Ok, first thing -- this is disaster is completely my own fault in every way. Yes, I have learned my lesson from this fiasco!

On Wednesday, I took an order for a carved cake of Bumblebee from the new Transformers movie to be picked up Saturday (yes, tomorrow; cutting it tight, I know). At first, the client wanted two cakes, one of the car and the other of the Autobot. When I told her how many those would serve, she changed her mind and just ordered the Autobot.

Well, silly me, I had no idea how much Transformers had changed since I was a kid! After the customer placed the order, I went back to the kitchen and looked up the new Bumblebee. Oh my!!!! How times have changed! The new ones are so ridiculously intricate, I had no idea where to begin. I found a really nice buttercream version of a similar cake on Cakewrecks (Sunday Sweets) and decided to go with that idea. Today, carved the cake, no problem, off to a good start. How quickly and sharply it all went downhill...

I always use IMBC, no problem, but tonight it was all just blurring together into a big yucky blob. Scrape it off, start over. And so it went for several hours, at which point I called my husband (and co-owner of our bakery) and he came to help. Long story short, I did IMBC as a base, then did fondant accent overlays. It turned out so awful! I hate this cake!!!

Now I am debating what to do tomorrow when the woman comes to pick it up. Should I call her in the morning and let her know that I'm unhappy with it and tell her it's a freebie? That's my gut instinct. For the record, I grossly undercharged for this cake (initially thinking it was an easy cartoon-looking cake). Also, we are the higher-end bakery in our town. I really don't want our reputation to be ruined by chargingfor a cake I'm not proud of. I'm never going to sleep tonight worrying about this!

Thank you all for reading this lengthy rant! I read everyone's awesome advice daily and have learned so much from CC. Thank you all again!

we really need a picture, so we can tell if it really is a terrible cake, slightly below your usual standard, or just your eyes not seeing how good it really is after all the problems.
otherwise, it is up to you.
xx

A lot of times my perception of a difficult cake will cloud my judgment of how it really looks, if you could post a pic that would help. I've had more than one that went into the trash can and started over again, once I developed that hate-hate relationship with it. Good Luck Also remember she ordered awfully late for such an elaborate cake.

I gave a coupon for a basket of Vday cookies to a church auction. (Well before the 14th). Naturally she waited until after the holiday and every single red deco was all used up. She stood firm on the hearts so long story short...they looked nasty, I apologised, never heard from her again. My advise....act stupid.

Thanks everyone for your help. Believe it or not, when I came into work the next day, the staff at the bakery all looked at the cake and voted that it did look like a transformer. I decided to bring the customer her cake and gauge her reaction. She loved it! I could not have been more shocked. I didn't even take a picture, I despised that cake so much. So happy it's over! Thanks again!

Glad it worked out well in the end. Yes, I agree- things have changed since the times of our childhood cartoons. lol