So this lady and I discussed cakes on the phone a couple weeks ago, and she made it clear she did not like fondant. I told her I don't cover cakes in fondant because most of my customers do not like the taste. I do however, use it for decorations on top of my buttercream. She agreed this was ok, and I sent her a bunch of pictures for ideas. ( This cake is for her mother's 80th birthday.)

Her mother chooses this cake..which is adorable.

fficial&biw=1138&bih=532&tbm=isch&tbnid=g7b8TcOCu50G5M:&imgrefurl=http://www.perfect-wedding-day.com/butterfly-wedding-cake.html&docid=szjhoypdfBwF2M&w=240&h=360&ei=WkZpTu7xA46Etge63_yaDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=770&vpy=151&dur=694&hovh=107&hovw=78&tx=97&ty=191&page=1&tbnh=107&tbnw=78&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:0" target="_blank" class="postlink">http://www.google.com/imgres?q=pink+butterfly+cake&um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&biw=1138&bih=532&tbm=isch&tbnid=g7b8TcOCu50G5M:&imgrefurl=http://www.perfect-wedding-day.com/butterfly-wedding-cake.html&docid=szjhoypdfBwF2M&w=240&h=360&ei=WkZpTu7xA46Etge63_yaDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=770&vpy=151&dur=694&hovh=107&hovw=78&tx=97&ty=191&page=1&tbnh=107&tbnw=78&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:0

The lady apparently tells her mother that the butterflies are all made of "marzapan" and they don't want that. Now she wants me to make this cake with flowers made of "decorator icing". I could totally do buttercream flowers, but it would take me forever and a day to do it. Am I being a brat? I kind of just want to tell her that if she wants a cake that is totally decorated in buttercream she needs to pick a different cake or a different cake person. I feel like this is going to end up looking like crap.

What about royal icing? And make sure she knows icing flowers and sugar paste flowers have very different looks to them! Maybe show her some samples of each and she what she prefers...

I'd tell her what you are comfortable doing and if she doesn't like it, send her on her way.

You have no obligation to change your practices, or to produce something that you're unhappy having your name on, just to please her.

She's not the "expert"--YOU are. If she wants to negate your expertise, then she's not a good fit as a client.

That cake is lovely and delicate with those fondant butterflies. She can throw them away if she doesn't want to eat them, for god's sake.

I'll be if I'd spend hours piping them in royal and stuggling to attach them neatly to the buttercream surface, knowing that nobody will likely eat them, either.

Sometimes, customers can't have what they want. It just is, what it is.

Rae

Sorry guys, this got double posted and I don't know how to delete this thread!

I had the same issue a couple months ago I endedup using modeling chocolate for all the decorations worked out really well and they were a whole lot happier and it saved me hours of piping

HTH