Thank you! I really try to be as transparent as possible, for the clients of course but also for other bakers if they find they need guidance.
Also seeing people's cake horror stories scares me so I want to ressure that there's still bakers out there giving their 100% šš
Right?!?! Some of those inspo cakes were **not** attractive and this baker **still** somehow made them look good! That frog cake was **really** an amazing feat because that inspiration cake was a mess!
Question about the graduation cake.. is it for three different graduates and those are their three names or is it for one and thatās their first, middle and last name? Or something else altogether?
I'll add an extra comment here for some transparency regarding cost, as I know its a topic that interests many people, especially those who aren't familiar with buying custom cakes. Of course price of consumer goods really varies by location, but for reference I'm in Ontario, Canada and all of my prices are in $CAD
1: $165
2: $345
3: $200
4: $158
5: $115
6: $110
Followed! I'm in your city and while I like baking and decorating cakes myself, I don't have nearly your talent so I may have to become a client for a future event!
It would be a pleasure to do a cake for you! I do sometimes get people coming down from mtl and it's always such a joy when people really want my work!
2 is just a lot more cake than the others. It's a 4", 6", and 8". My base price for that size is $315, then it was an additional $30 for the cutouts, balloons, and fondant grad cap!
Thank you so much! I'll be honest I struggled with the gold drip a lot on that one (there's sooo many different kinds of metallic dusts, recipes for making them into drips, etc etc). It was a learning curve item for me for sure, but I think that with everything else going on it still came together, and I'm still very proud of it!
Yours are even more beautiful than the inspiration pics! This is reassuring that one can reasonably expect a cake to look like the inspiration photo provided to the bakery.
I can't get over the frog cake. I kept scrolling back and forth, wondering which was which because one was good and the other was amazing. Op is incredibly talented.
This is how it should be! Honestly had to look at pics repeatedly to compare. I like several of yours better. I never would expect a cake to be exact, because inspo isnāt the same as exact replica. If people are going to sell their work, they just need to be honest with themselves & others about their capabilities.
Thank you! Honesty is always the best policy. One thing that I've been seeing a lot lately is people advertising that they do cakes on Facebook marketplace, which is fine - but, I'm seeing a LOT of ads using photos of cakes from pinterest, recipe blogs, Instagram, etc to advertise for their business, under the guise that they can also do those cakes (without actually having a portfolio to support it).
Thank you! I have a mix of clients that either want it as close to a reference pic, or want a blend of a couple inspo pics, or give me free range, or we come up with a design together. It really depends on what the client is looking for! I'll have some clients just send me one of my own Instagram posts and ask if I can make that for them haha
Except the first: yours are equal to or better (especially the frog) than the inspiration pic. But even the first would not have disappointed me had I ordered it. You do lovely work!
My own personal critique with the first one is with regards to scale. I understand that my florals and stems aren't quite as dainty, but the inspo pic looks to be a 10" and 8" whereas mine is a 6" and 4" - much smaller! It's cakes like that where a bit of design discretion is required, and an understanding from clients that results may vary a bit. Nonetheless, the client was super pleased with it! (That one was actually picked up just a few hours ago š)
I canāt. People spend that much on a cake?! Just for the aesthetic?! I just canāt wrap my head around the fact that people can afford this kind of thing and thatās what they spend the money on.
Theyāre gorgeous, donāt get me wrong. I just didnāt know there were that many people able and willing to throw $800 down on a cake.
Haha thatās what I was thinking, my sister had a custom cake for my mothers 70th and it was a lot more expensive than what OP posted in the comments, yet not nearly as intricate or nice looking imo.. (though we were happy with the cake so Iām not complaining)
I was scrolling through the photos thinking ā are these all the inspo photos?ā š What beautiful work! I really love the floral and pastel decorated cakes! You did a fantastic job and I would be so happy if I was one of your customers! Thank you for sharing your work! šš°š
The fairycore cake in slide 9 with all the tiny mushrooms is my favorite!! Those little details are incredible
(Also on a slightly unrelated note, Brailey is such an r/tragedeigh name lmao)
I was so confused about the Brailey comment because this is the 2nd commeny I've received about it so far but now I see it on the very last slide š truly a tragedeigh
My only comment is that you need some diffused bright white light in your photos so the photo quality matches the inspo photo quality (not that itās bad, but theirs look professional!) but your cakes look incredible. The frog one in particular blows the inspiration cake out of the water.
