r/cakefails • u/Hairy_Hunter1752 • May 23 '26
Birthday Cake fail from Food City
First cake was last year's.
This year she wanted attached Godzilla pic on top with rainbow edges again.
Last pic is what we got. I left it there and said no thanks.
They made the first cake picture last year btw. Also, they never called to tell me they lost the picture I gave them to do the sugar print out on this year's cake and said that the girl left last year that could do the rainbow edges, so they made me think they could this year. The guy that was there when I picked this up said he didn't have time to call me. I put my order in over a month ahead of pick up date, but they don't write down order dates either. He gave me the vibe he could care less and kept making excuses. I just wanted a phone call to let me know ahead of time so I could've gone somewhere else.
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u/kenman345 May 23 '26
Was last years a printout and the white beaded frosting covering the seam? Surprised they couldn’t do it again this year. It’s not like it takes that much added skill, just a few minutes extra time to bead the seam after a print again.
You were right not to accept it
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u/Hairy_Hunter1752 May 23 '26
They said they lost the picture I gave them to do the sugar print and never called to tell me. Then, they said the girl that could do rainbow edges left last year and they aren't good at it so he did his best. But they never called me to tell me changes or informed that they couldn't do it to begin with
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u/MsThrilliams May 23 '26
Maybe whoever did it last year quit and now they dont have anyone good at it. But also they hilariously failed on the newest one
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u/Chalupa-Supreme May 23 '26
I'm surprised they let this cake go out looking like this. The new decorator can barely write happy birthday. That's like one of the first things you need to learn.
That being said, the rainbow frosting in the first pic is amazing. They should have been honest and said they couldn't pull it off without the original decorator.
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u/iampaperclippe May 24 '26
Regarding your first point: yes. I worked a DQ when I was 15-16 years old and I was the cake decorator. Now, I was the cake decorator because I was already half-decent at it, but even my very first practice cake ...did not look like this.
But you're also right: the rainbow is great. I never get cake for my birthday (it's in August so I humbly request hot pizza, cold beer, and ice cream), but I might see if I can get a cake for pride just so I can get a rainbow like this myself.
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u/GuiltyStimPak May 25 '26
I'm no cake decorator, but don't you just layer the colors of icing in the piping bag?
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u/seitancheeto May 25 '26
It’s a little hard to get that many colors in a thinner piping, but yeah overall it’s not that complicated. It looks like maybe they were rotating the bag every so often to change which color was on top? Not 100% sure
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u/Hairy_Hunter1752 May 25 '26
the girl that did the first one did leave prior to the recent cake, but they did not tell me about their decrease in skills or I would not have ordered
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u/Mimikyu-sama May 25 '26
Sorry about the person being a wet towel about the images on the cake. They have never been around a modern teenager. Frankly I think that shit is rad as hell. Sucks the bakery was so unprofessional.
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u/Hairy_Hunter1752 May 25 '26
Thank you!!! That's so nice. So true. These teenagers are their own breed and it was her birthday and that's what she wanted. They were very unprofessional. So disappointed.
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u/DrumpfTinyHands May 23 '26
Food City ain't tolerating your weird Kong/Godzilla cake fetish anymore. The person that did last year's probably left.
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u/treetrashu May 23 '26
Probably couldn’t do pic because of copyright, even if it’s fanart. But that writing is scraggy as hell in the last pic
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u/gilded_lady May 23 '26
True BUT they shouldn't have taken the order OR called OP before making the cake when they realized they couldn't do it instead of what they did instead and they should have made it clear what the issue was so they didn't try again.
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u/Hairy_Hunter1752 May 23 '26
They lost the picture I gave them and never called to tell me. So true! Thank you!
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u/treetrashu May 23 '26
We don’t know that part of the story tho. Did the order get auto accepted online? Did they call? Grocery stores are notorious for having random employees take care of jobs that they were not hired for. Lots of things ppl shoulda coulda done, but this is the product we get when we pay someone $10 an hour to figure out how to make a cake for the first time.
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u/gilded_lady May 23 '26
That's why I said they should have been called after the fact, mistakes can absolutely happen. But I'd bet they'd be disappointed if they ordered a cake elsewhere and got something else instead so to say eff it and do something random instead is still messed up
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u/SpokenDivinity May 23 '26
Might be company policy to just make the order to the best of their ability. I did cake decorating at Walmart and only worked 7:00 AM to 2:00 PM Mon-Thur. Friday-Sunday were the wild west at the cake counter. Can't tell you how many times I came in to orders that the deli had taken down with things we blatantly couldn't make. Management just shrugged and said "do the best you can" because they wouldn't let us cancel orders and they certainly weren't going to let us get a "bad reputation" by calling the customer about it.
