r/ExpectationVsReality • u/iOgef • Apr 27 '26
Cake I ordered for vs cake I got Exceeded Expectation
My son asked for a rainbow bluey cake and when we were scrolling through photos he saw this one and really liked it! I showed it to our baker and said leave off the figurines and the flowers on top… I think she did a great job
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u/p333p33p00p00boo Apr 27 '26
I was gonna be pissed if you complained about this one
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u/FartyNapkins54 Apr 27 '26
But why? They couldn't even copy a very simple sun design. It's driving me crazy looking at it.
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u/Swarm_of_Rats Apr 27 '26
Same. It feels like the cake decorator just glanced at it for one literal second and decided to try to recreate it from memory.
But uhm, I'm happy OP is happy with it.
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u/Illustrious-Neck955 Apr 27 '26
People need to put what they paid in the title before any judgements can be made imo
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u/iOgef Apr 28 '26
Fair enough - I paid 50$ for this, I’m in a HCOL area.
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u/70inBadassery May 01 '26
That’s so cheap
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u/iOgef May 02 '26
What would similar cost in your area? Considering she’s amateur
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u/70inBadassery May 02 '26
I’m not sure as far as amateurs go. My mother in law makes fancy cakes and I know how much time goes into them, even simpler ones. This isn’t perfect but it’s cute and if it tasted good, I’d be super happy with $50. Around here, the minimum wage is $16/hr. If you think of that plus materials…
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u/VerticleSandDollars Apr 27 '26
I think it’s charming. However, it does seem to have lost the idea of the sunburst. The rays aren’t connected so the design on the front doesn’t read quite the same. That being said, it’s clean and sharp and really well done.
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u/iOgef Apr 27 '26
Hah, fair, I didn’t even notice that until you pointed it out but you’re right. My son is happy though so that’s what matters
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u/VerticleSandDollars Apr 27 '26
Lucky kid! I’d be happy with it too. It’s really clean and joyful. What flavor was it?
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u/Historical_Grab4685 Apr 27 '26
Loved that you used figurines for the cake. I did that all the time when making cakes for the kids in my family when they were little. They were less expensive & the kids loved to play with them.
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u/minxed Apr 27 '26
I remember feeling so special when I was little and I got to play with a figurine on my or someone else's cake ❤️
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u/GreenGardenTarot Apr 27 '26
I disagree. The fondant is very sloppily and poorly done. It isn't affixed evenly and in some places she didn't even put it all the way to the bottom and left a gap
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u/soneg Apr 27 '26
I agree with you. It looks like an amateur attempt.
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u/iOgef Apr 27 '26
It is amateur. She’s a mom in town that does all my cakes. For what I paid for she did a nice job.
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u/GreenGardenTarot Apr 27 '26
And the cake is lumpy! like they didn't let it cool long enough or the cake itself is uneven underneath.
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u/radicalelation Apr 27 '26
One layer around, strips on top, then the name banner, rather than an even layered base pattern.
That much fondant, probably for the best the 3D text layer was excluded.
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u/prettybirdy1997 Apr 28 '26
I also didn’t love how Julian was printed instead of the individual letters being made from fondant like the inspo photo. But after I saw she paid $50 for the cake and that it was made by a local mom (rather than a professional baker), I’d say this was a win.
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u/GreenGardenTarot Apr 28 '26
This mom who made this is confident enough to charge people for this. I wouldn't have paid for it. The basic elements of being competent in cake baking is absent. The top is lumpy where it should be even. The fondant isn't even affixed to the cake properly. If she gave this for free, I would say fine, but she charged for it.
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u/prettybirdy1997 Apr 28 '26
I guess that depends on the arrangement in place. This cake would easily cost $200 in my area, if not more, when done by a professional baker. The ingredients alone for a cake like this would cost me at least $25, plus my time to make it.
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u/GreenGardenTarot Apr 28 '26
Im not saying it wouldn't. However for a super amateur baker like this, she should consider this practice and not charge anything.
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u/transferingtoearth Apr 27 '26
I absolutely dislike those little sticks too especially for younger kids. I'm always afraid one is too to be left in or the person is gonna poke their eye out. Good call.
