When Gourmet Cakes go Wrong

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. I enjoyed time with my family, and ate way too much turkey!

This weekend, however was not so great for a friend of mine. She went out on a limb, and decided to purchase a gourmet cake for her daughter’s birthday. A giant step out of her comfort zone, she normally opts for the usual Safeway cake with nutri-whip icing, my friend took a leap of faith and dove right in head first.

She did her research. Looked the company up on the internet, and scanned through all the gourmet cakes, and flavours. She even read the testimonies of the people who had ordered, and ecstatically proclaimed how they will definitely order again!

Now, I feel the need to explain something here. These cakes were nothing compared to Buddy Valastro from Carlos Bakery on Cake Boss, but they were fancy just the same. Decorated with all sorts of trinkets, and doodads, and painted in colours one has never seen on a cake before. From the pictures on the website, the baker seemed to be talented in the sugary art. Seeing this, my friend put her reservations aside and picked up the phone.

A Smurf cake was ordered.

Saturday came, and she swung by to pick me up. We were going to get the cake, and like two kids who had just been let loose inside a candy store, we couldn’t contain our excitement. What would it look like? How would it taste? Which Smurfs would the baker use?

I waited anxiously inside her car as she dashed into the store. Five minutes later we both sat silently staring at what was supposed to be the infamous Smurf cake. Puzzled, we gaped at the three disproportioned blue dudes, definitely not Smurfs, sitting on top. Pink and yellow flowers littered the cake, and a purple ribbon was wrapped around.

Now, I am no Smurf concierge, but I do know they were short with round bellies. They lived in the forest, and with a little Google search I soon remembered red mushrooms were their houses. This cake looked nothing like the Smurf cake we expected. In fact it wasn’t even close to what it should have been, and unfortunately neither was the price tag.

So I wonder, was the baker rushed and didn’t have time to fulfill the order to perfection? Did she over analyse her expertise, and soon realize she couldn’t design the blue figures? We will never know, and I suppose it doesn't matter. The little girl loved her cake, and how it tasted.

Kat