Thursday
Oct152009
Teasers for the Coming Seasons
October 15, 2009 There's nothing like the holiday season to put bakers in "the mood" - uh, to decorate cakes, of course. ;)
Why, last year we had so much fabulous Wreckage submitted from October through January that I couldn't get them posted fast enough! So here's a little sneak peek at what Wreckerators may have in store for you the next few months.
Halloween has its "monsters":
Gee, Frankenstein certainly looks hard up.Thanksgiving has its "turkeys":
Outlines: making the vaguely suggestive so much more specifically nutty.And "Winter" has...er...these things:
"Bat those baby blues at me all you want: I will NOT turn the photo around!"- Related Wreckage: Seasonal Non Sequiturs
Note from John: Wondering where yesterday's post went? Check out today's comments section.
Reader Comments (197)
I applaud you for taking down yesterday's post, since so few people could see past the 'swastika issue' to the fact that while the layers were straight and the fondant smooth, the piping was a last minute rush job that my eight-year-old could have done. I think was the bigger issue in the long run. Though, I don't understand why the baker didn't just omit that one symbol (since they were given several examples) and avoid the whole issue.
Mistakes were made on both side4s of that debacle. Thank you, Jen and John, for maintaining your professional integrity by presenting both sides when asked and removing the post when it was obviously causing problems.
As for today's post.. hillarious! I think maybe some bakers need to get certain things (like CCC's!) off the mind these coming seasons... lol
I checked out your website after I saw it on yahoo and NY times. I just love it! That frankenstein and turkey kept me laughing for a good hour! Thanks cake wrecks I needed it and "conglulations" !
Poor Frank. He looks a little put-upon. "It's not easy being green?"
I thought the turkey was one of the cutest CCCs I've seen, until I looked a little closer. Eeeeyikes! I can just see this being delivered to a kid's party--the kids devour the cake while the adults stand around going "Oh, dear..."
The rest? No words. Just...no words. 0_0
Kate: Thanks for the link.
It appears that the pastry chef at Butter, Sugar, Flour did exactly as the bride asked.
John and Jen, you two are classy. Thanks for the phallic cakes today.
GREAT call on pulling yesterday's post. I think the baker did a major fail, but it is NOT worth getting death threats over. That's insane.
WV: favar - you did the baker a big favar by pulling that post. Good for you!
I too wanted to post my support of your decision to take down yesterday's post. These cakey controversies often seem heightened by inadvertent unfortunate timing, and I'm sure the increased traffic yesterday ended up hurting matters more with the baker.
Today's post is a great way to move on and get back to the laughs again :)
laughing my face off! ;) can't wait for more of these!
Your blog gives me a few minutes of laughter everyday and I thank you for that! I was hoping to see you in Denver but it didn't work out unfortunately. I hope that John is well on his way down the path of recovery. As for yesterday's post, it is unfortunate that baker had emails of that sort being sent to her. I think that she really should have did a rough draft/drawing for the bride and groom before she made that cake. I did look at her website (which I found from the mother's blog) and most of the other cakes that she had up looked great. I think you deciding to take down the post was probably the right thing to do.
CakeFX, which does such marvelous work and has been feted in your Sunday Sweets posts, says on their site that they will not make any cake that would make it difficult for any member of their staff to look any human in the eye.
Good advice. Meantime, thank you for doing right by everybody yesterday.
perfect for 'subtle' bachelorette parties ;]
"Lone Starr: I still don't understand how I'm going to lift that big statue with this little ring.
Yogurt: Never underestimate the power of the Schwartz!"
Following up on a suggestion in the comments, I checked my seldom-used Google Reader and found yesterday's removed post. The only "mistake" I can see the baker making was in actually following the customer's instructions. There were twelve symbols supplied, and all twelve (as far as I can see) were represented on the cake. If the customer (or her relatives) chose to be offended by the design specified by the customer, that's their problem.
But you did the right thing in taking this down. Consequences should not be falling on the bakery for this.
I agree with others that you did the right thing in pulling that post, especially if the baker was getting hate mail and such. That's just not right or called for in any situation.
