Sweet Joy's Cakes and Desserts — Restaurant in Harrisonburg

I ordered a custom Minecraft cake for my son's birthday. I usually do my own, but I wanted precision because that's Minecraft.

I discussed with Sweet Joys the look I was going for and they seemed confident that this could be done without fondant for $200 to feed about 67.

The morning of the party I received a text with a photo of my finished cake stating that it was ready for pickup. It looked great, I was super thrilled.

At about 10:30am, I went to the bakery and picked it up. I asked if it needed to be kept refrigerated until the party. They asked what time the party was (4pm), they asked what filling I had ordered (buttercream). I was told it would be fine to sit out at room temperature until the party.

I very carefully drove my cake home and set it on the counter. It was NEVER exposed to heat, set out in the sun, etc. Room temperature, in the box, all day.

At 2pm, we had to drive to the party venue and I checked on the cake and found that the frosting was bleeding, the sides of the frosting were cracking and the cake was slumping. I chose to keep the cake hidden away instead of displaying it like I had intended. I was very disappointed and embarrassed when I then had to parade it through everyone the way it looked.

The cake was tasty and definitely big enough to feed everyone. It was incredibly moist and had A LOT of frosting. It was so moist that the frosting was literally falling off the outer part of the cake as we were cutting it. Maybe an issue?

After some serious thought, I emailed Sweet Joys with my issues and requested a partial refund. Their response was "we are not responsible once the cake leaves the bakery". No sorry, no solution, nothing. (Entire email and response at bottom of post)

Needless to say that I am disappointed. I spent $200 for a custom cake for it to look good for display, singing and serving. I feel like I spent $200 on a cake I could have made myself at home for a huge fraction of the cost and felt less awful when/if it didn't work out.

I have yet to see a photo posted anywhere of a cake that this happened to so I'm not sure what went wrong with mine. I did not expose it to hot or humid conditions, so I feel like it absolutely should not have looked like this.

The lack of concern from the bakery has left me disappointed and apprehensive about ever ordering a custom cake from anywhere again. If you order from this bakery, just be aware that their policy is "THEY ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY CAKE ONCE IT LEAVES THE BAKERY".

EDIT AFTER OWNER RESPONSE: The high was 72 that day and the venue was 5 minutes away from my house.

My email: First off, let me just say that the cake tasted amazing and looked awesome when I picked it up.

Unfortunately, by the time of the party (4pm) it did not look great. The black frosting bled all over and there were places that the frosting was cracking - for lack of a better term. The cake was also kind of slumping instead of maintaining a nice square look. I was pretty upset and actually kept it put away until it was time to sing and cut the cake instead of displaying it like I had intended.

I asked when I picked it up if it needed to be kept refrigerated until the party and was told that it would be fine left unrefrigerated. The cake was kept at room temperature and not exposed to heat or left in the sun or anything so I'm not sure what caused the frosting to bleed so bad. I have attached some photos for reference.

I can see that you all do many beautiful cakes and have many happy customers so I am sure this incident is just a fluke. However, I wanted you all to be aware of my experience.

I understand that custom cakes are quite a bit of work and I was happy to pay $200 for it. However, I am feeling rather deflated that the cake I had to serve was not looking great when it came time to do so.

As much as I hate to request it, I am wondering if I could get a partial refund.

Response: thank you for your feedback. We’re glad that everyone enjoyed the cake. Unfortunately we are not responsible for what happens to the cake after it...

When I left cake for my wedding a little last minute (1 month prior to the date), I put in an order, cake untasted! A few friends recommended Sweet Joys and I am SO glad they did. My wedding cake was better than I could have ever imagined. We got a 3-tier buttercream frosted cake with flower decor: Sweet Joys reached out within a day of putting in the order to ensure they had the details right and to get the color scheme for the wedding. Our first tier was lemon with lemon curd filling, second tier almond cake with raspberry filling and third was honey cake with strawberry filling. My husband could not choose a favorite tier! We each had a slice from all three. My favorite ended up being the almond, but it was very difficult to choose. The cake was the most perfect density, texture, and flavor. It was not dry at all. Our guests went back for second slices too. I could not recommend Sweet Joys more highly. The cake was beautifully frosted and the flower decor matched our colors perfectly. I’m glad there was enough leftovers so I can finish off the cake for a few more days. Thank you for knocking my wedding cake out...

Wonderful, Wonderful....I live in MD and needed a cake for my 15yr old while on vacation at Massanutten. I reached out to Sweet Joy's after reading the reviews I said why not give it a try. I was beyond pleasantly surprise with the exquisite CUSTOMER SERVICES, when I say they went above and beyond I mean it. Ms. Michelle was such a pleasure as is sweet Joy...the name of the bakery makes sooo much sense. They are beautiful people. I would truly suggest getting your desserts from here...ok...now on to the cake HOMEMADE, delicious, moist, flavorful, did I say HOMEMADE....and BEAUTIFUL...Massanutten is 2 1/2 hrs away from me and I think I will drive down to get a cake for my son in December it was delicious....I will be back for sure....dont miss out on a good thing...thank you sweet Joy's for working with me in such little time I truly appreciate it....my daughter and mom loved their desserts, I will see...