone elses idea i Just put that in my description and I sometimes PM them.. Not all of the time though. I mean if they specifically ask to be notified I would but it just depends really.. I would feel flattered if someone wanted to copy one of my creations..
I would hope that no one would actually get offended by their cake idea being mimicked. That is why we post pics in the gallery isn't it? Just be sure that you tag you pics before you post them so they can't be easily stolen & reposted as originals. I can't imagine everyone being able to come up with 100% original ideas without ever taking inspiration from other peoples cakes.
But I do agree that if you get your idea from someone else, or even from a magazine or something, be polite & give credit where it's due. Your no less a decorator just b/c you borrow ideas from other sources.
I just wanted to say that MacsMom and sarahnichole975, your cakes are stunning and at your request I promise to copy them!
If I hadn't found this website I would not be having so much fun decorating cakes. Even with my "original" ideas, I always search keywords on here before trying it to see how others have interpreted an idea. It's the key to continuous improvement and idea sharing makes the world go round!
WOW! there was so much to read....but it was fun. And again this is why I am so glad I finally decided to be a CakeCentral member....there is no selfish people here. 
I love the fact that everybody is willing to share their inspirations with everyone....it speaks of GREATNESS. I have learned with time that the more you give, and share, and help, the more blessings you get. And I wish the world of blessings to all of you in CakeCentral for your unconditional support in making this site the best thing ever. I am a newbie here, but I already know that I will be learning more than cake decorating, I will be learning the gift of giving.
I really don't mind if someone copies a cake I've done, even if they don't acknowledge me. I WANT to inspire someone, that would make my day! That being said, it doesn't take a whole lot of effort or time to include the original decorators name in the pic description...so why not? I think it's just being polite.
Oh, and I share my recipes too, unless they are family ones that have been passed down...then I don't.
btw, I'm a Yank, and even *I* know that y'all is spelled "y'all" LOL
Well I never knew where I really stood on this issue since most of my cakes ARE copies LOL but I must say, a month or so ago I came across an exact duplicate of one of my only original cakes and I was absolutely tickled pink. Which is saying a lot because I don't ever use the phrase "tickled pink." Haha! As others before me have said, credit would have been "nice" but in no way was expected and I felt no ill will that it wasn't given. I was just too thrilled that someone would find my cake worthy of duplicating. I mean: ME?? Wow!
Like others before me, I wouldn't have posted the pic if someone's use of the idea would have bothered me (never mind that never in a million years did I think the cake would inspire anyone). I think if anyone would feel deeply bothered by someone copying their cake and not crediting them, they could state that (politely) in their description, like "Here is my original design of blah blah blah, I made it with yada yada. I'd be flattered if you liked my design enough to try it yourself, but if you post the picture publicly please include my name as the original designer." Of course such a statement would probably get no end of flak from people 
but my point is just: if something is going to bug you that much you should let people know before they have the chance to do the thing.
Anyway I do think there is a difference between acknowledging that giving credit is polite or "a good thing", versus actually thinking it should be a "requirement" and getting offended if it isn't given.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%