Wedding cupcake mishap AIBU bride wants full refund for me wrecking her big day?

[ilovepombears]

I run a home based cake making business a few months ago I had a request from a bride to make 100 black cupcakes for her wedding. She provided the wrappers and black food colouring paste and also black and white photo toppers of the couple as she asked it this would bring the costs down so I deducted this from the bill.

Today is her wedding day and there seems to be a massive miscommunication somewhere along the lines.
Friday I baked all 100 cupcakes and whilst I was waiting for them to cool I text her and asked if she was sure she wanted them all black buttercream or if she would prefer black and white or black and grey. She texted back and said 50 black 50 grey would be ace. I then had another text asking where the buttercream was going. This should of really set off alarm bells. I told her the buttercream would be going on top of each cupcake. No further response.

As the wedding is out of town she came to collect them yesterday. They looked stunning and really complimented her wedding theme. She seemed a bit off when collecting but said she liked them.

Two hours later I receive a text from her saying how dissapointed she is with the cakes and how they are not as disscused as the cakes are white.

I didn't understand where she was coming from so I tried to call but she didn't answer then text to say I have wrecked her wedding.

After a while of toing and froing it transpires what the bride in her head has ordered is 50 black and 50 grey sponge cupcakes as in no buttercream frosting. Where I was suppose to put the picture toppers is still a mystery.

She has seen hundreds of images of my work and I have never produced a nude cupcake. Always have frosting on them.

She has not given me time to rectify the issue. Not that I would as I am not having my name associated with what she thinks she has ordered. Not would I let black sponges out to be eaten as they will taste horrendous but they have so much colour in them can you imagine the additives.

She is now asking for a full refund as I have "screwed up her order" what do I do? I'm my head she has received what she has ordered.

If you guys ordered a black & grey cupcake how would you interoperate that? What she thinks or what I have made her.

I would probably take them all back and freeze, then sell for charity or school fete

I definitely thought you meant black sponge when I read your post. I was surprised to read about buttercream. I would have assumed she wanted the cake topper to cover the top of the cake, stuck down with a tiny bit of icing. However, she probably should have realised when you spoke to her about buttercream.

I think you need a chat about it. I expect the cake you actually provided were way nicer to eat than what she had in mind, but I can see how she feels that they weren't what she ordered.

Coloured sponges are definitely a 'thing' and I would have checked.

Pelicangiraffe - sell them on with a photo topper of the bride and groom?

Only an amateur baker...but when I read the first paragraph I was assuming that the complaint was going to be that the sponges had turned out grey, rather than black, due to the difficulties of getting that degree of dark colour into a plain sponge. So YABU because it sounds sufficiently clear she wanted black sponge that you should have at least checked before assuming white. YANBU about the frosting - the entire point of cupcakes is the vast amount of (over sickly to my taste) frosting. And that bit would seem to be common knowledge....and you did clarify it.

Best frosting I ever made was liquidised raspberries stiffened with icing sugar. Didn't pipe/sculpt as well as buttercream, but stunning colour and tasted gorgeous.

I would have expected black sponge if I ordered black cupcakes too.

I think I'd have assumed black sponge with black icing. I wouldn't have had a clue that black food dye would make it taste bad - I thought the point of food dyes were that they didn't taste of anything. And I'd have thought you could have made them chocolate flavoured with cocoa, which would have been dark brown and thus easily "topped up" to black.

In your position I'd reply with

• So sorry, this is obviously what happens when both parties think they have agreed something that is crystal clear, but it turns out that they had completely different things in mind

• I didn't think for a moment you wanted the actual cakes to be black and grey, because a) experience has shown that people recoil from cakes of those colours (coloured icing does not seem to have quite the same effect) and b) the amount of food colouring it takes to turn a cake black makes it taste quite nasty and would contain an alarming and inadvisable amount of food additives.

• If I had realised that was what you wanted we could have discussed this and I would have baked some samples so you could see what I mean (above).

• We discussed buttercream and where it was going to go. If you had not wanted buttercream on your cakes, I would have expected you to have told me while we were discussing buttercream

• If you do wish a full refund I must insist that the cakes are returned to me by xx time xx date so that I have the opportunity to re-sell them.

I hope the bride has a lovely day anyway, I agree offer a partial refund.

I think when you are getting married things like this can be a big deal. I am getting married next year! And even though it's only a small wedding I am taking great care in choosing what I want and something not being 'quite Wright's would be upsetting. I would get over it but in the midst of preparations I can see why it would be upsetting.

Talking of cakes here is dds cake for her birthday yesterday, unicorn as requested! I am beyond thrilled with how it turned out as i had a a few issues along the way!

What were the toppers like?

If flat to lay on the top I can see why she was thinking coloured cake & just something to fix them on.

She sounds like a dick. I certainly wouldn't refund her.

She wasn't clear enough. She took the cakes without saying a word!

Bit dramatic to say her day is ruined, its not like its to do with her dress or you know something really important to the running of the day, its bloody cupcakes!

If there's one thing you shouldn't do, it's to write/say anything like BalloonSlayer's second point above - as many people have written here, and is all over the web, it is possible to make black cakes that look and taste good. You should have known this really, as a professional baker, and should (I'm sorry to say) be a bit embarrassed you didn't.

