Cake by A Piece O' Cake

4966 Northwind Drive
East Lansing, MI 48823
Site: A Piece O' Cake

Score Card

Main Contact: Kelly Kobus
Main contactee: Thao
Grade: C
Cost: For what we actually got vs. the price? D
Taste: A+
Design: D
Words: Nice, but unprofessional and disappointing
Would you use them again? Yes for a good tasting, simple cake. No for elaborate wedding cake.
Donny's Grade: B-, averaging taste with design

Wedding Vendor Review - Synopsis

Failed to meet expectations. Gave images of exactly what we wanted (see in detail below) and PAID for: 3D dragon and phoenix crawling up structured cake. Got the structure, but she painted 2D images instead, even though her website is FULL of 3D cakes. I have drawn and painted dragons and phoenixes before - their designer didn't even get the painting right. Could have ordered a 2D imaged cake from a Chinese bakery at half the cost. Way too overrated, but at least it tasted good.

What we wanted mixed with what we also wanted.
What we got.
Not the same thing.

Description

I am so utterly disappointed with A Piece O' Cake. They were on the top of my cake list. Anyone who knows me knows I do thorough research and only wanted the best. The long engagement allowed us to figure out who the "best" vendors were and I knew we wanted A Piece O' Cake.

I'll get the good stuff out of the way. It was the most delicious American style wedding cake. I wanted a Chinese Bakery cake (the subtle sweet cake with fruit in the middle, you know the one I am referring to), but we wanted something more out of our design. So since we wanted to go elsewhere for flavor, A Piece O' Cake did not disappoint in the flavor category. It was a superb flavor.

However, the design and professionalism extremely disappointed both Donny and me. When we saw the cake on the day of the wedding, it was not what we ordered. Kelly had two pictures to work with:




We wanted the cake with the structure of the first picture, but the 3D dragon and phoenix of the second picture. We wanted to be able to see the dragon and phoenix from all sides of the cake. There was not supposed to be a "front" and "back". Instead, we got a 2D painted dragon and phoenix on one single side of the cake. It was beautiful, but it's not what we wanted.


During the meeting, we wanted the dragon and phoenix to crawl up the structure, but instead received a reduced 2D image on the cake. When this was brought to her attention, Kelly argued that I did not specify a "fondant" dragon and phoenix. She argued and told me what I wanted. No, that is not what I wanted. She said that she thought her cake was beautiful. Well, I'm glad you thought so, but I bought it and I expected more. A red ferrari is still nice, but if the customer ordered blue for specific reasons, the car dealer messed up. Simple as that.

It was also as if she cared more about quantity than quality of wedding cakes as she boasted, "this year, I'm shooting for more than 71!" or something like that. I didn't quite know how to respond...

When I asked what happened, she said "you didn't specify a FONDANT dragon and phoenix" I shouldn't have to tell a cake artist what material to make things out of and the pictures clearly showed 3D images. Kelly argued and did not write down what we wanted and blamed that on us. Poor professional skills. A red ferrari is still a nice car, but if the customer ordered it in blue, than the car dealer is wrong. Men are very simple. He pointed to the sheet and said, "that is what I want". That is not what we got. Kelly Kobus at A Piece O' Cake was wrong and made us a dumbed-down version of what we wanted and did not hold herself accountable for her poor administrative skills. Needed someone who paid attention. Did not refund on overpriced cake.

Later found on their Twitter page, written on the day before my wedding:


I wonder why she under-designed my cake and overcharged me! I think we just gave them a design that was too elaborate and instead of telling us she can't do it, did what she could she could - Well, she came short and would not admit it.

I will say that I was more hard on them, because I've drawn and painted dragons and phoenixes before - better than what was on our cake. Also, had I wanted a 2D image, I would have been better matched with a Chinese Bakery that does those images for weddings. They are the professionals and it would have been for LESS THAN HALF the cost of A Piece O' Cake's 2D interpretation of our design.

At first the disappointment started going away, but when I addressed this with the owner, Kelly, she unprofessionally argued instead of holding herself accountable for not writing down what we wanted. I suggested to her that she have her clients review her notes and sign them off in the future. I take accountability for the fact that I did not micomanage and ask to sign that off myself as I do in my business life.

I went to A Piece O' Cake because they advertise those gorgeous 3D cakes on their website, but I'm beginning to wonder if they are able. Kelly is the new owner and the transition occurred relatively recently. I can't believe how someone would conduct their new business. If a customer ordered something and you can't do it, it is expected that the customer knows that before the day of the wedding. I paid for a 3D, elegant cake and while our guests did not know it, we got the lesser version. We had higher expectations, but this is not New York, Chicago, or LA with the fancy cake designers.

In all, we review A Piece O' Cake in Lansing to be disappointing and felt they needed to pay more attention to what the customer asked for than what they wanted.

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