Romance is Dead
March 26, 2009 Look, I don't want to come across as some non-happening, behind-the-times, totally square fuss pot*, but...
Wassup with all the undead wedding cakes?
Creepy-crawly bugs and tongue-kissing skeletons, oh my!
You'd think you'd only see something like this for a Halloween wedding - if ever - but zombie mania is infecting the masses, and like a gnawed off limb, it sure ain't pretty.
Ok, so that was a massive understatement. Bleeeech.
You don't need fancy tier cakes to pull off a "deadly" wedding theme, though. And if you can't afford the tongue-kissing skeleton topper, well hey, that's just what the good Lord invented edible photo paper for!
Yes, I am cheating a little here; this is actually just the groom's cake, not the wedding cake.
This is the wedding cake:
As if the toe tags, "Til Death" inscription and creepy "last embrace" foot positioning weren't enough, I think that's supposed to be ashes sprinkled down the sides. Perhaps this is the happy couples' way of telling their families they prefer cremation?
Guys, I'm telling you, if you want to gross your guests out do it the old fashioned way: by ordering a fruit filling and letting it sit out too long:
Voila! Bleeding cake!
Kathy T., Christine K., Anony M., and Manny & Jennifer S., thanks for the killer finds.
Alright, guys, you tell me: am I coming down too hard on undead wedding cakes? Have you seen a zombie/skeleton/vampire one done well? Then send it to me at Sunday Sweets [at] Cake Wrecks [dot] com, and maybe I'll feature it this Sunday.
*Particularly since I already did such a good job of that last Thursday.
UPDATE: To all the complainers in the comments: guys, lighten up. You really think I'm hating on goths because I think these cakes are Wrecks? Gimme a break! Wait'll you see this Sunday's selections, and *then* tell me I'm a goth-hater, ok? I'll show you how the undead look should be done.
Related Wreckage: Spooktacular Wedding Cakes
Reader Comments (169)
The construction on the first cake is pretty well done it's the tongues that turn my stomach! The others have very little in the redeeming quality category for me.
There is a REALLY cute Till Death Do Us Part wedding cake on Charm City Cakes's website. It's under the 'not so traditional' section. Too cute!
-Katie
The first one isn't too badly done. The rest are ugly, ugly.
My hubby and I had considered doing a zombie wedding cake for our nuptials since we're both really into zombie movies, but we got married October 25th and didn't want the guests to think it was a Halloween party. :D
I don't think these are creepy so much as disturbing and demented. I blame Tim Burton, personally.
I forgot! I saw these cakes on some We TV show. They are from the former Cake Atelier. Here's where the skull cakes can be found now. http://www.cakealchemy.com/
Go into cake gallery, then into skull cakes. The way the cobwebs fall off of the cake, awesome!
-Katie
Hmmmm... judging by the size of those feet... looks like two guys.
People have already mentioned Ace of Cakes - they just had an episode where they did a haunted cathedral/zombie wedding cake featuring all the couple's cats dressed in costume. Again - not a choice I'd make but it was rather cute.
whoa. whoa. whoa.
holy necrophelia, batman! that second-to-last one is suggesting all kinds of horrible things.
Oh my god, that second one is especially revolting, ugh! I can't picture people serving something that color to their guests at the wedding without mass-vomiting ensuing.
I know other people have mentioned it, but is it weird that I'm more concerned about the skeleton's having tounges than the actual cakes?
Skeletons with tongues? I can deal with that. Bleeding cake? No problemo. I'd even give that second one a try as long as it wasn't actually mouldering.
But what I found most unnerving was the weird black crumbly stuff on the toe-tag cake....WTF??
I want to know why you have skeletons with no flesh on their bones, and yet they somehow have managed to preserve their tongues...
i'm getting married on halloween, and our cake consists of pumpkin flavored cupckaes with spiderwebs in the frosting, and a dias de los meurtos cake topper.
our vows include that we will love eachother until death and in death.
needless to say, i loved this post.
kolleen :)
Zom and skeley cakes kick ass in the right setting. Hell, my wedding cake had Spawn and Belldandy on it (Spawn is an undead general for the devil and Belldandy is a demigoddess). I say, if the bride and groom have to shell out $4000 for a confection, then it better be a pastry they'll never forget (and possibly have nightmares over)!
