Sunday Sweets: Tasty Tentacles!
January 20, 2013 So I was thinking I wanted to do something different this week for Sweets. Something new. Something crazy. Something, I don't know...tentacley.
Don't worry; I'm not going to show you anything WEIRD. Besides, I bet most of you like a cute lil' octopus as much as you obviously like owls. (YOLO!)
;)
By Cake Central member Miniminipop
And besides, lookit that cutie!
(True story: I just learned what YOLO meant last month. I'm such an internet trend failure.)
(Truer story: I just learned YOLO does NOT mean "you obviously love owls." MY ENTIRE LIFE HAS BEEN A LIE. [sob])
Of course, not ALL octopuses/octopi/octopodes are that adorable. Some just look all hip and cool while hanging out in their undersea gardens:
;)
Submitted by Kelly M. and made by Jacqueline Marie's
I'd like to be
Under the sea
In an octopus's garden
In the shaaaade.
(See, that's why he's cool!)
While others search the sea floor for awesome steampunk accessories:
;)
Submitted by Heather and made by Over the Top Cakes
"Yesss... I shall glue some gearsss on it, and call it 'ssssteampunk!' Mwah-ha-haa!"
(Not sure why I think octopi sound like vampire snakes, but there ya go.)
Now you might think that octopodes are the only things with tentacles. NOT SO.
There are also the giant squids in storybooks:
;)
By Sweet Fix
In this case, literally.
(See what I did there? LITERALLY?!)
And fashion-forward Disney villains:
;)
By Cake Central member e-cakefactory
Ursula, dahling, you've never looked more delectable!
...and who can forget the infamous Davy Jones?
;)
By Rub-a-Duckie
EEEK!! Ok, gotta be honest: this thing is WAY too realistic for me. Amazing, yes, but I swear I can see his "beard" squirming. [shudder]
Yep, I'm going to need some serious cute to recover from that.
;)
By MyCakeSchool (photo tutorial at the link)
Ahh, that's better. Such a sweet design, and I like the writing in the sugar "sand."
What is it about a little octopus in a sailor hat that makes him look so huggable, anyway?
;)
By D Bar Denver
D'awwww. And if I'm not mistaken, those are sugar glass gems on the top tier and on the wire sprigs. Way to whip out the SKILLZ, guys!
Now, I know my fellow geeks are waiting for a Cthulhu cake, but I've gotta tell you, I think we posted the best one just a few months ago for Halloween - and believe it or not, good Cthulhu cakes are hard to find!
Besides, just picture this next guy with a body and wings and a seeping aura of horror, and that's basically Cthulhu right there:
;)
By Kathy Cakes
(Can you believe this is cake? 'Cuz I'm not sure I can!)
Oh! And of course we can't talk about amazing octopus cakes without this famous showstopper:
;)
Submitted by Ashley B. and made by Highland Bakery
That's 200 pounds of airbrushed awesomeness, right there. Ahhhh-MAZING.
Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Gee, if you love octopuses so much, why don't you get married with 'em?"
Oh, you mean like with this super-fantabulous wedding cake?
;)
By Cake Central member RejectedSeoul
EXCELLENT IDEA, you!
Now, just throw in a few cute little seahorses, and I am SO THERE.
And finally, I'm going to end with this stunning, mildly bizarre, excessively tentacley example of cakey goodness:
;)
Wowza. Tentacles have never looked more elegant.
And bizarre.
But mostly elegant.
Have a sweet to nominate? Send it to Sunday Sweets [at] Cake Wrecks [dot] com.
Reader Comments (56)
I know we've spent a lot of time debating eating cakes that look this awesamazincredible, and I've come to understand that the bakers want you to eat the cakes, and I've decided I probably would eat the cakes (mostly because they're, well, cakes.) Still, I could NEVER, EVER eat the book cake -- those books look so real, approaching them with a sharp object is blasphemy. I love that they have nautically-themed titles. The rest all make me mourn my woefully inadequate number of appendages. (Except Davy Jones. He makes me want to pull out a big bottle of "Octy 5" and see if we could clear those up...)