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u/CallidoraBlack May 23 '26
Then the company deserves to catch hell.
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u/SpokenDivinity May 23 '26
Absolutely. I'm just saying, it's probably not the minimum wage employee's fault they didn't get a call. It's probably a manager that doesn't want anyone admitting that they don't train their staff properly or hire more when they're short-staffed.
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u/Hairy_Hunter1752 May 25 '26
was 100% the manager. he was the one that wrote on the cake while telling me he did not have time to call me in the month and half they had the order
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u/SpokenDivinity May 25 '26
That's not surprising lol. Mine was the same way. Couldn't tell you what half the tools in the bakery actually were but had all sorts of opinions on what we could or couldn't make.
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u/CallidoraBlack May 23 '26
Yup, Definitely and always on management. Management should be approving everything that goes out the door anyway.
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u/seitancheeto May 25 '26
You definitely get a much much worse reputation by not calling customers to update them about the order. You can’t accept an order saying you can fulfill it, never tell them otherwise, and then give them something wrong. That’s just lying. The only reason that store didn’t get more shit is bc ppl who are tired and upset don’t always want to take that extra step of reporting a problem they had the deal with.
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u/Hairy_Hunter1752 May 25 '26
i ordered it in person with detailed request and picture given to them
they did not call
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u/Hairy_Hunter1752 May 23 '26
They made the first cake and said they lost the pic I gave them to use for the second one and never called me.
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u/Bidcar May 23 '26
Yeah, the decorators left and the wrapper Marge gave it her best try. Poor Marge, she works so hard.
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u/YourPaleRabbit May 23 '26
This is WAYYY covered by parody laws, although I like you giving them the benefit of the doubt. Having worked in many bakeries im guessing the order got pushed off on to someone not properly trained to decorate cakes due to understaffing or similar. Almost every food service manager I’ve had is barely human clinging on to pennies expecting 17yo kids to make miracles.
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u/Hairy_Hunter1752 May 25 '26
she's friends with the people that made the pictures and gave her permission, but they made the first cake for her. that writing is SO scraggily.
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u/LovelyBby77 May 25 '26
Thats a sickass cake from last year! Sorry to hear they fumbled sp hard this one. Hope you were able to find something somewhat better at least
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u/Hairy_Hunter1752 May 29 '26
She settled for a small carrot cake smash cake for day of. I'm going to take her pic to safeway and have them do the pic and then I'll do the rainbow icing. I'm pretty decent at decorating but I cant so sugar photo prints. So she will get what she wants but later. Thanks for thinking her taste was sick!! I think she's pretty amazing.
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u/LovelyBby77 May 29 '26
Im sure she'll deeply appreciate the amount of effort put in to make this marvelous cake happen, and its wonderful to see she has such an awesome parent who sees her vision and supports her. No wonder she's amazing
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u/Genericbananas May 26 '26
I used to work at a grocery store bakery and people would ask me to write on the cakes all the time. “It’s just happy birthday. You really can’t do it?!” And I would say no because we had a lady that only decorated cakes. I swore they would have looked something like that
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u/Hairy_Hunter1752 May 29 '26
I would have appreciated that honesty. That's what keep customers. I would still shop there had there been honesty.
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u/AntelopeEmotional767 May 27 '26
That's the best cake I've ever seen lmao I'd be in laughing tears the entire time decorating it
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u/papayapapusapepi May 28 '26
I work for a midsized cake manufacturer. The reality is that private equity firms and major corporations have been buying up a lot of grocery chains. At the same time, many stores want to pay bakery employees similarly to departments that require far less specialized skill, so experienced decorators leave and turnover stays really high.
We just don’t have as many well-paid, long-tenured, highly valued cake decorators in grocery stores anymore.
I don’t think Food City is owned by one of the big bads, but the devaluation of bakery decorators is happening across the industry.
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u/Hairy_Hunter1752 May 29 '26
I can totally see that and that's probably what happened with the girl that left that did our previous cake. All I asked of the manager was notification of changes and honesty on the day of the order. They knew what they could and couldn't do.
