What Makes Jen Happy?

This does:

Yes, seeing Joy and Erin wearing their official Cake Wrecks aprons while holding a tribute CCC Wreck makes my soul positively hum with happiness. Hear it?

Joy writes:
"I guess we missed the tribute party post by having our (somewhat) Cake Wrecks-themed event actually ON the day of said post, but here are some photos of my friend Erin and I and our attempt at a CCC wreck (aka Frostyng the "Snowman"). Sadly, we are not professionals, and therefore good ol' Frostyng came out a little too well to be a real wreck, but enjoy anyway!
(Note also the Cake Wrecks aprons we are wearing, which are awesomeness itself.)"

You're right, Joy; that snowman CCC is entirely too well-made to be a Wreck. I mean, look at it:

You made the proportions right! And gave him a cute lil' carrot nose! What were you thinking?

;)

I must admit, though, that "Frostyng" is a great name. Good work.

Fan "Art"

This Halloween, why not add a little personality to your pumpkin?

Harry F. carved this little beauty. Disturbing-yet-fabulous, no?

And Lauren was inspired by both the famous belly cakes and Suzy's Wreck to create her own CW tribute costume:

And yes, she's pregnant. That's what makes it so horribly good.

And finally, I'm pleased to announce that I've finally solved the mystery of this little guy:

Several of you sent in pictures of the above cake topper spotted at a cake show some weeks back. (It's good to know that the sight of something this disturbing brings me immediately to mind. Heh.)

Here's another angle:

As you can see, this is a figure of a middle-aged guy in boxers and a mohawk riding a carrot. Trouble was, no one could tell me who made it, or even which cake show it appeared at, so I was left to wonder if the baker responsible meant to do a sneaky homage to CW, or was just plain nuts.

Well, not too long ago, I got a delightful e-mail from the cake's creator, Burton (also responsible for the fabulous Frankenstein wedding cake), and I got my answer: he's both.

Here's his explanation:

"I am convinced that it is only a matter of time before Cake Wrecks inspired cakes get their own category at cake shows. Since I am usually very far behind the curve on most things (current affairs, fashion, street slang, which fork to use…) I thought I would try to get ahead of the curve on this one. So I decided to enter a competition cake partially inspired by the Cake Wrecks blog. And why go half way? I entered it in Kerry Vincent’s own Oklahoma State Sugar Arts Show."

Yes, Burton made a middle-aged half-naked mohawk-man carrot jockey for Kerry Vincent. Told you he was nuts.

Here's the whole cake, with Burton's notes:

See the little fireman's hat? That's an ode to yet another famous classic Wreck.

Wondering how the crowd reacted? [evil snicker] Burton, fill us in on all the gory details.

"Public opinion did not favor this entry. Every time I saw anyone approach my cake they would immediately exclaim, 'Oh, look at the cute pumpkin scarecrow cake!' and then pass my cake by on their way to see the cute pumpkin scarecrow cake that was several entries down the table. My entry did get high marks from Craig Gustafson of American Cake Decorating Magazine, though, and the judges gave it first place in its category —take that, cute pumpkin scarecrow cake!"

And just because I had fun reading it, here's the rest of his e-mail:

"After the judging I spoke with one of the judges who admitted that most of them didn’t know the significance of the carrot until Bronwen Weber set them straight. [Bronwen rocks.] I actually got to meet and make a fool of myself in front of Bronwen as well as Kerry Vincent and several other celebrity decorators. While I may not have made a fool of myself in front of Jennifer Matsubara, I at least left her convinced that I am very creepy, if the look in her eyes and the speed with which she backed away were any indication." [Hah!]

"I just thought I would let you know how something as sweet and innocent as the naked, mohawk-baby carrot jockey can be twisted and perverted in the wrong hands. Mine."

The good thing, Burton, is that most of us are just twisted enough to love you for doing this, so it's all good. Wreck on, my friend. Wreck. On.

(Still trying to figure out what the deal is with the carrot jockeys? Well, I don't have much of an answer for you, but you can start by going here.)

