The Cake Story in Colchester

We have recently experienced the most appalling service and been provided with a terrible cake which has left us feeling totally conned and let down. The shop has also persistently refused any kind of refund or gesture of goodwill. Continue reading for further detail of our encounter and see photos attached… My lovely Father-in-Law organised and paid for a Paddington Bear cake to be made at Cake Story, Priory Walk, Colchester as a surprise for our son’s 2nd Birthday – we were all very excited as we know how much our son loves Paddington! We also had high expectations as we were aware it had cost him £95 (plus £10 delivery to our home address) – unfortunately paid for in FULL up-front. I’d suggest anyone that gambles to have a cake made here pays only a deposit until you’re in receipt of the cake. The first ordeal was the cake not turning up on the day we expected, the morning of 21 March. My husband contacted the cake shop and they said that it had been organised for the 22 March. My husband assumed that his Father must have got it wrong and accepted perhaps it wasn’t the fault of the Cake Story. The cake was then delivered via taxi late morning of 22 March. The cake box had been height extended using a ‘FILA’ sport shoe box which we didn’t feel was the most hygienic but that turned out not to be our biggest concern. There was also a note (picture included) that clearly stated that the cake was meant for 21 March and my Father-in-Law had not got it wrong at all – it was a day late for his birthday and at the fault of the Cake Story alone. When we opened the box (see photo), we were met with a sticky/wet white fondant cake, with minimal decoration, and the decorations on the cake were abysmal – even the writing had clearly dripped down the cake. The number 2 was placed carelessly on the top of the cake which was supposedly ‘edible’ icing paper but had been sellotaped and attached to lollipop sticks -not very appetising of child friendly. The other decorations had been poorly cut out and assembled on the cake, and the ribbon was being held together by drawing pins! Not particularly health and safety conscious either. To put a further nail in the coffin- my Father-in-Law informed us that he had in fact ordered buttercream icing and not fondant! We were so shocked at what had been delivered it was ALMOST laughable as it felt like perhaps it was a set up for a segment on the Ant and Dec show. We were just in total disbelief that something like this could be provided by a professional cake shop. This feeling quickly changed to total disappointment and feeling very sorry for my poor Father-in-Law who had been so thoughtful and generous to organise this in the first place. We contacted the cake shop who were instantly very defensive, and naturally we were pretty stern in our response. It has been 6 days that have passed, the cake is still here untouched and they are still refusing to offer any form of refund. This afternoon the lady I spoke to at Cake Story backtracked to say that had we returned the cake on the day it was delivered she would have refunded us (not offered at the time, only in hindsight) as she could have RE-SOLD the cake!! I offered her a chance to retract that statement but she insisted she’d have redecorated it and could have re-sold it. She couldn’t see the point I was trying to make in that being unacceptable. I don’t think I’m the only person who expects to receive a FRESH CAKE made to my order. Not one that has not been transported to a stranger’s house and rejected (potentially even tampered with!). My Father-in-Law will unlikely get any form of refund and we feel he’s been totally taken advantage of, but I wanted to make sure I took the time to write a full and extensive review to avoid any further disappointment. It was not my choice of cake shop, and I’ve had cakes for similar prices that are of much higher quality – trust me, please do look elsewhere!!

I had a very good experience with them. They listened to all my customization requirements and produced a fabulous cake loved by all my guests. Thank you!

Really pleasant experiences here, The staff have a great care for what they do and the cakes are always stunning to see and amazing to the taste.

our wedding reception was ruined, they iced the cake whist the baked sponge was still warm the icing design had melted a cake board was internally iced and the support plastic display colums were inside the cake !!! our day was severly impacted on was had another professional cake maker at the wedding and she was astounded by the level of incompetance theyonly offered 50% refund would not step into that shop again i would avoid at all costs

Must be the most delicious cake I'd ever tried. Price reasonable for the size and number of slices you get.

We always order our cakes from The Cake Story and have done so for the last 3 years. They've done wedding anniversaries, birthdays and graduation cakes and we have always been left very pleased. Excellent service so kind and friendly. Cake tastes lovely and the chocolate ones are especially good! Cannot recommend enough!

Bride check brides Dress check venue check the next most important item the wedding cake what a disaster it arrived late to the venue so missed the booked florist when it arrived 2 hours before the bride all the fine filigree icing had melted when we did cut the cake external. Columns we used on the inside and told this is normal dowels should have been used two layer of sponge were undercooked and the upper layers had cake boards under the icing what was salvaged went to guests the rest went to the hotel bin when we confronted the cake story they said bring back the cake we did get 50 % back but his was nothing to what it did to our special day avoid wedding cakes more than one tier

Pedimos una tarta para el cumpleaños de mi marido 60. Era una tarta de foto con una foto de mi marido en su moto.Ya que no vivo en Colchester, mi hija lo organizó todo con el chico de pastel de pisos. Mi hija recogió el viernes día 6 torta de enero de 2017. Fue encantador.La foto salió muy bien y fue muy bien helado.Tuvimos nuestra celebración de cumpleaños la siguiente noche y presentado la tarta a mi marido. Él estaba encantada con él. No solamente buen aspecto pero un sabor delicioso. . . . . . Muchas gracias!

We bought a cake from Cakestory shop to celebrate my wife's surprise birthday. The cake was lovely tasted and decoration was amazing..Lovely people served with great smile..Thank you cake story

This isn't a restaurant, but a cake shop. They make absolutely delicious cakes, that also look lovely. I've been really impressed by them. Good value for money too.

They arranged a cake for me literally last minute for under £20 looked absolutely stunning and tasted fantastic. Guests loved it.

Me decepcionó un pastel para mi cumpleaños número 13 hijos, vainilla con buttercream y mermelada abundante desde el comienzo era genial para el diseño que había especificado aunque sí creo que probablemente podría de hecho un trabajo tan bueno yo estuve muy satisfecho ya que no tuvimos tiempo! De todos modos una vez se cortó el pastel que estaba mortificado estaba completamente smotherd en lo que sabe como flora! Me siento enfermo thinkng respecto ahora. El pastel en sí sabe como paquete pastel y hay al lado no mermelada De hecho lo único el pastel gustos de mantequilla! Es asqueroso, yo no creo que son profesionales encargados de tarta. Voy a volver el pastel hoy en día (como nadie podía digerir ) con intenciones de conseguir un reembolso completo! Sin duda recomendamos El Pastel pisos a menos que disfruta comiendo un par de bañeras de mantequilla pura

Bought a cake on 9th March looked ok but had no taste what so ever was a complete waste of money. Will never order from them again

Needed a cake for my son last minute (because I'm always doing things last minute!) We talked through the design and the cake was very nice looking. The taste on the other hand was AMAZING! Absolutely the best cake I've ever tasted! Would highly recommend!

It was my sister's birthday and we needed a cake, NOT a store brought cake so we looked around and found the cake story. We got a number 5 cake-vanilla- oh my it tasted so good. whenever I have an event or birthday I come to the cake story. Its so varied!

Good if you like cake that's been made from a mix rather than fresh. The coffee is better than the cake in this cake shop I would say.