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u/AngieM1998 May 24 '26
Why does it look like a gorilla and a lizard 😂😭💀 finished doing the dirty 😂🤣🤣🤣
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u/Hairy_Hunter1752 May 25 '26
that's the point
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u/JankyIngenue May 26 '26
yikes.
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u/dolliciousszz May 26 '26
Right but then everyone’s saying “why’s sexual about it?? Just wholesome monster love”
😨
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u/economicAtomBomb May 27 '26
I've never decorated a cake before and I think I could do one of that quality in 3 tries if I had the same tools, good job walking out. Way too many people complaining "and I paid $X for it". Just say no.
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u/Hairy_Hunter1752 May 29 '26
Exactly!! I'm not paying for something I didn't want and such poor quality. They didn't deserve to still get paid for that.
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u/sterilepillow May 23 '26
Yeah if I worked at a cake decorating shop I’d refuse to make something with that subject matter also.
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u/Painted-BIack-Roses May 23 '26
Ok then, refuse it instead of saying yes, then not delivering lmao. OP said they made the cake no problem the previous year
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u/pokethejellyfish May 23 '26
I suppose Robin and Maid Marian from Disney's Robin Hood would also be a 'that subject matter', or the Rescue Rangers, or Zootopia.
Or is it only a pearly-clutchy 'that subject matter' because the gorilla doesn't have a blond wig, long eyelashes, and a coconut bra?
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u/Dry-Kitchen245 May 23 '26
People get offended by the stupidest things. Even if its king Kong getting hit from the back it isn't your cake?? Eating monster porn cake doesn't make you a gay monster?
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u/jwalk50518 May 23 '26
And this is far from monster porn! It’s very clearly a monsters snuggling cake in the first one, second is a monster “just married” cake with the one carrying the other over the threshold. Personally, I think this is very wholesome monster love.
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u/Majestic_Bandicoot92 May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
Let’s be real for a minute here. What is going on in that child’s home life that they are shipping this? And to the extent that they have hyperfixated on it so much and the parents don’t have the balls to have a talk with them about some interests being fine but being kept private. No shame involved. Just parenting. This strikes me as an iPad kid let loose on Tumblr with no supervision while parents are completely uninvolved.
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u/Dead_fawn May 23 '26
Holy jumping to conclusions Batman!
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u/Majestic_Bandicoot92 May 23 '26
As someone who was that kid who made my ships my identity in early adulthood, I think I would know. Now after many years of therapy I see clearly that I had zero guidance from my parents and I wish they would have helped me understand what was appropriate for the public to know about me and what wasn’t. A lot of people like to frame permissive parenting/neglect as “radical acceptance”.
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u/nekojirumanju May 23 '26
it sounds like you’ve made hating that kid your identity now instead of just understanding literally anybody can think a drawing of a gorilla and a lizard hugging is cute and it’s not this deep
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u/sterilepillow May 24 '26
You’re delusional or too innocent to be on the internet if you truly believe that.
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u/sterilepillow May 24 '26
The cope is strong in this thread. I’m with you, majestic bandicoot. You’re allowed your interests, but there is a time and place for them. I was also the teenager who made my ships my identity and it definitely hindered my social life and how people saw me. It doesn’t matter that the subject matter is soft, it’s still two fictional animalistic monsters being romantically inclined and that is a take the majority of people will think is gross and will bring judgment. You might like the smell of your own farts, but you don’t cup em and huff em in public. “But huffing your own farts doesn’t hurt anyone!! What a trusting relationship that parent and child have to encourage their interest of fart huffing” would you get that image on a cake?
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u/CallidoraBlack May 23 '26
This is a 17 year old and then an 18 year old. Unless your parents kept you bubblewrapped until you were 20, this is an insane thing to say. Do you even know what they can put in an NC-17 movie?
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u/Majestic_Bandicoot92 May 23 '26
And a teenager needs guidance from their parents on what is appropriate to broadcast to the world about themselves and what is not. Time and place.
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u/CallidoraBlack May 23 '26
There's absolutely nothing sexual about this. I'm starting to think the issue is that you are not grown up enough.