Weee Are The Champions...

We won!
Wewonwewonwewon!!

Thanks so much to all of you who voted for CW in the '09 BlogLuxe Awards; because of you, Cake Wrecks WON in the Funniest Blog category. (You may now commence rejoicing.)

Since I don't think the winners have been released online yet, here's the breakdown according to SocialLuxe's Twitter feed (the winners were announced live at the Blogher conference last Thursday.) Also, there were two winners in each category:

Blogs We've Learned the Most From: I Heart Faces & The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Most Inspiring Blog: Nie Nie Dialogues & The Spohrs are Multiplying

Most Provocative Blog: The Bloggess & Her Bad Mother

Tastiest Blog : This Week For Dinner & The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Funniest Blog: Cake Wrecks (Woohoo!) & Mommy Wants Vodka

Best Eye Candy Blog: I Should Be Folding Laundry & whatever

Guiltiest Pleasure Blog: MamaPop & Craftastrophe


Congradulations to all the winners & nominees - Under Neat that, Y'all Rock!

CW's Biggest Fans?

If you want me to get a huge goofy grin on my face, just send me a picture like this:

Amy P. made this hilarious - and yet absolutely adorable - Wreckplica (see the original here) for a friend's baby shower. I think she greatly improved upon the design, don't you?

I love how they just moved the limbs in towards the center as they served it, too:

[snicker]

I also got an e-mail from Rose this week. Rose tells me that she and her hubby Paul are CW's #1 fans, and so for their wedding reception they teamed up with another CW fan, Stacie - who happens to be a professional baker - and designed THIS beauty:


Don't miss the little carrots on the sides- those are Rose's favorite part. The "Rise n Pail" is a thoroughly butchered version of their names, by the way, and "Happy Weeding" is an homage to this classic Wreck. And, of course, there's the bizarre photo montage - that's a work of art in itself.

And while I'm at it, I can't believe I never got around to posting what Wreck's reader Mary Beth made:

How's that for loyalty - she even listed the site address!! Mary Beth, you are a Wreck star, no doubt about it. (For the Wreck, go here.)

I have lots more fan-made goodies stashed away, but here are just a few more favorites:

Kristi B. made this during a cake class. The only thing better than a Wreckplica is a little Wrecky lingo! (Next stop: Webster's.)

And finally, with a CW homage cake to end all CW homage cakes, we have Katy N.'s submission:

A little context: there are apparently a lot of Wreckies at Katy's workplace, so when the time came to throw a party for four ladies who were getting married, they decided to incorporate as many of their favorite Wrecks into one cake as possible (plus a 4-headed bride). They printed out all the relevant blog entries and found a willing (and surprisingly skilled) decorator at a local bakery.

So, how many Wrecks do YOU recognize?

(Hint: he's on a bear skin rug. Bigger hint: go here.)

Remember the infamous Fireman cake?


And - could it be? Yes, yes it could! - the Cake Head Diet Aid!!

(That's a picture of one of the grooms.)

And don't forget Darth Vader, the "At least you're pretty" line, and all the "lovely" airbrushing. Wow. You guys really outdid yourselves, Katy - and kudos to the decorator for playing along so well!


- Related Wreckage: Carrot Jockeys Make Excellent Ground Troops

Minions, Report!

Thank you all for coming to the evil Wrecky henchpersons meeting. There's only one item of business today, so I'll be brief in briefing you with the brief:

Cake Wrecks is up for Funniest Blog at the '09 BlogLuxe Awards.

I'd be super psyched to win it.

Like, super super psyched.

You can vote once a day now through July 6th, simply by typing in your e-mail address.

That is all. Dismissed!

(Oh, and since there are about a billion blogs on the list, you might have a hard time finding Cake Wrecks. I'd advise using the "find" tool on your web browser.)

Falker Satherhood Revisited

(Hey, I did say I had my fingers crossed, right?)

Since Falker Satherhood is one Hallmark card away from becoming the new official name of Father's Day, I thought I'd share how some of you Wreckies celebrated it yesterday.