These were wonderful -- I've always been a sucker for a good cephalopod.
Wowza is right. Am I correct to assume that last cake is some kind of cinderella/little mermaid mash up, because that's what it looks like to me
Eeeek! Oh I want them all! In purple! And I thought otters were the only way forwards for a wedding cake...
These are all awesome. At Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle, there is a huge glass sculpture that has all kinds of blown glass sea life arranged in it, including octopuses (octopi). I'm going to send you the picture.
Here's another octopus for you!
(__)
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Just so you know, I initially misread the title as "Tasty Testicles" and immediately boggled. Not because I'd be surprised to see you cover testicle-related cakes at Cakewrecks. No, just because Sunday Sweets + testicles seemed like an unlikely combination.
OMG so amazing :O
The level of detail is amazing, all the way down to the airbrushing. Think of the patience it would take to adhere all those little suckers on. I would like the backstory on that wedding cake, though. They met as researchers, scuba divers, at the same aquarium, what? Yes, loved the book cake. The only problem I have is cutting into realistic animals/people of any kind so some of these cakes make me squirm.
Gorgeous!
@Jax your comment almost cost my laptop keyboard its life! Too funny. But I agree, that would be a tough one for Sunday Sweets.
*resume lurking*
Your most amazingest post yet! I want to spend thouasands of dollars to surround myself with all these cakes. Is there such thing as a cake lady, as in someone who hoards beautiful cakes?
Wonderful! I love the squid-and-books cake the best, but that last one, the ethereal jellyfish-esque cake, was simply magnificent!
I'm not positive, but I think the lovely lady in the last cake is a jellyfish (still tentacles!) -- clicking through Fire & Icing's Flicker page, it's a cake adaptation of a work by Ray Caesar titled "Descent" -- the cake was made for the opening of his work at an art gallery. (take a look at their flicker stream -- lots of really interesting cakes, with incredible talent)
Are you familiar with the webcomic Questionable Content? Because the author likes to make Tshirts as well, and designed this: http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=QC-YOLO&Category_Code=QC You Obviously Like Owls. I'm not sure if this directly the joke you were referencing or just a coincidence, so in the case of the latter, FYI.
Ah, really great selection! I always enjoy seeing cephalopods lovingly rendered. :') (Needs more cuttlefish, though!)
But YOLO most certainly does mean you obviously like owls! I own a tshirt that proves it!
I feel the need to show you this. :)
http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=QC-YOLO&Category_Code=QC
I have yet to comment on your site, but these are some amazeballs cakes!!
I like to think that YOLO is "your ocelot lives ostentatiously." Ocelots are in need of austerity measures.
Your vampire octopus isn't that far fetched. If you google-image search "vampire squids" you'll see they're really out there
Now I want to have tako for lunch.
You forgot this one!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artisancakecompany/8261792878/in/photostream
As always, the best for last--the jellyfish cake puts the octopus cakes to shame with its realistic gracefulness.
The book/octopus combo cake? FAN-TASTIC!!! The other cakey cepahopods, not so much. Too realistic and...squishy looking. Now, if it were REAL octopus, stewed up and eaten somewhere like Greece, yep. Could absolutely certainly do that.
Okay, the one from MyCakeSchool made me think of Mr. Stay-Puft from Ghostbusters. And this was more than a little amusing, having seen this just after seeing Jennie Breeden's latest Sunday octo in The Devil's Panties.
I can't decide which I love more--the last cake or the book cake. Beautiful.
You forgot to include the least remembered of all creatures that have tentacles: the cuttlefish! I think that they will forgive you though, after all, they are used to it.
Whoa. Awesome Sunday Sweets post!
Can we just focus on the amazing, imaginative, horrifying beauty of a giant squid sinking a ship in a stack of vintage books? I'm with Sharyn, I could never ever never eat that cake and personally, I judge anyone who would.