Bakers beware, and phear the power that is Cakewrecks!
Today's posts, however, are a riot. There must be some hard up decorators.
I give the first cake marks on bringing out the inner tragedy of Frankenstein - even if it wasn't on purpose.
The second one's profane nature is a pure fowl. *pathetic comedy drum roll*
So maybe you know this already, but the NYT article on Cakewrecks is now at the top of their list of "articles most frequently e-mailed by NYTimes.com readers."
I agree - great decision to pull the post. I enjoyed the comments, but sometimes enough is enough. I am disappointed that some people (especially uninvolved third parties) would take the controversy so far as to send hate mail the baker. The baker screwed up with decorating the cake poorly (for me, the symbol wasn't the issue, it was the lack of lace and apricots), but nobody deserves death threats for that. Sheesh - it's a cake people! So, great decision! Shows how much integrity you do have!
I agree that yesterday's cake wasn't pretty, and there was clearly a huge misunderstanding. And I don't know if a previous comment, about the baker stealing Flikr photos and passing them off as her own, is true. But I noticed a lot of the cakes on her website were set on the same tablecloth/background so I'm guessing most or all of them came from that bakery.
I was just on their Yelp review site, and there are a bunch of photos of really beautiful cakes and other goodies posted by USERS (not by the bakery), so clearly they can make lovely things. Here's the link: http://www.yelp.com/biz/sugar-butter-flour-sunnyvale
Ok, I actually thought the turkey CCC was cute until I read your comment! Yikes!
Hey guys,
I just wanted you all to know how much Jen and I appreciate you. We could not have asked for a more amazing group of people.
From the bottom of my heart, thanks.
john
Maybe soon you can start posting cookies made with this lovely item:
http://consumerist.com/5378467/ok-someone-should-have-thought-this-veggietales-cookie-cutter-through
BTW I'm with you on taking the post down. Hate mail is not cool. You guys rock.
PS I know your second attempt in Austin didn't get the same numbers that signed up originally...I was one that couldn't come for the second try (wasn't going to blow off my kid's birthday party for you, sorry). I made a cupcake that will never be seen outside of my livejournal (I sent you the link, hope you enjoyed it), but hopefully we still get to see a post about your trip here. And maybe you should come to our super-awesome and geeky cake show in February... http://thattakesthecake.org/ That way everyone who missed you can catch up there!
OH NO! the moyle slipped...
Congrats on the the NYTimes piece. Well deserved!
Kudos for pulling yesterday's post. I come to Cake Wrecks as a fun escape on my lunch break (well, maybe um...once or twice during the day) and never think cake should be serious enough to get hate mail and threats. Thanks for continuing to keep this a clean, fun place that is so rare in this day and age. Wreck on, John & Jen!
I think it's totally sad that the baker from yesterday started getting hate mail. Some people seem to have way to much time on their hands.
Well, it seems to me there's only one way to resolve this whole scandal - Ninja Cake Bake off!
It would be interesting to see what other bakers would have come up with, given the same instructions. Something better? Something worse??? I think the concept of the cake really has limitless possibilities, and I'd love to see them!
I think the Rudolph one is actually kind of cute. So there.
That's sad about the baker involved in yesterday's post. It's a shame that things get so blown out of proportion. I don't think you've lost your integrity. I think you're just being responsible.
Jen and John--no lost integrity for removing the post, especially given the unforeseen side effects.
Love the early holiday wreckiness. Can't wait to see what our bakers come up with.
John,
You guys did not lose one brown icing pile-of-poo's worth of integrity! I'm glad you took it down and completely agree. No, I was not at all offended by it but there is a point when fun can cross the line. Thank you for having consideration for the baker and for handling it all with kindness.
Wreck on!!!
I happened to catch yesterday's post right before it had to be taken down, and you did make the right call, I'm just sorry that it ended up being a case of "bad consumer" that really got all of this going.
Now as for today's post, I couldn't help but laugh.
You know, aside from looking somewhat penisy, that Turkey CCC looks pretty good. I never thought I'd see a not-horrible-looking Cupcake Cake here.
