Not My Cake Disaster

Friday, 2 December 2011

So last weekend we went on a whirlwind trip (sans kids) to the Hunter Valley for a wedding (apologies to our Sydney friends we didn't get to visit). The weather was spectacular - torrential rain and thunderstorms until the hour before the ceremony when it cleared up and was a fantastically clear and warm evening. The venue and bride were both beautiful and the groom was dapper - everything in order there.

The wedding cake had been delivered to the (very popular) venue the day before our friends'  wedding which wouldn't have been an issue except that the venue had a wedding on that very night during which time they mistakenly cut and served the our friends'  wedding cake!  Whoops!

How could this happen you ask? Good question.  Just like the 1996 Mt Everest Disaster I believe a chain of small events led to this catastrophic cake incident.

1. The cake was delivered without a note or label (normal) and with apparently no verbal exchange between the delivery person and kitchen people (not normal - I always check I'm in the right place at least - but then I have a track record of being a bit wrong). 

2. The Friday night group didn't have a wedding cake organised at all - so I guess if there is only one cake sitting around, the staff might assume it was for the current function.

3. The cake itself was a truffle cake which looked similar to this: (thank you internet ). So I guess if you were the Friday night wedding party, you might think the venue (or someone else) had supplied this cake as a 'surprise'.

So who is to blame you ask? Well as a long time student of the law (i.e. I watch Judge Judy whenever I am sick) I believe I am well qualified to apportion blame which I do so as follows:

40% venue (really they should have checked before slicing and dicing the first cake they saw come supper-time)

60% delivery person/cake supplier (I'm thinking the delivery person must have been a 3rd party in which case it was up to the supplier to provide written details particularly when the cake was delivered early).

0% Friday night wedding party. The feeling on Saturday night was the Friday people were in the wrong eating someone else's cake but I don't think they would have had any reason to suspect it wasn't a gift or bonus from the venue.  So we're letting them off.

The upshot of the whole affair? The bride and groom took it in their stride, the kitchen staff were horrified at their mistake and supplied a few plates of truffles instead (slightly dodgy ones unfortunately but they would have only had a few hours to source them), and the venue themselves gave the bride and groom free accommodation for their wedding night.  And as for me - I was SO grateful that it had nothing to do with me - to my knowledge, everyone who has ordered a cake from me, has eaten in on their wedding day. Phew.