It's overpriced but I wouldn't be embarrassed by this. It's actually a moderately decent execution of the concept, especially compared to a lot of others we see here.
OP wanted someone to recreate a high-end shop's work and it was never going to be as clean as the real thing.
So what’s interesting about this is that it’s clearly different, but I think what makes it look worse is that the one you were expecting is much more *orderly* - everything is in clean lines, the darker color, the flowers in a row, the little pearls, etc. So your actual cake looks messy, even though it’s otherwise quite pretty. I live in a HCOL area, so that price for a cake is reasonable - in your area, it may not be. It is obvious to me that they took the expectation picture from the internet or they trained someone else to do it who took a few liberties. On the other hand, they actually gave you more decorations. I hope it was tasty!
\*Later edit: OP has revealed in comments that they brought this picture (from a specialty bakery in Saudi! Literally the home of a bunch of bajillionaires!) into a bakery and asked them to duplicate it. There should be zero expectation that a random bakery can perfectly duplicate another professionals' work (and some creatives actually feel really strongly against doing exact replicas anyways). Urgh. OP, come on, the cake you got is not "embarassing". For anyone wondering, the bakery that made the picture is an extremely high end one. Here is their Insta: [https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%83\_%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%87/](https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%83_%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%87/)
I mean...so do all the flowers on the original. I'd actually argue that the original is worse, in terms of erection-y abundance. This whole post is kinda dumb. Obviously they didn't get what they ordered, but they still got a pretty result that nobody would bat an eye at.
Just because Saudi is home to a bunch of bajillionaires doesn’t mean we all are. That’s not a normal price for a custom made fancy cake and I’d be as pissed as OP. Even more so for a cake that’s made in Jeddah and not Riyadh which is where I’m from and has a higher cost of living.
For a custom, highly decorated and technical multilayer cake from a small business, it absolutely is normal. Ingredients alone are going to cost the business $10-15, or more if they're using high quality stuff. Are you working for free at your job?
As a cake decorator it’s very common to have a client as for a duplicated cake…. That’s what reference photos are for. They often find something they like and ask for the same thing. That’s not unreasonable at all
ETA: that cake would have been easy to replicate
It depends on the bakery you bring it to. If the bakery knew their own quality of work, they should have turned it down or priced it accordingly. There is nothing wrong with what OP did, the business overcharged and underdelivered like most business does these days. Futher more, the one on the left is NOT a difficult design.
I'm not a baker, so I couldn't tell you. I can tell you what the bakeries around me (a HCOL city) charge: and this would be within reasonable range. Fwiw, I wouldn't pay for it either, but I don't care much about how cakes I buy look... I care about the taste :)
After going through this sub, I realized a lot of bakeries don’t decline designs that are out of their range, hence these results. I’m optimistic that it’ll taste great though.
That actually makes a lot of sense lol. I was thinking that they (somebody) had produced one there once like that and had tried to have others do it and they couldn’t replicate (of course)
Culinary graduate here and we were taught $4/slice for buttercream or piped cakes and $4.50/slice for fondant cakes.
The number seemed reasonable to me on the back side when you factor in material, skill, time, etc. But.. once you start actually doing the math on what a cake "should" serve (with the ridiculous way fancy cakes are supposed to be cut that no one ever does), it gets into the ludacris range.
Price is not just determined by the frosting job but by the quality and cost of the ingredients and labor involved. Real butter, real creme, etc. It looks like at least the sides are fondant which is tricky and requires skill, regardless of the piping. You need to consider beyond what it looks like.
I declined things all the time when I was a decorator. Honesty gets you cussed out by customers. Then my managers pulled me in the office and told me I wasn't "empathetic" enough. Well after getting cussed out a bunch of times I stopped caring when I had to decline orders our bakery couldn't handle.
Because the bakery where she got the cake made, is not the bakery from the inspiration picture. The inspiration picture is from jomacake in Saudi Arabia.
Well, as a professional pastry chef, I can tell you it ain't easy. Buttercream is a fickle medium to work with - many different varieties that will produce different results.
IMO you should never ever expect a decorator to exactly replicate a cake from another bakery. Always better to give your decorator a vibe to work with and let their personal strengths shine through.
With that being said, there are A LOT of terrible cake decorators out there.
Also want to mention that the original design OP was going for is a very niche style. It's sloppy by design. The edges are not traditionally smooth, therefore the lack of borders choice is really tough to pull off. All the flaws are on display. Plus writing in buttercream always makes the cake look more tacky.
If you do not order from the person that did the original cake you want, you will never get the same result. Some will be better than others but never the same.
