A dispute over an $84 birthday cake sparked viral outrage on social media, with the baker slamming ‘fake’ customers who left angry comments in what she described as an attempt to destroy her business.
Kylie Allenwho owns her own company, Kylie Cakes in Princeton, West Virginia, took to TikTok to detail the “worst customer experience” she’s ever had, explaining how she was slammed by a customer after baking her rainbow cake.
In the video, which has garnered more than 4.9 million views, the baker revealed that the customer, Ashley FreemanShe bought a cake for her mother’s birthday in April.
Ashley paid $84 for the dessert, however, and was less than satisfied, and after following Kylie’s video, she decided to share her own version of the story on TikTok.
Kylie Allen, who runs Kylie Cakes in Princeton, West Virginia, has taken to TikTok to share the ‘worst customer experience’ she’s ever had, sparking a viral spat on social media.
A dispute over an $84 birthday cake made by Kylie (pictured) sparked a viral outrage on social media, with the baker criticized by ‘fake’ customers who left angry comments
In the video, which has more than 4.9 million views, the baker revealed that a customer, Ashley Freeman (pictured), bought a cake for her mom’s birthday in April.
At first, Ashley complained about the cake during a phone call with Kylie, then launched more criticism in a private message.
Finally, she went on Facebook to slam Kylie, who decided to open up about her TikTok video interactions.
And although she originally thought the video would be shared with a few of her close friends, family, and clients, the clip garnered viral attention, causing a whole wave of drama on the video-sharing app.
“Today I had one of the worst customer experiences I’ve had since I opened my storefront,” Kylie said in the video.
She said a customer — whom she didn’t name at first — reached out via Facebook and wanted to order a six-layer, eight-inch-diameter rainbow cake with vanilla buttercream and the words “Happy Birthday Trilby” on top.
Kylie noted that she’s been making this type of cake for a “really long time,” having started baking rainbow creations when she was still a “home baker,” adding that she developed a “distinctive style” for the cake that includes six rainbow layers and buttercream frosting.
But while the baker feels confident in her abilities, her client was less than impressed with the results.
Upon arriving, she seemed genuinely surprised that the cake was topped with sprinkles, Kylie continued. “We explained to her that all of our signature rainbow cakes are decorated this way and covered in sprinkles.”
The baker called the customer “very defensive and rude” before adding, “She even beat us up and put us on her Facebook page.”
After Kylie’s clip became a viral hit, Ashleigh decided to share her own version of the story, with pictures of a cake that she said looked like a “***.”
Ashley said the cake wasn’t worth the high price tag, and many social media users agreed with her, claiming that the writing and sprinkles caused the cake to drop in quality.
Soon after, Ashley decided to delete the video so that Kylie wouldn’t get harassed online. She asks Kylie to do the same, but Kylie chooses to keep her clip, prompting Ashley to re-upload her video.
Speaking to Insider, Kylie explained that she never expected the amount of attention she would receive.
“I didn’t expect to be completely honest with you,” she told the outlet.
Initially, Ashley complained about the cake in a phone call and private message before taking to Facebook to criticize the cake
The baker called the customer “very defensive and very rude” before adding, “She even hit us and put us on her Facebook page.”
She explained that while she wasn’t in the store when Ashley picked up her cake, her husband was there and took a complaint about 30 minutes after the customer left.
She explained that while she wasn’t in the store when Ashley picked up her cake, her husband was there and took a complaint about 30 minutes after the customer left.
“She said she didn’t know she was covered in sprinkles and her family didn’t like sprinkles,” Kylie said, paraphrasing what her husband had told her. Nothing was mentioned about the writing that was on top.
However, Ashley said the sprinkles weren’t “obviously the problem,” adding that it “wasn’t a quality cake for $84.”
Ashley shared screenshots of the messages exchanged between the two, sharing a pic of the cake and saying, ‘Look at it. That’s the problem.’
Kylie explained that the cake looks the same way “all our standard rainbow cakes look” before calling it “disrespectful.”
‘It is not disrespectful to expect quality,’ replied Ashley. It is disrespectful to serve your trusted customers something like this. good luck. You will need it.
Soon after, Ashley attempts to call a truce, claiming that the cake was “very tasty”.
However, Ashley said the sprinkles were “obviously not the problem,” adding that it was “not a quality cake for $84.”
Ashley shared screenshots of the messages exchanged between the two, sharing a picture of the cake and saying, ‘Look at it. That’s the problem’
Ashley ended up making her own version of the birthday cake, which many users said looked even better than the original
However, Kylie refused to back down, exacerbating the fiery feud.
In another thread of text messages shared with Insider, Ashley said she hopes Kylie “goes into business” and said Princeton deserves between “a boxed mini cake from an unprofessional and sloppy ‘baker’.”
Ashley told the outlet that she let her anger get the best of her and said “something mean” after Kylie refused to accept the truce.
Now, Ashley has started calling herself “Petty Crocker” and has recreated the birthday cake herself.
And strangers on the video-sharing platform aren’t about to let Kylie off the hook, either.
Kylie said that both her store’s Facebook and Google have been inundated with negative comments from people she’s never made cakes for. In the end, I was forced to turn off the review function.
In the past week, the store has received dozens of negative reviews, prompting Yelp to “monitor” it.
Several people have also taken to TikTok to criticize the baker.
Many people also took to TikTok to criticize the baker and said they could make better cakes
Someone said, “I wouldn’t pay $20 for that.”
“Look at it,” someone else commented, “honestly, I’d be so embarrassed to claim this worked,” while another person simply stated that the cake was “ugly.”
Another user said: “This literally looks like the letters from Hagrid on Harry’s cake.”
One wrote: “It’s worse than I imagined.”
“As a business owner I am shocked by this! It is so important to admit when you are wrong!” said another person.
One said, “I could have done better than that for $20.”
Another person said, “I bought a $40 cupcake that looks 1,000 times better.”
Kylie told Insider the viral spat isn’t affecting her work and she has “thick skin” and “get over it.”
