Thursday
Sep232010
Picture This
September 23, 2010 So Shawna A. asked her bakery to make a cake just like this one from Pink Cake Box:
To make it easier, she even brought in a print-out of this picture. And, since she wanted her cake to say "Welcome Little Monkey" instead of "Happy Birthday," she was sure to cross that bit out. That way, there could be no confusion whatsoever, right?
Riiiight.
All in favor of banning the edible photo printer for all eternity, say "Oy VEY."
I think the "veys" have it, Shawna.
Reader Comments (97)
Good grief....it's the baby shower cake I ordered all over again. I hope we've all learned now....never take in a picture of what you want. Oy vay is right!
After all the posts of the crazy cakes I am still surprised each time. Always surprised at the level of incompetence out there. I went to school to be a pastry chef, I never did wedding cakes or birthday cakes but I'm certain I would never make these kind of mistakes. Right I'm unemployed, looks like there might be hope for me yet!
Eep...
All together now: Oy VAY!!!!
Oy Vay - What is wrong with these wreckorators!!!!????
Did she actually pay for it??
Are. You. Serious.
No way!!!!!
Wow, those are some lazy son-of-a-guns right there!
This has to be one of my favorites.
I'm a bit confused -- it must have been a different picture that she actually submitted, right? (The branch looks like it might be flipped, and the whole picture seems to be rotated about 30 degrees from its center.)
At any rate, we can all agree that the world would be a better place if the edible photo printer went the way of the dodo.
Not to be judgmental but....
What a lazy thing to do.
I have to say, since a planner would usually pick up the cake right before the event, I'm guessing that some people who send in these wrecks have to let the irritation die down before the humor becomes evident. Or else someone not closely involved in the planning sends the picture!
The guest of honor is probably laughing long before the cake-orderer.
Also, the original cake was so cute.
I love starting the day with a good cake-laugh but
this actually made me tear up. I could just imagine the disappointment and anger when the cake was picked up.
I'm going to go look at some old posts to cheer myself up.
We can never underestimate laziness in human beings. They'd always rather monkey around than do a good job.
It's a cake photo on a cake...like and edible infinity shot infinity shotinfinity shotinfinity shot....ack! Do you get double the calories :O
Pink Velvet Bird
RIP Common Sense: We miss you....
I guess we all know Shawna will be going to Pink Cake Box next time, eh?
There is just no cure for L-A-Z-Y and S-T-U-P-I-D. I mean, really, cake people. Really?
WV: ilist - Cakes like these just make me the ilist person around.
Anon @ 10:04,
Yup. Good catch. Turns out that Pink Cake Box has a picture of another one that we put up at first. I changed it to the correct one. That's what we get for having 12,000 photos in the library.
john
Wow, that's really bad.
I love this blog and so does my aspiring cake decorating daughter so when I saw the Cakewrecks calendar last night I *had* to buy it for her. Question though: Has anyone opened it and looked? Or John maybe you can help...does it contain any of the PG13 posts?
~ Mom and Fan in MI
Oy vey. I have no words.
Extra points for the big black hair on it!
I knew it would be bad but that's even worse than I imagined...
Oy Vay indeed!
Anon @ 10:30,
Not really. There's some very vague stuff that I can't imagine any child would "get." Of course, it seems like most nine year olds know bad words that I've never even imagined so who knows? But overall, nothing that bad. In my opinion.*
john
*The opinions of john (the hubby of Jen) may not be shared by any or all individuals who may or may not read this blog. Please see section 43A, addendum 3, paragraph 9 "John's stupid opinions" in the Cake Wrecks manifesto for further details.
Gosh! I could even do that and I have no discernable artistic ability with cakes or otherwise! (Sadly, can't even draw a stick figure with a ruler...) I missed my vocation!
As soon as I read the write up, I was like "I'll bet I know where THIS is going," and I was correct! Scary, isn't it?
So, don't bring in a picture of what you want?
Do bring in a picture of what you want?
Don't write down the words you want on the cake?
Always write down the words you want on the cake?
I'm so confused!
Add my "Oh Vay!" to the balloting.
I had a similar experience with a cake I ordered for my husband's retirement. I gave the baker photos of some things that represent my husband's past and future endeavors and, you guessed it, she made edible images of these photos rather than piping them on the sides of the cake. Not bad enough to be a Cake Wreck, but I was quite disappointed. "Ace of Cakes" and Sunday Sweets have raised my expectations to insurmountable levels...
