HELP!! Customer wants cake carved as Tinkerbell but only wants buttercream. What would be a good technique for the buttercream and what would be the best support system? It has to travel in the car for an hour. Really nervous about this one!!
Wow, how on earth did you get Disney to allow you to carve a Tinkerbell image? You could do the Wilton style where you cover the cake in bc stars.
She still can't sell the Wilton Tinkerbell cake, it's for personal use only. Unless Disney gave her permission of course.
I didn't say the wilton pan, just that style of covering a carved cake in bc. That's the only way I could think of to cleanly decorate a carved cake in bc only.
You can not legally sell a licensed character cake, even if you change colors. As long as it is recognizable as the licensed character then you could be fined an extremely huge amount of money and/or face prison time. I myself would not even risk it. Now if she wants Tinkerbell then you can set the cake up with a design for Tink and purchase a Tinkerbell statue of some sort for the top of it and that way the royalty has been paid. I hope this has helped you.
evelyn
I'm confused, I had no idea that a cake could be illegal to make. And I even gave them the option of Tinkerbell ontop of a cake. How is it illegal to have a whole cake Tinkerbell, but not the top of a cake Tinkerbell. I'm confused now.
What if I just make a girl, different hair color and just make it a fairy instead of Tink? Can I then do just a carved image? The customers were very specific and are high mainainance, lol. I know they won't be pleased unless they get exactly what they asked for.
I,ve seen lots of carved cakes covered in b/c , w/o using the star tip. You have to be very talented though in smoothing the b/c. But, yes, it can be done.I,m not talking about this poster doing tinkerbell. I,m praising the talented b/c decorators , that don,t have to use the star tip. She is just trying to figure a way to please her customer and keep her.
I'm confused, I had no idea that a cake could be illegal to make. And I even gave them the option of Tinkerbell ontop of a cake. How is it illegal to have a whole cake Tinkerbell, but not the top of a cake Tinkerbell. I'm confused now.
It has to do with the fact that Tinkerbell is a copyrighted character owned by Disney, which means that Disney needs to make $$$$$ from everything to do with Tinkerbell.
If you carve a cake in the shape of "tink" Disney won't see a dime, but you will have made a profit off of THEIR character.
If you BUY a tinkerbell toy (Disney gets the profit) and set it on a cake decorated in the same color scheme...........THIS is allowed!
You see the difference?? Has to do with Disney getting paid!!
I completely understand that disney has to get paid for anything to do with Tinkerbell. I have seen a lot of Tinkerbell cakes though that have an edible Tink and Disney didn't get paid. How is this one any different? And thank you! I am just trying to please my customer! I'm still working on my buttercream techniques so I think I'll try smoothing the bc first and if I just can't do it, I will use the star technique. Thank you!
dont want to steal the tread but just asking- is that a USA thing or a world wide thing about not being able to do a special cake ie. Disney incase its illegal
Summer09
oh it's worldwide, disney owns the rights to the characters and Disney is one of the BIG GUYS that will go after you!!!
I know 2 people personally that have received cease and desist orders from Disney threatening legal action.
1 girl was selling character cakes from the wilton pans
the other girl was just doing some fbct's of the characters!
Disney actually has a whole legal team who's ONLY job is to scour the net for businesses that are infringing on their copyrights!
I completely understand that disney has to get paid for anything to do with Tinkerbell. I have seen a lot of Tinkerbell cakes though that have an edible Tink and Disney didn't get paid. How is this one any different? And thank you! I am just trying to please my customer! I'm still working on my buttercream techniques so I think I'll try smoothing the bc first and if I just can't do it, I will use the star technique. Thank you!
It's NOT any different! They were doing it illegally as well, just like you'll be doing if you move forward with that cake! A lot of people do it, and a LOT Of people get caught too, there is a fine of more than $10,000 in some cases, you have to figure out for yourself if making a cake is worth that price?
The exception, as far as I know, is if you give the cake away for free, or you make it for your child. Then you made no profit on their character. And no money means no compensation whatsoever. Not ingredients, not gift cards nothing. Not a good business practice however. It's very possible alot of the cakes you see on CC that have Tink and other otherwise copywrited characters were for family, or were otherwise given away.
I completely understand that disney has to get paid for anything to do with Tinkerbell. I have seen a lot of Tinkerbell cakes though that have an edible Tink and Disney didn't get paid. How is this one any different? And thank you! I am just trying to please my customer! I'm still working on my buttercream techniques so I think I'll try smoothing the bc first and if I just can't do it, I will use the star technique. Thank you!
This is completely off topic, and I apologize, but I clicked your website and it didn't work, it just brought me to a web portal page.
Good luck with Tink! Disney is pretty on the ball with that stuff, I hear.
This is completely off topic, and I apologize, but I clicked your website and it didn't work, it just brought me to a web portal page.
Good luck with Tink! Disney is pretty on the ball with that stuff, I hear.[/quote]
Go to www.babymommacakes.wordpress.com Thanks, I'll need the luck!
When you see edible images of Disney characters, Disney is getting paid for them. The bakery had to buy that image to use.
Now you can make a generic fairy cake and you don't have to worry about Disney coming after you. It's when you start copying something they've created is when you have to start paying royalties.
This is true for any character, logo, party napkins, photographers, etc.
Isn't it crazy how a post asking for help has turned into a legal post? Thanks everyone for your advise. I guess I'll have to go on my own for this one.
We were trying to help. Apparently you weren't aware of the legalities of selling a cake using a copywritten character. We let you know that it's illegal to prevent you from being fined hefty amounts. Obviously, if you choose to make the cake, that's your business.
if you still want to do the cake and risk the fines that's your dealing.
If you still want to know how to get the bc REALLY smooth on a carved cake........check out viva paper towels, that should help you a LOT!
Andrea, please don't take offense. We're just warning about the legalities of what your client asked for. I've already pm'ed you some options that I thought of and I hope those were helpful.
If you were planning on doing the cake anyways, whether you get paid for it or not, I would suggest checking out this video:
SeriousCakes shows how to make a 3D VW Beetle cake out of buttercream. She's quite proficient with bc, so whenever I have a ponder about if something can be done in bc, I always go to her. I don't know if you were planning to do a 3d or 2d cake but this should at least give you a point in the right direction. Be sure your bc is quite soft, easy to spread then!
And KHalstead is right about the Viva towels. They are about the only way you'll get your bc to look almost as smooth as fondant.
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