Inspiration vs Perspiration
July 10, 2008 I know this post is going to test the limits of my credibility with you, faithful Cake Wrecks readers, so here is the originating site, provided by Summer from TX, to prove I am not making this up.
First, the inspiration:
Which isn't bad, I guess, if you've got a Brave Heart kind of vibe going for your wedding. Certainly it's executed well.
Anyway, here is what the paid, "professional" baker provided:
Erm.
[glancing between the two photos]
It’s like seeing double, isn’t it? I mean, sure, the second one is collapsed in on itself, slumped over to one side, and channeling a bit more Bob Marley than William Wallace, but besides all that I’d say the decorator was bang on, wouldn’t you? Ok, ok, if you wanted to get picky about it, I guess that crack in the bottom – the one you can see the cake through? – that probably should have been iced over. Oh, and the red stripe might look a little nicer if it were one continuous line – or for that matter, if the line were straight. (Perhaps a little too much Red Stripe was consumed before icing the red stripe, eh? Eh? Come on, that was freakin’ hilarious, people: Bob Marley? Jamaican beer? Booya!)
Come to think of it, maybe that mass of squiggles in the mid section isn’t the best example of plaid I’ve ever seen, either. [tilting head to one side] Huh. Yeah. Ok, Summer, you got me: I can sort of see why the bride sued.
Reader Comments (205)
The more I love at both pictures, the more I keep laughing....uncontrollably. That second cake looks like something my little nephew made about of playdoh!
bahahahaha
Aw C'mon - I went to the original link and it says that the bad cake picture is from the cake that was actually AT HER RECEPTION. No bride in her right mind would allow that cake into her reception - casts some doubt on the whole story I think.
I really appreciate mot of your comments. But a couple of you are a little deluded. We didn't spend "an entire year" in court suing over "just a cake." We had paid half of the cost of the cake before the wedding, and had left a check with the reception coordinator for the other half. The cake was delivered to the reception while the wedding ceremony was going on. The baker claimed that she had been in a minor car accident on the way to the reception, and that she had tried her best to fix what had happened (this she told to the coordinator), and said that "of course, they shouldn't worry about the second half of the payment". (The coordinator wasn't going to pay her anyway!) When we got ahold of the baker after the wedding, we told her that not only were we not going to worry about the second half, but we wanted the first half refunded. Though she agreed on the phone - several phone calls, over a period of months - she never refunded our money, so we took her to small claims court, where we won the judgment...but she soon after filed bankruptcy so we didn't get squat.
That said, it WAS tasty - just ugly!
Lynda, I think you showed amazing restraint. I'm afraid I probably would have done this woman physical harm. What an atrocious thing to do! And people, it isn't "just a cake," it's a business person utterly failing to follow through on their contracted obligations. If you paid for a brand new 46 inch plasma screen TV, and got home to discover that someone had delivered a 14 inch TV from 1985 with rabbit ears, I suspect you'd want your money back. That's basically what happened here, only in cake form.
Thank you, Bianca! And, if it weren't for my calm and sensible husband, physical harm WOULD have been done! There were plenty of Scots, Irish and Sicilians there to take care of it for me!
I wish I could see the judge's face when presented with the photo evidence. Surely there was stifled laughter? Or are there people actually able to see that and not laugh til they pee?
I want to add my 2 cents in about this disaster. I dont think of myself as a professional cake decorator but i have done a faw wedding cakes for money. first, for me it is one of the most stressful cakes to make. It needs to be as near to perfect as possible because this is not just another birthday where you have one every year. Most get married with the expectation this will be it. Brides go to amazing levels to have the perfect day. I have had one near catastrophy and I cried for an hour and wondered what to do. I never would have asked for the rest of my money and probably shown up with a refund and the cake so the bride could decide what to serve. I am glad the cake tasted good. I know the heat or humidity effects cake but this "professional" should know how to deal with that in the area they live and work. It is pretty obvious there is no support in the lower layers also. If you compare the two pictures even it the cake wasnt "melting" it still looks nothing like the example. I dont know if the bride wanted less cake than the original or what but nothing about the deliverd cake says professional.My heart goes out to you Lynda and I am happy you have a good calming infulence in your husband. and I am sorry you didnt get your mony back. **side note, your baby is beautiful
Wow, THANK YOU Linda for your insight and wonderful comments! It was obvious that this lady didn't even prepare to make our cake as promised as shown by the colors that she used and threw it (literally) together at the last moment. I'm still working on getting different angles posted! Thank you again for your kind words.
