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What's a Wreck?

A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.

Now, don't you have a photo you want to send me? ;)

- Jen
Tuesday
Dec302008

Why You Don't Raid Other People's Refrigerators

[opening fridge] "Hey Sarah, you got any bee...AAAAUUGGHHH!!!!"


For those of you who would otherwise insist on knowing the whys and wherefores of this photo, here's what submitter Sarah M. had to say for herself (yes, she's the baker):

Subject: I swear I do get paid for making cakes

"The attached however was for a friend's surprise birthday party at a Chinese restaurant and since the birthday girl was born in the year of the rat, well I thought a giant rat cake would be appropriate."

Good thinking. Rats as a whole get far too little face time in the world of cakes.

"However my air conditioning failed halfway through the process and the butter cream icing began to destabilize and well all I could save was the head with the light up eyes."

Yep, see that tin foil "tail"? It's electric!

"The recipient of the cake claimed to my face it was the best d**n thing she had ever received.

- Sarah (I have more talent than this) M."

Sarah, I think I speak for everyone here when I say: you really need to buy better beer. Is that Miller Lite I spy in the door? Tsk, tsk. Oh, and also: we should all be so lucky to have friends make us electrified rodent heads for our birthday celebrations. Right, guys?

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Reader Comments (118)

I, for one, would like to give Sarah a medal, and a 6-pack of better beer!

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterMari

The lead up to this wreck, the frigde door open in that horror movie-esque way, the...um, look...on the Decapitated One's face all helped to make this possibly my favourite wreck.

Sarah, you're my hero!

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterPassion Fruit

I find it amusing that the fridge has a rat head and beer in it. Not much of anything else!

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterMelissa

Wow, only a true friend would do that to you. I admit, I'm rather jealous. LOL

I was born in the Year of the Horse. Unfortunately, having a decapitated horse head cake would be a bit scarier...

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterTopaz

This is a great post, Thanks! But what's with the hate for Miller Lite? Just had to put in my two cents, Hooray for Miller Lite!!!

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterdarthmoll

From all the beer snobbiness that I see I think someone will be creating a beer hate blog. Hmmm.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterSup

Don't worry Sarah, my husband has a lot of Miller Lite in our fridge, too. But we should give her a break--I think I see Sierra Nevada in there, too!

LOVE the rat. I"m making a monkey this weekend for my son's first bday. Hope I don't have to post it on here!

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterJen L.

I love it! It looks like it's supposed to! Great Idea for Halloween.

I thought that the red wire was a prop to simulate blood flow to the disembodied rat head to keep it alive.

I'm serious! Have you ever seen "the brain that wouldn't die!" it's a great old B horror flick , and they used the blood in a little tube method to keep the lady's head alive.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered Commentermandy_Reeves

That rat kicks ass! I see the Miller Lite and the Coors and the Sierra Nevada- what's the story?!

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterHilary

I don't doubt she's a talented baker, but I'm more than a little horrified to hear the submitter say that the gimormous rat head was the part she "saved"! Does that mean it originally had a body in proportion to that head?? Even if that head is only 4-5 inches across, a proportionate body must've made it a cake 2-3 feet long! And that's without a tail! An ROUS, indeed!

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterAnonymous

Hehe, this is great! I love rats - I've had ten of them! I'm also born year of the rat. I posted this link over on the ratties community on LJ, where there were actually two other (Non-wreck) rat cakes posted by a member who baked 'em.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterWendy Blackheart

Gretchen-

Last year my best friend and I made a roasted pig cake for her fiance's Hawaii Five-O themed birthday party. Sadly, the pictures did not turn out well, but it was AWESOME! Some of the guests were pretty freaked out to find an entire pig on the kitchen table until they found out it was a cake.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterRena

I love this cake. Period. It's a wreck in name only.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterRachel

Oh man, if anyone loved me enough to make me a rat cake (I love the darn critters- '85, one year shy of being born a rat poop), I think i would die from the delight. If that is only the HEAD, that body must have been HUGE! I wish I could have seen the whole thing :(

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterChuuie

Any friend who would go to the trouble of making you a giant light up rat head for you to eat on your birthday is a true and good friend. That there is Rat Head Cake love.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterMichieGrl

I think that beer is for her freeloading, no good Brother-in-Law who can't be bothered to bend down and get the good stuff.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterNancy D.

in her defense she does have Sierra Nevada.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterCharles

Wrecktastic indeed!

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterRebecca Rodgers

I love it!

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterAnonymous

I was at that party! The cake was delicious (and Red Velvet for those that were wondering)! Too Cool!

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered Commentersick and tired

All I can say is I'm glad I don't have a friend who cares enough to make me a rat cake!

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterThistledew Farm

Great Cake!!! I wish my friends would make me a cake like that instead of those crummy Costco Cakes, but like my mom always said, beggers can't be choosers!

On the Miller Lite beer- I have a co-worker who only drinks Miller Lite. If we go out to a micro-brewery he will order a Miller Lite. He loves it so much, he painted his Harley the exact blue on the Miller Lite can! How sad is that?????

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterAnonymous

I just needed to tell you how much I love this blog. It's a little moment of joy every day.

