Some of you may have heard about this controversy. I wanted to see what your thoughts are on the matter.
Doing cakes for the rich and famous can really benefit a cake decorator’s career. So an opportunity to make a cake for someone as famous as Lebron James is a once in a lifetime opportunity. A celebrity cake can come at a cost though as was proven recently with the birthday/engagement party for the basketball superstar Lebron James in Miami, Florida this weekend.
According to the news, Alethea Hickman of Passion for Pastry was contacted by party planner Jared Galbut and asked to provide a 5 tiered cake for James’ special day. The catch was that the cake would be considered a sponsorship in exchange for free publicity for Alethea’s business. So Alethea, seeing the benefit, agreed to make the cake with only two days notice; not to mention having to make the cake over the rush of the New Year.
Things were looking good up until the event. From what I understand, the party coordinator decided that the cake wasn’t good enough for “the King” so without informing the decorator, he chose a different cake to present.
On the Left: Cake made by Alethea Hickman for Lebron James' party. On the Right: Cake made by Laura Candeau which appeared at Lebron James' party (picture from article in Zap2It)
So now Alethea Hickman is out a reported $3000 cake with no claim to having made a cake for Lebron James. When approached about the situation, Galbut’s response was, “That cake couldn’t be worth more than $600. It’s flour, eggs and water.”
Now if I can inject a bit of my personal view… I believe there probably was a lack of communication. At the very least there should have been something in writing to protect Alethea from such a situation. In a perfect world it would have been a great thing for her, but we do not live in a perfect world and there can’t be enough said about the importance of getting everything in writing. At the very least an email correspondence works. Also, I wonder if she gathered enough information from the party planner on what his expectations and design style were. Looking at the difference between the two cakes it is pretty clear that someone missed the mark.
As for Mr Galbut, the fact that he was able to come up with another cake with such short notice is beyond unlikely. It appears to me that he had plans all along to have options and to choose his favorite cake out of two. If this was the case, that should have been explained to Alethea. Also, the comment about cake being just flour, eggs, and water is just pure ignorance and makes him look very unprofessional.
If you want to see a news video, you can find it in this Yahoo Sports article.
So what are your thoughts about this story?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
How sad. I been approached by several celebrity folks for free cakes, I decline. I feel it is in poor taste for them to wave a carrot of advertisement for free cake. As a working bakery why should we give to those who don’t need it? I rather give my free stuff to those in need. I have done many celebrity events, some I have signed a non disclosure and some not. I am thrilled when the cake shows up in a magazine and gives me credit. Most celebrities don’t mind paying for their items, I heard many times Thank you for treating me as a regular customer I have had other up charge me. I wonder if the coordinator was working on her own. He may not be aware of what she did. I feel bad someone put so much love work and energy into a cake not used. Sad for everyone. Thanks for the post. It helps to get the word out there.
I agree that there should have been something in writing, but how do we know there was not? I thought that the original article said that Lebron’s “people” rejected the cake? It IS clear that there were two options to choose from from the beginning, though, and that perhaps Lebron was given the choice of the two cakes. Is it possible that both decorators were told that their cakes would be up for a choice? I guess we wont know. Alethea made a poor choice by agreeing to do a cake for free for someone who could pay for it, but we really don’t know the whole story. I am sure there is more.
If it’s a custom cake, there’s the nonrefundable 50% up front cost. It’s a shame that she decided to make a cake for free.
I think Alethea’s cake is nicer than the cake that was chosen.
The cake chosen looks pink & the middle tier is bulging.
I’ve heard Lebron & his people have done this before with items.
It’s a shame it happened again.
I hope Lebron James finds out how his “party planners” poor behavior and never uses him again. Actually they used the term party planner and then mention “coordinator” …Is it one in the same?
Regardless…I hope Lebron does right by the first baker. How sad, disappointing and despicable. I think he’ll pony up and with a nice apology. He seems like a nice guy and I am pretty sure his Momma raised him right!
When did the party planner decide that Alethea Hickman’s cake was not good enough? When did she approach the other cake decorator to make a new cake?
My hunch is that she approached more than one cake decorator for the cake and then decided on the day which was the “best” cake to display. That is nasty and hope that Lebron or his party planner pay their dues.
Honestly, my opinion? I think she has gotten MORE publicity from this situation than she would have gotten otherwise. I think that the cake they used was done very poorly….the center tier, who couldn’t line up the dragees? Messy! And finally, I think, personally, she should drop it now before she takes all this fame and turns it into something that looks bad on her. Take the hit, enjoy the fame and move on.
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