My sister's friend whom Iâve met at a few events, wants to come to my house to frost and decorate a cake that I will bake for her, and I'll provide all the necessary supplies. She will pay me for the cost of decorating since it involves my materials and time to teach her and assist. However, she plans to decorate the cake and then drive to the birthday party immediately after. Given that it's summer and quite hot, I'm not comfortable with the idea of the cake not being chilled before the trip. The birthday party is 10 miles away, and I chill my cakes the day before they are picked up. Unfortunately, she doesn't want to come over the day before and then again on the day of the party.
She wants to take credit for the decorating, but I feel uneasy about putting my name and stickers on a cake that I didn't actually decorate.
This is the cake and itâs one tier.
How would you go about this?
by Working-Summer9136
32 Comments
If you are looking for assistance with a specific result or bake, you may need to provide a recipe in order to receive advice. This community may not be able to help you without details from your recipe (ingredients, techniques, baking times and temps).
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Baking) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Tell her she can start her own cake decorating business, but this isn’t how you run yours.
Maybe you can charge a (hefty) premium to decorate the cake at her house the day before? If youâre comfortable with that. That way itâll refrigerate overnight and everyone saves trips.
To be completely honest, this sounds like a complete nightmare. I absolutely would not sign up for this. Inviting someone into your kitchen to decorate a cake sounds like inviting trouble. If something goes wrong, it happened in your bakery, and the blame could be pinned on you. I would consider instead selling her the cake layers and icing, maybe even lending her the equipment if you know her well. That could allow her to decorate the cake at her leisure in her home and possibly chill before delivery. I would not invite someone else into my business space.
Good luck!
Lmao thatâs a big fat no. What an odd power trip.
No
I don’t have any advice, I’m just here to admire that awesome cake. It may be one tier, but it is *top* tier!
Tell her you do not offer cake decorating lessons.
It cost you nothing to make her day (month, year) by doing this. Can she come over ahead of time so you can have time to properly chill the cake for the trip to the party? I have a certain set of skillsâŠahem⊠nothing exciting like being able to make something so cool, but I welcome any chance I get to mentor someone. Unless, you are worried that she is going to become so good as to become your competition. In her eyes, you are probably the catâs pajamas with what you can do, and sheâll be extremely chuffed to have done this and make a claim, âLook what I did!â
? Why on earth would she just not make her own cake?
“This sounds really complicated and isn’t in the realm of my business. I’m sorry!”
Don’t do it. Lol
The answer should be no. Period point-blank.
I worked in supply chain management for a food manufacturer for a decade. We co-packed condiments like BBQ sauce, salsa, pasta sauce, etc. We would have the occasional potential customer request to come use our R&D lab to âshow you how to make it properlyâ or even get hands-on in production of *other* customersâ products.
It was always a stern no. There were very few exceptions made, and none involved the production floor and it came with a nice fee.
When you let someone outside of your business get hands on, you take on liability for *whatever* they do on the premises under your approval. No one wants that, so best thing is to avoid any scenario in which youâd be taking on a new liability youâre *not* insured for.
This reminds me of the sign some designers put up:
We design: $100
We design, you watch: $150
We design, you help: $200
You design, we help: $500
What she wants is basically a lesson. Charge accordingly and do it on your terms. If you think it needs chilling, only schedule at a time it can be chilled. Get an agreement in writing that you are not responsible for the outcome of the cake.
Personally Iâd avoid this, itâs a completely different job than just making the cake.
The only exception I can see is if the client has past professional experience and just doesnât own the equipment.
This is someone who needs to be educated about boundaries. She may be your sister’s friend, but unless she’s making and putting her name on the cake while paying you for decorating lessons (with the assumption that you offered in the first place), she is way out of bounds.
The kit idea is probably the best way of dealing with her. Let her do it in her space. But allowing her to invade your business space to decorate what she wants to call her cake? That would be a hard no.
Never allow a client on site for any works, it’s always a nightmare.
That cake is so cool!
Maybe say you checked your insurance and it wouldn’t cover her if something went wrong
I would pass. This sounds like a really horrible idea.
But if you must – have something in writing to cover your butt when the cake fails or she messes it up so bad she canât take it to the party.
And omg I hope youâre pricing this out right – youâre holding a private cake decorating class!
As someone who spent a long ass time in professional kitchens, fuuuuuuck no! First of all, you do not invite yourself into my kitchen. Either I invite you in or you do not enter. Especially to try your hand at doing what I do. Second of all, I obviously have no control over what you do with the food you buy from me after it leaves my hands, but you better not be putting my name on it if you’re going to start fucking with my work beyond any instructions I’ve given you. If this person is dead set on decorating the cake herself tell her this: I will sell you an undecorated cake, I will sell you the supplies and tools that you need to decorate it yourself. Then you can take those away and have at it to your hearts delight. But if I hear that you botched the job and then turn around and claim it was me who did it then your and I are going to have a reckoning.
I get the comments saying don’t do it at all, but why can’t she just come the day before, take it home, chill it at her house, and then take it to the party? Is she not closer to you than ten miles?
Tell her itâs a health hazard, she needs a food handlers card to decorate in your kitchen since it is a business
Just say that your insurance wonât cover it if anything goes wrong (I.e. accident or injury – not just food handling risk). Which is the truth – it wont.
Charge extra and step back.
I feel like the fact that she would even ask to do this is a big red flag that she doesnât really grasp whatâs entailed with decorating a cake and that itâs a sign things will not go smoothly.
Iâd just offer to sell her the undecorated cake & not include any branding. She can pick it up the day before so that she can properly chill it or day of and decorate it somewhere else.
What does she mean by decorating though? Is she having you frost it first and then sheâs going to add the decorations, or does she plan on doing the whole thing?
I wouldnât want someone at my place decorating their cake. For one thing, people underestimate how difficult it is to smoothly frost a cake or even make âmessyâ drips look nice if they donât have experience. More importantly, they also VASTLY underestimate how much time it will take, so youâre signing up for a potential emotional nightmare when things inevitably go south and she expects you to come to the rescue. Youâll end up putting in more work than if you did it yourself & with less time than you would have allocated.
nope!
Nope. I would never compromise my business. I wouldn’t even bake the cake. What if she inadvertently spills something in the icing? You know who’s going to shoulder that – and it won’t be her.
Itâs a liability to let her use any of your stuff
âI am sorry but unfortunately Cottage Kitchen Laws prohibit non employees to decorate cakes in my kitchen.â
If you feel up to it you can add: âI would be happy to give you some frosting, baked cakes and a cake round to diy it at home. You will need decorating supplies such as tips, couplers, and a spatula (as well as melting chocolate if you do not have it on hand for them) to complete the decorating at home.â
Keep it legal and u can avoid an uncomfortable conversation. No need to put your business at risk (or your reputation, I agree with no labels with your company name if it is not your decorating skills, include ingredients stickers tho)
No is a complete sentence
She can pick up the baked cakes, supplies, and pay you for your work and supplies to that point. OR Cancel the order she can make it herself
No advice, but using a Flake for Hulk smash is so effective and brilliant!
Stop letting these no nothing idiots try to horn in on people who actually know their shit. It’s more of the same ‘what do they know? I could do it easier/cheaper/better. ‘
she should buy it as it is now and she can decorate it all she wants at her home once the sale is complete