Lindsay B. did the sensible thing and bought a cake:


While Jan B. and her daughter Ginny made Dad a banner:


Since the original Falker Satherhood cake debuted back in May, though, there are some dissenting opinions on when it should be celebrated. For example, the Big Doofus over at The Big Doofus Blog lists a quick, educational, and completely made-up history of the day as follows:

"Falker Satherhood was celebrated in the tiny Eastern European country of Belgrid to commemorate the beginning of spring and the annual "Dancing Ritual of the Goats."

Dancing goats? Heck yeah! When I was a kid we had two miniature goats as pets, and they were awesome. Why, my mom still has the scars on her shins from little Starbuck's* playful maulings. [getting all misty-eyed] They butt with love, those wee lil' goats: they butt...with love.


*Yes, his name was Starbuck. This was before the coffee shop was popular, though, so the meaning was more along the lines of he was a star at bucking. Or maybe it had something to do with Battlestar Galactica... we ARE a family of geeks, after all.

Wreckie Grad Shows Us How It's Done

Allison must have the best sister ever. Just look at what she made for Allison's graduation party:

Awwww yeeeeeaaaah. Now THAT is a graduation cake, my friends.

Allison writes,

"Most of the partygoers didn't get why I was dying of laughter when I saw it. It was the best cake anyone has ever given me, and was well worth three years of graduate school just for the cake! The best part was waking up the next day to the dozens of naked baby graduates she had hidden all over my house: in my shower, on my pillow, on my computer, in the kitchen cupboards, and wherever else I haven't found yet."

That cake plus a Carrot Jockey Hunt? Wow. You lucked out in the sibling department there, Allison.

Now, those of you graduating soon, I think you know what to do.

Call Allison's sister.

One Upside to the Economic Downturn...

Is that otherwise unengaged graphic designers have plenty of free time to make Cake Wrecks t-shirts.

Yep, yep, yep. Who says everyone's suffering "in this economy"? I'm making out like an extremely fashionable bandit over here! Check out what the infinitely talented Kate Citrin gifted me with this week:



Awesome, huh? And since I'm such a giver, I've arranged for these lovelies to be available to you commoner Wreckies as well. Just click on the photos to be taken to the appropriate Zazzle page. Oh, and be sure to give lots o' love to Kate, too; I'm sure she'll find working for your praise and virtual high-fives far more satisfying than those pedestrian money-making gigs.

Cake Wrecks, World Educator

I thought you guys might appreciate this e-mail I got today:

Hi Jen,

A friend of mine posted a link to your site, (and) I think I spent about 3 hours yesterday going though your blog when I was supposed to be working on lesson plans for the English class I teach. I am an American English teacher at a big elementary school not far from Seoul, South Korea. My Korean coworkers heard me laughing so hard that they came over to my desk to investigate. Clever as I am, I told them I was working on my next lesson, which I wasn't... until I realized that I WAS!

So today, I decided to ditch the book and instead teach grammar and spelling mistakes from Cake Wrecks. The fourth and fifth graders loved it, and the students were able to correct about 90% of the mistakes! How embarrassing that even Korean elementary school students know better!

Thanks for the great teaching material!

- Carolyn H.

The Cake Wrecks pop quiz - gotta love it.

Here the children are wondering how the U.S. ever became a world power.
(The answer, of course, is Whoopie Pies.)

Carolyn, thanks for helping to spread the Wreckage on such a global scale. Why, by influencing these young minds you've made our bid for ultimate Wrecky world domination that much easier! Tell me, did you perchance introduce the kiddos to their friendly neighborhood Carrot Jockeys?

Cake Wrecks, a Role Model?!?

I love reading all the e-mails y'all send in, and over the past months I've had several proud parents send in the cakey creations of their little ones, who they tell me are inspired by this blog. (Let's hope they're referring to the Sunday posts, heheh.)

Anyhoo, I thought today would be a good day to give a shout-out to two of my young fans-turned-prodigies.