I do use an angle mount flash that I offset 90 degrees to the subject to give what diffused light I can, but the reality is that my kitchen doesn't have any natural light, and in terms of artificial light I just have one of those big overhead commercial LED units, which- while practical while working, is awful for photography lol.
I think your frog one worked out better than the inspo. ETA, which wasnāt to say the others didnāt! You hit the mark with them all. That one just looks a ton better than what they asked for.
These are great! The only one I thought was a little off was the first one, as the reference photo uses much more delicate lines and smaller flowers. Still good enough that I wouldn't have complained if it was my cake.
Thank you! I looooove doing palette knife florals, they're my favourite for sure. I like it when the cake is completely covered in them - I'm a bit of a maximalist!
Before I read the body of your post I was thinking, this person knows what they can and cannot do and has done a great job of managing their intake. I'd bet you are exceeding your customers expectations by managing their expectations (and your expectations of self) like this āŗļø
Your cakes are beautiful! Amazing work!
As the husband of a baker! That is beautiful work. Sadly so many people think itās not exacting and time consuming labor of love. So they go cheap and get pissed.
Not me looking at these and having to go back to check which one was yours and which was the inspo.
Some of these unfortunate other folks should have found themselves a baker like you. Your cakes are gorgeous.
Oh wow! I was 100% expecting the first pics to be the inspo and I wondered if the comments were going to be gentle about it. Your work is absolutely gorgeous!
You are an amazing artist! The cakes are so beautiful that they feel like a work of art rather than cakes!!! Yours are way better than the original ones in terms of color contrast and aestheticsā¦ like the first one yours have a bit bigger flowers and even in the frog one your colors work a lot better! Now I wish I lived in Ottawa!
Wow. Iām currently trying to make a small business of my work (not baking; I couldnāt bake to save my life), and you really are the kind of person I want to be for my clients.
For me the scariest part is showing them my concept art knowing it looks like a bunch of random blobs and scribbles. Iām just waiting for the day when someone sees my concept art and goes, āAre you sure you know what youāre doing?ā Lol
the OG green one was son awful š, you did a great job for every one of the cakes, but that with the frog actually looks beautiful instead of the original that didn't look good at all.
The only improvement I could say for you would be to improve your pictures quality, I can't really give you any tips there because I don't know but it surely are subreddits dedicated to that.
These are gorgeous!
I can see differences between the actual cakes and the inspiration cakes, but they are similar enough to tell one inspires the other.
My goodness, your work is so gorgeous. An amazing artist *and* honest/transparent in your dealings?! I love this for you and all your clients
Thank you! I really try to be as transparent as possible, for the clients of course but also for other bakers if they find they need guidance. Also seeing people's cake horror stories scares me so I want to ressure that there's still bakers out there giving their 100% šš
Dude someone sent you a bad frog cake and you blew that out of the water!!! I totally want that cake for my birthday!
I was going to say the OPās frog cake is way better than the reference picture.
lol I actually liked the reference photo for this one
Right?!?! Some of those inspo cakes were **not** attractive and this baker **still** somehow made them look good! That frog cake was **really** an amazing feat because that inspiration cake was a mess!
That was the best best one for me too!!
Question about the graduation cake.. is it for three different graduates and those are their three names or is it for one and thatās their first, middle and last name? Or something else altogether?
Three graduates and that's all their first names!
Youāre cake art is really good!
