Then vs Now: Wrecks Edition

I love - LOVE - old cake photos. Not the pretty magazine ones, of course, but the yellowing snapshots of children's birthday cakes from 20 or 30 years ago. They're a total blast from the past, and even when they're all lopsided and misspelled and ridiculously wrecky, you just can't help but love them.

Like Sarah's here, from the 80s:

It's a one-armed Care Bear, of course. Holding a pair of lips. Stomping on something that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike grass.

Compare that with today's Care Bear cakes, and you'll find we've come a looong way, baby:

Oh, how we've grown.

Of course, the only thing better than vintage cake photos are vintage cake photos with the birthday kids in them:

That's CW reader Amanda P. with her cousin Ryan, and she tells me no one noticed his "Ghostbusters"cake was misspelled until her mom uploaded this pic to Facebook ... 22 years later. THIS IS WHY THE INTERNET EXISTS, PEOPLE. To pick apart our childhood memories. And to make me jealous of 4-year-old boys' TMNT t-shirts.

(I also like to think Amanda is dressed as a sailor as a subtle Stay Puft homage, because, c'mon, how awesome would that be?!)

If you're wondering what you get today when you order a Ghostbusters cake, though:

Kristen's husband picked up this "Ghostbusters cake," but neither of them have an explanation.
(Maybe it's supposed to be Slimer? Maybe?)

Still debating if that's worse than this one, though:

YOU. We're ready to believe... YOU. C'mon, bakers, don't you have the entire script of Ghostbusters memorized like the rest of us? I mean, REALLY.

Ok, just one more, in reverse. Here's a "modern" Barbie doll cake:

Come for the ridiculous sinking Barbie, stay for the bonus crotch photo bomb.

And here's the way most of us gals remember them from our childhood:

Ok, so maybe we'll call this one a draw.

Thanks to Sarah R., Tina H., Amanda P., Kristen C., Tiffany G., Linda G., & Celeste R. for the memories.

PS - I'm really getting a kick out of comparing vintage cakes to the newer ones, so if you have some old snapshots of your childhood birthday cakes around - professional or not - then please, send them in! I won't promise not to make fun of them, but I do promise I'll do it with lots of love. And maybe some bad puns. So, you know, the usual way.

Five Years, Baby!!

Remember this?

And these?

How about this one?

Or this story?

Five years ago today I started a goofy little cake blog, just for fun. I never intended for anyone other than a few close friends to read it, and I was terrified the first time a stranger found it and commented.

Within two months, though, my goofy little cake blog went viral, garnering about 50,000 visitors in a single day.

It's been a wild ride since then. I realized my life-long dream of becoming a published author not once, but twice, and Cake Wrecks even landed on the New York Times Best Sellers List. John and I got to travel across the U.S. and Canada meeting thousands of you readers, sampling dozens of your bakeries, and only almost-dying that one time.

I was invited on more TV shows than I can remember, including David Letterman, Rachael Ray, and I think even Martha Stewart - and one of my proudest achievements in life is that I turned them all down. I've also turned away TV producers, web content "gurus," and website conglomerates offering a pretty penny to purchase Cake Wrecks and turn it into something else - something less personal, something not ours.

Cake Wrecks has been a labor of love from the beginning, and I've fought - and will fight - to always keep it that way. It's not a vehicle to make me famous, or a stepping stone to get me to where I *really* want to be in my career, because I'm already here. True, it has become my job - John's, too -  and like every job it causes heartache and frustration and burnout sometimes. But at the end of the day, I get to check my e-mail, find a cake that makes me giggle, and share it with all of you. That's pretty frickin' awesome.

Five years ago I never would have dreamed my goofy little cake blog would last this long, or that it would amass such a devoted readership. I mean, this blog was supposed to fizzle out four and a half years ago, and yet here you all are! I always told John I'd quit when the readers left, but it turns out you guys are more stubbornly loyal than I anticipated. Curse you.

So here's to us, my dear wreckies, five years, 1,800+ posts, and roughly 8,000 cakes later.

And if all that doesn't deserve cake, then I don't know what does.

So here's Brent Spiner trying on a Carrot Jockey necklace:

Let's be honest: it was all downhill from here. :D

Oh, and I have to give a million thanks to John for getting me through these past five years - and also for not dying that one time - as well as to Lindsey, who writes more than half of our Sweets posts these days, and to Sharyn, who helps me write to the wrecks. You guys are awesome, and get a lifetime pass for extra sprinkles.