She wanted a gender reveal cake — but wouldn’t tell me the gender. So I made it grey.

I’m a hobby baker, and my pregnant sister asked me to make her gender reveal cake. She said she wanted to be surprised too and that someone would email me the baby’s gender. That “someone” never did. The deadline came, and with no info, I made the cake completely grey — inside and out — with little fondant clouds. It tasted great, but looked grim. At the party, she cut it open, looked furious, and said it was “passive-aggressive.” I told her I wasn’t going to guess or…

I love baking. It started as a hobby, but now I get paid under the table for weddings, baby showers, and parties. So when my sister asked me to make her gender reveal cake, I was all in.

I asked her to send me the baby’s gender so I could prep the classic pink or blue filling. She said she wanted to be surprised too, and that “someone” would email me the info.

That “someone” never did.

The deadline came, and I had nothing to work with. No gender, no hint — nothing. So I leaned into “neutral.” The cake was completely grey — grey fondant, grey filling, little fondant clouds on top. Tasted amazing. Looked like a cinder block.

At the reveal, she cut into it, expecting a burst of color… and instead saw grey sponge. Her smile vanished. People murmured. Her husband looked confused. She pulled me aside and accused me of being “passive-aggressive.”

I calmly reminded her: no one told me the gender. I wasn’t about to guess or make something up for someone else’s baby reveal.

Now my mom says I embarrassed her and “should’ve tried harder.” Tried harder to do what — summon the gender through psychic baking powers?

Sometimes, you can’t deliver the reveal people want… if they never reveal it to you in the first place.