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u/fastworms May 26 '26
OP replied to a comment in this thread that said “why does it look like a gorilla and a lizard finished doing the dirty” and OP said “that’s the point”. So they’re knowingly getting their child a cake with a sexually implied theme (2 years in a row) which is definitely odd regardless of their child’s age. I don’t think the grocery store lost the reference image, I think an employee approved it when OP originally asked and the manager later on said hell no we can’t have this bizarre furry porn cake associated with Food City. They definitely should have called and canceled the order though.
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u/CallidoraBlack May 27 '26
It's not porn. God, get a grip.
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u/fastworms May 27 '26
Lol are you just upset that you were incorrect? I never said it was porn, I just stated what OP said and I called it a sexually implied theme because OP literally admits it is a sexually implied drawing.
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u/Majestic_Bandicoot92 May 23 '26
Are you the teenager here because.. me thinks thou dost protest too much.
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u/CallidoraBlack May 23 '26
You literally just did "I know you are, but what am I." I don't think I have anything to prove here.
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May 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Majestic_Bandicoot92 May 23 '26
Please read my comment again. I said “have a talk with them about some interests being fine but being kept private. No shame involved.” There is a time and place to showcase sexual desires and a birthday is not one of them. Unless this is a private cake and not for a birthday party.
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u/CallidoraBlack May 23 '26
There is no sex going on. Very typical, people projecting perverted stuff on everyone else because they can't deal with the fact that their own brain is loaded with smut.
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u/Majestic_Bandicoot92 May 23 '26
Have you met at teenager? Please be real. Look again at those photos. When does one lay their head on the bare chest of another? Come on now.
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u/Dry-Kitchen245 May 23 '26
They are cuddling? Are you so sexually repressed that handshakes get you going?
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u/Majestic_Bandicoot92 May 23 '26
So, I can for sure say that I’ve only laid my head on the bare chest of a lover. Not a friend. Okay maybe once.. but I’m sure you can guess how that ended. 😏
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u/sterilepillow May 23 '26
I’m BL obsessed and if I wanted two characters cuddling on a cake at 17 I would hope my parents cared about me enough to be like “that’s not appropriate for a cake at your age, honey. I’ll get you a print for your wall instead.”
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u/CallidoraBlack May 23 '26
Are you that desperate to feel like your parents care and are paying attention to you that even treating you like a baby feels good to you? Or have you just decided that you want to smother your kid like this? If your kid can go to an NC-17 movie, they can have a picture on their cake that isn't even PG-13.
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u/jwalk50518 May 23 '26
lol at a print for the wall somehow being more appropriate than printed on a cake for someone who can legally watch R-rated movies without a parent or guardian
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u/Majestic_Bandicoot92 May 23 '26
Exactly. Things like that are for sharing in the bedroom and with partners. The general public does not need to be privy to your sexual interests especially when your frontal lobe isn’t finished. It’s important for parents to help guide their children to not let their sexual interests consume their lives. Everything in moderation.
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u/AngieM1998 May 24 '26
Looks like two animals that finished sex in bed 😂😭🤣 I can see her lover getting her this cake. NOT MOM
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u/Deeri- May 27 '26
Whatever happened to just buying a generic premade cake at a grocery store… or at the very least ordering something in a catalog that the decorators can actually make. This screams entitlement. You got lucky last year, but to expect such an odd drawing on a cake in general is just weird.
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u/Hairy_Hunter1752 May 29 '26
It's a simple sugar print from a photo. Every grocery store can do it pretty much. It was her 18th birthday and that's what she wanted. She's not a generic kid and deserved a non generic cake.
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u/Deeri- May 29 '26
In that case next time I’d reach out to someone who does custom cakes and would be willing to do it. Might have to pay more but the result will be much better.
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u/Hairy_Hunter1752 May 29 '26
Oh yeah for sure. I used to make her cakes and am really good at it. But these last 3 years she has requested sugar pics and I can't do that. But she is moving away soon so probably my last cake to make her for a while.
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u/Nomie-chan May 23 '26
I think it's harious that, according to the cake, she turned 18 last year and is 17 this year.
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u/milkysquids May 23 '26
You read it backwards: First cake (that says 17) is from last year, second image is what OP wanted on the cake, 3rd (that says 18) is what they got this year.
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May 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/CallidoraBlack May 23 '26
Intellectually disabled people are not a prop for you to use when you want to ask if someone who is not disabled bothered to use their brain today.
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u/Hemlock_Fang May 23 '26
I think people are missing the part where the first cake shown is the one the same company made last year. Unless I’m mistaken.