Haha, yea it sounds like you got an expensive cake. It sounds like your staff migth've pulled a fast one on you, that's too bad. I hope at least they enjoyed it.
I guess you could look at it as a lesson on cake in Japan. Sweet doesn't always equate to good. In fact, cake that's too sweet is kind of a downer to Japanese people as far as I can tell. There is kind of a subtle sweetness and lightness to Japanese cake.
Christmas cakes really are a work of art though. I have to admit, I laughed quite a bit the first time I'd heard of the concept. I thought to myself "those Japanese have got it all wrong", when in fact, upon further inspection, it is something from the UK. It's funny how it seemed so foreign to me even though it was something from the UK, another English speaking country. Imagine that
. No offense to you UK folks by the way, you did bless the world with "Last Christmas", after all (which I'd also never heard of before I came to Japan... shows how much I know I guess).
I wonder if the idea of dating on Christmas in Japan didn't come from that song... in all seriousness though, does anyone know where that custom came from? I'm quite curious.