Baker Gives Warning to Other Creators Over Toilet Cake: 'Have a Contract'

A hyperrealistic cake creator sent out a warning to other creators to "always have a contract" after she said she was requested to make a toilet cake in one week, with the promise of a big job, only to be not given it.

Baker and cake decorator Liz Marek took to her popular TikTok account @sugargeekshow to give a frank warning against creating trial products without a contract in a video with over 12 million views.

Showing off her incredible skills, Marek showed her amazingly realistic cake shaped to look like a toilet, fit with an edible toilet roll too.

According to Marek, the story behind it isn't so incredible. "It's actually a cake that I was asked to make to prove that I could make a super realistic toilet and in return I was going to get hired to make this cake for a very big video and get paid a lot of money," she explained in the clip.

"Instead, I was not hired and this video was shown to another decorator on how to make the toilet cake and long story short, I'm never making a toilet cake again and you should always have a contract before you make something."

Marek didn't specify who or which company promised work, but she added that they required proof that the whole cake was completely edible, leading to a video of her destroying the cake inside-out with a hammer.

"I'm not here to slander or get anyone canceled," she told Newsweek. "I simply wanted to share lessons learned with my community. It's becoming more and more common for brands to work with influencers but they often don't know how to charge and how to protect themselves.

"When dealing with large brands especially, creators are often overly excited and think it will be good exposure, so may go against their own policies or better judgements. I felt that it was important for fellow creators to know that I made that same mistake by agreeing to purchase things out of my own pocket without a written agreement in the place first."

The cake itself was made from over 100lbs of cake and took a week of her time to create. Marek used layers and layers of cake and ganache in a video documenting exactly how she made the cake through a step-by-step approach.

Marek's warning against doing free work with hopes of getting paid work rings similar to concerns many have over similar unpaid trial shifts at many workplaces. It's an issue debated globally. In the U.K. for instance, in 2021, the government responded to a petition against trial shifts, which many feel are used by employers as a bid to gain free labor.

The U.K. government responded by stating that trial shifts should be assessed on a case-by-case basis and were sometimes necessary. The response ruled that various conditions decide if the trial shift is an authentic test of skills, including: "The extent to which the individual is observed while carrying out the tasks, the nature of the tasks carried out by the individual and how closely these relate to the job offered, whether the tasks carried out have a value to the employer beyond testing the individual and whether trial periods are important (aside from recruiting) to the way the employer runs its business."

Marek's experience with unpaid labor in this situation caused outrage online, with viewers rushing to express their thoughts in the comments.

"That's so messed up," wrote one TikTok user.

Cleaning influencer Vannesa Moran related, writing in a comment: "That's messed up. I just went through my first experience like that. I'm preparing to sue."

"Ugh so frustrating. So many companies take advantage of creators," added YouTuber Naysy.

Marek told Newsweek that she's taking it as a learning experience which the whole community can use. "My only goal at this point is to turn my bad decision into a teachable moment for my community. I'm already working with another creator to put together materials that will walk creators through the steps of working with brands, including what to expect and how to protect themselves," she said.

Update 06/09/22, 11:41 a.m. ET: This article was updated with photos, video and comment from Liz Marek.

Uncommon Knowledge

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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