And thank you for chiding Sarah on her beer wreck, too.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterun-bride

I love that the fridge contains only the rat head, beer, and what appears to be pickles. And nothing else. At all.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterAnonymous

I swear for about 30 seconds I thought I had clicked on the "It's Lovely, I'll Take It" blog on my favorites list, and that this was a photo from one of the houses.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterAlex

Omigod... that is a RAT. I'll um...just be over here in this corner crying like a 10 year old girl.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterthecottonwife.com

HOLY CRAP, that creeped me out! It looked too dang real.

Which, of course, is a credit to the decorator.

But gad ...

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterScritzy

Rattie! *Huggles my three*

What? Rats are cute.

I would love this cake.

So would my garbagte cans...

er, rats.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterKat

Sarah. You're. AWESOME!

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterAlisonH

Oh how quickly they turn! We all should be so lucky as to have a Sarah in our lives....
such delicious wreckiness goes perfectly with Sierra Nevada.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterReam O Rama

Hey, I see some Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in that fridge and that's a GREAT beer! Maybe the Miller Lite is for the in-laws...

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterMegan in OKC

Dear Everyone:

I'm the birthday girl. I didn't even know Sarah had sent this in, but I'm glad she did. It was definitely the best cake I've ever received in my life.

In response to some of the questions:

1. Of course it was red velvet cake! With raspberry sauce to pour over each slice.

2. The eyes were battery powered, so you had to touch the two ends of the wires together to get it to light up. No electricity was wasted. (And I still have the eyes - I wired them up to a skull in my bedroom.)

3. Kong, the restaurant owner, loved the rat head cake, especially when he found out it represented the Year of the Rat (1972). He also gave me a bamboo plant.

4. I never did see the body. I wish I had.

5. I can't explain the Miller Lite, but considering some of the leftover beer we have in our beer fridge, I'm not gonna throw stones.

I'm glad everyone liked it as much as I did! Sarah's a great friend. FYI, she's in charge of my upcoming baby shower. Stay tuned.

-- Diana

PS - Cake Wrecks is one of the best sites ever.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterDiana

Anyone else, Sierra Nevada, Steel Magnolias? Anyone? Anyone else wanna point them out? I used to keep Schlitz in the fridge for friends who would drop by and drink all my beer.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterAnonymous

Give her a break on the beer. She also has some Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and, better yet, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. The latter scores an 'A' on beeradvocate.com and a 96 on ratebeer.com.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered Commentercadaverous

First time commenter long time reader.

I am wondering...what do your cakes look like? Surly they are not wrecks. Post some pics.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterRuth

Tsk, tsk, tsk....75 comments thus far and not one of y'all have mentioned the recipe for Sticky Toffee Rat Onna Stick. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R1VPAX3TGUNB9I/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm/ )

Terry Pratchett-->Discworld-->Rat cuisine. With ketchup.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterAnonymous

Rats. Why did it have to be rats?

I think you should definitely RAID other people's refrigerators...with the Extra Large Value Can. Bleeach.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterNancy B

It looks like no one has mentioned this yet, but I think there may or may not be some Sierra Nevada in there as well.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterAnonymous

What a great rat cake! LOL.

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterMary

Briefly, I thought I was at "lovelylisting.com" and this was the interior photo!

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterCellar Door

I love this cake!! I wish we could have seen the whole thing. I love that the fridge has only beer and the rat cake!

Thank you.
-kerry

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterkerry

You just KNOW you're getting old when you realize that:
(1) you don't care what kind of beer someone has, or if they have any at all, and
(2) you would rather drink swamp water than actually eat something coated in bluish-gray frosting.
((SIGH))
word thingy: (pheardis) combo urbangangslang/redneck truck bumper sticker

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered Commentersendingtheclowns

First post here, although my husband and I have shed tears laughing for several months now.

I will definitely be calling the bakery at the yellow smiley face superstore for my next birthday--I was born in the year of the Cock. Hilarity will ensue...

December 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterRita

I dunno-- someone with a fridge filled only with beer and a rat head sounds like someone I want to party with.

December 31, 2008 | Unregistered Commentermrs. q.

That's a massively kickass cake! I spy other adult beverages in there. Given the lack of other ingredients in the house, I am going to assume Sarah is young, and has no children yet. *JUUUST GUESSING*

And the Devildog drinks Miller Lite, however, he only drinks from bottles, none of that canned BS. Somehow one ended up in my fridge recently. It languishes till some poor unsuspecting sap visits. Either that or I'll spare his bottled stuff and make beer bread with it...hmmm, now there's a more productive use of such ingredients. Feed the family beer bread....wait, I just sounded like a slacker mom. Oh nevermind, no sense trying to refute what truly is.

December 31, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterFeisty Irish Wench

I'm just assuming the Miller Lites were orphan beers left by her non-beer snob friends after a party or something. We just dumped out some orphan Micelob Ultras that had been taking up space in our beer fridge for 5 years. I have ne idea who bought them or how they got here.

December 31, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterdanger girl

A rat cake would rule - provided it was supplied by friends as is clearly the case here. LOL

Mortifyd

December 31, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterMortifyd

Simply AWESOME!

December 31, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterLittle Miss Cupcake

Here I was surprised because I figured it would be for a cast party for The Nutcracker or something.

December 31, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterKookaburra

Rat Cake??? Kinda creepy! LOL
Ok so I see everyone on here getting Geeked up over the beer in the fridge more then the cake......I have to say I wouldn't touch any of it with a 10 ft. pole!! Well maybe to cook with! I live in Germany right now and once you've had "real" beer, you never go back!LOL

December 31, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterGI Smith's

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