I recently ordered a gluten free cake from A Sweet Morsel for my birthday. I was delighted that this bakery offered gluten free, custom decorated cakes at a very reasonable price point. Not many places in Pittsburgh do!
TLDR: the few design elements I wanted were poorly executed, and the cake itself was rubbery and did not taste good. The customer service I received through the ordering process was (mostly) good.
The ordering process: I sent the bakery an email with my desired design- a single tier cake with black frosting and decorated with sage green leaves/vines and dark red roses placed sporadically an the top and sides of the cake. I also requested “XXV” be written on top of the cake in gold frosting in a small font (about 0.75” tall). Casey promptly called me back to discuss options that would make this possible. Chocolate frosting could be dyed black, they could do the vines, but the roses would probably fall off due to the consistency of the frosting this bakery uses. Additionally, they did not have any way to make the golden frosting, and it would have to be yellow. I really appreciated Casey’s transparency with what was achievable, though I was a little disappointed by the limitations of this bakery since they do so many custom cakes. Regardless, I was able to easily place my order on their website after consulting with Casey, who offered to take the order over the phone as well.
Scheduling Pickup: I had originally scheduled the pickup for 2 PM. The morning of pickup, I called them and asked if, by any chance, the cake could be ready at noon, if not, it would be no big deal and 2 would be fine since that was what was originally agreed upon and it was late notice. They said it could be ready a bit after noon, so I really appreciated their flexibility on the matter. A few minutes later, they called me to say that they had forgotten to bake half my cake, and that it would be ready at 2. This was a little disappointing, but hey, at least I was getting a very fresh cake!
The pickup: I had a family member pick up the cake so I can’t comment on this.
The decorations: I was very disappointed with the look of the cake. The green leaves were more of a mint color rather than dark green, and the writing in yellow on top was much larger than I requested. I was able to add the fresh roses and gold luster dust to fix it up, but with so few elements, I was disappointed with the look.
The taste of the cake: if all of this had happened but the cake was delicious, I would not be writing this review. Unfortunately, this was one of the worst gluten free cakes I’ve ever had. The chocolate frosting was nearly flavorless, there was hardly any of the raspberry filling in it at all, and the cake itself was rubbery and tasteless. If you would have told me the cake was stale, I would have believed you. Considering that (at least half of) this cake was freshly made just hours before, this is likely attributed to a poor recipe and/or incorrect baking times.
While I can’t attest to the quality of their gluten-containing baked goods, I would not recommend a gluten free cake from this bakery.