Spoilt Cake

thorsoak wrote: »

Rosemary - I've made wedding cakes (never for money - only ever for family) - and believe me, if you don't have a solid cake at the bottom, then a high-tier cake doesn't work! Also, in order to have best flavour and taste, there needs to be a fairly high fat/sugar content in proportion to flour/flavouring - otherwise the tiers need to be made with 48 hours of consumption. I do know what I'm talking about.

One of the reasons I gave up cake making is that I go so fed up of trying to explain that you need support for a cake - people just couldn't understand why their cake would have 'sticks' in it. Fruit cake and royal icing aren't trendy at the moment, but they have been used for years for a reason. Fruit cake is like a brick and royal icing sets like concrete! You can make tiered cakes with different sponges but it is soooo much more work and you have to be so careful - there's a reason why the 'naked' cakes have become popular lately and a big part of that is that for the baker, it's a heck of a lot easier to cover up wobbles with buttercream and some flowers, and pretend it was always meant to be that way! But I agree, you have to pay for this as it's all done at the last minute, unlike the traditional fruit cake that you can make and ice way in advance.

Ok, I found this interesting as I am reading a few different forums at the moment, 2 of which are MSE and You and Your Wedding..and I read the OPs original post on that forum. The difference in responses from both websites is amazing!

Y&YW response= "go for the jugular!" "Accept nothing less than 100% refund" "write bad reviews on all of the cake makers social media" (written by Brides to Be, who are in the throws of organising the biggest day of their lives)
MSE responses= "Take the £80 and enjoy the memories of your day" "what do you expect from a hobbyist cake maker?" (Written by people who are all about money saving and know a little bit about consumer rights)

Callie22 wrote: »

One of the reasons I gave up cake making is that I go so fed up of trying to explain that you need support for a cake - people just couldn't understand why their cake would have 'sticks' in it. Fruit cake and royal icing aren't trendy at the moment, but they have been used for years for a reason. Fruit cake is like a brick and royal icing sets like concrete! You can make tiered cakes with different sponges but it is soooo much more work and you have to be so careful - there's a reason why the 'naked' cakes have become popular lately and a big part of that is that for the baker, it's a heck of a lot easier to cover up wobbles with buttercream and some flowers, and pretend it was always meant to be that way! But I agree, you have to pay for this as it's all done at the last minute, unlike the traditional fruit cake that you can make and ice way in advance.

Yeah, took quite a lot of asking to find a baker to do fruit and royal icing for our wedding- CANNOT stand fondant and sadly friend wasn't able to do it for me.

Only two tiers, but still dowelled. HOwever, as i'd been researching whether I could do it myself, I was expecting this. Caterers at reception also remarked on how unusual it was to have royal iced.

£300 sounds very cheap for a 3 tier wedding cake.
I don't think that £80 is unreasonable as an offer- it's not a situation where they can replace the cake or repair it as the ayhas passed.
If you feel that a higher amount of compensation is appropriate then of course you can go back and say so, but I think you need to tell them what you do ant them to do. So far, you've asked them what their suggestion is and they've told you.

Presumably you and your guests still got to eat the cake, even if you felt it was not suitable for a formal cake cutting.

I don't think you would be wrong if you were to go back and ask for a little more but I think you need to be clear with the baker about what you personally feel would resolve this.

fairy_lights wrote: »

I've just had a look at the photos OP posted on the YaYW forum and it doesn't look as bad as I expected from her description at all. Its definitely gone a bit wonky but it is a very basic design anyways so I'd have thought they could have arranged some flowers around the base and no one would have been any the wiser.
I think OP maybe had slightly too high expectations of what a hobby baker could achieve.
http://www.youandyourwedding.co.uk/forum/general-chat/spoilt-cake/441237.html

Let's face it, that cake was never going to look good. I take it this is a hobbyist cake maker, not a professional. £300 was way to much to pay for that in the first place.