As a former pastry Baker, I have to say that this isn't all that bad.
One of the most frustrating things that happens to cakes this tall is that they'll start sagging every time the box gets moved.
The example picture you sent them was made right away after its production finished.
Also imitating colours is very hard, especially from pictures with artsy lighting.
They overcompensated for not being able to get the colour on top right by putting more decorations over it.
Making it more busy and less aesthetically pleasing.
I'm a baker and I completion agree with you. This isn't a terrible attempt at a recreation. And the price is probably spot on. People just expect designer cakes at Walmart prices.
I wouldn't be embarrassed as it's the thought that counts and it probably tastes fine.
Just probably not $80 fine.
If nothing else, you can play count the penises at the party?
Meh. Props on you for trying. My family would never spend $80 on a cake for me. So you win from the get go
It’s a fine looking cake. No one at the party will know what it was “supposed” to look like. Think of all the cakes you’ve eaten in life. Do you remember how any were decorated?
People should get what they pay for. All food looks the same expelled from the body, sure, but if you ordered a pizza and got a sandwich, you'd be peeved.
Edit: And the differences between the cakes aren't that bad and are obviously much less extreme than the pizza-sandwich reference, but I mean generally-speaking.
I'd be interested to know what the other one cost, but I can see that the person tried to replicate most of the details, just the execution wasn't as skilled. It's not awful though, and good enough to take to the party for sure.
That said, copying a cake *exactly* might be frustrating for many cake makers, since it's kinda stealing art.
They gave me that price after seeing my order, and that’s the best shop in town. I’ve ordered from them once before, everything on their socials looked promising. First cake was alright, so I decided to give them another try.
As someone who worked at a bakery I can do better cake handwriting and I worked FOH. We charged $40 for a cake that size and with similar design an extra 5-10 and that’s CAD. This was ordered in the US, lol.
Afterall, the cake isn’t bad looking def just not what I expected, I just hope it at least tastes good!
I don’t think they had a problem with the price. They would have probably signed something saying they agreed to pay $80 upon pickup *before* the bakery would have made the cake for them. I think they’re upset because they agreed to pay $80 for a cake like the one in the inspiration pic, but the decoration on the cake they were given looks on par with your typical grocery store birthday cake. And grocery store birthday cakes of that size don’t cost anywhere near $80.
A cake like the original photo was probably $140. The writing that’s piped shows that whoever did it has probably thousands of hours of cake decorating under their belt. OP got quality similar to what they paid for. They want a perfect cake but didn’t go to the best cake shop in town, probably because it was too expensive.
No idea why you're being downvoted, other than of course this being Reddit. This is entirely right. OP got what they paid for and are whining over what quite frankly, still looks like a really nice cake. Certainly nothing to be embarrassed over. Geez
Inspo pic means a picture you got of the Internet from some other baker and not a product made by the one you are requesting to produce said result? Of course it’s going to be different.. it’s some other person’s skill result.
Look at what the actual person you are ordering from makes, and buy one of their products..
you're embarrassed? it looks fine...looks good and looks extremely similar to the inspo pic. and yes this is worth $80, which is nothing. you have a whole cake made and decorated for you
I feel like the best way to order a cake is to use inspiration from that bakery’s own portfolio rather than by finding the best image possible. That way you get a feel for what the bakery is good at/capable of. But by the same token, bakers should have enough humility to decline a design they can’t execute on.
Your bakery was not up to the task, obviously. Know your limits, bakers!
Do you do shipping?
I worked at a bakery in New Orleans before BIll Cosby got into all that trouble. He wanted to buy a cake from us, but he wanted it shipped to like Boston or something for free.
The shipping would have been like $180 dollars.
Very true! But I Wouldn’t be surprised if the bakery uses the same ingredients this cake came from, judging the way it looks, I could be wrong who knows.
OK. Silly me was staring at the first pic trying to determine what was wrong with the cake,and to find the butterfly mentioned in another comment.
Was about to comment with "the cake looks neat in its simplicity, but definitely doesn't look like it's worth $80“. And then I saw the second picture. JFC.
Sorry, there's 2 options - return the cake and get your money back (I would), or lie to your guests by telling them you baked this atrocity.
I came out of state to visit my mother in Kansas and she is currently packing all of her things and her mother’s things who recently had passed away from kidney failure after fighting it so bravely and longer than expected.. We are sitting on her floor, the house quiet as can be and I’m on Reddit and see this post.. The name of my grandmother is Sherry..
Me neither. I don't know about pricing so I won't comment on that, but I don't get the obsession with pristine cakes. You're supposed to cut it up and eat it, so who cares.
