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EXCLUSIVE: "OMG! It WAS me! I'm the Byron Bay baker who said no to Chris Hemsworth."

Last weekend, Chris Hemsworth said he’d been forced to make his daughter’s birthday cake because the local bakery didn’t have time. Now the woman who said no to making the Chris Hemsworth cake writes hilariously for Mamamia about the pain of missing out on the dinosaur cake of a lifetime.

Tara writes…

I’ve been in a little whirlwind of emotion over the past few days.

A storm in a teacup, if you will. At the pinnacle of a very busy week, a friend tagged me in a post on Facebook: “Tara Pearson to the rescue!” she said. It was a photo of a homemade dinosaur cake posted from Chris Hemsworth’s Instagram account with this caption:

“What happens when the bakery says they don’t have time to make your daughter a birthday cake? You get involved and smash one out yourself ! I call it “La TRex al la chocolate”

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“That seems vaguely familiar,” I thought. Could I have been that bakery too busy for Chris Hemsworth? He does live in the locality and I did turn a few cakes away this week. Nah! I carried on with my morning. After a fully booked week, working 12 hour days, I had stayed up until 12am on Saturday night making my daughter’s birthday cake, then got up at 5am on Sunday to finish it. After a quality five hours’ sleep, I got on with it and started preparing for the party.

If you’re not an excellent cook like Tara or Chris Hemsworth, check out this easy recipe for making a cake in a mug:

It was a great party with gorgeous friends and family. I didn’t quite have the energy for “Pin the Nose on Olaf,” or musical statues, but hey, it was a damn fine party, if I do say so myself.

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That evening, I sat on the couch with a vino and a sigh of relief. I got through it. What a week! Patting myself on the back, my mind turned back to that dinosaur cake. It was sooooo familiar… then it hit me. OMG!! It WAS me! I had actually spoken to Chris Hemsworth on the phone and I said “No” to him. Begin the inner turmoil. All those comments plastered all over the internet flashed in my mind like a scene from a movie… “Crazy” “Someone actually told you they couldn’t? lol”, “Don’t have time? Pshh do they even know who they are talking to?”. I remembered the phone conversation. It all came flooding back. He didn’t say who he was, which I think is wonderful and so refreshing – a celebrity as well known as Chris Hemsworth didn’t play the celeb card. Even when I said no. What a guy! Seriously. Respect.

 

Little old me baking up a storm in my new cupcake apron ☺️. #busy #newapron #bakingupastorm A photo posted by Byron Bay Cake Boutique (@byronbaycakeboutique) on Jan 16, 2016 at 4:18pm PST

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So the story goes, this anonymous guy needed a dinosaur cake for his daughter’s birthday on Sunday. It was Wednesday. I had a baby shower, two weddings, three birthday cakes and my daughter’s birthday cake and party to organize. I had already turned away three other last-minute orders. You see, it’s just me in the kitchen. Each cake is made to order and handcrafted. I don’t pump out hundreds of cakes per week. They are all special and made with love. To book in too many would take away time from my other valued clients, who also deserve a beautiful cake for their special celebration.

Scroll through to see some of the beautiful cakes baked by Tara. (Post continues after video.)

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I regretfully said no to the order. I love a good dinosaur cake, especially when it’s for a girl! To hell with gender stereotypes, I say! At no point was I dismissive or rude. In fact, this busy baker was also quite the helpful baker. I did pass on the details of another local cake designer who may have been able to help, but at such short notice I advised it was probably unlikely. There was discussion of him making the cake himself which I thought was very sweet. He said he could put a plastic dinosaur on top. “That’s the spirit!” I thought. “Yes! She would love that,” I said. I wished him the best of luck with the cake. And that was that… until La TRex al la chocolate reared it’s chocolatey, smarty covered head.

What to do?!! Leave a comment on Instagram apologising for turning down his cake order? But that would expose me… Surely the thousands upon thousands of Thor fans who have already said I am “crazy” would pelt me, not with stones and rotten tomatoes (or possibly a shoe), but hurtful taunts which may make me develop a nervous twitch and retreat from society to a house in the woods with a entourage of cats. I beat myself up for a couple of days, then started to make light of it. “So, I was talking to Chris Hemsworth the other day…” “I’m so busy that I turn away Hollywood super stars.” “Check out my new T-shirt; caption: ‘I said NO to Chris Hemsworth’ and this one for my husband, ‘My wife said NO to Chris Hemsworth’.” These little jokes got me through the dark times. And now it’s gone viral… Every mainstream media outlet seems to be running with it. What have I done!??? (schlurping wine). Face palm.

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Check out a gallery of Chris Hemsworth, his wife and kids below. (Post continues…)

But then I realize… this has actually been so positive!! That homemade La TRex al la chocolate is the pure manifestation of the love that a father has for his daughter. There is nothing more special than that. And the icing on the cake (pardon the pun) – I think Chris Hemsworth’s already outstanding reputation just went through the roof! He da man!

So, if you read this Chris… please accept my apologies for not taking your order. And high five on the super awesome effort with TRex. Whenever I can, I do squeeze in last-minute orders, but unfortunately you caught me on an extremely busy week. If you ever need a cake in the future I would truly love to make one for you and your family. Maybe give me more than 4 days notice though ;). Call me!

If you do want to get in touch with Tara, here are her details: 

Tara Pearson
Byron Bay Cake Boutique