First up, there's six-year-old Max. According to his mom Alissa, Max demands to see Cake Wrecks every night before going to bed, and when he finally made a cake all by himself, he begged her to send it in to Cake Wrecks as "a good-looking cake, not a wreck."

Here he is, looking proud-as-punch with his cakey creation:

Excellent work, young Max. I particularly like your sprinkle placement. Tell me, do you deliver?

And next, here's Kelsey holding a lovely two-tiered cake she made for her older sister's baby shower:

Kelsey's mom Renee tells me Kelsey made this entire thing from scratch, including the fondant, and designed and baked it completely on her own. Not too shabby for a girl who's only - wait, what's this? Today is her 15th birthday?!? Aw, hey now, how's that for good timing? It's almost like someone [wink wink] wanted to feature her cake on her special day. Yep, yep, yep. So good work, mom, and happy birthday, Kelsey! May your cakes always rise, your fondant never crack, and your spelling skills never falter.

Carrot Jockeys Make Excellent Ground Troops

I make no bones about my bid for Wrecky World Domination, and I think you'll all agree that Cake Wrecks is an excellent model for government. [insert joke about Wrecky administrations here]

Anyway, I can tell my evil plan is working, in part, by the number of Carrot Jockeys successfully infiltrating society at large. Here are just a few of the NMBCJ sitings I've had reported:

Here they are flying/gallivanting in classic carrot formation through Mallory H.'s home...


Spreading spelling errors in Ann S.'s...


Terrorizing Jennifer and Krista in their "stealth CCC" mode...


Circling up for a little Jockey powwow over at Maggie H.'s...



And even easing the pain of "workforce reduction" over at Ryan J.'s.*

You know how ELSE I can tell my bid for Wrecky World Domination is working? By winning all three Bloggies Cake Wrecks was nominated for at the Ninth Annual Weblog Awards on Monday. That's right, my loyal wrecky henchpersons, thanks to you Cake Wrecks is "officially" the Best New Blog, Best Writing of a Blog, and Best Food Blog** of 2008. Woot woot!

Next stop: Disneyland. That's right; I shall not rest until I've ridden the Matterhorn enough times to make myself physically ill. And that, my friends, is a campaign promise. [nodding seriously]


*In case you're wondering what that is, Ryan explains "We had trouble finding anything like the babies from the infamous cake screw-up, so we used a rubber fetus we had laying around. Don't ask me why we have a rubber fetus hanging around." Roger on that, Ryan; I won't ask.


** As sweet as victory is, the fact is I've never considered CW a "Food Blog", and feel undeserving each time an award site places it in that category. So allow me to to give a shout-out to the other, more appropriate, nominees in that category. If you like to cook, or even to just read about people who do, check them out:

Chocolate & Zucchini

The Pioneer Woman Cooks (Also the winner of Best Blog of the Year. If you haven't already, go see what all the buzz is about. )

Smitten Kitchen

Bakerella (The one, the only.)

Killer Friday the 13th Creations

It's Friday the 13th again, folks, so you know the drill: watch out for broken mirrors, black cats, and homicidal maniacs - especially if you're a hot chick skinny-dipping alone in the woods tonight*. Which reminds me (the homicidal maniac part, I mean, not the hot chick part) here are a few Jason Voorhees goodies for you:

First, Reader John M. whipped these up for his co-workers:

I guess you can never really Wreck a horror cupcake, can you? I mean, the face looks totally freaky, but that's the point. I like how John paired it with all those cheerful sprinkles, too. They say, "Well of course I'm here to kill you, but there's no need to be all gloomy about it!"

And here's a pro's take on the masked murderer:


Creeeeepy. Jane D. found it here, and it's by Antoni and Edward Frys of European Cake Gallery - the same guys who did that amazing Wall-E cake I featured a long time ago. I can't say I'm onboard with a cake that looks like it's about to kill me - I prefer my food happy and non-confrontational, you know? - but I must admit: the irony of slicing into it would be pretty rich.