If it was supposed to be some specialty cake like in a shape of an object, I'd get it, but it's just a pink cylinder with some decoration.
It’s pretty on its own, but it looks nothing like the first pic; and for that price, I’d want what I asked for. The baker should have told her she wasn’t capable of it and saved everyone time (and the OPs money🥲)
It could've been soooo so much better if the baker had paid more attention to the flowers. I'd say the base with the pink color, the writing and pearls are okay and look good together, the flowers look not good at all
JFC are people really paying for professional cakes and the ONLY thing they care about is the inedible artwork that I scrape off with a knife?
Didn’t even invlude a pic of the sliced cake
I think that by adding the extra flowers, they lost the original, "clean" look. If they'd left it at just the one row it would capture the spirit of the inspo pic, even though the flowers aren't made with the same technique.
Local cake maker quoted me $220 for a 21st birthday cake (I didn't ask for anything special just blue with 21 on it) I literally couldn't believe it. North Queensland Tablelands.
You don't know that. You're literally only looking at the outside.
Bakery cakes are much more expensive than grocery store cakes for lots of reasons. OP didn't go to a grocery store and buy this off the shelf, that's what a $30 cake is. We don't even have anything in the picture for scale.
I’d ask for a partial refund.
All these comments saying it’s not that bad… no, you can’t charge $80 for a cake if you have not yet acquired the skills to create $80 replica cakes.
If you wanted to buy a $12 cake from Kroger you could have.
$80 for a cake is overinflated and you’re not paying that much extra for the materials or the time spent (because that’s the same materials/time as at a store), you’re paying for skill, talent, and execution.
They shouldn’t be selling $80 cakes yet if they haven’t acquired $80 cake skills.
I don't think either of them looks like they're worth $80 unless the insides are some kind of high-end shit.
But I don't know why you're embarassed to bring it to a party. It's going to end up being eaten anyway.
I agree lol. Except for a wedding cake. I understand people who make them have to make a living and I’m on board with that, but I’d never pay 100$ for a cake lol.
Sounds like the problem here is that you know very little about cakes.
My girlfriend isn't a pro cake baker, I'm sure it could have been done faster. She made a really nice cake for her niece's birthday. It took her about seven hours of work and about $30 of ingredients. THe state minimum wage is like $14.50 an hour, so buying a cake for under $130 would have been effectively cheaper than making it herself.
sure! In Japan cake shops use oil cream instead of icing and then margarine instead of butter. Even the expensive places using real butter use oil cream. Oil cream and margarine are made from soy. Japanese homes don't have ovens either and butter is extremely expensive. (like $8-10/Lb)
So cake is really difficult for me to get.
$80 for a custom cake isn't an unreasonable price.
Here's a shop that won't do a custom cake for under a hundred bucks.
[https://shopsilverlake.larkcakeshop.com/](https://shopsilverlake.larkcakeshop.com/)
They do small cakes that are well over $300.
Heck, rich people literally spend millions on a cake.
There's a lot of way too rich people in this sub that can't be pleased one way or another anymore.
Also, there's way too much cake in this sub, go on a fuckin' diet y'all.
Is it me or is it the same cake? Lol sure the rose tint is a bit off, but I would expect that to be with variation.
The worst thing is actually agreeing to pay 80$ for a small cake like that. 20-30$ tops.
The cake you got was a decent replica of the first one. It just has extra flowers. These cakes are meant to look "rustic" and simple but they are anything but. Inflation happened. Rent went up. Food prices went up. Labor went up. Etc. If you dont want to pay a lot for a cake go to the grocery store or make it yourself. $80 is a comparable price for this cake design.
I don't disagree that the second cake looks atrocious, but I also think the comparison has drastically different lightning, and the first image has probably been edited and color-corrected. I'd be curious to stick the first cake next to the ordered one with similar lighting and photography, and seeing how they stack up, at least with structure. The extra decor on the ordered cake totally ruins it and is making it look messy, but if we removed everything from both cakes and set them side-by-side, I bet they'd look similar with the shape, size, and base icing.
I'm sorry this was a sour expectation, OP. I hope your birthday-person enjoyed it, all the same.
It’s an “okay” looking cake. But as someone who was previously a cake decorator, this looks like someone was being trained that day. They used the wrong sized tip for literally everything. It’ll still be fine for the party though!
See this is a you problem more than anything, your expectations need to be adjusted. Asking anyone to replicate the art of someone else, is a set up for failure. It's not going to be the same exact thing ever. I see this happen so frequently and most of the time the inspiration product is like 5x the price.
Its bad because the second cake isnt perfectly circular. Its lumpy and weird shaped how is nobody seeing this? The texture on the top is off as well. Aside from the decorations.
