Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi All
Just had my first unhappy customer and wondering how to manage it. I had recently made a christening cake but one element of the cake went wrong, that being a hand made item which snapped when being placed on top. I stayed up until 3.30 a.m. Trying to fix it as I knew I didn’t have time to do another so placed it on the side of the cake instead. Had a message from her saying she was really upset over the cake as without the element on top it looked plain and she hated where I put it. I ve given her a partial refund but it’s totally knocked all my confidence to where I feel I want to pack it all in. Really devastated about it as I work my hardest on all my cakes.
Appreciate any advice

Thank you so much both, means a lot. Had time to reflect on it now and although still feel awful that was the only element of the cake which didn’t work out and still looked lovely. The other details such as the drapes, hand made roses and quilting effect were perfect and that’s what I’m focusing on. Definitely using this as a learning curve as you both say and put it all down to experience. Hopefully these will be few and far between. Thank you again for your support x

Hi scarlet

Unfortunately this will happen to even the most experienced of bakers and decorators. I think you’ve already dealt with the situation in a mature business like way and hopefully, if the customer has a heart, she will realise that you did your best in the given situation. After all you didn’t do this on purpose! Now you just have to stop beating yourself up and chalk it up to experience. I can feel your dedication and your pain. You’ve done your best to appease the customer and it’s time to put this incident behind you. Move on from it, don’t allow it to eat you up, use it as a learning curve. Give yourself a break by taking on less challenging jobs for a short while and your confidence will soon return. Be strong. Big big hugs xx

Hi Scarlet
Things do go wrong every now and again. I dropped a cake the other day while I was putting glue around the board to attach the ribbon. Put a sizeable dent in it and broke one of the decorations. Fortunately I could repair the decoration and add a further decoration to cover the dent. I’ve now learned never to hold the cake board in one hand but to always put it on a turn table or flat surface.
Don’t let it affect your confidence in your abilities too much. People sometimes don’t realise how much time and effort goes into making and decorating a cake and it does feel awful when they don’t like what you’ve done.
Chin up and be strong.
Donna

That horrible feeling will go eventually. The fact that you’ve taken the incident so badly just goes to show how much you care. xx