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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
Wednesday
Jul072010

A Picture Is Worth...Well, This Many Words

Say, just what kind of Mickey Mouse operation do you think they're running here?



Hey, laugh all you want; I'm just impressed they spelled it right.

It's like music to my eyes. Really.

Ok, not really.

And if you think e-mailing a picture to the bakery helps...think again.


Hey, a print-out of the entire Wikipedia source file still counts as a picture, right? Right?

Michael B., Jennifer C. & Jim H., Amber C., & Jessica C., I think I'd steal two icing roses in protest of that cake, too.

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Reader Comments (61)

AMAZING -- every one of them is spelled correctly!! Monogram, congratulations... wow.

I'll have to remember that last one for lawyer hubby's birthday.. I could use a sheet of his letterhead with legal babble. No hours of piping a decoration!

*snort* Gotta love breakfast with Cakewrecks.

~~Di

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAnonymous

...wow, I need my eyes checked.

I thought that second one was supposed to be 'Mammogram', not monogram. There's not even two N's to even LOOK like M's.

Lordy.

What on earth is on my mind?

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterDruston

Oh my! That lawyer cake is all kinds of awesome! And what's up with the 2 removed roses in the upper right corner?

WV: ement - ement to put them in the bottom right corner, I guess!

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterJenniffer

Love that the top 2 roses on the lawyer cake are smashed too!

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAnonymous

OMG! It just amazes me each time I see instructions piped on a cake. These people actually believe their finished product is what the customer is expecting!!

I shudder when think this is the result of our educational system and/or the low standards in hiring policies. How embarassingly funny!

I love am breaks w/ CW.. my coworkers love them. Keep them coming:p

That last one made me laugh and laugh! I mean, come ON people! Does ignorance know no bounds???

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMelinda

All I can say is "lazy!"

Actually... stupid works too. For each and every wreck!

OK, the first one is a wreck anyway, but the others are well-done at least. The polka dots and the guitar are nice! Too bad they were a wee bit literal.

And as for the last one... um, wreckerators? *not* a good idea screwing up cakes for lawyers!!!

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAliza

Sigh...

Norine

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAnonymous

I cannot believe how many times a bakery will print out a page with a picture on it and slap that on the cake. Unbelievable. Do they NEVER think to call and verify "You want a page printed from wikipedia stuck to your cake, right?"

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterGina

Oh...my...gawd!

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterConnie Moreno

My co-worker refuses to believe that the lawyer cake wasn't done on purpose. I showed him the Jump Drive Cake incident.

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAmy

These are all awesome! I can't decide which is my favorite today. Either the very non-sequetor Mickey cake, or the VERY literal last one. Sometimes I'd like to know where these come from. Not the specific bakery, but the city at least.

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterTrevor

At least the Wikipedia print settled any questions about source rights.

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterFiberQat

I think the Wikipedia cake needs to be the cover for your next book!

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAnonymous

Seeing these cakes today confirms the suspicion that these decorators don't speak English as a first language.

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterJon-Michael

wow. to think monogram could have been mammogram.

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAnonymous

These hurt me inside.

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterThe Boob Nazi

I'm still trying to figure out the Mickey Mouse one. Was it a break up cake gone wrong? Was Mickey Mouse breaking up with Michael? Are they the same person and just breaking up with some unidentified party? Just what is the story with that one!

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterIsabella

I have a postcard on my desk from the artist/humorist Ashleigh Brilliant (http://www.ashleighbrilliant.com/) that just sums up what's wrong...well, brilliantly: "Communicate! It can't make things any worse."

When I do something and I'm not sure if it's right, I ask someone! Wonder why these folks didn't. Granted, they're keeping Cake Wrecks in business, but still. One wonders.

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterladyrazorsharp

I too am disappointed it's not a mammogram cake; every woman deserves one afterwards 'cos it HURTS!!!!

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAnonymous

Wow I really heart the last one its on that other level of specialness :)

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterLauren Borquez

I thought the first cake was a death threat. We're taking you to see Mickey and then it's curtains for Michael.
I too thought the second cake said Mammogram -- but couldn't figure out why the nipples covering the cake were brown and blue instead of pink and brown. Every woman should get a mammogram cake (and every man a "turn your head and cough cake" just to be fair).

wv: badruc That first cake is a badruc, but that last one is a really badruc.

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterSiouxzr

seems to me that the cake order forms need some tweeking some how to avoid directions ending up on the cake. sigh!

I'm sure glad that I haven't had to buy one of these.

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterRenee

Those made me giggle! Tee-hee!

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterlisadh

Man I wish I had gotten the lawyer cake when I graduated law school!

Robert, you are special!

I've never had a cake wrecked because of the instruction box. However, I did have a rubber stamp come out wrecky.

I needed a stamp with a specific company name. Most people wrote it wrong because they put periods after letters (ya know, like I.B.M.) My client was tired of this and rather touchy about the subject.

So, in the instruction box for the first line, I (stupidly) put (these are fake initials, my client suffered enough):

----------------------
U(no period)S(no period)A(no period)
----------------------

In the very special instruction box I wrote: "Do not put periods after the capital letters in the first line. Call me at . . . if you have any questions."

