Mum's outrage over teddy bear with 'totally inappropriate detail' on girl's christening cake from Bolton firm Occasion Cakes

Sharon Green says she was horrified when she picked up the cake from Occasion Cakes for her three-year-old daughter Tahlia Rose's christening and saw that it had a "crease" that makes the teddy look like it has female genitals.

Mrs Green complained to the firm and demanded a refund, but she has not been given her money back.

The Bolton firm, which has branches in Chorley Old Road and Wigan town centre, said the crease represents the seam where the bear has been "sewn together".

Occasion Cakes is run by husband and wife Steve and Angela Howarth, who say they have never received any such complaints before and that the crease is used on both girl and boy teddies.

They claim Mrs Green, aged 45, has made a "bizarre and distasteful" connection.

Mrs Green, who has two other children, 20-year-old Rhianna and 10-year-old Tomas, ordered the cake in January from the Wigan branch, paying about £60, and she says the crease was not in the original display model she chose.

She picked up the cake two days before the christening, on June 14, and she only looked at it the following day.

Mrs Green said: "I was shocked — I just presumed it would be okay, and the same as what I ordered."

When she took it back to the shop, an assistant gave her some flowers to preserve the teddy's modesty, but Mrs Green was not able to stick them down.

She said guests the event at Beeches Hotel in Standish kept moving the flowers and poking fun at the cake.

Mrs Green said: "This was not the cake I ordered — the display model definitely didn't have this crease on it.

"It is completely inappropriate. The cake is supposed to be for a three-year-old girl.

"It is not just me who thought this, it was a talking point at the christening — everyone was commenting on it."

In a statement, a spokesman for the firm, which has been established for 30 years, said it had made efforts to address the complaint.

He added that all cakes are handmade, so there may be slight variations from display models and completed cakes.

The spokesman said: "The small bear on top of the cake is exactly that — a teddy bear — and the crease on its stomach is supposed to represent the seam where the bear is sewn together.

"We have been making girl and boy teddies this way for 30 years and no-one has ever drawn such a bizarre, and, quite frankly, distasteful, connection.

"Also we made every effort to sort out this customer’s ‘problem’.

"A member of our staff at the Wigan shop even came back after closing for the night to give her edible flowers to put on the cake to cover up that part of the teddy ornament."

Mrs Green and her husband Chris, of Rushwood Park, Standish, said they did not eat the cake as they were still hoping to claim a refund.

Instead, the guests enjoyed strawberry gateau and profiteroles.