A tale of two cakes

I admit it. I don't bake cakes for birthdays. Instead, I head to the bakery and order a cake based on the 'theme' of the party.

This is a tale of two cakes.

This was Olivia's cake.



Since she was turning 6, Kevin and I let her pick out the cake without any input from us. She decided that she was having a "TinkerBell and friends" party and she wanted this cake. We ordered it from "Bakery #1." This would be the last time I order a cake from that bakery.

The cake that Olivia picked was supposed to have a deep, dark blue border with Tink and her fairy friends centered on the cake. It was cute. The cake that the gave us (see above) was anything but cute.

The border was teal green (and yes, I do realize that TinkerBell IS green, but that's not the point) - and Olivia, ever wise at age 6, said "Mommy, this cake isn't the right color." That is not what bothered me (much). Did you see the writing on the cake? In ALL CAPS? Orange ALL CAPS at that. Oh. My. Gosh. It looks like Olivia decorated her own cake. Seriously, all caps? WHY IS THE CAKE YELLING AT MY CHILD?

Being the high maintenance Type-A mom that I am, I called the bakery to complain. The manager told me "Oh yes, I saw so-and-so decorate that this morning. She was just being creative."

I'm sorry, what? I didn't pay $25 for a cake so your rookie cake decorator could "be creative." I wanted a fairy cake that looked JUST LIKE the picture in the book. You know, the cake my daughter picked out. So, the manager apologized and offered to refund our money. I sent Kevin back to the bakery to get back our $25. (He had originally picked up the cake and didn't see any issue with it. Men.)

And so, we move from Olivia's birthday party cake wreck to our second birthday cake in two weeks - Emma's "Ariel" cake.

See here:



I ordered this cake from "Bakery #2" (a different store) and made it a point to have this conversation with the baker:

Me: Now, this cake IS going to look just like the picture, right?

Baker: Um, yes. Why do you ask?

Me: Well, I ordered a cake two weeks ago from another bakery and they decided to "get creative" with it.

Baker: We aren't allowed to get creative. These are copyrighted cake designs and they must look exactly like they do in this book. We can't even change the colors.

Me: Good.

And there you have it, the cakes are copyrighted designs and therefore no "creative license" should be taken.

I have to say, I loved Emma's cake (it didn't really come with two Ariel's ... one is a candle). It was so cute and really looked like Ariel and Flounder were "under the sea."

In this battle of cakes, Ariel/Bakery #2 wins.
Fins down.

January 28th: A note: My mother informed me today that she read this post and this is what she said: "Your friends are going to think you're crazy. Both of those cakes were very cute." Yes, well...I have to disagree. Olivia's cake was NOT what I ordered, and therefore, I complained. I will be the first to admit that I'm a bit high maintenance and like this how I like them. And so, I guess if you think I'm crazy, you might as well tell me that.