Days after the over-publicized birthday and engagement party of LeBron James, controversy continues to swirl over a cake.
According to an article in the Miami Herald, Alethea Hickman of Passions for Pastry was asked by Shelborne South Beach to provide a $3000, five-tier birthday cake to feed 250 people that would be fit for a king. The "king" being LeBron James. Hickman was told she would not be paid for the cake, but would receive a ton of free publicity.
Being the holiday rush, Hickman hired additional staff to assist with the last-minute lavish cake. The day after the big celebration, Hickman looked forward to reaping the rewards and notoriety of being the baker of choice for LeBron's big day. She quickly found out via the Internet that her five-tier, red cake with an edible gold crown was not the cake used for the celebration. An ivory-colored rum cake with gold lion heads from Divine Delicacies was used instead.
To add insult to injury, Hickman was later told, “It just wasn’t what was expected. When LeBron’s people saw it, they just didn’t want to use it and decided to bring their own cake. I can’t tell LeBron James what birthday cake to eat. It’s LeBron James, for Christ’s sake.”
When asked about the cake's worth, LeBron's people replied, “That cake couldn’t be worth more than $600. It’s flour, eggs and water.”As a limited home baker, I work with a group of bakers and businesses who bake birthday cakes for children in the foster care system. These cakes do not just bake themselves. Nor do the cakes at any other bakery.
That flour, those eggs and that water can be expensive. Decorating is labor intensive and time consuming. I find it preposterous that the self proclaimed "King" would deny a FREE cake because it was not considered quality enough.
A real "king" would be gracious about the cake, whether used or not. A thank you note and donation of the cake to a local soup kitchen would have been more appreciated by the mom and pop bakers of the world than the negative publicity for the so-called unworthy cake. Shame on you, LeBron!!