What are some of the requests that are either hilarious or really annoy you? I'm curious to know if some of what I deal with is a regional thing or national/international.

One of my favorites from last week:  

"We have to stay within a certain budget so I would like for you to make our wedding cake for 100 people. At 4 dollars a slice that will be 400.00. Tell me when you need the deposit."

Oh really? That's how much it will be? No ideas on what you want your cake to look like at all, but that's how much it will cost. I even specifically asked what she wanted her cake to look like and told her the cost will go up from $4/slice depending on the detail and hours needed to create her cake. (By the way…nurse practitioner marrying a doctor at a country club.) 

And how do you deal with people who will not give you their budget even when asked, but continue to make requests for a quote then don't want you to make the cake after countless correspondences because it's too expensive?

Ha mfeagan! I'm still shaking my head as I think about it! No disrespect to anyone of any socio-economic class but I have had brides from similar backgrounds approach ordering the same way as yours-I think because of their position in life they become accustomed to "telling" people how it will work and expecting their wishes to be carried out with little thought given to what it means to the other person.

Here's a gem of a message left on my phone Saturday evening (around 6:30-yeah, sure I'm still open...NOT!)

"This is ~ and you made my grandbaby's birthday cake last year. Well, I have a request but his birthday isn't until August but I thought I would call you now so you would have plenty of time for this. I wondered if you could do a little boy out of cake. You know, like a tall cake and I want it to look like him. If I was to send you a picture of him could you make the cake to look like him and with the clothes that he's got on and everything? I would just like that for his cake this year. I know you are closed Sunday but if you could call me back right away on Monday and let me know."

At first I wasn't sure if I was understanding what she wants but the more I thought about it the more I'm sure she wants a life-size replica of the grandson (he will turn 4). Anybody else ever had that one? So CCers-what should I tell her Monday? Please give me some choice responses to this one-I know you won't let me down! Thanks!

I would also like an answer to mfeagan's question-How do you handle brides that won't give you a price range but you jump through hoops to give them quotes,sketches/ideas and then they don't book with you?

Yes, I've had that one. I usually refer them to Mike of Mike's Amazing cakes in Washington and let them know that he ships.

People who work in a certain profession that will remain unnamed,  I have come close to swearing I will never sell cake to again. But I always do and it's not as though many aren't wonderful, considerate people. But a very high percentage are either completely uninvolved and can't be bothered for basic information, or more typically they are micromanaging me as in, and I'm not making these up:

1) Are you sure that stand will hold the cake?

2) Have you picked up the [thing needed] yet?

3) And since I ignored the question, Have you picked up the [thing needed] yet?

4) Do you know how you're going to make that [part of the cake]?

I have never had anyone not in that profession ask questions like those. I think they are used to ordering people around - there's a lot of "do this, do that" which filters out slowly over time. Just lots of quick notes adding to or changing what they want that I must keep organized. Or explain how it doesn't  work unless we change 3 other things..

AHHHHH! I was looking at everyone's facebook pages from the "Share your facebook" post and was so happy to find AZ Couture had shared hers UNTIL I saw her post from yesterday-a lifesize replica of a 4 year old for his birthday!  Seriously ironic...or are there more "cake masters" (I bow to you  ) who have carved lifesize replicas? I thought the lady was crazy for requesting a "cake child"- I mean who really wants to eat his "body"-get it? I may have to re-think my response to this customer.

It's rare the baker who can do that well - usually they just look sort of dead. And possibly even rarer the customer who would pay thousands of dollars for a cake.

A quick price quote in the thousands should shut down that idea first thing Monday morning. :)

I'm not a fan of people made of cake.  Like howsweet said, you've really got to have mad artistic skills for that to look good.

Liz

That is the only 'human' cake I can think of ever seeing and liking. It was exceptionally well done, and something 99.9% of cake decorators are not even close to being capable of.
If I was to take that order, I'd probably end up on cake wrecks for providing the creepiest cannibal-esque cake ever.
I won't take orders for babies, bellies, etc. Simply because almost nobody can pull them off, without the creepy factor.

There's actually very few requests that irritate me, people don't understand the work, skill and cost of cakes, and I don't expect them to. What annoys me is flakiness.
"I want to order from you, I'll send my deposit tomorrow". 4 weeks later, no deposit, I book someone else, and they are upset. I believe that has a lot to do with not understanding cakes as well, people can't understand needing to book a baker at least 3-6 months away from their wedding.