I agree with Vida, I really wouldn't be criticising what she wanted or telling her it wasn't possible.

There was miscommunication on both sides imo.

It could well just be a misunderstanding and I would offer a discount (not 50%) but ...after being in catering for years I know some people do take the mickey...and you do need to cover yourself and learn from experience!
The best eg I can think of is when DP had a restaurant (only small) he did a small wedding party one lunch. They wanted him to close the restaurant to other diners for them. They said there would be 30-40 guests, so he agreed (lunch was quiet ish anyway), gave them a special menu to order from in advance. He had added a couple of pounds onto to his normal prices (cheap) to cover lost trade etc and didn't charge them 'room hire.
They gave him the orders two days in advance ...for just 20 people...a bit of a blow but too late to change anything.
Two of the party (bride and maid of honour) were the only ones to order one dish - this took a bit of making, not worth the hassle for just 2 portions so he made more and put it on as a special that evening....sold out.
The party seemed to go well...the bride did drink quite a lot and the MOH was absolutely pissed. A few days later we got a letter - the bride and MOH had both suffered vomiting that evening/next day, it had ruined the bride's wedding day. As they were the only ones who had eaten the cheese dish, it had obviously given them food poisoning, they wanted a full refund for the whole meal.
No-one else had complained.

We had no proof that we hadn't poisoned them, we no longer had a sample to give to EHO etc. But in the circumstances we wrote back, explained that we had given the same dish, from the same batch to a number of other customers with no negative feedback and asked if they had submitted samples to their GP for analysis. We never heard anything back. (We couldn't offer a refund or discount because that would have been accepting some liability.) We also informed EHO, who did an inspection but they also never heard anything from them....
Which makes me think it was a piss take - or to be charitable they were sick but it was down to the amount of alcohol they had consumed...

I also think the taking the cakes without saying anything is a red herring.

It's something I might do - see them, think they're not right, but they'll have to do because no time for anything else. Leave. Then think about it on the way home some more, look at them some more, and think they really aren't right and start getting mad.

I wouldn't accuse anyone of ruining my wedding over cupcakes however

How did the discussion of the sponge not come up? As in vanilla, plain, flavored etc? Would you not have asked her this op ?

I wouldn't use Ballonslayers suggestion.

Point 2, makes it look like you know nothing about cake making, as said you can make coloured sponge that tastes nice and coloured sponges are in fashion.

The last point is ridiculous, the customer had the right to salvage that part of the day by using the cakes provided.

You are supposed to be providing a custom made, creative service, so it is your responsibility to clarify the order again and again.

Offer a partial refund, if you take your business seriously.

I would of though that you would welcome the diversity of such orders.

My DD wants to become a baker and loves the creative side and the chance to show her skills, anyone can knock together plain sponge cupcakes.

X post with Vida.

Either you are a professional, or an amateur that manages to sell a few cakes.

Really Birds?

The Bride should have a full refund yet get all the cakes as well?

Bollocks to that. That's just a con.

If she wants a full refund she can give 'em all back.

As the OP said, they might not be what she thought she asked for but they look fab and everyone will love them.

I'd say it was a miscommunication between you both, an honest error but one you can learn from. You'll know in future to specify exactly what the customer wants. Given that googling "black cupcakes" does bring up images where the sponge appears black I don't think the bride was at fault here.

I think you are both at fault TBH.
You should have gone through with her exactly what she wanted and written it down for her to check. That way she wouldn't have had cause to complain.
She also wouldn't have had the chance to get herself confused about the actual order.
As for the cakes ruining her wedding, she needs to get a grip.

nocool definitely going to be trying your raspberry and icing sugar topper!!!

This is a business, not a hobby. Frankly, you should know about trends like this, and you should have processes in place for clear communication.
This is not pre-wall coming down Eastern Europe: customers don't have to accept the best YOU can do- ESPECIALLY when you are catering of special events such as weddings. Your job is to hand them a dream on a plate.
I am really sorry for you about this , you sound out of your depth. Customer service is always going to be 40% of your business, then delivering on time, on budget, reliably , then the visual impact -- taste is way down there, you know.
I'd apologise, tell her gently that she wasn't clear, and offer a partial refund.
I'm guessing it didn't cross her mind that a professional cake maker wouldn't be on-trend and wouldn't know about all black cakes.
Sorry.

Three things: You actually had a conversation with her about the buttercream on her cakes and she did not say at any point, "I don't want buttercream, I want black sponge"

Second thing: If I was offered a plain, un-iced black sponge cake with a photo on it, I would find it very unappetising and probably hide it or bin it.

Third thing: If her wedding was "ruined" by perfectly good cupcakes that happened to be different from her original conception, then her marriage probably doesn't stand a chance! What lunacy.

YANBU, but create a specific order form for next time to protect yourself.

I agree with pps that you need to have explicit specs next time.

Can you work out what you've spent and what of your charges represent your time/expertise? eg 12 eggs, four hours of electricity for the oven, 6lb of icing sugar (etc) If she's got the cakes then it's not unreasonable to pass on the material costs, then look at the "profit" and discount that.

I would have thought she meant black sponge with a smudge of icing and the toppers stuck on top. I don't bake though so I admit I'm clueless but I know I've seen pictures of coloured cakes on the net so it wouldn't occur to me they would be tricky to make unless someone in the know told me.