Binky Felstead has been publicly called out by a bakery owner for seemingly asking for a free cake for her son Wilder’s third birthday in exchange for an Instagram post.
Reshmi Bennett, 42, who owns luxury cake business Anges de Sucre in London, has previously hit headlines over her fury at influencers requesting free cakes.
And her social media is full of posts from the baker making it clear she does not accept ‘exposure’ as payment.
But it seems her message was missed by Made In Chelsea star Binky – whose personal assistant asked Reshmi to make a cake for her youngest son Wilder’s third birthday.
Taking to Instagram on Thursday, Reshmi shared a collection of screenshots showing Binky’s team requesting a ‘gifted’ yellow train cake with an ‘Instagram post collaboration’ in return.
Reshmi went as far as to make a spoof GoFundMe page asking for donations of £1.4million for the cake – in reference to celebrity Binky’s huge online follower count. She is also thought to have a net worth of £1.4million.
Binky Felstead has been publicly called out by a bakery owner for reportedly asking for a free cake for her son Wilder’s third birthday in exchange for an Instagram post (Binky and Wilder pictured in September)
Reshmi Bennett, 42, who owns luxury cake business Anges de Sucre in London, has previously hit headlines over her fury at influencers requesting free cakes
Initially when Reshmi shared the screenshots she had redacted Binky’s name from the emails – but ultimately named the star in a later post.
A representative for Binky told the Daily Mail: ‘This was a standard contra enquiry from Binky’s PA, offering social media exposure in exchange for a birthday cake.
‘Binky was not directly involved in these email exchanges, and is currently away on a family holiday. We completely understand that this type of collaboration is not for everyone and respect the decision to decline.
‘It is, however, disappointing to see a private and friendly enquiry shared publicly, and contra deals like this are widely used within this industry and usually mutually beneficial.’
The original form request sent to Reshmi’s business read: ‘Yellow train cake! We would also be interested in collaborating [redacted] who has 1.4million Instagram followers.’
In response to the request, Reshmi shared she had tried to convert it into a sale as she asked for the client’s budget, post code and image references.
But Binky’s team pushed back, replying: ‘Thanks for your message. Would you be interested in collaborating on the cake? As in the cake would be gifted in exchange for a story on [redacted]’s Instagram?’
Rather than opting for a ‘sassy’ response – which Reshmi said would be her typical approach – she instead expressed her disappointment and referenced Binky’s ‘wealth’ before suggesting it would be a better look for the reality star if she paid.
Binky’s team replied saying she had made ‘a valid point about optics’ and would speak to the star before coming back to Reshmi on whether they were happy to pay.
It was at this point that Reshmi took to Instagram to share screenshots of the communication between them.
She then received a ‘disheartened’ email from Binky’s team after they had seen her post – where they insisted the goal was never to ‘grab a free cake’.
They added: ‘Binky’s Instagram content is hugely focused around her children and she gets a lot of engagement from this sort of content so it can often have a very positive effect on businesses in terms of giving them exposure to audiences they may not be able to reach normally.’
Reshmi’s social media is full of posts from the baker making it clear she does not accept ‘exposure’ as payment and does make free cakes for celebrities
Taking to Instagram on Thursday, Reshmi shared a collection of screenshots showing Binky’s team requesting a ‘gifted’ yellow train cake
Reshmi went as far as to make a spoof GoFundMe page asking for donations of £1.4million for the cake – in reference to celebrity Binky’s huge online follower count
Binky’s team pushed back when Reshmi tried to convert the request into a sale, replying: ‘Thanks for your message. Would you be interested in collaborating on the cake?’
Rather than opting for a ‘sassy’ response – which Reshmi said would be her typical approach – she instead expressed her disappointment
Binky’s team finished the email by apologising for getting in contact as ‘this sort of partnership is not appreciated by you’ and insisting they meant no offence.
Following the reply from Binky’s team, Reshmi created the GoFundMe page with an AI-generated Made In Chelsea-inspired yellow train cake.
She wrote on the post: ‘We recently received a lovely request from the team of Binky Felstead for a very special cake – a yellow train creation for her soon-to-be 3-year-old son.
‘We were genuinely thrilled. Children’s cakes are some of our favourites to make, and this one sounded like a joy and that too for such a popular reality TV star. However, there was just one small hiccup… the proposed payment method was an Instagram story.
‘Now, we completely understand that times are tough, especially for influencers. Binky may well have had to rearrange a sponsored Dubai holiday at short notice and instead travel to the US to spend Easter with her family under much duress.
‘We were also reassured that her 1.4million followers are highly engaged, especially when her posts feature her children… because, as we all know, the internet is such a wholesome place with absolutely no creeps at all.
‘Unfortunately, our energy supplier is very old fashioned and continues to insist on being paid in actual money rather than exposure or engagement.