How about a bone cake? Does that count? It's kinda pretty...
http://www.jodiecarey.co.uk/Mon1%20image%20text.html
The toe tags cake is just plain, plain wrong. Get a touch of class, people.
The toe tag cake makes me think of Carmen Electra's nasty dead wedding invites. Caution partial nudity (blurred)! http://www.davenavarro.de/wedding.htm
Shudders...I don't get why someone would want to even do that on a cake or an invite!
I support goth wedding cakes, but these ain't doing it for me.
The first one is the best, but the black rose petals are overwhelming the top. The unspidery looking spiders aren't spaced too well either. So much stark white.
The second one is just way too busy, and fails at representing a graveyard. Not to mention the icky colors which I'm sure I've seen before on another cake wreck here.
3 - lol. Now that's cost cutting.
4. Despite the toe tags and the photo cake transfer, those feet look very much alive. What's with the caviar? o.O Something written around the edge then changed their mind about it and covered it up?
5. I can't tell if those were fresh strawberries or raspberries, but they've been on there a while and the juice is loose.
Like Kat79 said.. a Nightmare Before Christmas (or Corpse Bride) cake would've been nicer.
I love Halloween themed wedding cakes. Especially Tim Burton style. They're fabulous. I had a traditional white wedding but now that we're heading on ten years I wish I had done something fun like this. The toe tag is just plain funny. Not gross at all.
And after their goth wedding they can go on a goth cruise for their goth honeymoon.
Seriously.
They even have a choice of two.
http://www.gothcruise.com/" REL="nofollow">Royal Caribbean
http://www.gothiccruise.com/" REL="nofollow">Carnival
And if you want an idea of what such a thing is like, there's a http://www.gothcruisethemovie.com/" REL="nofollow">documentary about an all-goth cruise.
Maybe they hope for a marriage that lasts after death, but with physical bodies so they can still do it. Classical representations of the Judeo-Christian afterlife are not conducive to sex.
The first cake was quite elegant, actually. Reminded me of Tim Burton's creation. Well, I think there's nothig wrong with some people bringing their slightly eccentric sense of humor to the wedding. They'll need a lot of humor from then on! I wouldn't mind something like the first cake on my wedding, but the green mildewy thing after it that looks like it sat in a shed for a year I'll pass.
The first cake is gorgeous. The rest are disgusting. I'm not opposed to a dark/horror wedding cake if it's well executed and doesn't look like a rotting pile of garbage.
I don't care if "macabre" is in fashion or not, there's no way I would eat a piece from a cake with fake blood or spiders on it. And the dead couple....that's just chillingly bad taste.
Those are disgusting. Really nasty.
That just made me glad I already ate lunch otherwise I certainly would have lost my appetite. I may still lose my lunch though.
VERY tacky and in poor taste...
pinkcakebox.com has a bunch of really nice cakes from The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Corpse Bride... do those count?
Bleah.
One word, if it is a word:
eek.
Okay... I actually liked the first one. I thought it was lovely.
But if I was offered a piece from the second, I'd pass. Or possibly gag.
The toe tags are kinda fun, but I agree that the feet are looking a little too alive, and a little too 'the same size'- are there 2 guys under there?
Blech! Was the bleeding cake an accident? If that had been my cake I'd have cried!!
I'm usually a big fan of Nightmare before Christmas type cakes, but the morgue couple is just plain bad taste. Thank goodness the cake comes at the very end, cause I know I'd lose my appetite pretty quickly...
I remember reading about a Goth wedding that took place in a graveyard. Only then would I approve of cakes like these, and at that, only the first one.
The toe tags give me the shudders.
And the fruit-filled cake that's been sitting out too long — Ewwwwww.
Word verification: potograw. It's a wonder the potograws of the zombie cakes didn't break the camera.
