Wedding cake collapsed at venue: is a full refund reasonable?

[Bridemom]

I have recently got married. We contacted a cake maker to make a butter cream 2 tier cake setup and delivered, as we arrived at the venue the cake was leaning, throughout the day it got worse an eventually the top tier fell over ruining the cake cutting moment and spoiling the pictures.

We are both not cake people but we bought the cake for the iconic cutting moment. Are we wrong to request a full refund? We have been offered 1/3 refund and more like a list of excuses for an apology blaming the venues floor and it being left out for a long time. I would expect a wedding cake to stand for 6 hours with no problem. I have suggested that a 2/3 refund would offer an amicable agreement. What would you guys do?

Also agree that it's probably best left as an anecdote to laugh about in the future (even if it stings a bit now). Everyone I know had something go wrong at their wedding and we laugh about it all now years later.

Also agree that the third refund is no doubt the cake maker's profit that they are giving up. That means they are also giving up the time they spent making the cake.

I wouldn’t offer or expect any refund. It is your responsibility to store the cake at the correct temperature. Buttercream and summer heat absolutely do not mix. If you were that bothered you should have kept it in a fridge until the “iconic” moment.

Agreed.

I’m with you and would of had pictures of us trying to cut a collapsed cake
it’s funny moments like this that are memories to look back on and laugh at
rather than all the formal stuff that’s the same at every wedding

I think a third is reasonable. As someone else has mentioned that is the cake makers profit.

At the point when the cake began to tilt it should have been put in the fridge. It was only going to get worse.

You laughed because it was funny and one of those things, no one would laugh now because they would miss the Instagram photo of cutting the cake and it would be the end of the world.

I disagree with most of the above. The cake person should have given explicit instructions to the receiving venue on how and where to store the cake on the assumption that it wouldn’t be cut until after the meal/evening time.

I used to manage weddings in a hotel, and frequently cake makers would arrange to either deliver the cake as late as possible, or to deliver it in a cool bag. We never took in a cake without a storage/display instruction.

A good cake maker would have contingency planned.

The last thing we would do is blame the bride.

Surely it's common sense a buttercream cake is stored in a cool place. Even on a normal day buttercream is risky over that length of them. Why did people see it tilting and not do anything? Sounds like it was the fault of the venue rather than the bakers.

I would just let it go, honestly in a few months you won't care and will laugh. We got married at a golf hotel and had a cupcake towers, ironically because I wanted buttercream and the cake maker said it is no good for tiers. We had a cupcake for each guest put in a box for them to take after breakfast the next day. When we got up someone in the hotel had forgot to move the cakes out of the room and some drunk golfers had got to them and eaten some. I was fuming but now we just laugh about it. These things happen, nothings ever perfect.

I'm with OP here as I think the cake makers should have advised it should be kept in a fridge or air conditioned room. I think at least 50% refund would be minimum acceptable.

I have a friend that organises high end weddings as a job. I asked him what it is the most common thing to go wrong, and he said it's the cakes - particularly buttercream type ones collapsing.

I think a 1/3 is reasonable given all the ingredients and time put into it. Did she warn you at all about storage?

If it was this weekend it was exceptionally hot. I would have moved it to the fridge in the day and then got back out for cutting.

I make cakes for friends and family just for cost of ingredients. I don’t do buttercream cakes in hot weather as they are hard to keep in good condition.
i would assume that a professional cake maker has additional ways of stabilising the structure and the buttercream, but yesterday’s temperature set records.
I don’t make wedding cakes as it’s such a special occasion, and if the cake goes wrong it would mar the day, so I understand your disappointment.
Did you try to contact the baker when you saw the cake was leaning?
I don’t think a full refund is appropriate unless you returned the whole cake.
I think a reasonable refund is 30-50%.

It’s normal for the cake to be left out for several hours at a wedding so that excuse doesn’t cut it. Yes it’s hot but they also knew that when they delivered it. They should have pre warned you of what might happen and how to move cake if needed. It’s also possible they didn’t set it up well enough. I think 2/3 is reasonable but would settle for 50/50 if needed.

Although this must have been incredibly annoying, I do think some people are ridiculously hung up about capturing 'iconic' moments such as these. These are the same sort of people who will take a photo of their kid every year on the first day of autumn term, or complain if grandma should dare to give them their first taste of ice cream or chocolate!

I don’t know why people are going on about buttercream, sturdiness etc. a buttercream cake has rods going all the way through to the bottom cake board, so it’s fully supported. The cake itself is not carrying any weight. Theoretically the icing could all melt and slide off and the cake would still be sitting there.

The clue is in the word buttercream. Of course butter will liquify when it’s warm and that will have destabilised the cake. Were you advised about keeping it cool?

Usually tiered wedding cakes are fruit cakes and they’re pretty bulletproof. Did it have pillars in the bottom layer to hold up the top layer? I’m wondering if you bought it from a home baker rather than a professional baking company as a pro would have advised about correct storage arrangements.

If they’re offering you a partial refund, I’d take it.

Our venue also left the cake out all night and cleaners chucked it in the morning!

Iconic 🙄

I guess it was an iconic cake cutting moment, just not the type you were expecting...

It is clearly affected enough for cake makers to recommend against it though.

Op hasn’t answered this question though about whether the cake did have anything inside it to hold it up

And this is one of the many reasons why fruit cakes are the best kind of wedding cake.

But can I point out that while it will melt in the heat butter icing is a mix of butter and sugar and it will not become inedible in the heat, fat and sugar are both preservatives.

Tiered cakes are/should be a feat of engineering and it should have been stabilised with dowels, as per my (very) rough sketch. If it had been the tiers would not have been able to slide off. The buttercream is another matter, and it should have been kept cool until cutting. I have to admit if supplied by a professional cake maker I would want some sort of refund; if by a friend who’s good at making cakes probably not.

That's what I would have thought. If I made a two tier cake, it would have rods supporting the top layer which would be on it's own cake board. Even if the icing melted off, the cake should stand. Unless OP asked not to have this or something else was negotiated.

Did the cake maker know your timings for the day because, even on a cool day, 6 hours is a long time for a buttercream cake to be sitting out! It might have been recoverable when you first noticed but you would have needed someone skilled to take action. Did it have dowels holding the top layer?

I understand you are sad to have no cake cutting pictures but, really it's a very small part of your wedding day. I think 1/3 refund is reasonable, as you still had the cake to eat, which is arguably the most important thing.

Weddings are very rarely perfect throughout. I would've adapted and turned it into a light hearted photo opportunity (you and DH slicing through an already cakey mess), then you have an amusing story to tell in the future.

Was the cake actually eaten? If so I'd say YABU to accept anymore than 1/3 refund, which other posters have said is ample and likely the profit for the supplier.