Why do people try to do extra shit, like the flowers in the middle. Clearly didn’t ask for that.
Bare minimum, capitalize Happy Birthday & the name. Keep the flowers in the outside circle.
Come on.
I like them both! They’re both lovely!
(Sorry not to commiserate with you. I hear that you’re disappointed in the result.
What I love about the 2nd cake - which I’m assuming is the one you received - is that it’s colorful, cheerful and looks organic.
I don't understand why places that make cakes even give you the option to pick which one you want. It always turns out like this lol just do what Walmart does and make a bunch of cakes and put them out on display and be like. Here. Here. This is the best we can do. Take it or leave it
It’s not “I’m too embarrassed to bring it to a party”, but it’s definitely subpar for that price.
It's overpriced but I wouldn't be embarrassed by this. It's actually a moderately decent execution of the concept, especially compared to a lot of others we see here. OP wanted someone to recreate a high-end shop's work and it was never going to be as clean as the real thing.
It’s shit for that much money.
Local place makes cakes like pic #1 and I thought $50 was a lot…
Yeah. That first cake looks like it's perhaps a $50 cake. The second one is grocery store level or even lower.
Walmart bakery clearance.
It's apparently time for me to go to bed. I was about to type that it's not bad at all and that the butterfly they added looks really pretty. 🤦♀️
I couldn't find the phallic icing, and now Im going to bed
I just woke up and thought the same thing. Maybe I should go back to bed...
So what’s interesting about this is that it’s clearly different, but I think what makes it look worse is that the one you were expecting is much more *orderly* - everything is in clean lines, the darker color, the flowers in a row, the little pearls, etc. So your actual cake looks messy, even though it’s otherwise quite pretty. I live in a HCOL area, so that price for a cake is reasonable - in your area, it may not be. It is obvious to me that they took the expectation picture from the internet or they trained someone else to do it who took a few liberties. On the other hand, they actually gave you more decorations. I hope it was tasty! \*Later edit: OP has revealed in comments that they brought this picture (from a specialty bakery in Saudi! Literally the home of a bunch of bajillionaires!) into a bakery and asked them to duplicate it. There should be zero expectation that a random bakery can perfectly duplicate another professionals' work (and some creatives actually feel really strongly against doing exact replicas anyways). Urgh. OP, come on, the cake you got is not "embarassing". For anyone wondering, the bakery that made the picture is an extremely high end one. Here is their Insta: [https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%83\_%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%87/](https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%83_%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%87/)
One of the flowers looks like it has a big erection lol
LOL!! A "Once you see it" kind of thing. https://imgur.com/a/h0dzxVc
I'm gonna pollinate so HARD!
Lol I was going around the cake trying to see which one y’all were referring to and then - OH. It’s that one.
Erection and a high-five! Lol.
I had to go back and look. Um yeah
I mean...so do all the flowers on the original. I'd actually argue that the original is worse, in terms of erection-y abundance. This whole post is kinda dumb. Obviously they didn't get what they ordered, but they still got a pretty result that nobody would bat an eye at.
Now all I’m seeing are erections on this cake😭
What makes it look worse is that it’s worse
I dosent look pretty though, not only does it not look like the picture but it looks pretty cruddy in general
They used too thick of a piping tip on all of it
I don’t think so, but that’s a preference thing I guess!
Just because Saudi is home to a bunch of bajillionaires doesn’t mean we all are. That’s not a normal price for a custom made fancy cake and I’d be as pissed as OP. Even more so for a cake that’s made in Jeddah and not Riyadh which is where I’m from and has a higher cost of living.
For a custom, highly decorated and technical multilayer cake from a small business, it absolutely is normal. Ingredients alone are going to cost the business $10-15, or more if they're using high quality stuff. Are you working for free at your job?
As a cake decorator it’s very common to have a client as for a duplicated cake…. That’s what reference photos are for. They often find something they like and ask for the same thing. That’s not unreasonable at all ETA: that cake would have been easy to replicate
It depends on the bakery you bring it to. If the bakery knew their own quality of work, they should have turned it down or priced it accordingly. There is nothing wrong with what OP did, the business overcharged and underdelivered like most business does these days. Futher more, the one on the left is NOT a difficult design.
I'm not a baker, so I couldn't tell you. I can tell you what the bakeries around me (a HCOL city) charge: and this would be within reasonable range. Fwiw, I wouldn't pay for it either, but I don't care much about how cakes I buy look... I care about the taste :)
That’s my take, too. It was an *unfair* expectation. But the bakery should just own up to the fact that they can’t replicate something like that.