Ew. Most of these are just kinda nasty... not really "fun creepy" so much as "icky creepy". Not something to look at if you have a sensitive stomach, which I, actually don't, and this still makes me a bit queazy.
That second cake is gross. It looks rotten. Cake shouldn't look rotten. Cake is supposed to look yummy and taste great with ice cream.
hahaha, oh man, the necrophilia cake is the tops, though not what I'd want at my wedding. You still have to admire anyone who was brave enough to eat it...
I'm impressed by the skeleton cakes, but the bugs and rot are so well done that I'm not sure I'd want to actually eat a piece!
I wonder if there's a Grim Fandango wedding cake out there, with Manny and Meche on top.
I'll never understand why people don't believe that the bride and groom should enjoy their own wedding. Okay, I wouldn't put monster trucks in love on my cake, but if that's their thing, then they should. Same for corpses. Some people HATE the traditional wedding fluff and over-the-top prettiness. I've seen goth cakes done nicer (and creepier) than this, but still. If they like it...
Also, I LOVE the toe tage cake (minus the oreo ashes, of course that's just weird). Also, I think it would be a better shower cake than wedding cake, but it's cute and just a little creepy. And maybe one of them is a medical examiner or mortician or something.
I sure hope I never attend a wedding like that!
As said above, I have seen some amazing Tim Burton-esque cakes that are amazing, particularly relating to Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/946543@N20/" REL="nofollow">Tim Burton Cakes
There are some wrecks in the group, but some amazing masterpieces, too
MaryIrene
Dispatch....send more buttercream....
While I'm trying to encourage our latest engaged friend to have Dalek and a Cyberman on his wedding cake, there is such a thing as going too far in injecting your own personality into any public event.
On the plus side, though...no fondant in sight. (Though that photo paper stuff does taste about as bad, and is harder to peel off.)
But... but... why? Are weddings supposed to make you feel grossed out (for lack of a better phrase)?
If so, why get married?
This blog used to be about actual wrecks, but these days it's just about style you don't particularly like.
Different strokes for different folks. It doesn't make these cakes "wrecks" just because you don't like the subject matter.
I get that the macabre cakes are not your thing, but my sister actually had a cake topper of two skeletons at her wedding, and it looked really neat, and was absolutely perfect for her and her husband. They love Halloween and have a house full of macabre decorations, so anything white and lacy and flowery would've been inappropriate for them. I'm not sure I'd consider the last embrace toe tags appropriate for a wedding (for reasons other than gruesome-ness - I mean, do we all need to know about your wedding night plans?), and I'm a stickler for accuracy, so the tongue kissing skeletons seem very wrong, but I think a couple should have free reign with their wedding cake design.
That bleeding cake is too much! I lol everytime I check out your blog. Keep 'em coming.
I imagine the guests filing quietly by the first cake, every last one of them rolling their eyes, realizing that the weirdest person they know has finally found someone equally as strange.
WV: estoni - (Italian. plural noun) A group of stoners.
I rather like the first one. If the bugs were taken off and there was a different skeleton topper (the tongues are setting it over the edge for me...:/...) I think I'd like it. The dead flower idea is neat.
I actually loved the first one, creepy-crawlies and all, and had the toe tag one not been so unbalanced and had the crushed up oreos on the side, I would've found it funny. Then again, I have a twisted sense of humor.
However, what I want for my wedding cake would be the Rocky Horror Picture Show lips. For those not in the know, it'd still seem somewhat appropriate, so I could have my cake and eat it, too. :)
Yikes! Those are just wrong! My cousin actually got married on Halloween and they had a costume party reception - complete with a groom wearing a noose and a bride with her throat slit. And they STILL didn't have anything like this for their cake!
I'm SO excited to see the Sunday Sweets this week! I don't think I'd haul out a full blown undead wedding cake (Hubby and I had something tasty over something crazy Mmm Black Forest Cake with cherries).
But the theme really does have potential to be done mind-blowingly well. I remember an episode of Ace of Cakes with some wicked Zombie themed confections.
Hurry up Sunday I want more cakes!
Word Verification: Nondedr, next week lets see some non-dead-r cakes instead of un-dead-r cakes.