Well, can ya guess what my rubber stamp said???

Can ya?

Can ya?

Sigh, it's good to know that cake decorators can get night job working at rubber stamp factories.

Unfortunately, they made me give back the bad one before they would replace it after I had a very lawyerly screaming hissy fit in front of the manager.

Terri
www.whyifearclowns.com

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterTerri Coop

Perhaps Michael is a new Wikipedia editor, and he's being congratulated for his excellent mediation skills in that capacity.

wv: Whom do dee fink deefulen, these wreckerators?

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAviatrix

You just made my day

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterBethann

*shakes head*

I made my first wreck-hunting tour of the grocery store bakery this morning, and oh did I wish I had my camera. There was a smiley-face cake with plastic sunglasses stuck right into it (and no eyes underneath)!

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAnonymous

I am assuming that last cake is Creative Commons licensed because it's using Wikipedia material. So you can share, modify and redistribute this cake under the same terms and conditions. Good to see CC licenses put to other uses :P

You know, I wondered why my local grocery store bakeries never display decorated cakes. Sure, they have ones out with pretty flowers and borders, but never with writing on them. After reading CW for a few months, I guess I finally know why. They are afraid their work will show up here, posted by cell-phone wielding shoppers.

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterTricia L

Bwahahahaha

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAnonymous

So Amber is taking up the guitar now? How nice for her.

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterJennifer

I thought it was supposed to be mammogram too, Druston. And what about the fact that it's AMBER, you know, like the high school dropout and pole dancer?

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterKaija

What kind of idiot . . . oh never mind.

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterJenny

Am I the only one distracted by those balloons on the Mickey cake? I mean what is the meaning behind the sloppy pink stars? And what's up with the white "one of these things is not like the other ones" balloon/seashell?!

Ellen C.

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAnonymous

We're a Real Mickey Mouse operation....

Mickey Mouse! We aren't even Betty Boop!

How can this keep happening? Are all cake decorators being replaced by robots from outerspace? Only a computer could be this literal with directions!

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterIsolder74

@Jon-Michael: You know, I wouldn't put it past superstore chains these days to actually outsource taking cake orders to third-world countries. I forget the details, but The World Is Flat mentioned that companies are outsourcing simple, non-physical tasks like that. Sort of micro-outsourcing if you will (my term, not his).

Although it the case of the picture one it could just be a matter of confusion arising from the printing computer being unable to open SVG files.

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterSteve the Pocket

and there are two finger dents in the lawyer cake. bleh!

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterarchersangel

congratulations was even spelled right - you'd think I was visiting a normal blog or something :)

instruction cakes are some of my faves :)

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterT

Wikipedia Creative Commons has never been so delicious.

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterDjamilaZ

OMG... those literal ones never cease to amaze me. Are these people really that dumb? Or have they just been screamed at so many times for not following directions that they would rather risk looking like a moron than making an inference?

@Terri Koop - that is hilars. How big was the stamp? Bwahahaha!

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMomlarky

These are my favorite wrecks. I can't believe there are people in bakeries who really think the majority of customers want the directions on the cakes. I know thanks to this blog making deliberate wrecks are getting popular but the other 95%...they want Mickey Mouse's face and notes on their cakes, darn it!

July 7, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterBree

Oh my. I just love the mess up on the lawyer cake. Can't believe the decorator thought the email was the photo for the cake.

July 8, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMelissa

What exactly is Mickey Mouse going to do to poor Michael? Is it a possessed mouse that is going to take the kid away? Poor child lol and I assume that was for a birthday but with those balloon things it's hard to tell. Honestly what are these people thinking? Scary bakeries these..

July 8, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterArlene

FREAKING IDIOTS. IT MAKES ME EMBARASSED TO BE A DECORATOR.

July 8, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterangie and tyler

The Mickey Mouse one is amusing because they used the castle out of a Cinderella kit. And then added crappy balloons with sugar shapes on them.

July 8, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterCarissa

I recently made a shopping list wreck-I was supposed to write ground mustard for a spice rub I was making, but I wrote ground movement instead :p

July 8, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAnonymous

The lawyer's cake would make an excellent visual for cake decorating school.

"Alright, class. How many errors can you find on this cake?"

Let's see ...
border broken upper right
roses moved
stain left where roses removed
"leaves" left where roses removed
finger marks on fondant
grad cap moved leaving mark
"Robert" squeezed in
stupid use of email
...

Too bad they didn't misspell something to make for a perfect classroom example.

July 8, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterTricia L

When I read the first cake I thought it was someone who had a run in with Mickey Mouse, who has decided he's old enough to use the adult version of his name. Picture if you will...

Person For Whom The Cake Was Made: "Oh wow it's Mickey Mouse. Hi Mickey!"

Mickey Mouse: (sounding dignified) "My name is Michael."

PFWTCWM: "Michael, then. Goodbye." (Storms off in a huff.)

July 8, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterWolvie Girl

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