Sweet Escape Cake Company — Restaurant in Indianapolis

I would really like to give this review 5 stars, because the cake was very good and the flavor was 5 stars. I cannot do that though because of the service, and because it was not what I wanted.

Summary: cake tastes good, terrible cake tasting/ordering experience.

The cake:

The raspberry preserves with white cake and butter cream frosting, the caramel filling, and the chocolate cake were all notably exceptional. This place makes a great wedding cake. I think their buttercream and white/chocolate cake is what they do best, and some of the fillings are so good. The chocolate cake especially is very good as many places it tends to be dry - not here.

The service:

Scott, the manager, was easy to email and quick to respond. I found him helpful. The front of house at the bakery counter were friendly in our interactions. The cake was delivered at the correct time despite what I've written below.

I didn't like the way the orders/front of house is managed. To begin, I received a text confirming drop off time. I had previously changed this with Scott, but they still sent me the wrong time three days before. When I was going out for a Bachelorette lunch I was having to deal with this.

I was panicked and wanted it taken care of because my venue was strict on drop off time. Well, the front of house basically told me I could email Scott or respond via texts, because they don't communicate directly (or aren't allowed to with deliveries/the wedding side?). There should be a separate contact number in that scenario.

The Tasting:

The biggest reason I did not enjoy the experience with this bakery was I think due to the tasting. The consultant was a taller blonde woman and she was not detailed at all. I showed her photos of my color pallete, see photos, orange/pink/corals, and look at how muted all of the color is on the cake. I asked that the gold trim be left off around the ridges, this was not done either. She was not friendly and I felt that our consultation was an inconvenience. I really did not enjoy my tasting here which should have been a fun experience.

I found ordering the bachelor cake online to be easier and more in line with what I wanted than what my wedding cake was. This is the service I received despite having three different events with cakes from this bakery! I felt there was nothing special to the service.

If you want a delicious cake that is beautiful (though maybe not what you asked for in design), and are okay with the above, this place will deliver a very tasty cake. If you are particular on the cake design, this may not be the bakery for you. If you want a fun wedding tasting experience, go elsewhere...

I ALMOST PURCHSED A $770 CAKE TODAY. CUSTOMER SERVICE MADE ME CHANGE MY MIND!!

For 5 years I have been purchasing my daughter's birthday cakes at this bakery. Making the 45 minute drive each way to pick up the cake. Every year when I reach out, the customer service is impeccable! I even went back to look at correspondence from previous years. Until today. I reached out as I do every year to order my daughter's 6th birthday cake through the online contact sheet. When I recieved the reply back from Scott (according to the email address) it was curt and simply asked about which type of cake I wanted. I replied back and didn't hear really think anything of it. The back and forth continued with his replies maintaining the same feel. I thought maybe they are busy. You never know. Anyways, he quoted me the price. The cake I wanted was quoted at $735. I thought about it and asked when was the latest I could order it. He replied back that they were 85% booked. Ok. So I decided to go forward with the order. When I asked about the flavors, the reply I recieved was a screenshot of their website with the link highlighted. No text or anything. A little passive aggressive I thought, but I REALLY REALLY wanted this cake and I know they make great cakes. I sent back my flavor selection and also double checked that the specific design of the 3D work that went on top of the cake was made clear. The Pinterest image had what I wanted to cake to look like. Basically, the characters on the cake pictured had the wrong clothing. I sent several pictures showing the colors of the accurate costumes. All I got back was "That would be $770" No explanation or anything. So I wrote back asking if it was additional to change the clothing design. That was at 2:36pm. I have yet to hear anything back. I was willing to pay $735 for this cake in full today. If he would have replied, I would have paid the $770. I really, REALLY wanted this cake. I was even willing to buy it even though he was rude and had zero customer service skills. I was never rude or demanding (look at the emails for proof). I even agreed that they would need some wiggle rule to re-create the design I sent. Now I sit here trying to find another bakery to make this cake and feel extremely disappointed in how a loyal customer...

Lack of professionalism. From the start, they were hard to communicate with and very slow in responding. I wanted a small ceremonial cake for my wedding with some pine, cinnamon sticks, and pinecone decorations on top since we were having a Christmas wedding. They told me that I had to buy all the decor for them to decorate. That does not feel like a professional approach. I am not a cake decorator, that is why I came to them! Anyway, the wedding had to be postponed due to the latest COVID restriction mandated just a couple days before, I reached out to let them know and asked if it was possible given the circumstances that we get a refund for the order before the cake was made even though I knew they say that all sales are final, I thought I would just reach out and inquire due to the circumstances. Their reply was snarky and unprofessional: "All orders are nonrefundable. This was stated clearly on every email we exchanged as well as the invoice that you paid. This is our busiest time of year and we have been booked for several weeks. We have made some exceptions due to Covid restrictions/limitations but your cake is 60 servings and the mandated rules are for gatherings of 50. Had you contacted us in November (rather than 7 days out) we potentially could have moved some things around and filled the spot." He got the servings of my cake wrong (an 8" cake does not serve 60 servings, it is 20 servings) so obviously he did not really take a look at my order. Just frustrating because its not like I wanted to postpone the wedding a week out, it was just what the mandate that came out required me to do!

Also frustrating because they had told me that they would put the cake in a box and wrap it well to keep it fresh, but when I picked it up, it was in a box smaller than the cake and they had just slapped a piece of loose saran wrap on the opening with tape.

So really any bride during this time, don't get your cake here, make sure you get a cake at a place that has a contract with a force majeure section in it meaning that you can have the service postponed or refunded due to unforeseen circumstances...