The Novel Baker — Restaurant in Dublin

We ordered a Disney themed birthday cake for a 7 year old and this was, unfortunately, the most disappointing and frustrating experience we have ever had - very unexpected considering other reviews for this bakery. We shared a very specific design request and provided a picture, as well - we picked up the $132 cake on the day of the birthday party and it was NOTHING like our request - not the colors, designs or embellishments. When I called the owner/baker, she said she was sorry we didn't like the cake - that her style is "modern minimalist" and she never intended to match the picture or my requested design - I shared that if she had simply told me that up front, I wouldn't have ordered the cake from her and we would have parted, no harm/no foul - she responded that she just assumed I should know this without being told (How would I know this and why would I, a new customer, be expected to? ). Why would I want a 'minimalist' Disney cake for a 7 year old child? No recompense, solution or alternative was offered at this juncture - just a "very sorry you didn't like it, everyone else loves my cakes". We hoped/assumed that at least the cake would taste good - it was horrible. Both layers were completely dry, extremely heavy, dense and tasteless. The frosting just tasted like sugar. My granddaughter's birthday party had no cake. There were a dozen guests - both adults and children - and NO ONE would eat the cake. I called back - she then told me quite curtly and rudely to just bring the cake back and she would reimburse me. We immediately brought the cake back to the store (not convenient in the middle of a child's birthday party). The owner would not see us - a gentleman was waiting to process our return. When we tried to explain the problem (politely), he told us he didn't want to talk about the cake - he said "he knew the cakes that they made"... "no one had ever complained"...."but, obviously, a cake is a personal thing and you just didn't like it". In other words, their cakes are great - the problem was with us. My husband tried multiple times to interject, and this man just cut him off and said he wasn't there to discuss cake, but was just going to reimburse us. Very poor customer service to refuse to dialogue with a client or trouble shoot the problem. If I was the only one displeased with the cake, he MAY have had a point about personal preference - but (aside from the design issue) not ONE adult or child at the party could eat this cake. Let us at least CONSIDER the possibility that this particular cake was a rare failure for this bakery. While I appreciate being reimbursed,, the grudging nature, lack of grace and 'blame' thrown in our direction was disconcerting, uncomfortable to say the least, and just terrible...

Awesome Experience!

I am a local photographer and I have done tons and tons of 1st Birthday photoshoots that include a cake smash. I have had the opportunity to see all kinds of different creative cakes made to match all kinds of specific birthday themes. I had been planning on doing a Toy Story cake smash for my own son when he turned one. Because I have done so many of these photoshoots I knew exactly what I wanted it and I was determined to make it perfect! When I started researching bakeries I found the Novel Baker and I was immediately impressed by photos of their previous work! I was so excited when they had availability to make my cake for me. Alexis was wonderful to work with!! She was easy to get ahold of and communicated very clearly what my different options were as well as what would work specifically for my budget! The finished product was absolutely AMAZING! The artwork, colors, and decorations were PERFECT! I couldn’t have been any happier! Not only did they help make my sons photoshoot exactly what I had hoped for, they made us a fabulous tasting cake that was delicious!! I will absolutely be using the Novel Baker again for all of my future needs, both personally as well as a recommendation for future cake smash clients!! If you’re looking for the right bakery, I’m telling you...

We booked the Novel Baker for a wedding cutting cake and cupcakes for our guests.

I provided Alexis with a photo of a cake design that I loved (mind you - this photo was taken from her website gallery, as a cake she had decorated for someone else previously). We had agreed I would pick up the cake the day before and I would put the flowers on myself, which I was totally ok with. When my fiancé and I got to the bakery to pick up our cake and cupcakes, Alexis had explained that she had tried to achieve the blue drip on the top of the cake but “was unable to do so due to the humidity in the bakery”. She claimed she tried it multiple times and it wasn’t working, so she ultimately gave us a cake that was slightly larger than the one we had purchased to compensate.

She gave us a cake with vanilla icing. We were beyond disappointed. We really disliked the fact that she didn’t communicate this once BEFORE we were actually picking up our order. Maybe if she had called/emailed me, we could’ve worked out an alternative design, but that wasn’t the case. She had my contact information from multiple emails back and forth discussing our order, there was just no attempt made on her behalf to reach out.

The first picture attached is what we asked for, second picture is what...