Friggin' love it!
while i feel bad for the bride, i'm surprised you didn't consider the original cake oh-so-ugly. braveheart indeed!
This cake looks like Jabba the Hut at his 5th (clown-themed) birthday party! You should advise readers to invest in Depends before checking out this blog.
i think it is sad some people think that the bride should have laughed at this situation and not gone through so much trouble suing. that cake looked like someone sat on it. it looked nothing like that cake she had wanted BEFORE it started to melt. it was an epic fail on all levels. the fact that the idiot who made this cake went bankrupt lets you know she was making crappy cakes for everyone! i mean, i would be able to laugh about the situation NOW in life, but at the moment where i walk into my wedding reception and all i see is a pile of crap where there should be a gorgeous cake i paid good money for....i might have cried or at the very least, stabbed the idiot who left the cake there.
it makes a GREAT story, but i do feel bad for the bride and groom who had to suffer at that moment.
Yeah, I totally agree with Bianca on this. Do you people who are saying "it's just a cake" realize that wedding cakes can cost hundreds of dollars? Would you really be OK with basically flushing $600 down the toilet? Cause that's what this is like. What if you paid that kind of money for, I don't know, some kind of home repair that turned out to be crap? You wouldn't be a little upset? You'd just laugh about it? Suure.
It's Al Borlin's wedding cake! XD
I agree that the correct reaction was to take the baker to small claims court. If a baker finds at the last minute that they are unable to deliver the cake as promised they should at least be able to create or obtain a presentable back up (even it it's completely fake stand-in and you serve the tasty destroyed cake from the kitchen). I would have been upset on my wedding day if I saw this but would probably enjoy the memory in future years as a funny story to share.
I find that the people who keep insulting the taste of the bride by complaining about the original cake are extremely annoying. The original cake may not be to my taste but it is well constructed, innovative, and very likely fit with the personality of the bride and groom.
As a side note: the repetition of some of the comments (especially questions that have already been answered or details that have been clarified) are a waste of time. If you're going to comment on something, put forth the effort to read the comments that come before yours.
I hope it at least tasted good. Maybe the person here who knows the groom can ask him.
I just now saw that Lynda replied to this-Yay! I would LOVE to know how much you paid for that awful cake.
OMG, this cake is so depressing! I can't believe there are people who think its just a cake! I'm not a professional baker but I'm the one who bakes the cakes for all occasions with family and friends... Even I could get pretty damn close to that inspiration cake! I'm glad it tasted good but even I wanted to cry from just looking at the cake.
Just out of curiosity, how much did you lose for that tasty monstrosity?
I was one of the anonymous posters (August 21, 2008 4:25 PM; wasn't logged in at the time) who remarked that it was a little ridiculous to spend all that time in court over "just a cake." And I am basing that on the following statements:
...but it has certainly haunted me for over 6 years now, and I'm sure, for the rest of my life!
Well, needless to say, she was forced to return our money (duh) and for some reason, the judge wouldn't grant me emotional distress (WHY???)
Um, because if getting the wrong cake on your wedding day is the worst thing that ever happens to you, you are a very fortunate person. Taken from wiki:
-The intent of the act need not be to bring about emotional distress. A reckless disregard for the likelihood of causing emotional distress is sufficient... For example, if a defendant refused to inform a plaintiff of the whereabouts of the plaintiff's child for several years, though that defendant knew where the child was the entire time, the defendant could be held liable for IIED even though the defendant had no intent to cause distress to the plaintiff.
Now, to me, that example sounds a heck of a lot more serious than having a cake wreck delivered, even on one's wedding day.
-The conduct must be heinous and beyond the standards of civilized decency or utterly intolerable in a civilized society.
Are you really going to try to make that argument?
The emotional distress rule is designed to prevent people from being unduly harassed or to compensate them for truly hurtful things. This sooo doesn't qualify, and the judge must have agreed if you didn't get the judgment.
