Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The Cake That Started It All...
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
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Wreck the Halls
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What's a Wreck?
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? ;)
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Praise for the Book
- “Will have you laughing so hard you’ll forget to eat!”— Washington Post
- “a hilarious winner” — The Oregonian
- “a fantastically gut-busting book”— NPR
- “It’s all here, each wreck a disaster of hilarity.” — BookPage.com
- “Hysterically funny!”— Epinions.com
- “laugh-out-loud funny”— The Times
- “Yates’ sharp humor makes the funny even funnier.” — The Dallas Morning News
- “an amazing laugh-out-loud book”— The Book Triblog
What the fans are saying
- "I was laughing so hard, I couldn't catch my breath."
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We don’t have any copies of Cake Wrecks for sale here, autographed or otherwise. We decided the shipping and handling costs would be too high to make it worth your while. So instead, buy your copies locally or online and then order personalized bookplates: it’s cheaper, easier, and I think even looks a bit nicer.
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- When Brides Have No Budget (Or Taste)
- This Made Me Laugh 'Til I Cried
- Some Cakes Need No Commentary
- Apocalypse Cake
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- The Most Disturbing Cake EVER
- Whoah
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- Gee, thanks, "kids".
- Poor Bunjamioh
- Time to Par-Tay
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79 comments | Post a Comment
>___<
-"make it seem like we really mean it!"
"Happy Birthday Suzanne,
make seem like we really mean it"
LMAO! I laughed out loud when I saw this one! I wonder if the baker boy got fired?
yes! I busted out laughing when this one made the internet rounds. It just begs the question "Do people ever think at work?"
it's dumb to add 'and underneath that'... but worse to write 'and under neat that' !!
I can't believe no one else caught this and commented on it. It says under Neat. not, under-neath. It is neat, I'll give it that.
I was working at a Walmart bakery as a decorator when my mom emailed that to me. I posted it on our wall.
ok, this seriously Takes The Cake. Makes me wonder how people get out of bed safely in the morning!
I like the mispelling of "Underneath"
Under Neat
I used to work at a bakery that wrote the greetings on marzipan- on one cake the happy birthday was written, and then the person's ENTIRE address was written below it (from the order slip)
priceless
I just found your site and had to go through every post. I'm now crying because I've been laughing so hard.
This site is amazing!
Keep it up.
-that girl down south
Do people have to pay for these "cake wrecks"??? While they are funny...if I had carefully planned some get together with a cake and got something like this...I would be mad!
Oh THANK you so much for this making this blog. I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.
Claudia
Great blog! I had to read all the posts, I couldn't stop...
That was too much - like the other poster I just went through every single post and now I'm crying with laughter. I just woke the kids up twice laughing so loud. Comguadulations on a great "blog"!
I first read about this cake on Snopes. They have several more "cake inscriptions gone wrong" and some are hysterically funny. One dates back to 1942!
Go to Snopes and search for "cake talk."
Found your site on the guardian webpage today and loving your work but I have had to stop, I am literally weeping with laughter at this cake.... it hurts :)
I have to disagree with Jondi who wrote "...if I had carefully planned some get together with a cake and got something like this...I would be mad!"
Think about the entertainment value of this blog. Now, imagine it in real life...you and your friends/colleagues/whatevers laughing hysterically at the mistakes, and laughing even harder at the people who don't see anything wrong. These cakes are worth every penny.
(sorry if this a duplicate post, but I think my earlier attempt failed)
I would guess that the phone call went like this:
"Write 'Best Wishes Suzanne', and then write underneath that 'We Will Miss You'..."
I guess. o_o That's the only thing I can think of that would translate out into this particular breed of fail.
Talk about literal.
A friend had that happen: He left a message saying, "Hi, this is Mike Barker over at ____ Labs, could you please send me the results I need, etc."
The girl sent it to "Mike Barkerover".
I think the misspelling, "Under Neat" says it all.
