Things Not To Ask/say To A Baker!

Decorating By step0nmi Updated 20 Oct 2016 , 2:28pm by ch5964

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craftybanana Posted 19 Feb 2015 , 1:17am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SpeciallyYours 
 


LOL  I just LOVE my magic oven!!  :D


Like in the game Cake Mania, lols! If only you had to push a button for whatever shape/color/etc you needed!

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SpeciallyYours Posted 19 Feb 2015 , 1:28am
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Quote:

Originally Posted by craftybanana 
 


Like in the game Cake Mania, lols! If only you had to push a button for whatever shape/color/etc you needed!

So true! If it were only that easy! Rather than working to complete a cake at 2AM, and hoping that 4 tier cake is secured so that it won't fall over/slip/collapse while driving 1 1/2 hrs. to deliver it! (I still play Cake Mania occas! LOL)

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CoinUK Posted 25 Feb 2015 , 10:56pm
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Even though I'm only a hobbyist myself and only been making cakes for a year now, I've already had people asking daft questions.

 

Best one was this.

 

I work full time in retail, in fact I'm the store manager, so I can't easily swap shifts around, especially at short notice. When I make a cake for someone, I usually take a couple of days off before hand to do it, so if they want it on a wednesday, I take the monday and tuesday off for it. 

 

My friend wanted a cake for her sons birthday, which, unfortunately, was on Boxing Day. She couldn't understand why I, a store manager with a family of 4 kids, didn't want to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day making and decorating a cake for her.

 

She even rang me to plead with me "are you sure there's no way you can do it? Not at all? Can't you do it a week earlier and I can get it on Boxing Day?"

 

yeah, sure, I'll take my days off to make a cake in the BUSIEST week of the year and then leave it sat there for a week, going stale with the buttercream going off and moldy for you to feed to your kids. No problem.

 

She then dropped the "but it doesn't take that long to make a simple cake!" bombshell.

 

No, maybe if you're a professional baker with a full kitchen and supplies, you probably could do a simple cake in a few hours....on Xmas Day.

 

She hasn't asked for anything since :)

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indydebi Posted 26 Feb 2015 , 1:19am
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Quote:

Originally Posted by CoinUK 
 

She then dropped the "but it doesn't take that long to make a simple cake!" bombshell.

 

"Then you should be able to squeeze in the time to do it.  Walmart .... aisle 8 .... knock yourself out.":twisted:

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Lizzybug78 Posted 26 Feb 2015 , 9:02am
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A

Original message sent by indydebi

"Then you should be able to squeeze in the time to do it.  Walmart .... aisle 8 .... knock yourself out.":twisted:

Lmao :lol:

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lunawhisper0013 Posted 5 Apr 2015 , 3:49pm
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I got one the other day where a customer came in who had no clue about the cake they wanted. After we got the decoration figured out, we moved on to what flavor they wanted. He said his wife really liked red velvet but..."would the red velvet look right with the way it's decorated?"   *facepalm*

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Jedi Knight Posted 5 Apr 2015 , 5:28pm
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I'm so glad this thread got resurrected!

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basketpam Posted 6 May 2015 , 9:27pm
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People in this world just amaze me, no matter where they live all over the world, every culture and country has its ding-a-lings.  Do you know what you should do, seriously!  It's time to start teaching these "friends" a lesson.  On a day that you're off, have your friend come over to your home. You can do this since this person is suppose to be a friend and not a stranger asking you for a cake. What you need to do is TEACH her to bake and decorate a cake.  No, I'm not joking about this.  You should NOT do ANY of the work.  Have her do every little bit with you walking her through it.  Now it being your home obviously you'll have to get out your ingredients and your equipment, etc.,for her but the actual mixing of the cake, the frosting, everything, let her do it.  Then, teach her to pipe a fairly simple decoration on the cake.  Of course the only decent thing to do is to let her take the cake home with her and I'll guarantee you two things.  One, she will NEVER again ask you to do a "simple little cake" when it doesn't work into your schedule and second, she will feel SO PROUD of her creation that day both she and you will be surprised and she may even decide to try and start making her own cakes for her family.  

I am curious about one thing though.  You must have an incredibly great boss if you're able to take off two days before you need to have a cake finished.  I have to say though that when I worked full time the last thing I would have EVER wanted to do would be waste my vacation (holiday for you) time on baking cakes for someone.  You also must do quite well financially with your cakes to be able to give up two work days if you're not getting paid for them, especially as a manager.  I was actually more shocked by that statement than anything else in your posting.  Good Luck and you'll have to post it if you ever have a "baking" day with your friend.


