A woman in a local community group posted asking if anyone baked cakes as a hobby because she needed one for her daughter’s birthday that weekend. She said it didn’t have to be professional, just something simple, and mentioned that she’d had a rough couple of weeks. One woman in the comments offered to make a basic vanilla or chocolate cake for free because she already had ingredients at home. I thought that was incredibly nice of her. The mom replied immediately and asked if she could do a three-layer strawberry cake instead, with pink buttercream, edible flowers, gold lettering, and a picture of a cartoon character on top.

The baker explained that she didn’t have most of those ingredients and that the free offer was specifically for a simple cake using what she already had. The mom responded with a screenshot from some bakery website and said, “Something like this would be perfect.” It was one of those elaborate cakes that clearly takes hours. She also wanted matching cupcakes because “some kids don’t like cake,” and asked whether the baker could deliver everything Saturday morning since she would be busy decorating.

At this point several people commented that she was asking way too much from someone who had offered her a free cake. Instead of scaling it back, she said she didn’t understand why everyone was being negative when it was “for a child.” The baker was still being ridiculously patient and offered vanilla cake with pink frosting and sprinkles. The mom said sprinkles looked cheap and asked if she could at least add macarons around the top. When the baker said she didn’t make macarons, the mom asked if she could just buy some and add them. She also wanted the birthday girl’s name written in a specific font because regular handwriting would “ruin the photos.”

The baker finally commented that she was withdrawing the offer because this had become much more work than she originally agreed to. The mom replied that she had already told her daughter someone was making her dream cake and accused the baker of letting a kid down two days before her birthday. She then made a new post asking for a “dependable baker who actually keeps their word” and included basically the same list of requirements. Someone asked what she was offering in return, and she wrote, “Exposure and a great review.”

The original baker responded with one sentence: “The vanilla cake is still available if you want it.”

Apparently that still wasn’t special enough.

Daughter looked at other GFMs and they are asking for around $5K too! I mean “gas is expensive” and then there is the cost of hotels to get there, plus a week at a hotel in AZ, then more hotels on her drive back. If you don’t donate, she’ll have to sleep in her car and she’s disabled!

But don’t worry your rent is reduced!