I fully agree that you should have been compensated the value of the cake, so going to small claims court over that was definitely justifiable. If she declared BK, that sucks but there's not a lot you can do about it. A lot of people lose money when someone goes bankrupt.
But at some point, try to realize that you're very lucky if this is the worst thing you ever need to be in court over. Haunt you for the rest of your life? I'm not objecting to you being compensated for the cake. I'm just expressing surprise that it is STILL bugging you 6+ years later. That's pretty extreme.
"The intent of the act need not be to bring about emotional distress. A reckless disregard for the likelihood of causing emotional distress is sufficient"
Check. I'd say delivering that cake is a reckless disregard.
"The conduct must be heinous and beyond the standards of civilized decency or utterly intolerable in a civilized society"
Heinous - check. Delivering that cake to a wedding when you know it is unacceptably bad (and how could the baker not have known??) is pretty heinous.
Beyond the standards ... intolerable in a civilized society - check. Please let me know in what civilized society such a thing is tolerable. And at somebody's wedding, no less.
The wiki bit that's posted doesn't say at what level the distress need be inflicted.
Just sayin'.
Did the decorator have 2 glass eyes? Was she decorating by braille?
J.R.M.
I used these cake photos a few years ago as examples when I taught a class on legal investigation (an exercise in how to determine the parties in a potential liability case).
The website where I originally found the photos and story is gone, so I couldn't show them to a friend of mine.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane...and also glad to see there was some resolution, Lynda, if imperfect!
Lynda, I know it was delivered late but even at that point after seeing how terrible it is, I would have sent the coordinator herself out to the supermarket or Costco to buy a sheet cake or a few dozen cupcakes. Just displaying that cake is embarassing.
"I'd rather feign a stroke than hand over this monstrosity" (hopefully I got that right)...
It reminded me somehow of a woman who attends our Unitarian Fellowship who is also a Humanist minister who performs weddings locally.
She was hired by a friend of mine to do their wedding. The day before the wedding, she called to tell them she couldn't do the wedding because her house had burned down.
My friend was, needless to say, terribly upset for her, commiserated, and said she would try and locate someone quickly and not to worry.
The next year, at another friend's wedding, the bride was relating to me how the minister she had originally hired had called her the day before the wedding to tell her that she couldn't do the wedding because... her house burned down the day before.
I said This wasn't by any chance XXX, was it?"
"Yes! How did you know?"
Oddly enough, I had seen XXX that morning at the Fellowship and neither she or her husband mentioned anything about her house burning down the day before.
Nor did she mention it when I attended a meeting in the house where she had lived for the last 20 years which was (miraculously) in remarkable shape despite having "burned down" a month earlier.
Several years later, yet another friend told me his had engaged a Humanist minister to do his upcoming ceremony.
I said "It wasn't by any chance XXX, was it?"
"Yes... How did you know?"
I told him and suggested that he either get someone else or have a back-up in case she canceled. The opted to have someone at the ready rather than concern his son and his bride-to-be about the possibility of this eventuality.
Amazingly, her house did not burn down and she did perform the ceremony.
Apparently, however, she spent about 15 minutes before the ceremony pacing frantically up and down in the front of the spot where the wedding was going to be held, sweating profusely, and made a remark to the bride that she "ought to cover her tattoos because it wasn't very feminine".
My friend was very grateful when just after the ceremony, she declined the invitation to go to the reception.
hahahahahaha...that's really all I have to say to this - I'm just in awe at the work that decorator did!
This is my first (but not last)trip to this site. I sincerely hope the 'decorator' has had cataract surgery since this debacle! I also hopes she stumbles along this site and can finally see what she 'created'.
As a birder, I loved the comment about the stork dropping this 'whitewash' from the sky!
Do you have any follow-up information about this or other cakewreck lawsuits? I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one interested in hearing how this stuff turns out.
Thanks for the daily dose of laughs. I read your stuff as often as you post it and tell everyone I know about your site. You're great! :)
Lynda tells us the tale of her cake and sez: "Well, needless to say, she was forced to return our money (duh) and for some reason, the judge wouldn't grant me emotional distress (WHY???)."
