I'm Getting So Sick Of Making Ugly Cakes!

Decorating By bates123 Updated 21 Apr 2011 , 6:23pm by BakerAnn

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bates123 Posted 19 Apr 2011 , 4:03pm
post #1 of 17

Does anyone else get tired of making ugly and unusual cakes that people request? Last week I make a coal mining cake. That wouldn't have been so bad, but the cake they wanted me to go by had little weird dwarfs (like in Snow White) mining the coal. Weird! After that I was asked to make a Tinkerbell cake, no problem there, but they called back and wanted Tinkerbell with a guitar. Weird again!

Oh, a while back I was asked to make a cake with leopard print, polka dots, flowers with the colors pink, purple and green. In other words, another ugly cake.

My next one is a Twilight cake. Not as bad as it could be, but I still wish I could make something pretty.

16 replies
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jo3d33 Posted 19 Apr 2011 , 4:23pm
post #2 of 17

lol. Yeah, that happens to me too. I dont post those pictures! haha

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ThreeLittleBlackbirds Posted 19 Apr 2011 , 4:25pm
post #3 of 17

next time you have a break from orders and have some spare time, grab a dummy cake or bake up a single tier cake and decorate it pretty however you want. It's good for the portfolio and good for the soul! icon_smile.gif

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Dizzymaiden Posted 19 Apr 2011 , 4:31pm
post #4 of 17

I use to want to make "creative" cakes but lately I am happy making my sponge with whipped cream and fruit. It taste good, not as fattening and always looks pretty.

I also like making pretty bc flowers (I know - old fashion)!

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indydebi Posted 19 Apr 2011 , 5:31pm
post #5 of 17

"pretty" and "ugly" is in the eye of the beholder.

For instance .....

I have a friend who runs a custom framing shop. he shared with us that he NEVER makes a comment on what people want to get framed. even tho' it seems silly to him to spend $125 on a custom frame for a picture from an old calendar, what he relayed to us was, "I don't know that this picture didn't hang in their grandmother's kitchen for years and this might be the very last thing they have to remember her by. I never assume the value of what people want to get framed."

So I try to avoid to assume the value of what a cake looks like to the client. It could all have some very special meaning to them.

Cake Wrecks being the exception, of course! icon_biggrin.gif

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awatterson Posted 19 Apr 2011 , 5:46pm
post #6 of 17

Heck, if someone is paying for the cake then I will make pretty much whatever they want!

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jennifercullen Posted 19 Apr 2011 , 6:57pm
post #7 of 17

While I agree with what Indydebi and awatterson say, I still know what you mean. I've only made a few cakes so far, they were all one after the other without a break and I'm glad to be having a break. I made a guitar cake and a wrestling ring cake and really didnt enjoy making either as I prefer to use light bright colours... I'd hate to have a business where I didnt have much of a choice about making these cakes! I only made them for friends and family and I offered to make them.

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Bubbl3h3ad Posted 19 Apr 2011 , 7:25pm
post #8 of 17

Well, I get tired of people asking me to carve a cake into "this" or "that" and then I have to figure out how to do it. I mean, sometimes I just want a normal cake to do. I don't want to do a car, a graduation cap, a monster, a beer can, a bra, a shopping bag, or a fish. I just want to do a normal, flat or tiered, square or round cake!

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debbief Posted 19 Apr 2011 , 9:15pm
post #9 of 17

I feel that way too. I pretty much give my cakes away because Im just a hobby baker, but I still do what is requested. I figure it gives me the practice and I really enjoy getting the experience. But I always wish I could just do whatever I want...until the last two cakes. One was for my daughter and one for my sister. The only request was from my sister who said she likes butterflies. Otherwise, do whatever I want. Yipee...but then I got a creative mental block and I just had the hardest time coming up with something without being told exactly what they wanted. I couldnt believe I was asked to do whatever I want and I didnt know what I wanted to do!

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Dizzymaiden Posted 19 Apr 2011 , 9:20pm
post #10 of 17

I feel the pendulum swinging toward cakes of the past. Alot of customers are asking for vintage style cakes which is fine with me.