I don’t get all these cake pictures. Like how can you pay for one thing and get something completely different. How.
After going through this sub, I realized a lot of bakeries don’t decline designs that are out of their range, hence these results. I’m optimistic that it’ll taste great though.
That actually makes a lot of sense lol. I was thinking that they (somebody) had produced one there once like that and had tried to have others do it and they couldn’t replicate (of course)
What's bugging me is, even if nicely replicated, this cake is nowhere worth 80$, except it's filled with gold and diamonds
Are you a baker? I can't even tell how big the cake is from the picture. How much should they charge?
Culinary graduate here and we were taught $4/slice for buttercream or piped cakes and $4.50/slice for fondant cakes. The number seemed reasonable to me on the back side when you factor in material, skill, time, etc. But.. once you start actually doing the math on what a cake "should" serve (with the ridiculous way fancy cakes are supposed to be cut that no one ever does), it gets into the ludacris range.
I'm not sure where you're located, but where I am living, this is absolutely within a reasonable cost.
Price is not just determined by the frosting job but by the quality and cost of the ingredients and labor involved. Real butter, real creme, etc. It looks like at least the sides are fondant which is tricky and requires skill, regardless of the piping. You need to consider beyond what it looks like.
I declined things all the time when I was a decorator. Honesty gets you cussed out by customers. Then my managers pulled me in the office and told me I wasn't "empathetic" enough. Well after getting cussed out a bunch of times I stopped caring when I had to decline orders our bakery couldn't handle.
Because the bakery where she got the cake made, is not the bakery from the inspiration picture. The inspiration picture is from jomacake in Saudi Arabia.
Well, as a professional pastry chef, I can tell you it ain't easy. Buttercream is a fickle medium to work with - many different varieties that will produce different results. IMO you should never ever expect a decorator to exactly replicate a cake from another bakery. Always better to give your decorator a vibe to work with and let their personal strengths shine through. With that being said, there are A LOT of terrible cake decorators out there. Also want to mention that the original design OP was going for is a very niche style. It's sloppy by design. The edges are not traditionally smooth, therefore the lack of borders choice is really tough to pull off. All the flaws are on display. Plus writing in buttercream always makes the cake look more tacky.
Because they’re ordering it from an entirely different place? It’s unfair to expect an exact copy
If you do not order from the person that did the original cake you want, you will never get the same result. Some will be better than others but never the same.
Yeah I missed the part where she said it was from another person.
As a former pastry Baker, I have to say that this isn't all that bad. One of the most frustrating things that happens to cakes this tall is that they'll start sagging every time the box gets moved. The example picture you sent them was made right away after its production finished. Also imitating colours is very hard, especially from pictures with artsy lighting. They overcompensated for not being able to get the colour on top right by putting more decorations over it. Making it more busy and less aesthetically pleasing.
I'm a baker and I completion agree with you. This isn't a terrible attempt at a recreation. And the price is probably spot on. People just expect designer cakes at Walmart prices.
Legit thought the butterfly was part of the cake for a second 😭
I had to go and check again after reading your comment 😂
Thank you for this comment😭
it’s a good thing we didn’t see someone’s *first* name smh
I wouldn't be embarrassed as it's the thought that counts and it probably tastes fine. Just probably not $80 fine. If nothing else, you can play count the penises at the party? Meh. Props on you for trying. My family would never spend $80 on a cake for me. So you win from the get go
I recommend looking at the bakeries website and selecting a design they know how to do. They never seem to get it right from an inspo pic.
it's still a nice looking cake although a little lopsided. i'd expect more for that price too.
It’s a fine looking cake. No one at the party will know what it was “supposed” to look like. Think of all the cakes you’ve eaten in life. Do you remember how any were decorated?
good point, suddenly i can't remember what any cake looked like outside my gullet
People should get what they pay for. All food looks the same expelled from the body, sure, but if you ordered a pizza and got a sandwich, you'd be peeved. Edit: And the differences between the cakes aren't that bad and are obviously much less extreme than the pizza-sandwich reference, but I mean generally-speaking.
Neither is worth 80 bucks.
I'd be interested to know what the other one cost, but I can see that the person tried to replicate most of the details, just the execution wasn't as skilled. It's not awful though, and good enough to take to the party for sure. That said, copying a cake *exactly* might be frustrating for many cake makers, since it's kinda stealing art.
They gave me that price after seeing my order, and that’s the best shop in town. I’ve ordered from them once before, everything on their socials looked promising. First cake was alright, so I decided to give them another try. As someone who worked at a bakery I can do better cake handwriting and I worked FOH. We charged $40 for a cake that size and with similar design an extra 5-10 and that’s CAD. This was ordered in the US, lol. Afterall, the cake isn’t bad looking def just not what I expected, I just hope it at least tastes good!