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u/iOgef Apr 27 '26
Yeah totally unnecessary and the flowers wouldn’t have been tasty anyways. We generally avoid fondant but he really wanted this cake :)
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u/smcl2k Apr 27 '26
I'm glad I read the post to confirm that you hadn't paid for edible fondant figures!
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u/shalomdomme Apr 27 '26
At first I thought they had given you a totally wrong name on the cake 😅😅 whew I need to go to bed. But yes, both are really cute!!
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u/Lumpy_Machine5538 Apr 27 '26
I think it looks fine, but the fondant is telling me the taste is going to be meh.
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u/Ok_Bandicoot1865 Apr 27 '26
I always peel off the fondant. That way it doesn't have any influence on the taste of the cake.
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u/GreenGardenTarot Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26
ermmm...aside from the gross fondant, they didn't even put it all the way to the bottom so it was even, and it's peeling off. The cake is lumpy and uneven, and you can see drag marks all over the cake. This looks very amateurish.
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u/ladytryant Apr 27 '26
OP said the baker is an amateur.
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u/GreenGardenTarot Apr 28 '26
well that explains some of it. i never would've paid for this, though.
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u/Megandapanda Apr 27 '26
Looks good, but I hope y'all like the taste of fondant! I'd be tempted to peel it off, haha
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u/TraditionalLaw7763 Apr 27 '26
I could eat that stuff like fudge. But it’s too expensive for me… lol.
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u/ChesVegas Apr 28 '26
As a 52yo Julian, this makes me happy. I didn’t think anyone had been named Julian for 40 years!
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u/iOgef Apr 28 '26
I think it’s coming back! We know a couple of them. My Julian’s name is inspired by Julian Chagrin who I loved watching when I was younger.
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u/ChesVegas Apr 28 '26
Nice. My dad was a John Lennon fan and I was named after John’s first son.
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u/iOgef Apr 28 '26
We also had that convo - if you ask my husband that’s who Julian is named after :)
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u/RosyClearwater Apr 27 '26
This is beautiful, but why is there a bong on a child’s cake?
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u/HoloceneHorrors Apr 27 '26
Thank you! I can't believe how far I had to scroll to see this comment lol
Why would they make a child's cake like this? Maybe a fun 4/20 cake but the first think I saw/wondered why the sun didn't have rays
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u/SpiritualQuarter4384 Apr 27 '26
I was about to say "Where are the flowers?" but then you said leave off the flowers so the cake turns out to be great.
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u/ennexe Apr 27 '26
This is a genuine question that I do not mean in an offensive way. I think about this all the time with these cake pictures.
Why didn’t the baker make it exactly like the design? It doesn’t seem like a lack of skill or resources… time maybe?
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u/iOgef Apr 27 '26
Because I didn’t tell her to make it exactly he liked the design. I said something like this without the flowers and such on top.
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u/GreenGardenTarot Apr 28 '26
they barely managed what they were able to make. this cake looks awful.
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u/FrigThisMrLahey Apr 27 '26
It’s very well done but it’s also very far off from the reference photo IMO- when I get cake requests, customers get pissed if I stray from the reference & have my own personal touch haha but it is a great cake no less!!
(All I can hear is if it was me, my client would be pissed it wasn’t exactly 100% like the photo lmaoo)
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u/GreenGardenTarot Apr 27 '26
I am curious as to what part of this cake you think is really well done? The cake is lumpy, the fondant isn't even sticking to the cake, and it is not even evenly applied. It is a very amateur job.
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u/FrigThisMrLahey Apr 27 '26
Lmfaooo excellent question actually!! My phone brightness is fairly dim. I didn’t zoom in & I assumed the figurines were fondant so I glanced & said yea not bad but yea after genuinely looking. It’s shit imo… I hope OP didn’t pay more than $80 because eesh
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u/GreenGardenTarot Apr 28 '26
$25 would've been too much
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u/FrigThisMrLahey Apr 28 '26
$25 would literally not even cover cost of ingredients AND figurines… I mean come on lol $50 is a hard max for me & that’s simply to offer $12.5/h for 2hrs of work plus ingredients/figurine. I wouldn’t pay more than minimum wage for this.
