I wondered if anyone's seen this ad/infomercial, and what do you make of it?
http://www.weddingcakesecretsexposed.com/
Discuss... 
This looks like the stuff that my cousin does for his business. He writes articles and e-books, then sells them through downloads online. No overhead, and he makes a bundle writing about any random thing that he comes up with. He doesn't know about half the stuff he writes about, either, but people eat it up. He was trying to think of some way to use what I do to sell something, but it looks like this guy thought of it first!
It's kind of along the lines of "secrets to finding the right lover"...It's a bunch of crap, but there will always be someone who's willing to shell out $50 to read it. If I was willing to hold my nose and take the suckers' money I'd do it myself, but I can't bring myself to do it!
Is this guy for real??????
I am thinking he is just another one out there that has set out to rip off the brides!!!!! 
In this ad, he has the nerve to add that if you have a "burning" question unanswered in (whatever it is he is trying to sell) you can email him and he will personally email you an answer, that is worth $49.95 yours free. 
This guy is just wacked. What is next???? What an idiot!!!!
Q. I have found a designer that does outstanding work. Every one of her cakes is truly a work of art. My problem is, her cakes are not really that tasty. In fact, they are kind of dry. What should I do? Go with a great looking cake or a better tasting cake with someone else?
A. That is a tough one. So, heres how to answer your own question. Is it more important for you to have great photos of a fabulous wedding cake that will be immortalized forever or how the cake tasted to your guests? Personally, I would choose the fabulous visual memory.
Disagree with this one. My sister has passed her 25th wedding anniversary ... they still talk about how pretty her cake LOOKED ... and how pretty BAD it TASTED!!!!
What system do you use to make sure my wedding cake wont lean or fall over at the reception? (See page 96)
"And, Miss Cake Civilian, if I explain what kind of system I use, will you have ANY idea whatsoever what I'm talking about and will you be able to determine if it's a good system or a bad system ... or if I'm just blowin' smoke up your rear end to see if you can figure out what I'm talking about?" 
And yeah ... I'd be REAL interested to hear how he "guarentees" that there won't be a big traffic accident on the interstate that shuts down the highway for hours when I'm halfway to the reception site with the cake in the back of the van!
I have no words... I am truely speechless.
And yeah ... I'd be REAL interested to hear how he "guarentees" that there won't be a big traffic accident on the interstate that shuts down the highway for hours when I'm halfway to the reception site with the cake in the back of the van!
Debi, he probably has a helipad on top of his house for such emergencies. 
DID YA notice this part!?!?!
Hi, my name is Ed Otto.
I am an owner of a million dollar cake business, 35 year wedding cake veteran who has either decorated or managed the creation of over 10,000 wedding cakes and a strategic marketing consultant for the bakery and wedding industry.
I'm guessing he worked in some high volume grocery store that did wedding cakes.
Somehow I don't think he would be the one DOING the cakes.
DID YA notice this part!?!?!
... 35 year wedding cake veteran who has either decorated or managed the creation of over 10,000 wedding cakes ...
That's about 286 wedding cakes a year.
If the average cost is $1,000 per cake his annual gross is $286,000 a year.
Career gross is $1,001,000.00.
That's just wedding cakes alone!!!!!
HAHA Oh thank you...I am SO glad I wasn't the only one who found him strangely....irritating.
And the "how will you guarantee my cake won't be late" really floored me too.
I like how by the end he's saying that all this info is worth more than most homes today, like $195,000 or something. Give me a ba-reak.
It made me feel like any bride who reads that is going to think I'm some mad hacker trying to just rip her off without her know, ruin her wedding without caring, and disappear without a trace. Maybe I should wear a mask, too. Ew.
I'm guessing he worked in some high volume grocery store that did wedding cakes.
Somehow I don't think he would be the one DOING the cakes.
I just Googled him & found his shop. He does seem to be real, but he's big on the hyperbole!
ETA: I've started having a proper read through and gosh he doesn't like us homebakers!
Well, considering that he's such a "marketing expert," he doesn't seem to know the importance of proofreading. Under the "7 articles written... " by him at the bottom of his homepage, there's an article about how the cake is built, and he refers to "doll" rods twice. Both the wooden doll rods and the plastic doll rods. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn't write that himself, but I just found it amusing.
Where can I buy these "doll rods" that you speak of? I've been using the inferior dowel rods all this time!
That whole page is so full of BS that we could literally sit here and pick apart/laugh over every single line/paragraph. I'll resist, but here's another:
To summarize our thousands of hours of research in one sentence would trivialize the teams overall effort. However, we did see a clear-cut pattern for the cause of baker/designers being less than great. In our opinion, 91% of baker/designers suffer from a lack of management and/or business skills. Most of the time, the problem does not lay in technical (decorating ability) expertise.
This is probably true, so therefore not a profound revelation, but I fail to see how it is within the bride's scope of responsibility to make sure she's hiring a baker who is also a good businessperson. And how would she know? Should she ask to see the books? Bank statements?
And seriously - I don't know how any bride could in good conscience pay $40 for this BS when some of his high-dollar advice is to buy for looks over taste.
Here is his cake decorator store he owns....His cake must be made out of bologna, cuz that's what he's full of !
http://www.omahaweddingcakegallery.com/cakegallerycontemporary.html
"The competency of their delivery methodology!"
Last time I checked..... you deliver a cake by putting it in the back of a delivery vehicle (such as a van) and driving it there. Does he think that a baker is going to personally WALK the cake to the location? Or perhaps stuff it into a bike basket and pedal it there, or better yet, strap it to the back of a motorcycle?
What planet is this guy from?
