Last year, my partner ordered a vegan strawberry cake for my birthday, from Shoshanah. It was the…read moremost stressful experience we received from a local baker.
Some highlights:
1. Shoshanah kept rescheduling our cake pick-up. Initially it was meant to be picked up on Sunday morning. Then was rescheduled to Monday morning (my birthday day), then to Monday at noon, then Monday just before we told her we had to leave for our dinner reservation. She INSISTED on dropping the cake off even though we had planned to pick it up at her brick and mortar. We ended up having to wait around for her to stop by, which leads me to my next point...
2. Shoshanah left the cake on our front porch, without notifying us until AFTER she was in her car, and had left. Shoshanna told us that she would let us know when she was at our home so we could meet face to face. I guess she did not want to see our faces when we realized the state the cake was in.
3. Like I mentioned, we had a dinner reservation, so when we realized the cake had arrived, we had only a moment to look at the cake before needing to leave. Please see the attached images. All the pictures were taken within 5 minutes of Shoshanna dropping off the cake, us bringing it inside, briefly unboxing it, and leaving.
The inspiration behind the cake was simple: classic birthday, like clowns and balloons and sprinkles. Nothing excessive! Somehow Shoshanah managed to make the most depressing vision of a birthday come to life. (Note: we gave her an image of an Online Ceramics clown as inspiration for the art style and vibe. We did not anticipate for her to literally copy the image, poorly, and cut it out, also poorly, and paste it on the cake, again, poorly.) Why did my cake have back rolls? It was slipping and sliding on a mild spring day. The frosting was split and the overall look was pitiful. By the way, we paid EXTRA for cake decorations, and we ended up with this.
4. We did half of the cake payment as a deposit, days before my birthday. Shoshanah demanded the other half of payment (total cost of $150) even after we expressed our deep concern and dissatisfaction, on my birthday. The cake was not cheap, even though it looked like something thrown together by a toddler (sorry, toddlers). It was a horrible experience communicating with Shoshanah. Somehow everything that was within her control as a baker, was not her fault! In fact, she called us bullies for telling her we were sad about my cake and this experience...totally reasonable logic (sarcasm).
5. Anyway, I am tiring myself thinking about this ordeal, but I haven't touched upon the most important aspect: the taste.
It tasted bad. I apologize for having to admit this because calling someone's food "bad" feels deeply personal. But it was bad! The cake was dry and yet the crumb was gummy, the flavor was like sweet stale air, and the frosting left an oily residue in your mouth. We had one bite and could not continue. It was supposed to be a simple vegan strawberry cake. I am not sure if I agree with that but it was definitely something that was baked!
Shoshanah ended up ghosting us when we asked her if this cake was an accurate representation of the work she is proud of. So, there's that.
Overall, we ended up losing money for a cake that wasn't eaten and an experience that was difficult and maddening.