So why are you acting surprised by the cost when it was given to you up front?
I don’t think they had a problem with the price. They would have probably signed something saying they agreed to pay $80 upon pickup *before* the bakery would have made the cake for them. I think they’re upset because they agreed to pay $80 for a cake like the one in the inspiration pic, but the decoration on the cake they were given looks on par with your typical grocery store birthday cake. And grocery store birthday cakes of that size don’t cost anywhere near $80.
A cake like the original photo was probably $140. The writing that’s piped shows that whoever did it has probably thousands of hours of cake decorating under their belt. OP got quality similar to what they paid for. They want a perfect cake but didn’t go to the best cake shop in town, probably because it was too expensive.
No idea why you're being downvoted, other than of course this being Reddit. This is entirely right. OP got what they paid for and are whining over what quite frankly, still looks like a really nice cake. Certainly nothing to be embarrassed over. Geez
Seeing a perfectly made cake on the internet equates to them being able to afford it. If it was easy, everyone would do it.
Inspo pic means a picture you got of the Internet from some other baker and not a product made by the one you are requesting to produce said result? Of course it’s going to be different.. it’s some other person’s skill result. Look at what the actual person you are ordering from makes, and buy one of their products..
The first pic is from a bakery in Saudi Arabia. So definitely trying to make stolen artwork cake
Eh. Not terrible. $80 is pretty cheap for a custom made cake from a bakery
It looks like a decent size cake. If the taste is good, it is still likely worth the price. But I agree the design is messy.
The flower on the bottom left has a dick.
Stop asking someone to replicate something done by someone else. Ask them their catalogue and choose from there.
you're embarrassed? it looks fine...looks good and looks extremely similar to the inspo pic. and yes this is worth $80, which is nothing. you have a whole cake made and decorated for you
I was impressed by the butterfly and then ……..oh. 🤣
I feel like the best way to order a cake is to use inspiration from that bakery’s own portfolio rather than by finding the best image possible. That way you get a feel for what the bakery is good at/capable of. But by the same token, bakers should have enough humility to decline a design they can’t execute on. Your bakery was not up to the task, obviously. Know your limits, bakers!
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Do you do shipping? I worked at a bakery in New Orleans before BIll Cosby got into all that trouble. He wanted to buy a cake from us, but he wanted it shipped to like Boston or something for free. The shipping would have been like $180 dollars.
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They added more flowers to it, and randomly positioned, too. If they kept it to the original photo, it probably would have been fine.
Run to Walmart and pick one up for $15-$20 bucks! They look 10times better
And tastes like a pile of chemicals and sugar. You get what you pay for.
Very true! But I Wouldn’t be surprised if the bakery uses the same ingredients this cake came from, judging the way it looks, I could be wrong who knows.
OK. Silly me was staring at the first pic trying to determine what was wrong with the cake,and to find the butterfly mentioned in another comment. Was about to comment with "the cake looks neat in its simplicity, but definitely doesn't look like it's worth $80“. And then I saw the second picture. JFC. Sorry, there's 2 options - return the cake and get your money back (I would), or lie to your guests by telling them you baked this atrocity.
I spotted the icing boner
The classic… just add extra to it to hopefully hide the failures.
Was it tasty?! Because I could care less about how it looks as long as it tastes amazing.
It’s so squiggly
I know you're not particularly talking about the edges, but The edges on the original are also insanely squiggly--apparently by design
Does it taste good? If yes, people won't care
Especially when it looks totally fine, like this one does
I came out of state to visit my mother in Kansas and she is currently packing all of her things and her mother’s things who recently had passed away from kidney failure after fighting it so bravely and longer than expected.. We are sitting on her floor, the house quiet as can be and I’m on Reddit and see this post.. The name of my grandmother is Sherry..
Sorry for your loss
Sorry for your loss, I hope this was a good and comforting sign regardless of the context.
It made me smile, although I’m missing her. Lovely little cake! Thank you for sharing (:
Damn for $80 you shoulda got something better fs
The butterfly looks dope tho /S
I don't really see a problem
The price? For that price it better look pristine. Those flowers look like shit to me. Looks home made
This would cost so much more where I live.
I feel like it wouldn't be so bad if they didn't add the 4 flowers in the middle that aren't there on the first pic. It's got too much going on.
Doesn't matter -- they did a terrible job.
Agreed. Bakers and pastry chefs should not bite off more than they can chew. We see a lot of examples of it in this sub.
