I know I am probably being crazy, but I made my first cake for icing smiles last weekend. Leading up to it I was emailing the mom of the little boy and she seemed very chill about it, "whatever" kind of cake etc. (within the military cake theme they wanted)

Anyway I delivered the cake and they seemed thrilled. I didn't hear anything else and I feel like at this point emailing her would just be weird. I am worrying that they were just saying they liked it .. or they did like it but by the next day (party) pieces had fallen off.. or they didn't get the 30 servings they wanted .. or any number of things.

I keep thinking now about how this was their "dream" cake and that means they don't get another dream cake! I know I'm being crazy but I feel so guilty thinking .. what if it wasn't good enough to be a Dream cake and now they can only get "fun" cakes in the future.

Does anybody know whether if there was an issue/dissatisfcation with a cake, would Icing Smiles tell you? or would they not tell you but then never call on you again?

I had one lady when I first started tell me that the cake was nothing like her vision she had for the cake. When I was in a bakery I had a lady ask me to redo a pink rosette cake cuz it was a shade of pink off! 

I do wish I could follow up with everyone and ask their opinions, taste, design, did it fall apart, was there enough? things like that but I don't want to seem pushy or over do it. I do ask my close friends and family that I make cakes for.

Its just a personal thing but I do not follow up. But don't let this stuff get to you and drive you crazy with your anxiety, just know that you put the best work that you could into that cake and if you were happy with it then remember that.

Thank you @youngj ‍ ! I know I shouldn't beat myself up, I think it was a good cake and I probably spent 8-10 hours total on it factoring everything in so I did give it great effort. I suppose I'll just hope next time icing smiles contacts me  it is for a "fun cake" so I don't have to feel as much pressure or worry I'm ruining their only chance of a dream cake!

Icing Smiles wouldn't have chosen you to do a Dream Cake if they felt you couldn't pull it off well.  So I'm certain the cake you made was awesome  :-)  They are picky about Dream Cake makers.  I often don't hear from people.  But then they order another cake - so all must have been well with the first one.  Also people are very quick to complain but not quick to thank others for a job well done.  So in my opinion no news is good news.   You did an awesome job  :-)  Take a deep breath and relax - it was fine.

Thank you @MsGF ‍  I suppose that is true - I have a google photo gallery shared that I sent them when I signed up so I assume they looked at it and were ok with my level of decorating to do a dream cake.

Good to hear it is normal to not hear from people! I follow them on facebook and instagram as well but of course I haven't seen a pic of my cake but I know they don't post every cake. But of course then I was thinking ... they won't post mine because the family maybe wasn't happy ...

you are right though, even if they were not fully happy (and they probably were!) it isn't my fault as icing smiles suggests you keep things "vague" anyway ... and while I could have done a tiered cake I felt this carved cake would be a cool idea and fits their description for Dream cake.

Your cake was a perfect Dream Cake.  I made a cake for Icing Smiles Canada and the family loved it and I have never seen it posted on Icing Smiles website or Facebook.  Not sure why - but I and the Family was happy with the cake.  I don't worry about it.  

No news is good news:)  Most of the time we will not hear from anyone involved in the 'order family' and must rely on the statement here.

I've only done one Icing Smiles cake so far, but I received an email from them, prior to the event, explaining that you may not get much reaction from the family, due to all the stress of the situation.  Fortunately for me, the grandmother (the care giver) of my child thanked me personally and posted pictures on FaceBook, thanking me again.  From the tone of Icing Smiles' email, I am guessing that the reaction you received, or lack thereof, is far more typical than my experience.

That being said, your cake was freakin' awesome!  So, so much better than just a stacked cake and I can't imagine that the recipient was anything but thrilled with it!  If I had to guess, I would bet your cake far exceeds anything they've ever seen, not to mention ever had for a birthday.  Few people are ever lucky enough to have such a "dream" cake during their whole life.

You received a call to help make someone's birthday special and you fulfilled that request in spades.  You should be proud to have provided such an amazing cake.  You know it was fabulous and I know it was fabulous, and that fact does not depend upon the blessing of another person.  

Oh, and I am sure Icing Smiles would let you know if there had been a complaint.  They are very protective of their bakers.

I did a "fun cake", and they were all good, thankful, etc. Brought a nice thank you card.

A year later, I had an emergency "dream cake". Scheduled for 8/18, but they pushed it up to 7/18. ... for health reasons. I got the email on the 16th!!! Yes, two days...and I am a decent home baker. But YIKES!!! Vanilla with strawberry filling (carving, so strawberry sauce on the side---fresh!)....dinosaur, baker's choice.

I got lots of compliments going down the hospital hallways at Dell Children's in Austin. Reaction at delivery? Not much. Follow up...none.

The parents were dealing with a terminal child, who wouldn't make it to his 3rd birthday. He passed on 8/17. Am I sweating it? NOPE... lots more stuff for them to deal with than me and my donated cake.

I have done one fun cake for Icing Smiles and asked to do a dream cake but they said another baker responded first. Apparently, my family liked their cake as IcingSmiles continues to reach out to me. However, I did not get a lot of feedback from them either. They seemed thrilled the day of delivery but then again, I had the same emotions you are experiencing. I am sure it was all okay. 

Thank you so much @MsGF ‍  @kakeladi ‍ @SandraSmiley ‍ @johnson6ofus ‍ and @Brooke14 ‍ !

you are all right, I am overthinking it. They seemed to like it and I haven't heard of any complaint from icing smiles so I will probably hear from them again!

it's so good to see so many of us volunteer with them! I scrolled through their facebook to see the past cakes and pictures and it does make me cry. I suppose I was "lucky" that the child I delivered to is currently doing well and walking around and such. Some of the stories are so sad :( poor kids. having two little kids myself I cry easily when reading about sick children. I am so grateful my own kids are currently in good health , the things you take for granted.

thanks again everyone :)

I can agree with everything that has been said above. I originally signed up for Icing Smiles with the intention of doing fun cakes. I didn't think I was good enough to do a dream cake but of course, the only two cakes I've done for icing smilies have been dream cakes. My state rep from Icing Smiles keeps telling me to have more faith in myself because my cakes are still a huge blessing to the family. I've never received any follow ups from the families either but they do have a lot to deal with. The Icing Smiles cakes are the tiered Pokémon cake and the elena of Avalor cake.  The elena of Avalor cake i only had three days notice so I couldn't do anything more complicated. I say don't stress and we all have similar experiences anyways. 

One more comment to boot! Don't stress over it. I did a cake for Icing Smiles and the family members that saw it when it was picked up said they loved it. I got a thank you from the organization, but I never heard anything else. The parents of these dear children probably have one thing to think about, the child. They don't have time to do thank you cards/calls or comments.  You volunteered for a wonderful cause and some wonderful child loved it (that I am sure of). Have confidence in your abilities and keep baking. God bless you.

THank you @Paola__ ‍ and @Vergaline ‍ !! Good for you guys too, for contributing to this lovely charity :)