*Tomorrow night should be fine, though.

Rockin' Wrectators

Today's readers all qualify for Evil Wrecky Henchpersons of the Month. Check it out:

First up, my apologies to Steph H. for not posting her awesomely hilarious Halloween costume sooner:

As you can see, Steph here is decked out in the ultimate CW homage costume! (Plus she matches the couch - so, you know, bonus points there.)

The back:
And the shoes!



Steph even started her own CW-inspired site called Tomb Wrecks. Now that's the level of devotion I expect from you Wreckies. Excellent work, Steph!

Next up, Manda K. has gone a little carrot jockey crazy:

...and I approve.

Oh, and for you non-tweeting types who missed it, here's David & his jockey tie causing some familial consternation:

Love it.

Many of you send in your intentional Wrecks - some homemade, some ordered, all hilarious. Here are a few of my recent favs:

Shauna W. did her own version of Cannibal Cake (aka Cakey):

Trish invented a mom version of "Happy Falker Satherhood" for her friend Nicole's baby shower:

"Happy Motnicovicterhood!"
Nice touch with the improper spacing, too.

This was the groom's cake at Carrie D.'s wedding, made by her friend and fellow Wreckie Sara T.:

(Check back tomorrow for the wedding cake - it's as pretty as this is Wrecky. Heh.)

And Max of Freed's Bakery sent me this hilarious homage specially requested by one of their customers:

I love these combo Wrecks. Can you spot them all? Don't miss the open book with "The End" behind the baby. (Don't remember that one? It's in the book.)

And finally, some of you may remember Breanna K., who won Best in Show at the AZ cake show last year while wearing a CW shirt. Well, Breanna's back, and she won again! This time, she wore a different CW shirt, too:

This cake took 1st in semi-pro, people's choice, and decorators' choice. Be sure to check out Breanna's Cakes for more of her award-winning work!

Breanna, I think I speak for us all when I say it's a crying shame you haven't started your own cake business yet. Wowza.

And to the rest of you: rest assured I read and enjoy your every e-mail, but there are simply too many for me to post all of your pics. Therefore only the most creative/amazing/funny stuff will get on the blog.

And yes, that IS a challenge. ;)


- Related Wreckage: Show and Tell

Show and Tell

I have to say, you Wreckies are an impressive bunch. Not only do you enjoy making some intentional Wreckage and/or beautiful Sweets in your off hours, but you also take the time to e-mail me cake stories - both hilarious and heart-warming - along with your photos. I had some particularly good e-mails this past week, and realized it'd been far too long since I shared any with the rest of the class. So, here ya go.


Remember that lovely Unicorn cake I featured a while back on Sunday Sweets - the one based on the tapestry? Well, Johanna's sister loved it. So for her birthday, Johanna decided to get her sister a cake that looked exactly like the Unicorn cake. And it does. See?

[snicker]

This could be the best use of a photo cake I've seen, Johanna. Excellent.

Patrick B. got a little more hands-on, and decided to recreate the horrific dolly-cake himself. I think his version might even be a bit better, though:

Patrick, this cake brings a particular childhood memory to mind...
[cue flashback harp music]
Yes, I remember it well: I was about 6 years old, and watching my mother put on her make-up in the bathroom mirror. I was so absorbed I didn't realize that the toilet seat was up until I sat down - with a splash. Ah, misty, water-colored memories...

And finally, I'm pleased as spiked punch to report that Cake Wrecks is officially The Blog of Champions. Check it out:

That, my friends, is Breanna K., the Best in Show winner of the AZ Cake and Sugar Art Show held last weekend. And yes, she is wearing a Cake Wrecks shirt. Woohoo!

Breanna, mad props for showing your Wrecky loyalty at a cake show, and for doing such an amazing job with your tutu cake. Can you believe she's not even a professional, guys? Wow, maybe there's hope for the rest of us, eh?

And to all the rest of you who have e-mailed me in the past: thank you! I may not be able to answer you all individually, but I really do enjoy and appreciate every single one of your e-mails!