A hot pink Parisian birthday cake (& some musings on thievery!)

A couple of months ago I made some ice cream cupcakes. The cake mixture was baked into an ice cream cone and topped with creamy white icing and a Flake to make it look like an ice cream. I didn’t think of this idea myself; I got it from the internet, probably from Pintrest but I can’t be sure.

This didn't stop me, however, from being very cross mere days later when very similar ice cream cupcakes appeared on an old school friend’s Facebook. Being slightly prone to the dramatics I decided that she must have stolen the idea from me and was outraged at the swiftness with which she’d tried to out-cupcake me.

She could have got the idea from anywhere. And who was I to kick up a fuss when I knew I had also taken the idea from someone else. Was it ok for me to do it because I had taken it from the faceless internet? Not really, it was still someone’s idea somewhere along the line.

This issue cropped up again when I was asked to do a 50^th birthday cake. The lovely lady wanted a Paris themed cake for her Mum and I was so excited when she sent me over some pictures; the cake was going to be all pretty and girly. But she’d sent me pictures of someone else’s work. “Could I do something like this?” Yes. But I’d be copying. But then what do you do in this situation? That’s what she wanted.

http://cakesdecor.com/cakes/14242

http://tavitacakes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/paris-theme-cake-8.html

Using pictures googled from the internet is easy. It gives the customer ideas, and it gives the baker a clear idea of what they want. It also makes it easier the other way round; it’s easier to have picture references for your ideas. 

So my current way round this is to ‘fess up: this cake was not my idea. Someone else has spent a lot of time and effort making these cakes. So please have a look on the sites for the cakes this design came from; they are both very talented cake decorators and I hope I did them some justice.

All that being said, I had a great time doing this cake, it was so bright and feminine, and was well received by the customer.

I know in my heart that I do have some work that is original. Or at least I’m pretty sure it’s original. And I just hope if anyone ever uses my ideas(!), they take the time to at least give me a little credit.

Vicky xx