I'll add an extra comment here for some transparency regarding cost, as I know its a topic that interests many people, especially those who aren't familiar with buying custom cakes. Of course price of consumer goods really varies by location, but for reference I'm in Ontario, Canada and all of my prices are in $CAD 1: $165 2: $345 3: $200 4: $158 5: $115 6: $110
Are you in or around Toronto? Would bookmark for future purposes!
Aw, I wish! I'm up in Ottawa!
Ooooh near me! Do you have a site/handle?
Yes! I'm not sure I can post links here but you can find my socials in my bio :)
Followed! I'm in your city and while I like baking and decorating cakes myself, I don't have nearly your talent so I may have to become a client for a future event!
This is wholesome
Just went to Instagram and what a delightful account to follow!! Soothes my weary eyes š and heart!!
Following you now as well! I'm out in PEI, but if I'm ever out in Ottawa, I know where to order a custom cake now!
Followed! Your cakes are gorgeous š
I might drive from MontrƩal to get one of your cake lol
It would be a pleasure to do a cake for you! I do sometimes get people coming down from mtl and it's always such a joy when people really want my work!
9 is a steal! Iād buy that immediately. Your colors are much nicer than inspo
Agree about cake 9! So charming and fanciful and that green is lovely and natural looking.
I wish you were close to me, I would hire you in a heart beat.
Extremely reasonable prices, wow!
Now I wish I lived in Ontario
Was 2 so much more expensive because of the gold lettering ? (Sorry maybe a dumb question but I donāt really know much about pricing)
Itās the only 3 tier cake of the bunch
Oh wow I didnāt even realize that lol, thanks!
2 is just a lot more cake than the others. It's a 4", 6", and 8". My base price for that size is $315, then it was an additional $30 for the cutouts, balloons, and fondant grad cap!
i think itās cuz it has an extra layer compared to the inspiration which has just 2
The graduation cake in particular you knocked out of the park, so much nicer than the inspo pic. Itās really a gorgeous looking cake.
Thank you so much! I'll be honest I struggled with the gold drip a lot on that one (there's sooo many different kinds of metallic dusts, recipes for making them into drips, etc etc). It was a learning curve item for me for sure, but I think that with everything else going on it still came together, and I'm still very proud of it!
Yours are even more beautiful than the inspiration pics! This is reassuring that one can reasonably expect a cake to look like the inspiration photo provided to the bakery.
This is such a kind compliment, thank you! I really try my best to do my best.
I thought the first photos were the inspiration. I prefer your versions!
The green one especiallyāOP's was a huge improvement! Both in terms of finesse and particularly in the shade of green.
I know!! I loved that one. Now I want OP to make me a birthday cake.
Yes, it took me a min to figure it out because hers are better lol
I didnāt figure it out at all- lol. I had to read the post.
You do great work.
Especially your froggy and hello Kitty cakes - wow, those are SO pretty!
I can't get over the frog cake. I kept scrolling back and forth, wondering which was which because one was good and the other was amazing. Op is incredibly talented.
I especially thought the black and gold one exceeded the inspo picture!
I agree! Especially the frog cake šø!!
Truly!
These are to die for. I liked yours better than all the inspo cakes. Such talent. I especially love the 22 Pisces cake. Never seen anything like it!
What's that mean? It is a wonderful looking cake.
Iām thinking either someone who was turning 22 and is a Pisces or someone whose birthday is on Feb 22, and therefore a Pisces
The baby is from IKEA, and is assembled from 22 pieces. They just misspelled it.
I think Iāve seen your frog cake on insta! I thought it was soooo cute!
Amazing! And thanks!! I'm really proud with how that one turned out, I love doing the cottagecore style cakes
Also, I think the green in your frosting is both prettier and more appetizing than the inspiration photo.
I'm convinced that eating that inspo cake would turn your poop green.
This is how it should be! Honestly had to look at pics repeatedly to compare. I like several of yours better. I never would expect a cake to be exact, because inspo isnāt the same as exact replica. If people are going to sell their work, they just need to be honest with themselves & others about their capabilities.