I have a hunch. Did you sue in small claims court? (That would be the ideal place, since in regular civil court, with lawyers and all, it'd cost way more than you could ever hope to be awarded.) Small claims court will award actual damages only; it does not award punitive damages, nor is emotional distress a consideration. It's just about the plain value of the item lost -- in this case, I don't think the judge could legally award you any more than the value of the cake itself. It's just how small claims court works. The bonus is that you don't have to hand over half of the damages to your lawyer to pay his/her fee.
I'm so glad you survived this wreck! Hopefully, that was the worst that happened at your reception. ;-)
What. The. Hell.
Even my kindergartner thinks this is just fall-down-cackling hilarious. When a 5yr old knows better than to deliver this cake when the first one was requested... man. How drunk do you have to be to do that?
Waaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!im shock!!
This is pretty funny...I can't believe someone actually thought they could pass that cake off. Maybe the bride won't notice! I hope the couple got every penny of their money back.
I've been a cake decorator for two years and started with no experiance at all..Omgod I'm a Professional now..Thanks for letting me look good haha..I did my first wedding cake was 3 months ago and mine looked omg great up to that..
Omgoodness,Ive only been decorating cakes 2 years and I feel like a professional haha..I went in with no experience at all..
How hideous that tartan looks. If I had to make a cake like that, I would add the tartan with ribbon, not icing, as one sane might do!
This is just not right.
Evan
http://tevami.com
I think I know what that smudge on the bottom tier was from. Someone walking by thought to themself, "Is that a beautiful sculpture or is that a cake?" And then they stuck their finger in it to see.
that poor bride
What amazes me is that the baker actually had the cajones to go to court to DEFEND her/himself.
Really? You stand behind your work?? Enough to go to court???
I am not surprised that the baker had to file for bankruptcy. Makes me wonder if some other creations on this (wonderfully hilarious site) are also made by her gifted hands. I merely hope the stuff she smokes is good.
Well... actually it must be good, if she really dared to try to defend this piece of art in court.
Oh wow... Seeing as I just got married less than a year ago, I feel REALLY bad for this bride. I think I would have killed my baker if I she had showed up with this disaster. Actually I probably would have thrown it at her. And seeing as my baker was my own mother, that would have been really really bad. I am looking back at pictures of my wedding cake and thank my lucky stars that this wasn't my cake cuz I would have freaked out.
While I agree the cake delivered is God-awful, why would you eat it? I'm of the opinion that, if you get bad service, you don't continue to USE said service. I would have kept the ugly cake as evidence or sent it back to the decorator and bought a sheet cake at a local store.
wv: manite- man, ite ain't right, that cake!
My goodness... WOW!! They must have been drunk and on drugs...
That is the most hilarious cake wreck I think I have yet to see. I'm still laughing. just how does one get from A to B? It defies belief!! Love it!!
She had every right to sue. She probably spent hundreds of dollars on that monstrosity, and if that baker bitch wouldn't make her a new one STAT or give her money back right away, then she SHOULD sue. People shouldn't just get away with hurting others.
I think this bride and groom handled the situation extremely well. I am ashamed to admit that my (now ex) husband (a baker who specialized in bread) agreed to do a vegan wedding cake with absolutely NO idea how to pull it off. His cake was so ugly and it tasted terrible (it was soggy in the middle). I begged him to make a new one, but he absolutely refused, saying that he didn't want to spend the extra money on ingredients. So, I (no cake decorating experience at all) managed to cover up most of the damage with fondant and edible flowers, which I used because they were as close to foolproof as I could get. The cake looked ok (not terribly professional, but not out-and-out bad), but I know it must've been a flop when they cut into it and it was undercooked and gooey and tasteless. The bride and groom didn't complain or ask for their money back, though.
Needless to say, I divorced the unethical jerk a few months later.
I really love wedding cake disasters. But then I remember that some poor couple got stuck with such a horrible cake, and I feel a little sad inside. The cakes are still hilarious, but I always hope the bride and groom at least got to punch the baker in the face.
This is so my favourite one so far, it made me cry!
I used to be a supermarket cake decorator, and while I was the creator of a cake wreck or two, they were NOTHING like this atrocity. (In fact, the two that I thought were most hideous sold within 45 minutes of me putting them [with no small amount of embarrassment] in the display case!) This doesn't even look like a cake.