I love it...of all the pictures, this is the only one that got me all-out laughing.
Read through the whole blog (got here from the Aug 1st Woot WWWoundup) and enjoyed it... but for some reason (maybe it was a built-up effect) this post literally made me fall over laughing... twice. Wow.
Ok, clearly the cake was decorated by someone who doesn't speak english and doesn't understand the meaning behind "underneath that"
Clearly the person was given the words to write on the cake. The cake decorator (immigrant) spelled it all out having no idea of its meaning.
The person writing the instructions should have know this and adjusted accordingly. The incorrectly spelled word is the "icing on the cake" but, it's not the real mistake here. The fact that underneath that was written on the cake is the big joke.
I just read every post on your site and I'm in tears.
Oh my god! I firmly believe that people should be required to take an i.q. test before they are allowed to breed. Wow.
I'm more worried that these cake decorators just don't speak English! You'd think that would be a requirement!! lol
Hey! I just went through all your posts and I have to say, this blog is amazing :) Thanks for sharing these wrecks with us ;)
I live in the country where this cake was decorated and it is so true!
I have been to the bakery dept of this grocery store!
Found this blog via CollegeHumor.com about an hour before I had to go to work today. I had to talk myself down from the laughing/crying jag I was on. I think my wife wonders if I need to be medicated. Gads, I haven't laughed this hard in FOREVER. The photos are, of course, priceless, but your wit in your descriptions is the (dare I put it this way) the icing on the cake. Great blog! Bookmarked!
I know plenty of native English speakers who would make a mistake like this... don't blame immigrants for cakes gone wrong!
I thought it was "under neat that" you were supposed to write "we will miss you". Hello??? That h isn't silent!
This is the downfall of oral instruction. When I was a kid, I was about to compete in the state spelling bee in our state capital (Phoenix). So my sister sent me a telegram that was supposed to say CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BEST SPELLER NOW ON TO PHOENIX. It actually read CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BEST SPELLER HOW UNDEFEATED. Oddly, it still worked . . . Now I just want some cake.
This has truly made my day! Hilarious stuff!
When I graduated from college, I put in an order for a cake with a simple border and a couple of groupings of lavender roses. The cake I received was decorated with a big... brown... "Indian head".
The worst part? I ordered the cake from the bakery WHERE I WORKED.
My family still brings it up every once in a while. They think it's hilarious.
This is amzingly funny. I'm so glad you have this blog.
On a vagely related note. The place where I used to work is on East Haven Dr. I once got a call from a person asking to speak to "East" I asked him to repeat that and he said "East" again. So I asked if he wanted to talk to a Mr. East Haven. He said yes. I then explained to him that was out address, and hung up, stifling giggles.
What's amazing is.... several posts on here misspell "misspell" making fun of the kid that probably had to transcribe this from whoever took the order. I bet the baker was handed some chicken scratch of a note as to what should be on the cake.
Well, look on the bright side: That cake decorator's got GREAT penmanship.
LMAO -- That's too good! I see underneath is misspelled, too. :-) At least the decorator has good handwriting, though -- quite likely better than the person who took the customer's message!
You have TOTALLY made my evening. Morning.
It's 2:33 am, I stumbled across this blog by accident, and I am .. in love.
Wow.
This site is just hilarious and I'm readin' every single post.
Okay, clearly Anonymous from August 4th doesn't speak English (capital E) either. Oh, and by the way, sentences end with a period and "known" is the past participle of "to know", incase you didn't know.
I love this site, and I was in stitches until I read your ignorant comment. I'm surprised it was published to be honest, since this is not an immigrant-bashing forum. Boo.
He was just writing what it say, right?...
LOL!!! this is hilarious! I've been laughing since I found your site!
This is hilarious!
I do feel bad for the bakers where I live as most of them don't even speak English as a second language. After living abroad, I can totally see myself having made that mistake.
Totally made my day!
and they spelled underneath wrongOX
Sometimes... when I am sad or bored... I look at this cake and feel better about myself.
