Celebrity Cake Studio — Restaurant in Tacoma

Edit: The owner did reach out to me and has made this situation right. I appreciate the apology and feel like they did take care of me after the fact. I still wish my experience was different, but I am hoping my experience was just a one-off situation for a stressed out team having a bad day.

I did not have a good experience with Celebrity Cake Studio at all. From start to finish everything was honestly a nightmare.

I found this gorgeous photo of a cake with Mt Rainier on it linking back to their instagram, so I inquired about it, and they assured me they could closely replicate their same design. I wanted to order a cake for my wedding in June and they wouldn't let me order it till January. Weird, but whatever. I specifically asked the staff what a general estimate would be on price because I didn't want to fall in love with a cake far outside my budget. Their exact email to me was "for sure under $100". I emailed them again in January like they requested, and the same exact cake I got a quote for four months prior was now $180!!!!! Nearly double!!! The gave me some run around BS about inflation, which I understand prices going up for, but not double...... They also offered me their "signature mountain range design" for $105 to keep costs lower too if price was an issue. I was a bit upset, but honestly, the design was so beautiful that I convinced myself it was worth it.

Fast forward to pickup day. Two hours before I am set to pick up my cake and they text me the second photo in my review. When I tell you my stomach hit the floor....... Not only does it not look anything like Mt Rainier, it doesn't even look like mountains..... I have seen third grade art projects that look better, and they should have been embarrassed to send that photo to a customer, let alone think it was acceptable to send me home with. Ooo and remember that "signature mountain range design" they offered me for $75 less? If you go on their website, the cake they initially made and sent me a photo of looks like a darker and crappier version of that..... Not sure what scam they are trying to run by charging me $75 extra for the lower level design.

I nicely told them the cake was unacceptable and they only apology they offered was that there was "a miscommunication with the design team". Pretty big miscommunication if you ask me. And I get mistakes happen, but no one bothered to double check the design request before making it or sending it to me?

So now they assure me they can remake the design and that the decorator for the cake in the original photo I sent over was in the store and could make it. So in two hours they make the cake in the last photo shown here. It looks way better than it first did, but still doesn't look much like the original design they assured me they could closely make. I knew it wouldn't look exact, but I for sure expected better. At this point I took the cake because I was in a time crunch and it was close enough. When I came in to pick it up, no one apologized or offered a discount or anything.

The only saving grace of this whole situation was that the cake at least tasted good. This process from start to finish was terrible and the cake was not at all worth $180 or the stress of dealing with this studio.

Long story short, if you want a simple cake, this might be your spot, but you could save a lot of money and headache going elsewhere. I would not recommend...

I'm giving Celebrity Cake Studio one star from the experience I had dealing with the people who work here.

I didn't get a chance to actually taste any of their products because when I called and mentioned that I was looking for CUSTOM cupcakes and a smash cake for my daughter's first birthday, they told me to email them pictures of my ideas which I did. The first person I spoke with didn't seem thrilled at all to even be working here, her voice was so dry.

I never heard anything back after emailing my pictures. I called them back up and they said they had replied even though I never saw anything in my inbox. They informed me that they couldn't make my cupcakes because the icing was "more than one color and if you combine colors they're going to look all brown and yucky." Okay. Our theme was rainbow. They said they could do single colors and line them up in a rainbow, and would charge me $4.25 per cupcake. NO WAY.

They also said they couldn't make her smash cake because I wanted rainbow colors in rows "stacked" up the cake, and they said the cake would be too small for that. Now I'm not a baker, but can't you just layer the cake...? Especially if I'm paying for and requesting a CUSTOM CAKE.

Needless to say, I didn't order from them and don't plan on ever bringing my business here. If you guys call yourself a custom bakery, you should be able to do these simple things, because I went on Pinterest myself and made my own multicolored cupcakes just fine and my own smash cake, and I don't bake for a living. If you ask me it was sheer laziness that they didn't even bother attempting to fill my order.

So I guess if you want to get a boring, easy cake from them they might be good? Or a wedding cake, I wouldn't know about that part. But for me they were completely lazy, overpriced, and not helpful at all.

That's okay, I just learned how to bake myself!

Edit to owner’s reply: I understand restrictions for efficiency, but that’s not what your staff said. They plain out said they “couldn’t mix colors because they wouldn’t look good.” So either they are lying, or they are lazy. Because I learned how to mix icing myself and it looks great, no issues on the colors turning “icky and brown” like your staff said. If you’re supposed to be a custom cake store, you should probably actually do custom cakes rather than what YOU guys want to do.

And I didn’t get several options, I got one other option for cupcakes and no options for the smash cake other than it being one color. So coming on a public forum and lying to save face isn’t exactly the best business...

Place called celebrity cake studio I had went there about 10 years ago and got a little treat there, It was the best thing ever created in my life. Now I feel like they cut corners in their studio instead of paying attention to the work at hand. I mean sure I get it.. make it pretty and stuff the bottom line full of fodder for the lowbies.... but come on... your name is not only Cake studio but Celebrity Cake Studio. You should walk in and feel like a celeb. you should taste the cupcakes and get a mouthful of beauty that is tasty to boot. You should not have to have major Artificial flavors in your food. Dyes that would turn stomachs or flavors of shortening that is not a process that has been done in decades. Do you need an example?

Raspberry chocolate cake: Chocolate is spongy but bland and oily.... Raspberry is consistent of a partially done buttercream... and the Raspberry is non-existent. These processes can be solved simply by:

~ more cocoa powder in the mix. ~ save on the oil and add some apple sauce or Coffee to the cake. (will make it spongy without the extra oil) ~you can change the buttercream with Fresh raspberry filling in the middle and maybe some fresh raspberry instead of artificial. (if you are worried about shelf life add preserves. same shelf life of the cake in general.)

Who ever is currently working at that studio "creating cakes" I would like to assist them with the love that was the CCS store in Tacoma. or if this is because you only put the love into creations that are sent out to the places that spend for the big cakes then.... I feel like you may have a problem with the others who come in and want to spend on the little things.

Remember your roots and where you came from as people never forget mistakes.

I will come back and try it again. but I will be making making...