‘We did try to explain, but they simply will not accept Instagram tags as legal tender.
‘So, in the spirit of collaboration, we thought we’d appeal to Binky’s 1.4 million followers.
‘If each person contributed just £1, we could create the most incredible yellow train cake imaginable and also keep our energy supplier happy.’
Binky’s team replied saying she had made ‘a valid point about optics’ and would speak to the star before coming back to Reshmi on whether they were happy to pay
It was at this point that Reshmi took to Instagram to share screenshots of the communication between them
Following the reply from Binky’s team, Reshmi created the GoFundMe page with an AI-generated Made In Chelsea-inspired yellow train cake
Binky is far from the only star to have asked for free cake in exchange for engagement.
Back in 2023 Catherine Tyldesley ended up cancelling her 40th birthday party after being ‘blindsided’ by online backlash surrounding a fierce row over free cake.
The former Coronation Street star had hired party planners NVRLND to manage the do, but they caused controversy by asking an independent bakery to make a large birthday cake, a smaller birthday cake for Tyldesley’s husband plus 100 cupcakes for free.
The company told Rebecca Severs of Three Little Birds Bakery that payment for the order would be ‘in the form of promotion’, but she hit back at the PR and declined the offer, saying her staff ‘can’t feed their kids with exposure on Instagram.’
Rebecca, from Keighley, shared a Facebook post with a screenshot of an email exchange between her bakery and the PR company which represented an unidentified ‘well-known’ celebrity asking for a cake for a 40th birthday party in September.
They also requested 100 cupcakes and an extra smaller birthday cake for her husband.
The founder of Three Little Birds Bakery wrote: ‘This poor celebrity apparently can’t afford to pay people for their products and services. Spare a thought! What happened to women supporting women.’
In response, Catherine shared a video saying: ‘Utterly bizarre. I don’t really know what to say. I mean I hope the cake lady got the exposure she was craving.’
Starting the video, the actress said: ‘Cake gate! WHAT!’
‘So I had no idea those emails were being sent. I’m not working with the lovely Ok magazine on anything that I’m aware of and NVRLND are an amazing company.
‘They’ve supplied me with performers in the past;. They’re insane and they’ve been completely misrepresented in this matter.’
She went on to brand the scandal ‘utterly bizarre’ and suggested Rebecca was ‘seeking exposure’ with her Facebook post sharing the email.
The email from the celebrity management team, which was posted on Facebook by Rebecca this week, read: ‘We are organising a 40th Birthday Party for a well-known celebrity on the 1st of September 2023 in Manchester.
‘In return for being a supplier for the event, payment would be made in the form of promotion on their socials with over 700K followers, as well as promoted on OK Magazine.
‘They will be crediting all the suppliers on these platforms.’
It continued: ‘The party has a guest list full of celebrities and industry people from tv/film and music, so loads of work would come from it.’
Back in 2023 Catherine Tyldesley ended up cancelling her 40th birthday party after being ‘blindsided’ by online backlash surrounding a fierce row over free cake
Rebecca Severs, from Keighley, won praise for her response to a company asking for a free birthday cake for Catherine
The email claimed to be from the management company of a ‘well-known celebrity’ who was having a 40th birthday party
Rebecca emailed the company back, explaining that she would be declining the ‘very generous offer’
The email went on to outline that the birthday theme has been designed with ‘pinks, sparkles and a touch of flamingos’.
They then requested one birthday cake with the theme ‘camp as tits’, as well as 100 cupcakes.
Finally, they asked for another, smaller, birthday cake because ‘it’s actually her husband’s birthday that day and we wanted to surprise him.’
In return, the small bakery would be rewarded ‘in the form of promotion on their [the celeb’s] socials with over 700k followers, as well as promoted in OK Magazine,’ while the party promised ‘a guest lists full of celebrities and industry people from TV / film and music, so loads of work would come from it’.
Rebecca did not know it was the former Strictly star and mum-of-two she would be providing for but it mattered not.
In a statement, Leeds-based event management firm NVRLND said its email had been ‘completely misconstrued’.
Founder Victoria Eames said: ‘NVRLND contacted Three Little Birds Bakery to offer them the opportunity to collaborate with one of our clients to cater for a party.
‘As part of the collaboration, our client would cover all of Three Little Birds Bakery’s expenses and costs in exchange for social media content and local and national exposure for their business. To confirm, NVRLND are also retained on the same expenses-only basis.
‘We selected Three Little Birds Bakery to collaborate with a view to support a local business and help them grow.
‘Our aim is to connect small local businesses with the opportunity of growth and the possibility of a full diary which is what we have experienced when working on past collaborations. We would never expect any business to be out of pocket and nor would our client.
‘Our email communication to Three Little Birds has unfortunately been completely misconstrued.
‘Due to contractual obligations, we are unable to comment on the identity of our client.’
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