Uncooked Fruit Cake!

Decorating By SStephi Updated 22 May 2011 , 12:22am by Marianna46

SStephi Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
SStephi Posted 19 May 2011 , 12:03am
post #1 of 5

I recently made a 3 tier wedding cake for a friend's daughter. Vanilla at the bottom, chocolate in the middle and an 8" fruit cake for the top. When I asked if everything was OK she told me it wasn't actually and that her mum would contact me. I felt just awful!

My friend explained to me that the fruit cake was uncooked and they couldn't serve it which she said was ok because only a few people would have had the fruit. I was racking my brains trying to figure out why what would be and realised that I'd wrapped too much insulation paper around it whilst in the oven and so though is was solid enough to marzipan and ice it hadn't cooked enough!! AArgh! This has never happened to me before and I feel very bad about it. My friend was very good about it and understanding especially as I'd made a cake for her before and it was very good.

I offered to remake the cake and then they could send it out to anyone they feel would like some and she said she'd speak to her daughter and let me know.

Another thing she'd asked was to put some pearlised design of some sort on to the finished cake but she'd leave it all up to my creative abilities. OH dear! I neglected to do this and she was quite disappointed. Here I feel that I failed big time though initially I didn't realise how important it was to her. I apologised profusely.

I just feel now that her daughter is eyeing me with daggers and is spreading the bad news about me. I guess I've prided myself on gaining business through positive word of mouth and now this really bothers me. I also feel that she won't give me an opportunity to rectify the wrong.

I think I may just have to chalk this up to experience but it doesn't make me feel any better.

I can't seem to attach a picture of the cake right now but will try to figure out how.

4 replies
Marianna46 Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
Marianna46 Posted 19 May 2011 , 8:50am
post #2 of 5

I saw your photo and it's a lovely cake! What a shame that the fruitcake part didn't cook all the way through - I feel your pain about having a customer bad-mouth you, but I think you're doing everything you can to make things right. How explicit were the instructions from the bride-to-be? And did you get them in writing? I'm just going into business for myself, and I've tried to draw up a contract that is very detailed as to design. I'd post a link to it, but it's in Spanish, so it might not be that helpful. However, it's based on one that KHalstead posted on here (I think it might be in the Patterns-Templates-Sketches section of the galleries, but I'm not sure). I mention this because something of this sort might help you in the future to be able to make a cake closer to the bride's wishes. I know you feel awful about this, but chin up - what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger (or something to that effect)!

Coral3 Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
Coral3 Posted 21 May 2011 , 10:28am
post #3 of 5

If you want a photo to show up in your post, here's how:

First upload the photo into an online photo site like Photobucket (getting a photobucket account is easy and FREE) then just copy the photo's image code (IMG Code) from photobucket and paste it into your post. Then when you hit 'submit comment' the photo will display in the thread. Easy.

Photobucket is here: http://photobucket.com/

I'm pretty sure you can also use Flickr like this too - just look for the image code (IMG code) and copy and paste it.

SStephi Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
SStephi Posted 21 May 2011 , 9:19pm
post #4 of 5

Thanks Marianna46 for your positive comments and advice. I've not made a contract with customers before but I usually do write or email them listing exactly how I understand their requirements and asking them to confirm that this is so. With this cake everything was a little looser unfortunately - that's obviously where that part of it went wrong. I think a contract is a good idea and I'll have a look at this. Thanks for your encouragement.


Coral3 - thanks for showing me how to post a picture on forums. I'll eventually get the hang of all of this. icon_smile.gif

Marianna46 Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
Marianna46 Posted 22 May 2011 , 12:22am
post #5 of 5

SStephi, there's been a problem for a while with posting photos in the forums. Another possibility is to do what you did - post it in your photos and ask people to look at it there (I noticed it got saved to favorites by a lot of people, by the way, not just me!) or you can put it in your photos and copy the address of the photo that appears at the very top line of your screen (the one that starts "http..."). Paste that into your message and, even though it will get abbreviated, people will be able to click on it and it will open to your photo. I'm sorry, I forgot to notice that you are new here. Welcome aboard. I don't know what I would do without this site, and I hope you find it a welcoming place, too.

Quote by @%username% on %date%

%body%