So, after I got home from my first day of cake class with Kaysie Lackey, which totally kicked my butt by the way, I received an email from a semi-frantic bride. She was requesting a small 8" wedding cake with a whimsical owl theme for that coming Thursday. It was already Monday night. I had two more 8-hour days of cake class. I had guests coming to dinner Thursday night and needed to clean the house and put dinner (and cupcakes) together. There was no way I could pull it off. I emailed her back and apologized for not being able to help.
The next morning, I had another email. The bride was pleading. She just did not want to have a Safeway cake at her wedding ceremony. She and her fiance were getting married in a small family ceremony that Thursday and were having a public wedding this coming spring. Please, please...so, I emailed her back and said I would do an 8" white cake with raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream, that she needed to trust me on the design because I was being given limited time, it would have owls, I needed a deposit of half the cost that day, and the cost would be double what I would normally charge. I thought she'd bail. She asked if I could send a picture of my idea and that she would drop the deposit by the house that evening.
I sent the picture. She loved it. She said she would call me when she got home from work for directions to the house.
I texted Slugger, who I have dinner with every Tuesday night, to ask her how she felt about learning to use fondant. I was going to need some help and she seemed the right person for the job.
So, in order to actually get this cake done on time, the minute I got home from cake class I started to work. I got the cake baked and in the oven. Pulled it out and put it in the fridge to speed up the cooling process. At this point in the evening, I was getting a little worried because I had not heard from the bride and she was supposed to be bringing me the deposit for the cake. None the less, I kept working on her cake.
As I was molding some super cute bride and groom owl toppers for the cake, she finally called. When I answered, she seemed a little exasperated. So, I asked how she was doing. She seemed a little caught off guard be my question and then admitted that she had just gotten back from dinner with her fiance and that she had drank a couple of glasses of wine. She then goes on to tell me that she had decided to have her mom make the cake for Thursday, but that they were going to have a bigger public wedding this coming spring and would love for me to do that cake instead. I set down the owl topper I was working on, closed my eyes and proceeded to listen to her slur her way through a complete description of the wedding cake they would want me to make, a potential cake for her birthday in a few months, a possible cake for a Christmas party...for the next 25 minutes.
I was irritated, which I feel would be a normal reaction ;), but decided to finish the cake anyways. We had a wonderful owl themed cake for dessert on Thursday and I learned a very important lesson along the way. Never...never start a cake without meeting the person and getting a deposit...ever.
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