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ChefKitty Posted 14 Jun 2015 , 5:15am
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For my niece's third birthday, I made a magnificent (at the time, for my skill level) two tier pony cake atop a cupcake tower featuring two flavours of cupcakes and molded chocolate horses and horseshoes (the toppers distinguished which flavour the cupcakes were). All the guests were impressed, and liked the cupcake flavours which were pumpkin cheesecake and cookie dough.


Last year the night before my niece's fourth birthday, I get a call from my sister. She wants me to make a cake for her birthday again. But it's 9 PM the night before the birthday! And did I mention my niece's birthday is the day before Halloween? I was already right in the middle of making a Halloween cake for a party planned the day after. I would have said no to almost anyone else, but I just can't say no to her! Just thinking about how much she loved that pony cake...


So, I have some left over fondant from the Halloween cake, brown chocolate, white, and red. I mix  together the white and red scrap fondant to make a nice pink and throw together a little 8"/6" two tier chocolate peanutbutter cake with pink and brown polkadots, pink bow, and a little brown mouse. (Don't ask me why I put a mouse on the cake--it was after midnight and I don't remember why I thought the cake should have a mouse on it). I also made a few peanutbutter cup cupcakes with chocolate/pink buttercream two-tone swirls, since I didn't know how many guests they were expecting. It wasn't the best cake in the world--the bow was rather flat, because there was no time to dry it, the polkadots were a little half-hearted, and, well, it had a mouse on it for no reason--but considering the time frame I thought I'd done pretty well.


When my sister and brother-in-law come over for the Halloween party, they bring back all the cupcakes I'd made...


And then she tells me why...


They had bought cupcakes. Before they had asked me to make the cake. And that's what the guests ate. The store bought vanilla cupcakes! face*palm

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Apti Posted 14 Jun 2015 , 6:49am
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Oh,......that hurt......

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jchuck Posted 14 Jun 2015 , 11:35pm
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Sorry ChefKitty

You teach people how to treat you. I love my family, but to get a call the night before the birthday....and its 9 pm at night and expect you to just whip up a cake. For me, would be  a No, No No!!!! That was a total lack of respect towards you. Made very  clear when she didn't have the courtesy to inform you she'd purchased bakery cupcakes. So you stayed up late..did the cake & cupcakes...but they don't serve yours??  Why didn't she freeze the store bought cupcakes and serve the ones you made??  Very  hurtful, especially from your sister. Obviously your feelings don't matter.  I personally wouldn't be making a cake for her/niece again. And I would give her the explanation/reasons above. 

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basketpam Posted 15 Jun 2015 , 12:48am
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When I read what this SISTER did to you, despite being here alone by myself, I think my jaw literally dropped open. This so called "loved one's" actions were SO rude, so inconsiderate, so disrespectful that I don't even know what to say.  What DO you say about a person like that? Has she always treated you in this manner?  I'm not sure why you couldn't say no to her this time. Was it because she's one of "those" people we all seem to have in our lives that we just let walk all over us and we just don't know how to say no to?  (usually these are family members or so called friends) or was it because she was SO thrilled with the pony cake you thought it would be fun for everyone to like your work again in that manner?  I'm curious about something, are your parents still around?  Since your sister is young enough to have a three year old child then I'm taking a guess here that both of you are still at least FAIRLY young.  If your mother is still "with us" does she know what this daughter of hers pulled on you?  I think at some point you NEED to let your sister know how you feel, how disrespectful and inconsiderate she was of you and basically, when she returned those cupcakes, just how BADLY it hurt your feelings.  I'd like to know just WHAT was she thinking?  If you don't use something from a bakery or a shop you don't take it back, especially something like that.  It can't EVER be served or sold to anyone else.  Just what did she think you were going to do with them?  It's bad enough she pulled on you what she did the evening before about baking the cake. But in spite of how bad that was, what she did afterwards was incomprehensible.  It almost leaves me speechless and that's hard to do actually.  I guess I'm most astounded by the fact that something within this woman's brain actually thought it was fine that she did this.  How can a GROWN woman have such little knowledge or concept of just how terrible her behavior and her actions were?  You can't blame the child, it's not her fault.  I think two things need to happen. I think the REST of the family needs to find out what she did and second, she owes you a MASSIVE apology and personally, I don't think I would so much as bake her one cookie until she does. In fact, I don't know if I could ever bake for her again, apology or not.   Personally, I couldn't even speak to the woman I'd be so hurt and so angry with her.  I feel for you, I really do.  To be treated like this by one's own sister.  I guess I'm taking this SO hard for you because all my life I've wanted a sister and it didn't happen.  And even when my brother married and I thought his wife would become like a sister, that didn't happen either.  Not with wife one OR wife two.  I've given up by now.    Please let us know what happens.  This is a situation I'm not going to forget about for a very long time.  God bless and hang in there and just keep baking!

