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For many people, witnessing drama firsthand — without being part of it — can be an entirely intriguing experience. Accidentally seeing someone crash a wedding or hearing about a piece of gossip can inspire both sympathy and a selfish desire to learn more. For many, that’s why internet drama can be alluring and worth following.
Two women are going viral for a piece of “cake drama” that has taken TikTok by surprise. The reason why? One content creator, Kaity (@cake.by.kaity), claimed that another burgeoning cake pop maker named Ashley (@sweettreatsbyashley) “stole” a Fruity Pebbles cake pop recipe. Then she subsequently threatened to sue the cake pop maker over it.
The story quickly went viral on social media, as Ashley posted a video that received more than 24.6 million views. In it, she explained how Kaity allegedly direct messaged her threats.
Subsequently, Kaity deleted a video discussing Ashley’s “recipe theft” and posted an apology. That video has received more than 12.4 million views.
‘I never thought I’d have to make a video like this’
In her viral post, Ashley started off by saying she didn’t think she’d have to ever address a situation like the one she was in. At the time, the creator explained that she was crying in a Walmart parking lot because “ Cakes by Kaity made a video about me, saying that I stole her Fruity Pebbles recipe.”
Ashley continued, “ I use a lot of inspiration from a lot of different creators. I just started my cake pop thing, like two [expletive] weeks ago. She posted a video on, like, her cake mix ratios, and that’s what I used.” The content creator said that Cakes by Kaity claimed she kept some secrets “just for [her].” Ashley said she only followed some of the recipe from Cakes by Kaity’s video and that she had never purchased the content creator’s cookbook.
Despite this, Cakes by Kaity came forward and threatened to sue her. In a now deleted post, Cakes by Kaity allegedly said that Ashley “stole” her copyrighted recipe.
“ Girl, I don’t have your recipe. I never bought your [expletive] cookbook. Like, what are you talking about? And I started this [expletive] two [expletive] weeks ago, and now you’re coming at me… She messaged me, and she’s like, ‘You’re lying. I’m [expletive] suing you. You will hear from my lawyer. Take the video down,’” Ashley said.
Ashley questioned why someone was threatening to sue her over cake pops. “ Like, for what? [expletive] cake pops, dude,” Ashley added. “Like, I understand that’s your business. I understand, but I didn’t steal your [expletive] recipe.”
Can cake pop recipes be copyrighted?
Copyrights do cover a number of things. But they cannot cover “the list of ingredients that appear, the underlying process for making the dish, or the resulting dish itself” for any given recipe, at least in the United States.
The U.S. Copyright Office is incredibly explicit in saying that “A mere listing of ingredients or contents, or a simple set of directions, is uncopyrightable. As a result, the Office cannot register recipes consisting of a set of ingredients and a process for preparing a dish.” Recipes can technically be copyrighted when they have elements that amount to “substantial literary expression.” A collection of recipes together can be copyrighted, but the individual recipes generally cannot.
Individuals at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP further explain that “establishing any intellectual property rights, much less protecting them in a recipe, is challenging. Indeed, ‘stealing’ another chef’s recipe (and of course putting your own ‘take’ on it) is a time-honored tradition in the food service business.”
How did Kaity respond?
After receiving an ample amount of criticism for her response, Cakes by Kaity eventually posted an apology video, in which she said she “[expletive] up” the situation.
“ I saw a cake pop recipe written within a TikTok caption,” Kaity said. “I thought it came from my recipe book because I was tagged, and I handled the situation poorly. The legal advice I received in the past said this was wrong because I had a copyright on the book, but you guys quickly informed me, and now I know that that’s not the case.”
Kaity said that after her encounter with Ashley, she received death threats. “ Hundreds of wishes that I would end my life, racial slurs against my family, people telling me I should be sterilized, that I should be put down,” Kaity said. “But I do just want everybody to know that I take accountability for the way I responded to Ashley.”
Despite this, the content creator lost some of her audience. Commenters on one of Ashley’s follow-up videos even highlighted that Kaity lost a collaboration opportunity with Daisy Makes, a “commercial cake pop bakery making disc pops.”
On her end, Ashley encouraged individuals to not send hate toward Kaity. “I don’t want anyone to feel the way I felt when this all started,” the content creator said.
Creators spoof Cakes by Kaity
Despite the severity of the initial situation, people began to “meme” on Cakes by Kaity. The content creator got spoofed in a viral video posted by PrezBritt (@drunkatthepre), which has received more than three million views.
Viewers joked about the situation in the comment section, with some commenters even posting videos of “Neil The Seal,” a famous destructive southern elephant seal, while referring to Kaity and her attempt to lord over her recipe.
Overall, viewers discussed the somewhat ridiculous nature of “cake drama” — as well as the idea of copyrighting Fruity Pebbles cake pops.
“You don’t own the copyright to this story. It’s already been done. Ignore people saying it’s ok to parody something. I already decided to copyright parody’s,” one viewer humorously said.
On the flipside, many people said they’d be ordering from Sweet Treats by Ashley in the near future. The content creator has even posted videos of her cake pop cart, and she’s received positive reviews for her “Cosmic Brownie Cake Pops.”
Buzz News reached out to Sweet Treats by Ashley and Cakes by Kaity via TikTok direct message for comment.