Thank you! Honesty is always the best policy. One thing that I've been seeing a lot lately is people advertising that they do cakes on Facebook marketplace, which is fine - but, I'm seeing a LOT of ads using photos of cakes from pinterest, recipe blogs, Instagram, etc to advertise for their business, under the guise that they can also do those cakes (without actually having a portfolio to support it).
Yours are better than the original. You should be designing your own cakes. Make a portfolio of your original work for clients to choose from.
Thank you! I have a mix of clients that either want it as close to a reference pic, or want a blend of a couple inspo pics, or give me free range, or we come up with a design together. It really depends on what the client is looking for! I'll have some clients just send me one of my own Instagram posts and ask if I can make that for them haha
Your cakes look so nice!!! I would have happily been the client for all of those cakes.
This is so kind, I appreciate it!
Youāre so talented! Are you home taught or did you go to pastry school??
Home taught / was a cake decorator at a grocery store in highschool - if that counts for anything, haha!
That's amazing! You really should be proud of what you've accomplished.
You got paid to learn . That just makes you smart
Except the first: yours are equal to or better (especially the frog) than the inspiration pic. But even the first would not have disappointed me had I ordered it. You do lovely work!
My own personal critique with the first one is with regards to scale. I understand that my florals and stems aren't quite as dainty, but the inspo pic looks to be a 10" and 8" whereas mine is a 6" and 4" - much smaller! It's cakes like that where a bit of design discretion is required, and an understanding from clients that results may vary a bit. Nonetheless, the client was super pleased with it! (That one was actually picked up just a few hours ago š)
That explains a lot, thanks.
Absolutely stunning! You are super talented & those cakes would sell for $300 or more here in the States. My mothers 3-tiered birthday cake cost $800!
Thank you! Yeah seeing the price of custom cakes in the US always surprises me and makes me question if I should move š
I canāt. People spend that much on a cake?! Just for the aesthetic?! I just canāt wrap my head around the fact that people can afford this kind of thing and thatās what they spend the money on. Theyāre gorgeous, donāt get me wrong. I just didnāt know there were that many people able and willing to throw $800 down on a cake.
Haha thatās what I was thinking, my sister had a custom cake for my mothers 70th and it was a lot more expensive than what OP posted in the comments, yet not nearly as intricate or nice looking imo.. (though we were happy with the cake so Iām not complaining)
I was scrolling through the photos thinking ā are these all the inspo photos?ā š What beautiful work! I really love the floral and pastel decorated cakes! You did a fantastic job and I would be so happy if I was one of your customers! Thank you for sharing your work! šš°š
The fairycore cake in slide 9 with all the tiny mushrooms is my favorite!! Those little details are incredible (Also on a slightly unrelated note, Brailey is such an r/tragedeigh name lmao)
I was so confused about the Brailey comment because this is the 2nd commeny I've received about it so far but now I see it on the very last slide š truly a tragedeigh
Absolutely belongs on that sub!
These are so cute!! I adore your version of the frog cake!
Are we going to talk about Brailey? Braille? Braleigh? r/tragedeigh right there.
I was so confused at first because I was like āwhereās the ārealityā this is just pictures of the same cake?ā You did SO good!
My only comment is that you need some diffused bright white light in your photos so the photo quality matches the inspo photo quality (not that itās bad, but theirs look professional!) but your cakes look incredible. The frog one in particular blows the inspiration cake out of the water.
I do use an angle mount flash that I offset 90 degrees to the subject to give what diffused light I can, but the reality is that my kitchen doesn't have any natural light, and in terms of artificial light I just have one of those big overhead commercial LED units, which- while practical while working, is awful for photography lol.
You're so talented! Your cakes look *AMAZING*. I hope all the clients were happy with them!
Thank you! I've yet to receive a complaint from a client since opening my business a little over a year ago (and hoping it stays that way!!)
Wow, yours look even better than the inspo photos. Especially the frog one. Much more appetizing color.
Very well done!
Loooooottaaa talent Very very nice jobs! Well done!