Why did yesterday's post have to be removed?
I think the REAL problem with yesterdays cake was that the piping was terrible and there wasn't a lace pattern to be seen.
Both parties were wrong and both parties were right, and so I applaud you for staying out of the middle of it.
It's nice to find some classy folks online nowadays (and I'm glad I don't have to feel bad about continuing my longtime readership! Woot!)
It would certainly be interesting to see someone with 3 nuts.
What a shame to be able to tell Frankenstein's monster's religion just by looking at his nose...
EGADS!! What a bunch of HORNdogs!
All *I* see are NOSES.
Seriously. What kind of gutter-minded folks are y'all, huh??
I mean--an X-rated reindeer? Come on! Those are blue EYES, not blue~~ah, forget it.
And so poor Frank looks a bit dismayed...who's to say it's all because of the nose? Maybe it's the giant GASH on his head that's bothering him.
As for that turkey; it's very cute, okay? He looks proud as a PEACOCK standing up straight like that...and ya POKE fun at him.
Have you no shame?
=^--^=
I thought that maybe someone(s) had made a comment or two about yesterday's post and you took it down. I am not sad to see it go, I AM sad that the baker got death threats over it. I believe they were sadly unaware of that unfortunate part of history, nothing more. I also wonder why the bride or mother didn't just scrape that off and turn the cake around? Or scrape off parts of the sign to make it into something else? Or were there lots and lots of those on the cake? We will never know.
Good on ya, that you took it down to keep this site fun, lighthearted, and clean!! (well, except for the post about misplaced, excited organs--hee hee!)
I'm sorry to say that today I had to read the comments in order to see what was so subtly wreck-y about these cakes.
My sincere thanks to those folks whose minds, without the gutter, would be homeless.
RE: Yesterday's post
Now that I've seen the actual cake, the baker's response, and the sample it was supposed to be modeled after, that cake was STILL a wreck.
Here's the sample, for the curious: http://www.sugarbutterflour.com/products/enlargednew/wedding/WhiteLace.htm
What happened to the "lace" on the actual cake? I think that's where the miscommunication lies. Even swastikas would not have been so obvious (and offensive) if they had been incorporated into the lace.
And I thought the turkey cake was adorable...until DH pointed out the...uh...yeah. Oops.
You should submit those to www.accidentaldong.blogspot.com
LOL!!
I have to wonder if they tried to make a ummm male part cake if it would look like a nose...
I have to share with you the horror that I experienced today. I always hop on over here at 9:30am for my daily laugh, much better than an apple for keeping the doctor away, only to find out that my company had blocked the site! Guess I told to many people in the building about it and everyone was visiting the site. Man I really need to learn to keep the good stuff to myself...
The ONE day I don't read CW and I miss out on controversy. Of all the luck... not that I'm into contributing, I just wish I knew what the heck everyone else is talking about. Anyways... can't wait to see everybody get wang chung on their cakes this coming season, eh? eh? bahaha, I crack myself up. I'm sure no one else is laughing though.
lmao! I think these are a cry form these decorators' subconscious for some , eh-hem, "attention" !lol Where these cakes made on a Friday, perhaps? lol Love your site!- Frank :)
Askkk abouttttt myyyyy weenerrrrrrr
The wreckerators knew what they were doing - it was a 'private' joke.
Jen and John, cheers for showing your truly classy nature by taking down the problematic post.
And extra cheers for a post that allows us all to make juvenile phallic jokes, then turn around and tell you how classy and tasteful we think you are! :) "Congradulalations" (in red)
Oh my goodness those are so funny!!
I *had* to send the link for today's post to my best friend. We are professional adults who have the sense of humor of 14-year olds. I mean, really, sometimes penises are just funny.
Most of the time, actually. :P
Oh my god do I ever love cake wrecks! Ha ha wouldn't you just love to see one of these cakes on your table? The turkey actually looks kinda cute until you look closer...
I had to eat the "Speedo" on a birthday cake for a retired bodybuilder once.
I see the artist who drew Disney's Little Mermaid poster now works as a cake decorator ;-)