To want my friend to pay for half of this cake?

How stupid is she .

It was a stupid thing to do but getting her to stumble up won't have changed the cakes appearance on the day.
Op getting £45 won't change that.

Clara\Beatrice

Either your friend is an idiot (to rest her hand inside on the cake inside the box) or she secretly hates you (or hated having to help you). This is based on the fact that she didn’t even apologise when she saw your reaction and how upset you are. A lot can be determined by how our friends react when we are upset especially if it was them that caused the upset. She clearly doesn’t care. When people show you who they are (by their actions or reactions) believe them! Asking for some money back is pointless as in the end the cake was eaten but her reaction tells you that you need to distance yourself from the friendship.

Why? The cakes been appreciated and eaten. I've never heard of a cake in a box without a lid before.

Well by the price of the cake which these days wasn't that expensive actually no I wouldn't complain and tbh for a bakery to give you an open top box is outstanding to me not particularly professional. Either way regardless of price accidents unfortunately happen next time order from someone who delivers

She could have just held the cake box like she was meant to.

What would the plausible reason be? That’s ridiculous.

But your friend did not do this. If she did I'd say absolutely she should pay half or the whole thing after that. You say people are downplaying the damage but from what's been said I think you're way over exaggerating it as you still ate the thing.

Couldn't grab a butter knife and try to tidy it up a bit?! The fact you still served and ate it and it sounds like it was fine I'd not have even asked let alone expect her to pay anything.
What were you going to do, go and replace it?! Doubt it, you'd still have served and eaten the same cake but cashed in on the cost.

If I were here I'd be the one to step back and let the friendship fade away.. I wouldn't even dream, in this scenario, of asking some unrelated person to the event to pay half when they did me a favour and it was a genuine accident. Not like she was fooling around and dropped it on its face.

And was your friend covered in buttercream afterwards?

Photo?
Because you said it was ruined, with a massive hand print, and ruined the photos, but also that your nan asked why it was "a bit squashed on one side", plus you still served it to people. So... which is it? Ruined or not ruined?

Well your friend either has no common sense or did it on purpose.

The safest place for a cake is in a sturdy box on a non slip mat in an otherwise empty boot.
Ive taken a cake to Aberdeen perfectly safely but you have to plan it and I never trust anyone to hold a cake.

A pizza doesn't travel in an open top box does it?. Talk about a terrible analogy and logic. If a cake is inside a box that's open on top, the cake will jump with no top to keep it down. Holding the sides of the box won't help. In a sudden movement, I pointed out that it would have been a more instinctual movment rather than deliberate to try and keep the cake from jumping around.

I agree entirely. The cake was still edible. Nobody died.
No need to make a huge drama and denand reparations.

She was doing you a favour, it was an accident and the cake was eaten. She owes you nothing and she’d do well not to help you out again. I think you request that she pays half was appalling. I’m surprised she is still speaking to you.

She’s a bit dim but you’re more than a bit mean. You didn’t have to replace the cake so her paying you would be like some sort of cake fine! It’s just a bizarre logic trail to go down.

Surely it is common sense, that you don’t grab a cake by the icing to stabilise it? Cake is fragile. The cake touching the box from a sudden jolt, is more hygienic than being squished by someone’s unwashed hand?

Your logic is terrible and fairly uncouth. It’s like thinking the appropriate way for a driver to deliver your pizza is by holding down the cheese and toppings by his bare hand…instead of just keeping the box steady.

You weren't out of pocket. The cake was still eaten. She doesn't owe you money.

Holding the sides of a box with a cake in it won't stop the cake itself from moving if the car went over a bump for instance. It is quite likely that she needed to stabilize the cake from the top and it may have been purely out of instinct at that moment of a jolt. Asking for money after the cake was eaten seems weird.

Its a mistake, shit happens, she was trying to help you, maybe she was trying to steady the cake and didn't realise the pressure would ruin it.

I'm sorry it got a bit squashed but she obviously didn't do it on purpose. Don't try and charge someone who was trying to do you a favour. Shes not a professional cake handler. Shes a volunteer and an amateur. ;)

But that's not at all what happened is it? Bloody hell, how frigging precious was this cake and birthday? Why didn't you just have it airlifted to the location?

I’d be mortified if I did something like this and offer to pay for the damage.

Your friend is an idiot.
That's an awful lot of money to pay for any one cake.
No I don't think your friend's going to pay you back any money.

What would be a plausible reason for stomping on your cake?!