Review: Hansen's Cakes

So, I'm getting married in October in Los Angeles (exciting!). But, along with the excitement comes the stress of planning a gluten free wedding. Everyone has told me that you won't really eat at your wedding, you are always SO busy. I don't care! I want my wedding to be gluten free! :D

The biggest worry is the cake! So, I contact the only GF bakery in Los Angeles, The Sensitive Baker. I love these guys. Their stuff is amazing. Really, it's the best stuff I've found that I haven't made from stratch myself. Granted, the price tag is a little high, but the food is awesome. I've had cakes from here before for birthdays, etc. So I know that this place is great.

I go and talk to the Sensitive Baker. Apparently, they don't really feel comfortable decorating elaborate cakes. They also don't do tiered cakes. Sadness. But, the woman told me that they bake cakes and then send them over to this bakery called Hansen's Cakes. They try to sell me on it by saying that movie stars shop there (which is the most common thing said about ANY store in LA... this is LA people, you can't impress me with movie stars... they are everywhere).

So I made an appointment there at their main showroom, explained that I had Celiac's, and off I went with my fiance.

THE EXPERIENCE WAS COMPLETELY TERRIBLE!!! Do NOT go to this bakery. I have probably never had as bad of an experience with a company in my life!

When I show up, the woman that I met with was insulting. Every idea I had she looked at me like I had said something offensive. I ask for was a two-tiered white wedding cake with a blue ribbon around each tier (I bring a picture from Martha Stewart Wedding, I want something simple). "You want your cake to be white?!?" "You want your cake to have blue on it?" Every time she gave me this horrible face that basically said, "Well, if you want to ruin your wedding, go right ahead!"

Then comes the cake tasting. They bring me a plate that has white cake and chocolate cake (even though their website says that they offer more varieties, as did the Sensitive Baker). I look at the guy who brought me the cake test pieces and ask, "These are the gluten free ones, right?!?" He looks at me and says, "Oh, I don't know. I just got it from the kitchen." I look at him and say, "Well, can you please check because if I eat this and it's not then I will be very sick for three days." The saleswoman tries to get me to go ahead and eat the pieces he brought. Hum... NO?!? I get sick if I eat a piece of lettuce that touched a cruton, there is NO way I'm flat out eating that much flour!

After the guy returns and assures me the cake he gave was GF, we taste it. The cake they served was NOT the Sensitive Bakers. The cake was dry, terrible tasting, and falling apart. I've had cakes and cupcakes from the Sensitive Baker many times and this was not that! A GF cake mix you get from a store is WAY better!

No one could tell me what of the fillings was gluten free and each person I talked to told me something different. I finally talked to one person who actually seemed to know what was going on and he grabbed me a printout of the ingredients for the cakes. I tell him that the cake ingredients don't look like something that the Sensitive Baker would make and that it sure didn't taste like their recipe. He said that they say that they take the cakes from the Sensitive Baker, but apparently they have started making their own recipe!?!

I went and complained to The Sensitive Baker. The saleswoman woman there told me that this was the first that they had heard of this and they were shocked that Hansen's was selling gluten free cake that wasn't theirs (in violation of their contract... opps!). From the sound of it, doesn't look like Hansen's will have the Sensitive Baker's business for much longer. I'm not sad at all.

So I'm currently trying to work out something. My caterer is seeing if he can find someone else decorate a Sensitive Baker cake for. He said that he uses Cake Divas to decorate vegan cakes from a vegan bakery all the time so we are currently talking with them to see if we could work something out.

In conclusion, DON'T go to Hansen's. The terrible reviews they have online are COMPLETELY true! Don't risked getting glutened (and terrible cake) from this place!!!