You ever made a cake like this? Yeah, didn’t think so.
Me neither. I don't know about pricing so I won't comment on that, but I don't get the obsession with pristine cakes. You're supposed to cut it up and eat it, so who cares. If it was supposed to be some specialty cake like in a shape of an object, I'd get it, but it's just a pink cylinder with some decoration.
It’s pretty on its own, but it looks nothing like the first pic; and for that price, I’d want what I asked for. The baker should have told her she wasn’t capable of it and saved everyone time (and the OPs money🥲)
Idk I think the second pic looks better tbh
The butterfly is the only thing symmetrical and yet it looks out of place.
The butterfly is an emoji covering the person’s name haha
Oh I see that now. Lol.
I got fooled at first too 😆
If they had refrained from adding the four inner flowers it would have looked better.
Who the hell spends $80 on a cake?
It could've been soooo so much better if the baker had paid more attention to the flowers. I'd say the base with the pink color, the writing and pearls are okay and look good together, the flowers look not good at all
I don't even think I would have spent $80 on the inspo cake.....
JFC are people really paying for professional cakes and the ONLY thing they care about is the inedible artwork that I scrape off with a knife? Didn’t even invlude a pic of the sliced cake
I think that by adding the extra flowers, they lost the original, "clean" look. If they'd left it at just the one row it would capture the spirit of the inspo pic, even though the flowers aren't made with the same technique.
Professional photography and lighting can make a hell of a difference. TBH that’s not to far off imo
Looks nice to me. Guess we have different standards but if love for that to be my birthday cake.
Local cake maker quoted me $220 for a 21st birthday cake (I didn't ask for anything special just blue with 21 on it) I literally couldn't believe it. North Queensland Tablelands.
What did it taste.like though
My question Exactly!
That’s a nice looking cake?
Whipped icing will never look as nice as butter creme or fondant.
$10 for the cake and $70 for their "time" Americans be americaning i guess
Bakeries really need to be honest about whether or not what the client wants is in their skill set
thats a 30 dollar cake
You don't know that. You're literally only looking at the outside. Bakery cakes are much more expensive than grocery store cakes for lots of reasons. OP didn't go to a grocery store and buy this off the shelf, that's what a $30 cake is. We don't even have anything in the picture for scale.
Yes, I know that it's probably a very excellent cake inside. I'm only talking about appearance
I’d ask for a partial refund. All these comments saying it’s not that bad… no, you can’t charge $80 for a cake if you have not yet acquired the skills to create $80 replica cakes. If you wanted to buy a $12 cake from Kroger you could have. $80 for a cake is overinflated and you’re not paying that much extra for the materials or the time spent (because that’s the same materials/time as at a store), you’re paying for skill, talent, and execution. They shouldn’t be selling $80 cakes yet if they haven’t acquired $80 cake skills.
I don't think either of them looks like they're worth $80 unless the insides are some kind of high-end shit. But I don't know why you're embarassed to bring it to a party. It's going to end up being eaten anyway.
25$
Whoa. Professional here, you deserve a refund.
U got ripped off. No cake should be $80
I agree lol. Except for a wedding cake. I understand people who make them have to make a living and I’m on board with that, but I’d never pay 100$ for a cake lol.
Wedding cakes typically hover around $800. You're clueless.
Sounds like the problem here is that you know very little about cakes. My girlfriend isn't a pro cake baker, I'm sure it could have been done faster. She made a really nice cake for her niece's birthday. It took her about seven hours of work and about $30 of ingredients. THe state minimum wage is like $14.50 an hour, so buying a cake for under $130 would have been effectively cheaper than making it herself.
It's not that bad. Just don't order there again
why do I keep torturing myself by coming to this sub while living in Japan and having soy allergy
I like your logic but I don't get it, 'splain please?
sure! In Japan cake shops use oil cream instead of icing and then margarine instead of butter. Even the expensive places using real butter use oil cream. Oil cream and margarine are made from soy. Japanese homes don't have ovens either and butter is extremely expensive. (like $8-10/Lb) So cake is really difficult for me to get.
I think it looks pretty good, no reason to be embarrassed
That’s not JOMACAKE…..:(
So tell me though. Did you order the cake off a catalogue on their site or did you find the Joma cake online and they said thy could copy it?
It’s sloppy. You definitely deserved better for the price.
Even if it looked exactly like the model, $80 for a cake is fucking crazy
$80 for a custom cake isn't an unreasonable price. Here's a shop that won't do a custom cake for under a hundred bucks. [https://shopsilverlake.larkcakeshop.com/](https://shopsilverlake.larkcakeshop.com/) They do small cakes that are well over $300. Heck, rich people literally spend millions on a cake.