Oh my.... you just have to see his formula for how much cake you need. You take the quantity of invitations you mail out, double that number and reduce by 25%.
So if you invite 100 people to your wedding, you need 150 pieces of cake!
And then you don't count the grooms cake servings, it's just "extra".
So provided that every single person you invite attends... what on earth is the bride going to do with an extra 50 pieces of cake AND entire Groom's cake!?
Oh my.... you just have to see his formula for how much cake you need. You take the quantity of invitations you mail out, double that number and reduce by 25%.
So if you invite 100 people to your wedding, you need 150 pieces of cake!
While I think his method of using "invitations mailed" skewed...
technically, sending 100 invitations is not inviting 100 people to the wedding, it is inviting 100 individual people plus a guest or each one(well, unless all of those people are single and have no abssolutely no hope to get a date.
Oh my.... you just have to see his formula for how much cake you need. You take the quantity of invitations you mail out, double that number and reduce by 25%.
So if you invite 100 people to your wedding, you need 150 pieces of cake!
And then you don't count the grooms cake servings, it's just "extra".
So provided that every single person you invite attends... what on earth is the bride going to do with an extra 50 pieces of cake AND entire Groom's cake!?
Sure, I dont mind charging a bride for 150 plus servings for a wedding for 100! hahahaha! That is really advice for US! hahaha!
I was wondering when a thread would start on this guy...I wonder what the Knot thought of his statement that you cannot believe any of their articles because if they were honest with you, their advertisers would get pissed off.
reading his web site, it looks like to me that this "book" is just to get you to buy a cake from him? How can he state his cakes are "ultra moist" and then state its not important for a cake to taste good?
And this statement generally just pisses me off!
It also probably means the person you are talking to probably is the wedding cake decorator. On the surface, that seems like a good thing and most of the time it is. However, it should worry you if the same person is taking your order, baking the cake, decorating it, and finally delivering your wedding cake. In my research to write Wedding Cake Secrets Exposed, I spoke with many technically great designer/decorators who were not very good bakers. Ideally, you want your cake to be baked by a professional baker or pastry person who understands combining ingredients and decorated by someone who has great skills in decorating wedding cakes.
I just had to post one more thing on this, as I am laughing hysterically over his web site.
he first states that you need to be up to date on all your designs, yet he says he different colored ruffles offered for your cake base. WHO uses RUFFLES for cake bases anymore?
And I dont agree with offering so many cake flavors. I find this overwhelms the brides. Maybe offer some cool combinations, but if they see this huge list, their eyes gaze over!
And I love this "just walk in" on a bakery and expect to talk to the wedding cake decorator...I dont care if you have 100 decorators, who is going to have time on a friday afternoon to talk to a bride!
This guy is NUTS!!!
He needs to be on TV promoting OxiClean! If he's a millionaire solely from making cakes, then I guess we'll all be millionaires in the near future. 
Can't wait!!! LOL! No pun intended, but this guy takes the cake. His website is so inundated with infomercial crap that it makes me dizzy. If I was a bride, I would be immediately turned off. Most brides want a nice eye appealing, user friendly website. Not one with marketing overload. They want personalized service, not an in your face car salesman attitude. It's the wrong execution of a somewhat right idea. Brides need to be educated in regard to the misinformation out there, but certainly not in this over the top infomercial manner. There's no absolute science to ordering a wedding cake. Brides don't need to know every detail about how the cakes are constructed for stability. Too much information!! He's really doing more of a disservice and opened the door even more to brides challenging cake decorators from every angle by making them think they're the experts, not us.
It made me feel like any bride who reads that is going to think I'm some mad hacker trying to just rip her off without her know, ruin her wedding without caring, and disappear without a trace. Maybe I should wear a mask, too. Ew.
Hey... has anyone seen my mask and cape... I knew I had it lying around somewhere... it is Thursday ya know... gotta get ready to ruin someones wedding.
Dont wanna be late!!!!!!
http://www.omahaweddingcakegallery.com/cakegallerycontemporary.html[/quote]
Has any one actually looked at these cakes?! Now granted I'm still getting good at this but the scroll work is pretty shakey, not to mention a little messy (see red scrolls) and the buttercream not nearly as perfect (air holes and funky corners -exotic ectasy) as a lot of the cakes I've seen on this site! If they look better than they taste... Scary.
Maybe I'm being overly picky - but he just pisses me off! eewwww.
as I am from Nebraska and have checked out his sight several times. I never knew quite what to make of his "secrets".... I mostly ignored them and brushed them to the side. I don't think I ever read much of the remarks. I think his sight is confusing and overwhelming. Way to much info! I agree that his remarks are totally rediculous. It almost sounds as if he's afraid of the home based business. Does he really feel that threatened! The idea that a decorator can not be a talented baker also is grasping at straws for his little secrets. He is widely advertised.... has the quite expensive contract with David's Bridal as an "exclusive" baker. I went into his shop once to check it out.... it needed to come into the 21st century, but they do a good business. They are surprisingly cheap. At a time that cupcakes are 2.00 each, his were still $.85 as well as his decorated cakes...don't know what he charges for wedding cakes. He just seems like an egotistical big talker.
Cheryl
His website was a turn off from the get go. This is one step away from being a cake megastore. I get the sense that the bride will be put in a ride like you saw on Jurassic Park and shuttled thru the ordering process and get a stamp on her forehead that says "FILED" after it is all done.
I was looking at some of the photos on his website, the wedding cakes look pretty, but the regular cakes are incredibly sloppy! The borders are uneven, and the designs are boring! I would be embarrased to say those were my cakes! I also found it interesting that when talking about support systems, he mentions "wooden DOLL rods"
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%