Gah!! What kind of morons are working at these bakeries?! Who would want a photo of a cake.on.their.cake?! Insanity!
I'm going to stick to making my own cakes; they might not be "professional" looking but I'm starting to be more and more ok with that. lol
How very... meta. Yeah, we'll go with that. It's art! *cough*
wv: lionsp: what a lion with a speech impediment speaks with
Oh...my...GAWD. What morons!
The number of idiots in this world astounds me, and apparently quite a few of those idiots go into baking. The rest go into politics.
OH MY GAWD! head plant on desk
@TJ: That's not a hair, it's the image of the line drawn from the crossed-out words to the instructions "Write 'Welcome Little Monkey' here instead." I hope.
Oy Vey! I will never understand the mind of a wreckerator.
if you can't use words or pictures to explain what you want on a cake how are you ever suppose to order one?!? Do we all have to become professional cake decorators?!?
OY VAY!!!!! lol I used to think edible paper was a GOOD idea.
Wow. I've seen bad, but this takes incompetence to a whole new level.
OY Stale! would have been my reaction if the baker presented me with this stupidity. How does one prevent this type of disappointment but by ordering a cake a week in advance.
Laughing so loud at this!
Again I am reminded of why I decorate my own cakes for events and cringe anytime someone wants to order one instead of asking me.
Oy vey - appropriate response.
Sad. So sad.
So... Jen or John - any advice on how to handle stopping in to pick up a beautiful cake and being presented with a wreck, other than tears and snapping a quick photo to send to y'all?
I mean, other than screaming at the wreckerator and refusing to pay for a monstronsity. Or taking someone's head as a replacement.
Just wondering.
~~Di
Um. . .nice penmanship? Sorry. That's all I've got.
*face palm* Oy vey is right!
Before scrolling down, I thought
1. Edible paper, or
2. Really disappointing-ugly-nothing-like-the-original type cake with a patch of scribble on it (to match the crossing out of Happy Birthday).
I'd really like to know if people get their money back or a suitable replacement with a lot of these cakes.
wv: nedot (nee-doh; t is silent like depot): Edible paper is no longer nedot to put on a cake.
I must say that I am another "amateur" cake decorator who has begun to take considerable pride in the cakes she makes due totally to what I've seen here!
Honestly, the monkey wouldn't have been that hard to make, people!
Oy, Vey!!! Indeed!
that is an all new low!
I used to work for an advertising magazine company, and EVERY SINGLE MONTH, we would go to the same bakery department at Sam's Club (that's right, I'm calling you out by name). We were such regular customers that the greeter would recognize and view the cake each time.
All we wanted was to get the cover ad printed as a photo onto the cake. No words, just please take this picture I'm handing to you, use the edible printer to scan exactly as is, and pipe blue icing around the edges.
I would say that at least 75% of the time, it was done wrong. Picture cropped, turned the wrong way, not iced around the edges, wrong color icing- it was like they were thinking up ways to ruin it.
No matter if it was the same baker as last month, no matter how carefully I filled out the form, no matter the simplicty, still wrong. Sometimes you can't win for trying.
I agree this is sad, but I can't help but wonder what made the orderer think this bakery could pull of the original cake ? I mean for a lot of bakeries a sheet cake with an edible printout is the upper limit of their talent. I'd doubt any place willing to make a cake like the one Shawna ended up with is doing semi-sculptural fondant or sugar clay on their other cakes.
I'm honestly starting to wonder if some of these came about because the customer used an online form that had an image upload option and incorrectly guessed its purpose. No human could be that dense. They just couldn't! And this is speaking as someone who's been reading Not Always Right all weekend.
Why do I suspect that Shawna's reaction was similar to the Jane Austen quote of two days' ago:
"Are you frickin' kidding me?!?
This reinforces my theory that, when asked what time you want to pick up the cake, you should always say 5 hours before you really need it. That allows time for the frosting to be scraped off and redone.
It also makes me glad these people work in bakeries. They could work at the cable TV call center. Or perhaps nuclear power plants.
That rather surprises me...we get all of cakes for work from Sam's Club's bakery, and they have never been a wreck, or even close. They pretty much give us exactly what we ask for. I guess it depends on the talents at the specific bakery!
Hand slap to the head! Are people really this idiotic? I guess the cake speaks for itself, they are. I just don't understand it.
OMG how dumb can the bakery be? Why would you want a PICTURE of someone else's awesome cake on your cake???!!! LOL
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