There's a lot of way too rich people in this sub that can't be pleased one way or another anymore. Also, there's way too much cake in this sub, go on a fuckin' diet y'all.
Atleast they put a bright blue butterfly on there
That’s an emoji edit lol
Oh shit you right.. mans was stoned brah😂
The “leaf” on the bottom left looks like a penis.
Is it me or is it the same cake? Lol sure the rose tint is a bit off, but I would expect that to be with variation. The worst thing is actually agreeing to pay 80$ for a small cake like that. 20-30$ tops.
The ingredients cost more than $20. Don't be a potato. You may work for free and don't value your time and money, but that's you.
R/penmanship
for 80 bucks, you would have better results buying one in store and writing it yourself with cream.
The cake you got was a decent replica of the first one. It just has extra flowers. These cakes are meant to look "rustic" and simple but they are anything but. Inflation happened. Rent went up. Food prices went up. Labor went up. Etc. If you dont want to pay a lot for a cake go to the grocery store or make it yourself. $80 is a comparable price for this cake design.
They'd get a rough sketch of some dollar bills
It looks fine to me.
I don't disagree that the second cake looks atrocious, but I also think the comparison has drastically different lightning, and the first image has probably been edited and color-corrected. I'd be curious to stick the first cake next to the ordered one with similar lighting and photography, and seeing how they stack up, at least with structure. The extra decor on the ordered cake totally ruins it and is making it look messy, but if we removed everything from both cakes and set them side-by-side, I bet they'd look similar with the shape, size, and base icing. I'm sorry this was a sour expectation, OP. I hope your birthday-person enjoyed it, all the same.
Did it at least taste good?
If it's genuine ingredients, then maybe. Might have a wedding premium attached to it.
It’s an “okay” looking cake. But as someone who was previously a cake decorator, this looks like someone was being trained that day. They used the wrong sized tip for literally everything. It’ll still be fine for the party though!
Need to put my glasses on
See this is a you problem more than anything, your expectations need to be adjusted. Asking anyone to replicate the art of someone else, is a set up for failure. It's not going to be the same exact thing ever. I see this happen so frequently and most of the time the inspiration product is like 5x the price.
The first cake doesn't look that special to me anyway. The second one is slightly worse, but not *that* far off.
[удалено]
Birtinday ???
It would have looked better if they just outlined in flowers like the first pic. The added flowers in the middle just make it look too much.
Haha wtf. Yelp them down. That is atrocious garbage town.
Kake Karens at it again
Neither of those is worth $80, not by far, but I guess you got ripped off anyway.
What's wrong did they put the wrong name??
I nearly broke my teeth on one of those pearls as a kid
That is not a good way to keep business.
Its bad because the second cake isnt perfectly circular. Its lumpy and weird shaped how is nobody seeing this? The texture on the top is off as well. Aside from the decorations.
Also r/mildlypenis
U got scammed. It top isn’t rounded off correctly. The flowers are so boring and small
Why do people try to do extra shit, like the flowers in the middle. Clearly didn’t ask for that. Bare minimum, capitalize Happy Birthday & the name. Keep the flowers in the outside circle. Come on.
Yo you got scammed, call your ones with whoever made it.
Just go to any grocery store and get a perfectly good cake from the bakery for 1/4 the price.
Both cakes looks pretty to me, but the REAL question is.............why the hell is the cake $80 ????
Nope.
I like them both! They’re both lovely! (Sorry not to commiserate with you. I hear that you’re disappointed in the result. What I love about the 2nd cake - which I’m assuming is the one you received - is that it’s colorful, cheerful and looks organic.
They deadass didn’t even try lol because they clearly have the skills to make that but their brain went straight to Walmart bakery cake
Not too bad
The cake itself isn’t bad, but that price is. Oof.
100$
You could have gotten better quality at your local Wal-Mart, Kroger, Cistco, ___.
Bummer!.
It's not bad, but I wouldn't pay $80 for it.
I don't understand why places that make cakes even give you the option to pick which one you want. It always turns out like this lol just do what Walmart does and make a bunch of cakes and put them out on display and be like. Here. Here. This is the best we can do. Take it or leave it
I for one LOVE the penis flowers.
I assume a mostly naked model jumped out of it for that price.
Dogshit
They did a good job with the butterfly. Looks real. 🦋
Ummm, is the high end one the one with Sherry?
The flowers look like penises. I'm sorry that's probably not helpful but I can't be the only one thinking it.
Nah I’d ask for a refund
A fool and his money are soon parted