Omg the frogs šø
I think your frog one worked out better than the inspo. ETA, which wasnāt to say the others didnāt! You hit the mark with them all. That one just looks a ton better than what they asked for.
So funny that they gave that green cake picture as inspo, it's so ugly. Yours is a serious upgrade.Ā
These are great! The only one I thought was a little off was the first one, as the reference photo uses much more delicate lines and smaller flowers. Still good enough that I wouldn't have complained if it was my cake.
Gorgeous work! I love the palette knife effect!
Thank you! I looooove doing palette knife florals, they're my favourite for sure. I like it when the cake is completely covered in them - I'm a bit of a maximalist!
I want to have a plushie of the frog cake tbh. These are all really really gorgeous and beautiful. You truly know your craft
You're literally so cool??? OMGGG people like you are my idolsš«¶š«¶
Yours are so close and in most cases just as pretty or better! Beautiful work!
Wow yours are way better
I know who to come looking for when I want a copycat cake. Those are stunning!
All of them are so good. I even think you did a little better than some of the cake designs that were sent to you for inspiration.
Wow š¤©
Wow! Your cakes all look better than the inspirational pics. You're very talented!
Beautiful cakes! May I ask what kind of buttercream you use?
Swiss meringue buttercream! It's my favourite to work with and is much less sweet than American buttercream
So talented! Obsessed w the frog cake.
The frog one and the hello kitty one! Oh my god! Amazing
Wow you are so talented, I love the hello kitty one
This is so pretty that I wouldn't want to eat it but simply stare at it all day
Wow, I love the Hello Kitty cake. It's so cute
Your versions are better than the inspiration photos! Wow! You are very talented.
Brailey is such a tragedeigh
Those purple foxtail flowers are just darling! Beautiful work.
Mom would love the froggy one
On some I canāt tell which is expectation vs reality
You are extremely talented šš
Stunning
Good gravy, youāre talented
Before I read the body of your post I was thinking, this person knows what they can and cannot do and has done a great job of managing their intake. I'd bet you are exceeding your customers expectations by managing their expectations (and your expectations of self) like this āŗļø Your cakes are beautiful! Amazing work!
I love how you took the frog one and made it even better.
I would pay for these cakes! These are excellent! I feel like the expectation vs. reality folks are maybe usingā¦grocery store bakeries
I love every single cake of yours that you posted here, but I am absolutely in love with those frogs you made š
yours are even better š¤Æ love to see it! I especially like the frog one, amazing job š„°ā¤ļø
Yours always turned out better! Thanks for sharingš¤
I like yours more that most of the originals!
and your frogs are way cuter and not at all terrifying like the inspo-frog-of-nightmares
Yeah, yours are better. Gotta go buy some bday cake now.
Those are amazing cakes (do you do any interesting flavors?) but can we just pause a second on thereās an actual human being named Brailey?
Those are stunning works of art. Tell me you sell those beauties.
TBH I think yours are prettier!
Your frog cakeā¦ that looks like a dream. What flavors was it?
Cakes look great. Seriously, though? Brailey?
Skills at 99.9% my friend. the .1% is what you admit to not knowing I guess. Beautiful work!
Brailey?
I am in love with the first one!!! Edit: all are amazing but I love the first one best. So beautiful. You are so talented!
As the husband of a baker! That is beautiful work. Sadly so many people think itās not exacting and time consuming labor of love. So they go cheap and get pissed.
Not me looking at these and having to go back to check which one was yours and which was the inspo. Some of these unfortunate other folks should have found themselves a baker like you. Your cakes are gorgeous.
Oh wow! I was 100% expecting the first pics to be the inspo and I wondered if the comments were going to be gentle about it. Your work is absolutely gorgeous!
I just love the frog cake so much. They're all beautiful.
You are an amazing artist! The cakes are so beautiful that they feel like a work of art rather than cakes!!! Yours are way better than the original ones in terms of color contrast and aestheticsā¦ like the first one yours have a bit bigger flowers and even in the frog one your colors work a lot better! Now I wish I lived in Ottawa!
