I understand not wanting to share.. and people should't push but being ignorant or rude is not needed either..... I don't think they are asking to be annoying and you should be flattered that someone would want to try your cake.

I think that my old aunt had a great technique of giving out her recipe. She would say, I use my big blue bowl for measuring the flour, my yellow cup for the oil, my black pot with the broken handle for the sauce and so on. She would never give exact measurements. This way if you really wanted to learn how she made it you would have to go to her house and spend the day and learn and measure it out yourself.

I think sharing on a site like CC is great since we are from all parts of the world and have never tried food from other countries.

Next time, maybe just say that since they are insisting, they can research it just like you did and experiment till they figure it out.

I only have one recipe that i don't share with people and that is my frosting one, other than that i share everything. I figure i have asked for some and people have given them to me. I always tweak the recipes anyway. Or if its someone else's i give them credit for it. I would hope that people would do the same. If it something that you have come up with on your own and its a good money maker or its something you are know for that is a different story! Well for me anyway!

I am not insulted by someone asking for a recipe... simply because im not going to give it to you. Not my secret archive recipies and I wouldnt be insulted if someone one told me no if i asked. Im a scratch baker and I spent years fine tuning my recipies and punishing my family and everyone i know with dry tasteless cake before I came up with "the one" I would never give that recipe to anyone. However, i have provided to ppl for example, the white on white buttermilk cake recipe which i like fine. I tell them though that this isnt my go to recipe but its good and how to tweak it.... theyve always been happy.

That question, may I have your recipe, used to be a big pet peeve of mine too, until I took on the "give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish he'll eat for life" attitude. Meaning -- when someone asks me for one of my recipes, for example a chocolate cake, I tell them "well I could give you my recipe but it won't taste the same. Ingredients and personal tweaks I put in it make it my own. I would suggest you go on the internet and find a couple of great sounding chocolate cake recipes. Make them and TAKE NOTES. Make any changes you need to until you come up with a signature chocolate cake recipe that you are known for." Of course I often hear "but that's such a lot of work" (whine whine whine... ) to which I reply "Exactly. Now you see why I don't share my recipes!"

I wonder what will happen to all these secret recipes. My Grandmother recently passed away, and my aunts cleaned out her house pretty thoroughly, I know her recipe book got thrown away. Isn't that a crime? Bet it happens all the time.

I heard a story on the radio about someone finding a lot of loose pages which had obviously fallen out of a folder, which was obviously just such a recipe book - old and handwritten. They gathered them all up and made some of the recipes, found them excellent, and ended up publishing a book. I know you're all wondering about the legal implications like me, but I have no idea how that was managed.

I'm sorry to say there are no amazing cake recipes in my family. Nor am I a talented enough baker to make my own. So I guess I'm a bottom feeder, constantly trying other people's recipes until I hit one that's good. I've found a couple like that, and have even tweaked them to 'make them my own'. If anyone wants to share an amazing recipe with me I promise I won't be competition for you, I'm probably on the other side of the world! I'm hoping one day I'll have a collection of amazing recipes to pass down the lines if I just keep looking.

My grandmother had an amazing meringue recipe that had something crunch in them... lost forever. My hubby's grandmother had an award winning chicken soup recipe... gone. So sad!

indydebi, ask your mother in law to leave it to you in her last will and testament

Okay, I agree about sharing recipes with the "general" public. Like your Facebook fan page, etc. But, my understanding about CC is that: #1 MOST of us are across the country or across the WORLD from each other, so even if I did decide to add one of your recipes to my list go-to's what's the big deal. (There are several recipes that I have read on here that have been claimed as being "original" and have found them in Fanny Farmer or other older cake books. That being said, it is highly unlikely that with baking being thousands of years old that there is a TRULY ORIGINAL recipe left in the world) #2 There is a recipe sharing page on this site for that particular reason. To SHARE. And, it may BE that I can't make the recipe as good as you do. But trust me, if I tell my boyfriend that SoAndSo from CC shared this recipe with me, do you really think that is going to soil your good name with him? No. Because he has no earthly idea who you are!! Even when I have mentioned Edna's buttercream etc (believe me he knows who Edna is...he has a crush on her!!LOL!! ) and that mine didn't come out as good as hers did, etc. He did NOT blame Edna!! He knew who was holding the measuring cups!!

Anyway, that being said, I appreciate everyone of you who DO choose to share your GIFT. Without you, I would still be at square one trying to figure a lot of things out. I wish that there were a LOT more people on here like Edna who understands that her gift is God given and is called to share that gift by making videos, etc. It would make a lot more of us who are struggling have an easier time of it.

SO IS THAT A NO!!!!!!!
SORRY HAD TO DO IT!!!!!

