TRU~CAKES Custom Bakery — Restaurant in Longwood

Disappointed in Tru Cake’s customer service and business practices would be an understatement. I want to be very clear that the company I’m reviewing, Tru Cakes, is not Sprinkles, whom I left a 5-star review for several months ago.

Within the last year, the business formerly known as Sprinkles, had a transfer of ownership and name change to Tru Cakes. My wedding took place on May 6, 2021 and Sprinkles completed the first half of my order - the wedding cake. As agreed upon in writing, with the purchase of our wedding cake came a 6” round anniversary cake to be picked up approximately a year from our wedding date. This was not an additional promotion that we agreed to after signing the contract, this was included in the contract. The point of this review is to clarify that we were not asking for anything that wasn’t previously paid for and agreed to. All invoices were paid prior to our wedding. Therefore, our order with Sprinkles was not yet completed as we had not picked up the anniversary cake.

On March 22, 2022 I called to discuss picking up the anniversary cake that was included in our order. I explained what was previously stated above. Later that day, one of the owners, Julie Truluck, returned my call from her direct line. The beginning of our conversation was polite. The gist of the discussion was this:

Previously, Tru Cakes had fulfilled the anniversary cake orders for customers who had purchased through Sprinkles. Julie then told me that they made some changes which some were disappointed with. They decided to make a “conscientious” business decision to no longer fulfill those orders because “people weren’t coming to pick them up and it was a waste of money.” I explained that while that was disappointing for them, I still had a contract which included that cake regardless. The new owner told me that what they decided to do was to charge them a “discounted” rate for $35 instead of $65 for their normal cakes. I was confused and asked for clarification as our order was, by contract, not completed. She told me they had not assumed the previous obligations of Sprinkles. Yet, as I relayed to her, it was even stated in a response to a negative review a month ago by the owner that “we [Tru Cakes] are honoring orders.” After pointing this out to the owner, she responded in a begrudging and nasty tone that she would fulfill our order. Would you accept a cake from an owner with not just poor, but malicious customer service? I declined and told her that I was disgusted by her attitude, her bad business practices, and bid her a good day.

Being objective about facts is not being rude, nor is attempting to seek performance of a contract. You can see my prior review for Sprinkles from several months ago - 5 stars. They had flawless performance and customer service. The new owners seem to respond to negative reviews and constructive criticism with hostility. I’m writing this review to help people who were in my situation and needing an update on their anniversary cake.

In short, this was a breach of contract and Tru Cake’s solution for people not picking up cakes was to instead charge their customers twice. I should not have to pay a “discounted” rate for a cake that was already paid for. The cost of the “free” cake was incorporated into whatever rates I paid when the contract was signed and paid for. Additionally, Sprinkles had a policy in place when we purchased from them that if we were a no-show, a $25 fee would be charged. I have no issue with that. Don’t punish a customer with an additional fee who has done nothing wrong. We never received any communication of the new ownership and never agreed to any modifications or alterations to our contract. This was a bad faith business decision by Tru Cakes and we hope others will think twice before...

Okay, so here are the positives- There's no doubt that Julie is passionate about cakes and Martha is a great balance to Julie's energy. The cake that we received for our wedding looked exactly like the design we sent; it was stunning. Some of our guests got good cake. That's where the positives end, unfortunately.

Here's what ultimately happened: Our wedding date was originally for May 2020. We had a contract with Sprinkles, the previous bakery. Like many weddings, Covid led us to postpone until May 7, 2022. In that time, Sprinkles was bought out by Tru~Cakes. We were having a destination wedding so we drove from Miami to Orlando for a second cake tasting and to meet the new owners. Even after emailing them, the flavors we asked to try for the tasting were wrong. They went into the back and made some fresh flavors to try, it happens.

They were very confident that they weren't like other bakers and were able to supply a cake was delicious as much as it was beautiful, difficult but not impossible. We wanted the top tier for our anniversary and additionally, we ordered popcorn for all our guests as favors.

Two days before the wedding, we dropped by for one last meeting. We noticed that they were using a resealable ziploc bag and we asked them if that was for ours and they reassured us that no, we were getting the bags shown on the website. We reiterated that we were excited to keep the top tier for our anniversary, and they gleefully agreed with us.

The day of wedding: -they were an hour and 15 minutes late -they didn't call or text us to inform us that they were running late -when my coordinator called, they denied providing a measurable ETA -upon arrival and throughout the night, they were frazzled installing the cake. Some guests who arrived early to help in the setup even noticed. -they were short on the popcorn order -they (two days later) admitted to putting the wrong cake in one of our tiers -the third flavor we chose was missing a key ingredient -they cut and served our top tier because they admitted that they never wrote down that they were supposed to keep the top tier -one of the popcorn flavors was incorrect -they told me in the middle of my wedding night that Julie was exhausted and they were just going to deliver the cake and not serve it, and by the time I had resolved it with the venue, they agreed to cut it -none of this was properly communicated at the end of the night -and since they cut the top tier, we took home two boxes of cakes that went to waste

After a talk on the phone, they accepted responsibility, offered to make us three cakes, which we denied because our guests were already gone. The wedding was over. It was a missed opportunity on their part, and I can't get my time back either. They agreed to a 50% refund on the entire order.

The tiers that were made right tasted great, and the cake as a whole looked beautiful. They have been in the industry for decades so I expected more from them. We worked hard on preventing this type of thing from happening at our wedding. Unfortunately this was the case for us...

I had heard amazing things about Sprinkles and Richard even before my initial consultation, so I was very excited for the meeting. Everyone raves about how delicious the cake tastes and the gorgeous designs (and it’s true!). I had always imagined my wedding cake would be part carrot cake, so upon making my consultation appointment, I inquired about it. I was saddened to find out carrot cake was not a wedding cake option.

Upon arriving to Sprinkles for my consultation, we were joyfully greeted by Richard. He was very personable. He showed us around the shop, and within 5 minutes, he let me know that he surprised me and made some sample carrot cake for me for the tasting. It brought me to tears, because again, Sprinkles doesn’t normally do carrot cake for their wedding cakes (at least not the contracted cakes for Alfond Inn), but Richard wants his customers happy.

After showing us some cakes he makes, we sat down to try the flavors. It was quite an experience, as Richard took my fork and created delicious cake bites, mixing the different flavored cakes with a filling, and giving us an idea of all of the possibilities.

It was an amazing experience, as so many of the flavors worked well together. The carrot cake Richard made special for me was very good, but ironically we didn’t end up choosing it because the vanilla raspberry swirl cake with raspberry filling and the chocolate cake with coconut filling stole our stomachs. Collectively, as a group (my parents, myself and my now husband) all liked those two flavors best and felt like our wedding guests would as well.

Richard then asked me how I envisioned the cake to look. He showed me designs that were included in my package and gave me ideas on what would work well together. After about 10 minutes brainstorming, we came up with the most gorgeous design. I walked out of Sprinkles that day knowing it would be the most beautiful wedding cake. And I was not disappointed on my wedding day! The cake was so gorgeous. The design was flawless, classy, elegant, and of course delicious. Thank you Richard for making all of my...