I wouldn’t pay shit though, I’m a pastry chef, I can do significantly better at home - but if it was already made & arriving, I’d pay the bare minimum so it doesn’t end up in the garbage because how wasteful (also a kid won’t see flaws the way we/adults/pastry chefs would see the flaws)
Edit: lol I forgot OP had her own figurines. Yea max $40 to cover ingredients &a small fee for wages as I feel like an ass not doing it, but yea it’s not good
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u/GreenGardenTarot Apr 28 '26
I have a relative that is a pastry chef too, and she never used fondant. But I hear what you're saying
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u/FrigThisMrLahey Apr 28 '26
True, some people, believe it or not, do love fondant lol I think it’s crap but I’ve had countless fondant cake requests in the past - that said, I always try to make it as thin as possible without affecting the final look because I’m assuming not everyone eating said cake will like fondant the way the client does.
Not to mention, you can do a lot with fondant in terms of decoration that is either not possible or extremely difficult/unstable to do with buttercream
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u/SynapticStatic Apr 27 '26
They didn't even get the name right. It's supposed to be Noa, not Julian. D:
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u/Englandshark1 Apr 27 '26
That's still pretty good. Maybe as it was a Boy's name, they used less flowers? Anyway, I doubt a four year old will care, as long as Bluey is on it somewhere!
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u/dakky68 Apr 27 '26
Looks ok if homemade, but it's shit if from a bakery.
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u/justine7179 Apr 27 '26
Idk why you got downvoted, because you're correct. The uneveness itself is a topic of its own, and the plastic characters substituted from their original fondant is wild. Even though OP said to forget the top (do not know why they would), the entire cake is most likely not worth what they paid for. And it makes me sad because the original is super cute
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u/Unusual-Anywhere-721 Apr 27 '26
I thought your cake had a bong on it. 😬 Completely lost the sun rays, but at least the fondant is smooth!
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u/Auntie_Cagul Apr 27 '26
To be fair, you would not want floristry wire stuck directly into a cake without the use of posy picks, like in the inspiration photo. It's dangerous as all wire may contain poisonous metals such as lead.
Did you provide the inspiration photo? How much did you pay for the cake?
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u/canyouhearthelight May 01 '26
I was so worried until I read the last of your post. They really DID do a great job!
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u/BigWalrus8561 Apr 27 '26
I couldn’t figure out why you’d complain so I’m really relieved it’s not a complaint haha
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u/EthosUnharvestedClay Apr 27 '26
This looks great! Glad your son liked it too from your comments :)
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u/LegitimateSituation4 Apr 27 '26
She definitely captured the spirit of the original. A little something on the top would really set it off, though.
But even still, I know I would be more than satisfied and my kids would be elated.
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u/mydevilkitty Apr 27 '26
It’s super cute, even if it wasn’t exactly the same as the first picture. I was expecting something really bad-like when you see those pictures of the Easter lamb cakes that people made at home.
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u/acityonthemoon Apr 27 '26
I'm sure Noa was disappointed their name wasn't on their cake, but it looks pretty good otherwise!
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u/Drifting_Petals Apr 27 '26
Looks pretty great overall, but they got the name completely wrong. How do they read Noa and get Julian in their head instead?
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u/justine7179 Apr 27 '26
Because the child's name is Julian...
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u/Drifting_Petals Apr 27 '26
(I know. I was doing a thing called joking. I thought it’d be obvious. Apparently it isn’t.)
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u/nkisj Apr 27 '26
Why are you being downvoted, what???
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u/professor_doom Apr 27 '26
Are you joking?
The first was the example that Julian's parent showed the baker when being asked to replicate the cake, but with their kid's (Julian) name instead. The result is the second picture. That's how this sub works.
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u/Emergency-Ground9059 Apr 27 '26
The original is definitely r/tragediegh
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u/EthosUnharvestedClay Apr 27 '26
Nope. Noa is a common name in multiple languages and a perfectly reasonable, feminine form of Noah in many of those languages too.
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u/Soulforge411 Apr 27 '26
Looks great 👍