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jennifercullen Posted 20 Apr 2011 , 1:22pm
post #11 of 17

debbief i am the same as you. I only charge people the cost of the ingredients and even then I realise I have underestimated! I think if i were getting paid for them too I might be a little more enthusiastic lol. they do take me all of one or two days to make! when its all dull dark colours I just get sick of the sight of them...

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labmom Posted 20 Apr 2011 , 6:38pm
post #12 of 17

I agree about the ugly cakes, worst is when they want the wedding cakes to be unusual. I feel when people see some of these odd cakes they think that the bakery did it .. they don't know that it was the bride or family member that requested it.

I once had a fiance that took 3 days to pick out the cake for his wedding. That was the only part that the bride would let him do. He thought of himself as being creative. He proceded to pick out one tier from about 6 cakes. Every shape and design you could think of. The finished product appeared to be a cake that was put together out of 6 different cakes.

I was horrified at the cake. Vines, side stairs lots of flowers, and 6 almost neon colors (it was a rainbow wedding) and he wanted each color on the cake.

I hope that no one ask who did the cake. That was the fastest I have ever set up a large cake. I wanted out of that hall before anyone saw me or ask any questions.

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rosa369 Posted 20 Apr 2011 , 8:23pm
post #13 of 17

bates123, you got my attention!!! Now, I want to see those "ugly" cakes. Please post the pictures, "for our eyes only". ha, ha,ha icon_lol.gificon_lol.gif

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costumeczar Posted 20 Apr 2011 , 8:25pm
post #14 of 17

I have the opposite problem, I guess. I'm sick of the pearls and swirls wedding cakes that everyone wants. Boooooring. I'd be glad to do a weirdo cake every week, at least they'd be interesting.

But then again, the pearls and swirls pay the bills, baby! icon_wink.gif

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KarolynAndrea Posted 21 Apr 2011 , 1:16am
post #15 of 17

My best friend's mom asked me to make a cake when her husband's long lost son (from his 1st marriage) was going to meet his family and go to the Eagles game. I told her I would make an Eagles cake. She said she wanted me to make the family with the new son and a picture of Pennsylvania and write on it, "Welcome Back, Dreams really do come true." Really? I thought it was so dumb. I hated it the whole time I was making it. She loved it. So I guess as long as you do what they want, they are happy. Things have meaning to people that make no sense to us! I never took a picture of it, so it's like it never happened...LOL

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bates123 Posted 21 Apr 2011 , 5:08pm
post #16 of 17

Rosa369, My coal mining cake is the first one on my photos. The expression on the little miner to the left has the same expression that I had when I was asked to make him! hahahaha!! I'll post the Tinkerbell with a guitar later.

I have to say that I do understand that people must have reasons for ordering cakes the way they do and I respect that. However, I can't help but wonder if I am able to capture what they really want because my taste differs so much from theirs. Well....just a thought.

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BakerAnn Posted 21 Apr 2011 , 6:23pm
post #17 of 17
Quote:
Originally Posted by bates123

Rosa369, My coal mining cake is the first one on my photos. The expression on the little miner to the left has the same expression that I had when I was asked to make him! hahahaha!! I'll post the Tinkerbell with a guitar later.

I have to say that I do understand that people must have reasons for ordering cakes the way they do and I respect that. However, I can't help but wonder if I am able to capture what they really want because my taste differs so much from theirs. Well....just a thought.




Oh my. I went out and had a look at your coal mining cake which you did a spectacular job on. I don't do fondant or gum paste figures (of course I also never say "never") so can't imagine the time you put into that. Would I be impolite to ask approximately how much you charge for something like that that takes so much time? icon_redface.gif

Some years back I made a Thanksgiving cake for our family dinner which was covered with marzipan fruit. It took me a l-o-n-g time to form and color all those little works of art, lol! I did it as a labor of love and wouldn't know where to begin to charge if ever asked to do one for a client.

That's why I do buttercream icing, flowers, drawings, etc ....... boring, perhaps but doesn't take days on end to do! icon_smile.gif

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