I have often thought about this. Sometimes I have noticed that if we buy a cake from the display, they are not fresh. I have experienced this a couple of times. Since then, whenever we have to buy cakes, we order for it beforehand. That way we get fresh cakes. Even though the bakery has very few cakes on display – only around 6-7 cakes, still there must be some leftovers. I don’t think that they throw it away. . Maybe they keep it for anyone who arrives to buy it before their fresh cakes are ready.
@janemariesayed Yes. That should have known their business and they must be making products as per selling. Here I have seen cakes even at night which many time stay unsold. That's why I got the question that what they do to those cakes, as next day or after that those cakes will be un-fresh and people not going to buy that thing. But yes they have lots of things to do and that I have learned from this discussions. So glad to I have started this and thank you all of you.
If you buy something from a bakery and it doesn't taste fresh then you do have a right to take it back. You can either exchange it or get your money back. You have the same consumer rights in a bakery as you do anywhere else. Some items last for a week while some last for less than that. So rotation is very important. If there is a particular item that you like but you want it fresh, then you can ask what day of the week they are made. Each bakery has its own routine and different items are made on different days. By asking what day that item is made ensures that you can know which day you will get a fresh one. Some things are made in advance, like sponges for example. Sponges would be made in bulk and a few made up and put on display while the others would be frozen for future use. When they need a sponge, for example, they would defrost it and decorate it as they wish before putting it on display to sell.
@janemariesayed I wonder if those consumer cases are getting solve. Though I don't think people cares here about it. They will just skip that shop from next time. Thanks for other information, it was new for me. Yes rotation is important and they must have known about it and they should be ordering further as per their usage only. By frozen way yes it can be last long.
@naruto100 The consumer cakes are made in what traditional bakers call a production bakery. In a production bakery, more additives are used to preserve the cake and give it a longer shelf life. The taste is never the same when it is made in a traditional bakery. One of my favourite cakes is the Battenburg. When this is made fresh it is delicious and moist but when I buy one that is production baked I can really taste the difference as the sponge is quite often dry even though it is still in the use by date. A traditional bakery is rather like eating a cake that has been baked at home. And there is nothing better than home cooking! If a cake isn't fresh it can always be taken back to the shop and exchanged or refunded. As I was a baker for many years, I would choose a traditional bakery over a production bakery any day.
Okay, here I got another experience related to same so I am posting it. I just purchased cake for my mom and dad yesterday night. At 12 we decided to cut the cake. And found that it was not fresh, in fact it was smelling really bad. So today morning I have to go to bakery again to exchange the cake. Bakery shop keeper exchanged it without any messing. He told me that these days are really hot, so may be because of that it became like this. As he was polite I take the another one without more arguments. But yes next time I will think twice before going there again.
I have long thought about this and i believe it's not limited to only bakeries. Some of them as the others have mentioned make cakes only for display so those will be thrown out at some point, as for the ones made for consumption i would assume they are conserved until they go bad.
I have gotten more of a sweet tooth lately and I really have to say that those things are usually pretty expensive, and I kind of miss not even thinking about them. Then again, they are tasty from time to time.
@Zero I don't think they are only for display purpose. Yes they put them to attract people but they sale those cakes and items too as throwing them will be total lose for them. I don't think any one will think about it. Later on they may be selling such stuff at discount rate. But yes not all shop keepers are doing that.
Lots of times bakeries will advertise day old bread, and will have bread and other baked goods that are not that fresh, in a marked down area. This is one of the ways to get a bargain on items that may not be fresh any longer. It is the way to do things easily without catching your customers offguard.
@Ke Gordon Yes may be. Just few days back I got the cake which wasn't fresh and taste wasn't good. So I have took it back to shop and they exchanged it too. Here shops don't give any discount even a night time. I wonder why?