And that last cake?!!!! Oh my ethereal under-the-sea goodness is that ever a gorgeous masterpiece! The woman/jellyfish is breathtaking. Those tentacles! The whole thing is superbly perfect. It's superfect! I'm going to judge anyone who would eat this one too. It would be a sin to chop up that kind of art and digest it. Sin!
That blue one in the last photo - frakking awesome!
Amazing cakes! But I doubt I could eat many of 'em, kinda missing the point of cake. Esp. Davy Jones and the 2nd one, Octopus Garden. What's with making the head flop to the side? (yeah, I know they CAN do that, but it looks as if its neck is broken, so it died in a slippery, tragic accident?) The cutsie-poo ones are much better; there is such a thing as taking realism too far! Last cake may be an incomparable example of a certain type of art, but I couldn't approach that with a fork either ;)
I have a confession. I only learned what YOLO means after I saw you post it, and I thought "Ok, now I'm seeing that YOLO thing again, for like the 3rd time in the last 2 weeks. And now it's JEN using it. So I guess I really should look it up..."
...and I'm a little disappointed. I think, for you, it could mean "You obviously love orange." :)
Beatles and Ringo Starr reference for the win!!!!
Wow, that last cake was incredible! It's so creative; I have never seen anything like that. Very cool :-)
"I've always been a sucker for a good cephalopod." - LOL @ Sharyn!
The book and dress cakes are both absolutely stunning. They should be made of porcelain so they can be on display for the world to enjoy forever.
OMG! I am in love with the Ursula cake!!!
Davy Jones won't stop looking at me. And I'm sure I just saw his face wiggle o.O
I'm with @Sharyn and @Sandy, taking a knife to a book is just wrong. It hurts my heart...
That last one is just amazing! I want to put it in a snow globe that plays "Under the Sea".
the last cake is based on the work of the amazing artist Ray Caesar - http://www.raycaesar.com/work
his stuff is fantaastic!
For this post I think YOLO should mean You Oughta Love Octopi!
(or Octopuses, if you prefer)
I'm the odd one out here today. No way, no how do I want to eat a realistic octopus cake. Juck icky!
BUT...
I love the little green cutie on #8. His sweet little tentacles look a tiny bit tangled which only adds to his adorableness.
Love the bottom two tiers of the blue cake. Just beautiful! And the little octopic are adorable. I would even take a bite out of that sweet literary cake, but that Davy Jones is too realistic. I could never manage the tentacles even if they taste like cake.
The third from the bottom...is that still in the bakery? It looks like it is in a hospital supply closet or the morgue. It's kind of creepy in those surroundings.
#2 and the final one just amaze me! so beautiful. I have to admire the artistry of the realistic ones- I've seen little versions of those at aquariums and they are spot on!
Ursula is my favorite Disney villain EVER and she never gets much love so that cake made me ridiculously happy. :D
I friended this page almost 2 yrs. ago. Love it by the way. Today is my 1st comments. LOVED TODAYS SUNDAY SWEETS. These are my all time fav creature, so seeing them on cakes. You nailed it.
Your octopi look outstanding!
I can't believe you didn't include an Ood cake.
@ Amy H
An old Limerick for you, since YOLO (but not in "that" way).:
A habit obscene and unsavoury/
holds the Bishop of Boston in slavery./
'Midst hootings and howls/
he deflowers young owls/
which he keeps in an underground aviary.
what a totally cool
steampunk jelly fish
(last cake)
@rocketride
HAH! Oh goodness, I needed that laugh. :D
So I just did a google search on "Cthulhu Cake". Wow. There are more cthulhu cakes out there than I imagined...and SOME of them are good.
Ohh I'm sorry to say that as awesome as the word "tentacles" may be, most of these cakes simply feature arms. See here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tentacle
I am in love with that Lady Jellyfish. She is beautiful.
The plural of octopus is octopuses, not octopi.
That said: AMAZING cakes!
@Keks; Maybe so, but in this case wouldn't "octopie" be appropriate?