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SpeciallyYours Posted 15 Jun 2015 , 1:41am
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I totally agree, jchuck! People treat us the way we allow them to treat us. I would have laughed at my sister over the phone, told her that she was "nuts", and to call me again when she got some sense. Folks only  do what they know they can get away with...especially family! I hope this will be a final lesson learned for her so that it doesn't happen again!

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ChefKitty Posted 15 Jun 2015 , 1:48am
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Thanks for the sympathy, guys. ^.^ 


I do cakes for lots of events in my family, I use them as opportunities to try new techniques, tools, and recipes that I don't want to try the first time on a customer's cake. This was just one of the few times it wasn't my idea to do the cake. :-S


It was my niece's love and enthusiasm for her pony cake that made me want to make her another cake. My sister is pretty nonchalant about most things. I think perhaps the last minute call may have been due to a last minute request by my niece. 


I don't think she meant to be hurtful. Like so many people, I don't think she understood what goes into making a cake. I'm still not sure why she wanted to serve grocery store cupcakes rather than the ones I baked, but I'm definitely going to make sure my cake is the only cake at the next birthday. -_-

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Pastrybaglady Posted 15 Jun 2015 , 1:52am
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The only person who would ask me something like that is my sister in law.  If I say no she's fine with it because she knows she's asking a lot, but if I do it it's because I have the components already in the freezer.   When it comes to doing favors it's best to do what YOU want to do or you will end up resentful and frustrated.

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SpeciallyYours Posted 15 Jun 2015 , 1:54am
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No Problem...we just hate to see folks being taken advantage of. Last minute is never a good thing. Good luck in the future! (I use the firefighers at the house down the road as my "guinea pigs" for new ideas. And, of course, they absolutely hate that!  NOT!!!)  LOL

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Delynn Posted 15 Jun 2015 , 2:00am
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UGH!!!  Why don't I see anywhere on this page how to STOP receiving posts to this thread?


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ChefKitty Posted 15 Jun 2015 , 2:02am
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Oh, I'm not resentful. I just thought it was an amusing story about a somewhat vexing experience, for the thread. ;-)


We've just moved into a new neighborhood, and I'm on the lookout for potential new guinea pigs. LOL

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ChefKitty Posted 15 Jun 2015 , 2:38am
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@Delynn I think this forum uses global notifications. So, you can turn off notifications of replies to ALL threads you've posted to, but not individual threads. That seems like an unfortunate shortcoming of the forum software. :-(

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Delynn Posted 15 Jun 2015 , 6:37am
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YUK!  What happened to the old software?  I thought I could get notifications for individual threads?  Already get bombarded with so many emails, including spam ones which I have to review & delete daily, now I'm going to get bombarded with thread replies?  Bummer.  I guess, I'll have to turn off all notifications to all threads I've posted to and just not reply to any more threads in the future. :(  I thought today's technology was more sophisticated that this (not yelling at you personally BTW; ie. not shooting the messenger) 

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Bonne Bouche Posted 15 Jun 2015 , 12:02pm
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Really people-- this is a cake baking forum not family counseling.  Can we please move on from this and in the future try to keep our comments less personal, less judgmental, and to the point?  Some of these posts should have not have been published.

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ChefKitty Posted 15 Jun 2015 , 1:01pm
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@Delynn You could always turn off email notification and leave the popup notification on, that just lets you know on this site itself. That way you won't get emails about it, but you can still find out if someone's posted to a thread you want to follow.


@Bonne Bouche I apologise if my story caused the thread to take a turn for the...less funny. I didn't expect it to be taken so earnestly. :-S  I honestly thought it was an amusing anecdote.

