To think a full refund should have been offered

[wowzawoo]

I picked up cake today for DC birthday party - looked gorgeous but it stunk of smoke! The house smelled too but I thought maybe the cake would be okay - but when I checked at home it really smelt strongly.

I messaged the lady and said I thought the cake was wonderful looking but I wouldn't eat it or serve it because of the smell of stale smoke and asked for a refund also said happy to return the cake to her.

She has apologised and said no one smoked around the cake, she said she would refund my money minus the deposit.

Now, I am okay with this because actually I feel sorry for her, clearly she doesn't know how bad her house smells and then in turn the cake. But really I feel she should have offered a full refund.

Aibu to think this? Every time I look at the cake I feel sorry for her and then doubt my thought that she was being unreasonable to, one sell a cake like that and two that she should have offered a full refund.

I am out of pocket because I have lost the deposit and had to go to a supermarket and buy another cake.

Seller sells through FB page and has five stars!

I believe you OP. You should have got a full refund as it was not fit for purpose. I can’t believe there’s any debate about it and I think some people on here are being deliberately obtuse.

I can easily imagine it did smell.
I have a relative who's home has a particular not very nice smell. It clings to everything. They have in the past given us boxed did (weetabix) and you could taste the smell

However, I would (if it was important to me) ask if anyone in the house smoked or if there were pets.
Ah, so there are people who not only don't mind a cake that smells of cigarette smoke, but also don't mind it smelling of cat or dog, or maybe having a few pet hairs in it!?
Most people really don't want to but food that smells of anything but what its made of, I'm fairly sure. You really don't need to say that you don't want to buy a cake that smells of cigarettes, domestic livestock, grass clippings, air freshener, bleach or curry - its a given

if these things are important to you

Someone once used this line when they pushed in front of me in the queue. It didn't work and she still had to wait her turn

Seriously though, I am such a sensitive person and I really feel sad when I look at the cake. It never got enjoyed

My aunt was a smoker and also an award winning embroider and cake maker. Strangely enough the things she made didn't stink of fags

Oh do behave. When my kids were small a relative used to knit stuff for them. Lovely stuff, very kind of her but they all needed a good wash as whenever you opened the parcel the smell of smoke hit you like a ton of bricks. There is no way someone makes something in a smokey home without it stinking of fags. Just lying around in the same room will make them stink.

Its weird because professional chefs and kitchen staff are so frequently smokers yet food you’re served never smells of smoke?...

I cant believe people are still arguing that a stinking cake would be fine to offer to guests and especially little kids!
Love the idea that not wanting to eat foul smelling (and no doubt tasting) cake makes you unreasonable and a 'snowflake'. Christ people have low standards of basic hygiene!

Thanks for coming to the party have some stinking nicotine cake... no one ever said!

Presumably because they arent allowed to smoke in the kitchen?

Question for all the bakers who mention hygiene standards (and a genuine one) does this apply to the entire house? (E.g no pets in the home where you bake, specific things you can use in your bathroom etc?

sprinkles
Yes cos we all know they smoke like chimneys in the kitchen all the time...

Yes but you still smell when you come come back from smoking?

My aunt was a smoker and also an award winning embroider and cake maker. Strangely enough the things she made didn't stink of fags.

Yes, they did.

It's just that you didn't notice because in the past, nearly everybody smoked and we grew up with that smell and it was normal. Now it's unusual so we can smell it immediately.

I grew up in a smoking household. I never smelled it on anything or anyone. I must have stank of it. But I wasn't aware, we all stank of it because all our parents smoked.

Nowadays of course, I can smell it as soon as the smokers walk in from their fag break.

Sprinkles

the food is not sitting in a smokey kitchen for days on end while being made/waiting to be collected absorbing the smoke is it?

Askbasil
Exactly. We never smelt it as kids it was normal.

Laterly as a cm most of the kids of smokers i had stank of it when they arrived. Thier clothes, hair, bags etc. You would think i smoked in my hallway where their coats are left some days.

I lived with a smoker once and he smoked in doors. When I moved out to a non smoking place I only then noticed how all of my stuff smelt of old stale smoke. Just like the cake actually.

Seems odd that a cake would be open in the house for a period of time picking up smells but tbf I’ve ever bought a cake from a dirty stinking house so hard to tell

sprinkles I was a chef when I smoked. I had to take my chef jacket off and put a different one on when I smoked and also wear gloves. Then wash hands obviously when I went back in. That's really different to smoking in a room with the food. If you've made a large cake with lots of fondant you'll know it takes quite a long time, sometimes days so yes, its likely the cake has been subject to smoke

Sprinkles
How do you think a speciality cake gets made? All in one go?
They have to be baked, cooled, cut to shape, plastered with buttercream or whatever, the icing has to be rolled, cut to shapes and left to dry a bit before use, then it all has to be put together. The various bits can be sitting in a smokey room for quite a while then the whole cake can sit there overnight/a day before being collected. Plenty time to abosorbe all that smoke. And if the person doesnt wash their hands or wear gloves then their hands will stink so they will be pressing all that stinkyness into the icing, yeuk.

What a brilliant thread

how much was the cake and how much was the deposit? I do agree with an earlier poster that maybe you got the smell of cigarettes in the house and got a bit projectful onto the cake. Just let it go unless we are talking a cake worth a grand. You can't prove cigarette aroma from fondant. If the sponge was dry or the cream split you could, but the cigarette smell is just a bit subjective.

DD sometimes visited my CM's family. Lovely and kind people but indoor smokers. I always knew when she visited them because even though they never smoked around her, she reeked of smoke. It was always shower and all clothes including the jacket into the washing machine straightaway.
OP, I would write a review and say the party's over but the cake has never been used as it stank of smoke and include the photo of it in the utility room.

It's just that you didn't notice because in the past, nearly everybody smoked and we grew up with that smell and it was normal. Except that's not true in my case. None of my family smoked except this aunt.

I smoke OP, but I would have expected a full refund, maybe minus the actual cost of the cake ingredients.

I would not be happy serving a cake that smelt of fags, and I would be questioning how long the cake had been sat around for for it to smell so strongly.

I'd eat it