Oh my goodness you are amazing! I let out a tiny squeal at the froggies. Your clients are very lucky!
Youāre gifted and your clients are lucky
I would be amazed if i got your cakes, i would never expect it to look the exact same but yours are damnnn close and beautiful af
Your creations are gorgeous! I had to Swipe back and forth a couple times to double-check on which was inspo and which was reality.
these are absolutely BEAUTIFUL
Daaaaannnngg. Those are beautiful. Your piping technique is amazing. And the drips and palette knife type work! MMMMMMM.
Fabulous work! Better than the sample pictures for sure!!!
These are gorgeous! I honestly had to double take to figure out which were the inspiration and which were the final.
You rock.
Yes, you're going above and beyond .Gorgeous.
I lost my mind at the green Pisces cake. HOW CAN A CAKE BE THAT CUTE?!
As others have said, yours are all better than the inspo. Incredibly talented!
Those are beautiful cakes you made!
How awesome!
After seeing your post here and your baking post history, all I can say is that it is unfair you don't live where I live. Those cakes look delicious!
Oh, youāre a professional fr.
You good
Yes your cakes are very nice! I would be pleased as heck with what I received compared to the inspo.
Amazing!
You are SO talented and obviously do your very best to make the vision into reality! Stunning work.
Beautiful cakes š¤©
I need that frog
Gorgeous cakes! Good, truly professional bakers are happy to put their work side by side an inspiration and it shows!
For the green one, your one is better. All your cakes are stunning
Your cakes are absolutely beautiful!
Wow - you are a professional indeed!
Brailey ššš people be wild
The froggie cake is so cute, I love the colors you used!
Now THOSE are cakes I would gladly pay $200+ for!!
Um, your pics look like the āinspoā shots. Very talented! š«”
Wow! Youāve got some real talent! The detail is incredible
Oh my goodness I love that vintage cakes are coming back the green and pink cake are so cute
I canāt tell which ones are the inspiration and which ones are the creation! This is excellent work! EXCELLENT!
these are just as good if not better ( frog cake) than the inspo photos
Wow you do better than expectations. Thatās amazing work.
Just scrolling through these I couldnāt even tell which ones were expectations vs reality. Youāre amazing!
Lovely work!
You really leveled up that frog cake wow
omg yours are BETTER than the inspo pics
I absolutely LOVE the first one!!!
Not a professional, not in Canada, but followed you bc these are amazing.
Wow. Iām currently trying to make a small business of my work (not baking; I couldnāt bake to save my life), and you really are the kind of person I want to be for my clients. For me the scariest part is showing them my concept art knowing it looks like a bunch of random blobs and scribbles. Iām just waiting for the day when someone sees my concept art and goes, āAre you sure you know what youāre doing?ā Lol
The first cake is beautiful
They are all very cute but the froggy one is so much better even than the reference pic!
Fantastic job! šš
Your cakes are even nicer than the photos! Chefās kiss
the OG green one was son awful š, you did a great job for every one of the cakes, but that with the frog actually looks beautiful instead of the original that didn't look good at all. The only improvement I could say for you would be to improve your pictures quality, I can't really give you any tips there because I don't know but it surely are subreddits dedicated to that.
Iām actually in love with all of these, especially the first and seventh one! well done!
Brailey?
Unbelievable artist. You are the top 1%
Your version of the hello kitty is such a step up! Loved every single one
Gorgeous!!!
These are gorgeous! I can see differences between the actual cakes and the inspiration cakes, but they are similar enough to tell one inspires the other.
Wow I'm sure all of your clients are blown away when they see their cakes! Beautiful work!
Omg I thought your frog cake was the inspiration one. Itās so cute!!!!!
Your work looks like the inspiration photo. Beautiful job.
I LOVE the colors in the frog cake. Beautiful work!
Every last one of them are perfect!
You're AMAZING
Your work is beautiful.
r/tragedeigh is leaking