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Gingerlocks Posted 15 Jun 2015 , 1:18pm
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@Bonne  Bouche; that's pretty unfair. people can post whatever they want quite frankly. It's not up to you to decide/moderate the content or to scold other's for their posts...and of course it's "personal" its our individual businesses; it's ALWAYS personal! No matter if the customer is a family member or someone off the street..jeesh! Rant over. 

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angelsmom89 Posted 15 Jun 2015 , 1:42pm
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I have to laugh at how this thread is going.


I belong to a group of Norwegian Forest Cat owners/breeders/enthusiasts, etc.  Just like this group and/or thread, it is usually very, very friendly and congenial.  Sometimes things will go south, just like this, and can get really vicious.  Hahahahaha, that's because the claws come out and things turn into a real CATFIGHT!!!!  Hahahahaha!


The downward spiral of this thread has been no CAKEWALK either!  Everyone needs to stop EGGING each other on and cease WHIPPING things into a frenzy.  Well, I will stop MILKing this for all it is worth, before someone decides to BEAT me for STIRRING things up!

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Bonne Bouche Posted 15 Jun 2015 , 2:28pm
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Gingerlocks-- I'm not trying to moderate anything-- I'm voicing my opinion jus like you.  I am just reminding people that this forum is about cakes, not personal problems.  The original post about the situation was sad, we've all been there, and I certainly understand her need to vent about it.  However, the users of this forum have gone off the rails giving long and detailed unsolicited opinions about the character of people they don't even know.  I think that's inappropriate.  Yes people can post whatever they want too, but with that comes the common sense to refrain from unleashing a long string of personal opinions about things other than the purpose of the forum-- cakes and cake business.  We all have stories to tell and hurts to mend-- but that's the cost of doing business.  If it's going to be too "personal" for you (general-- not you specifically) then maybe you are in the wrong business.  The saying goes "It would be a great business except for the customers."  So, deal with it or move on.


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Celeste43 Posted 15 Jun 2015 , 7:03pm
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lol that is too funny!


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Jessicatae Posted 20 Jun 2015 , 6:13pm
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I have thoroughly enjoyed this thread.  I started at the beginning and have not made it near all the way through yet.  But I thought I would add mine.

 I shared a picture of a cake that I made on my personal Facebook page and one of my "friends" commented "I am going to take a cake basics class, would you like to join me?"  


What!  Here is the cake.  Does it look like I need a cake basics class?  I really don't know if I should be offended or not! LOL


The Cake

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Nanacakesdesign Posted 20 Jun 2015 , 7:31pm
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I hate it when I do a design and then someone takes it to a store..........

I did a cake quote for a retirement.  The gentleman was retiring and moving from Texas back to the state he was born in and I was going to have our office building in fondant in the bottom left of the full sheet with a small Texas shape, rope, etc and his state in the top right with a house, garden etc.....Moving van, sentiment, etc. across the center. 

It was too much so they were going to go to the local grocery and just get a regular sheet cake.

When it arrived at the retirement party I was asked what I thought of the cake they bought....................Looked over and the store had printed EDIBLE IMAGES of  a map of Texas, A picture of a moving van and a map of the other state cut them out (roughly) and stuck them on the cake.  And the cake came from a store that I KNOW does not bake onsite so you can imagine what it tasted like.

I don't mind if another cake artist "re-imagines" one of my designs, rather flattering.

But darn it, DO IT WELL!!!! 

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Gingerlocks Posted 20 Jun 2015 , 8:58pm
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I got one this week; I thought I should share because it literally left me shaking my head since I got the customer's email. She email's me on Wednesday asking for a Father's Day cake for this Sunday; but she start's insisting she will only place an order if I can guarantee that the cake won't be sweet, as her family doesn't like "sweets"...umm, it's  cake O_o

Needless to say I'm not making her a cake for Sunday..

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indydebi Posted 20 Jun 2015 , 9:19pm
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I just did a cake for a reception-family-reunion yesterday.  Very casual. They got married a couple of months ago and had this picnic in the park for local family.  By closing their eyes and pointing their finger to names in the guest book, the bride and groom picked names of people who would win door prizes.  We had just done the cake cutting.  Groom then announces we will be doing the door prizes now and ".....winners get a prize.  Losers get some cake."  I looked up at him and said, "LOSERS get the cake??????!!!!!"  His face got red and he started backpedaling, "no ... no .... I meant .....!" and EVERY-one was laughing with me!  Bless his heart!  :-) 

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