Most people don't understand budgets either, a lotof my brides have no idea how much money they can actually spend on their entire wedding, let alone exactly what they can spend on a cake. They just try for a quote that sounds manageable, and make it work.

Honestly, other bakers/decorators irritate me far more than customers, lol.
 

I won't do them either.

I'm sure there are others, but the ones I know of are:.

Karen Porteleo

Natalie Sideserf . These dead ones look more alive than most people's live ones

And MikeMcCary

No worries here-when I said I may have to re-think my response it meant instead of "HAHAHA you want WHAT? Yeah, sure...when H-E-double L freezes over" (Whoops can't use that one-it may have with that last polar vortex thingy we had!) My response will now be "Sorry I know I am not the cake artist for you. There is some impressive work out there you may have seen but I know when to say 'no' ".

I love the way Mike has laid his belly onto the benchtop there...

Wow, those dead heads are FREAKILY realistic . . . that is some talent!

Liz

Here's one. I had a lady ask for a Hannah Montana cake years ago, and as I was with any kids stuff I heard for the first time, I was like, I don't know who she is, but I'll check and see if we have cake kits for that. (it was during my brief stint as a grocery store decorator). She went really nasty on me and said she couldn't believe anybody never heard of HM. She kept repeating, you've never heard of Hannah Montana?  And I mean v-e-r-y rude. She made it crystal clear she thought I must be the most stupid person on earth. And she stalked off mumbling something and I caught the word, idiot.  I could have lectured her at the time on the negative aspects of indoctrinating your children with the Disney brand... and a few other things.

Ooh, I forgot Natalie Sideserf, she is an amazing artist. That severed head cake was for her own wedding, haha.

I had a lady ask me to make a very ornate cake, for 250 people (minimum), 3 days before the wedding.... and to do it all for no more than $200. Aside from the fact that I was out of town that weekend, that cake would not have happened, and the lady called/emailed at least 10 times asking me to make it after I said no, I almost felt guilty enough to cave and make it... almost. 

MBAlaska, May I apologize for your experience in Seattle? There are really lots and lots of very nice people here.

And I've never seen the dancing show either.

Maybe it's a cake people thing.... I never saw even one episode of that dancing show either....

I saw an episode of Dancing with the Stars at the dentist... I guess that's why I fit in so well in Seattle! :p

Whew is right! I'm glad to hear that others are also not glued to the TV.  I've found Seattle to be a decent place.   The idiot-boy was an out-of-towner tourist probably.    No Cake For You idiot-boy!

A

Just a guess (and I'm only guessing this because both my lovely parents are in this profession)...are you by chance talking about school teachers? They tend to be detail focused, and tend to think they know everything about everything...**DONS FLAMESUIT**.

Please don't be offended any lovely teachers reading. This is a huge generalisation, and I genuinely think teaching is an undervalued and underpaid role in our society. A good, passionate teacher can make a world of difference to a child, I totally get that. It's a very, very difficult job and I take my hat off to all of you.

This wasn't exactly a cake request...but today a woman stopped me and asked what the flavor of the cake was that I did for a wedding that she loved because her daughter is getting married in May. It kind of came across as "I want your cake but want someone else to do it"  So of course I said "Oh wait I will write down my recipe for you" NOT

ACan't remember if I shared this story before, but it was just so weird I will risk sharing it twice! It was a Saturday, early afternoon. I was elbow-deep in buttercream (not literally; don't be grossed out!) when the phone rang. I left it for the person to leave a message. A few munites later I checked the message and it was an annoyed sounding man wondering where his cake was! It was supposed to have been delivered over an hour ago! I felt absolutely sick. I frantically went through orders and email and phone messages searching for this order that I had somehow forgotten. I finally remembered the email from a couple of days ago that I had already deleted. It was from a man who wanted a cake for his wife's 50th birthday. I told him I wasn't able to make it on such short notice. This was the man who just left the message on my machine! He had managed to find someone who was willing to take his order, but I guess actually filling it was more of a problem. I did call him back to let him know about the mistake (and make sure he wasn't going to be telling people that I didn't deliver on an order) and I could hear his wife laughing in the background.

As you wish...I think I remember that story....

You mean you don't stir your BC in a large vat with your arms?  lol

A