One of my friends (Friend A) makes a really good chocolate cake. Friend B would always ask for the recipe and Friend A would say, "This is my Grandma's recipe. She swore me to secrecy and I could never share it!!"

Some years later, Friend B came to my house, pulled a piece of paper out of her purse and said, "I finally got it!! This is Friend A's secret chocolate cake recipe!!!"

No lie...It was the recipe from the can of Hershey's Cocoa!! Sounds like Grandma had a reason for wanting to keep "her" recipe a secret!

Thats' s funny.. I have an aunt that is the only one that has my grandmother chocolate mousse recipe (all her siblings passed away). She won't share the recipe with anyone and she is 82! Once I asked her for it and told her that I wanted to do it for my boyfriend and she answered to me: Bring your boyfriend to my house to meet him and I'll do the chocolate mousse!! ggrrrrrr

I don't get this intra-family recipe secrets. You'd think they'd want their legacy to live on, to actually teach the next generation.

My brother decorates as well, and we're both competative, but share whatever we've learned from experience. Easy for me, cause I'm the better one!

So... it might be easy to say no to someone you don't know, or don't know well, but what do you do when a good friend asks for the recipe?
It would be nice to share some, but you don't want an overkill to the point where everyone has it and it becomes the "boring" & "standard" cake.

So... it might be easy to say no to someone you don't know, or don't know well, but what do you do when a good friend asks for the recipe?
It would be nice to share some, but you don't want an overkill to the point where everyone has it and it becomes the "boring" & "standard" cake.

a "good friend" understands why you can't give the recipe out.

My grandmothers' recipes are used in my business and they are my most cherished. I have decided to share the family recipes in my blog on my site in the near future. But... they are old school recipes that most casual bakers will not attempt. And the way I figure it, an avid baker is not going to buy a cake from anyone, so I feel ok publishing them. As for my basic scratch recipes used daily, I will share with friends and family but no one else. I always suggest people go to foodnetwork.com to look for a good recipe because of the reviews and the rating system.

I guess I should really thank my lucky stars that CakeMommyTX decided to share her hard work with her White Velvet cake recipe!! It is absolutely my GO-TO recipe. The one that ALWAYS turns out well and that tastes absolutely delicious every single time. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have the "fans" that I do!! So thank you from the bottom of my heart CakeMommyTX!! You, my dear, are a SAINT!!

"I wish that there were a LOT more people on here like Edna who understands that her gift is God given and is called to share that gift by making videos, etc. It would make a lot more of us who are struggling have an easier time of it."

I love Edna! I have learned so much from her videos and tips on here as well. She rocks! Oh, and I love her make up too.
She is so pretty.

"Anyway, that being said, I appreciate everyone of you who DO choose to share your GIFT. Without you, I would still be at square one trying to figure a lot of things out. I wish that there were a LOT more people on here like Edna who understands that her gift is God given and is called to share that gift by making videos, etc. It would make a lot more of us who are struggling have an easier time of it."

Couldn't have said it better myself and agree 100% Edna rules

Guayaquilcakes , go over to your aunt's house with your boyfriend - it is a kindness to spend the time with her AND you get that recipe! The only way I got my grandmother's Old Country recipes was to spend days watching her cook - no measurements. The memory is much sweeter than the recipe anyway.

Sharing recipes - thanks to all who have shared on CC. They are so much fun to try. While working at a chocolate shop, I created quite a few unique recipes, of course they belong to the shop's owner which was fine until the media started showing up raving about them. A couple of times while being interviewed, the owner was asked, "How did you come up with such original combinations?" The owner just sighed, with me standing next to her, and said, "Oh, I don't know, it's a gift. I just lay awake at nights and dream them up."....grrrrrr.... I don't work there anymore, but if you have a business and develop a recipe it is "work product" or a trade secret that you should not share.
I scratch bake but the one time I experimented with a mix and gave it to my DH's co-worker, she hassled him for the recipe ("My husband loved it, greatest cake ever... blah blah blah..." said with lots of tears even!) and the minute I gave it to her and she saw it was from a mix, she says, "Oh, I make a much better cake than this.") another grrrrrr...

BTW, now I think I have a crush on Edna.

I understand how you feel. However, sometimes I don't mind sharing and sometimes I do. It's weird, I know. One of my dreams is to publish a cook book, so it's a little easier for me to be able to share 'em. I even started a blog with recipe's so people can share and enjoy.

We also have to remember that us as bakers and cake decorators, we have had our share of searching for recipe's via cook books or online. If it wasn't for those people who were gracious enough to post their recipe's, then some of us wouldn't be here today.

Like I said, I'm a little picky on which ones to share. If it's recipes handed down to me from my Mother, Grandmother, etc. then I wouldn't share.... they're more personal to me. And if someone were to ask, I would simply say, "It's a family secret".