Thankyu "ckae" wrekcs four exclamation points
bahaha.
oh dear.
Yes. They're doing a FINE job of educating us.
I read through just about every post last night, but couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. Imagine my joy/shock/surprise when I opened an email forward first thing this morning... only to find this exact cake!
Yippee!..let's go see about submitting this one to Cake Wrecks.
You can probably guess the rest.
Hey, at least you know I read the guidelines...
Thank you, thank you, thank you - you've made my year! This is the funniest blog I've seen in ages. I will now be on the look out for cake wrecks in Krakow!
This blog is SOO funny!
At the end of the semester, our teacher brought a cake that he swore was supposed to say "Thanks for the semester" instead it said "Thanks for September!"
Must have been one heckuva month!
Oh how I wish I would have taken a photo!!
My hubbie just called from downstairs and told me to keep it down. I had been laughing so hard at the other cakes and then came to this one and lost it! I think I peed my pants a little.
Just found your blog, love it! It took me a second to realize what was going on with this cake and I too was laughing out loud!
I just realized that you started your blog on my birthday!!!
=D
so this may, we'll both be celebrating!
Love your blog Jen! I'm a dedicated reader!
I choked on part of my coffee and sprayed the rest all over my computer. Thanks...really!
As a former Wal-mart decorator Ive have been a first hand witness to some tragedies myself, luckily i was there to help fix them.... whoever took this order clearly has no common sense...
I love to go to other bakeries and see how bad the decorators are...I now have a camera and ill definitely have to send you guys some pictures
Oh Wow, I can't believe I didn't "Get it" before reading the post. at first thought that maybe suzanne had died... LOL
I wonder why everyone assumes the decorator misspelled underneath. That's probably exactly what it said on the order form.
Don't you just love non-English speaking bakers?
Best wishes Suzanne
We will miss you
("absolutly no quotestion marks parenthse's aposterphe's and double check spelling of Sue Zan underline 3 time's!!!")
Hahaha! and they didn't even spell it right! Double fail :)
Wow, that's neat. I'd even go so far as to say it's UNDER NEAT!
OMG, somebody just pointed me to your site for the first time, and this cake has me with tears rolling down my face I'm laughing so hard!!!!
Please oh please use this as the book cover! it's perfect! :)
and they misspelled underneath.
how sad.
I heard about it, but I didn't believe it.
Hi! My mother showed me your blog last week. I loooove it!
Hi, I know this is an old post, sorry... I just found you blog though, and it's HILARIOUS! So, I just wanted to tell you you have yet another fan :)
-Meggin
I have a feeling that the decorator has been told--several times--"Just write what I tell you!"
My boyfriend and I thought this cake was hilarious. For our 1 year anniversary a while back, he thought it would be funny to purposely have the card tucked into some flowers he bought me say "Happy Anniversary! / Under Neat that / Best Year Ever!"
but apparently the flower shop he went to was too competent (actually... not competent enough?) and left out the "Under Neat."
Love the blog!
at least the name was spelled right... right?
Years ago I ordered a cake for a family party celebrating my husband's, my father's and my niece's birthdays. It was to have said "Happy Birthday Tom, Buzz and Erica".
What I got was:
"Happy Birthday Tom Buzanerika"
When I went to pick it up I was so angry I told them to keep it, stormed out and bought an uninscribed cake at a different bakery. I wish I'd had the sense of humor to have taken it to the party - I would have had a picture to submit to this site!
omgsh! my choir teacher has this picture posted in the room. just a week ago we were trying to figure it out, just heard bout your site today and when i saw this pic i flipped out! either he was the one who ordered the cake or..just a fan of the site! definetley will ask him.
at first i thought it was 'Neat' also, because i didnt catch the real problem, since it was so obvious. but look closer, it appears that it may have originally bean 'Neat' but someone found 'the' mistake and fixed it by adding a little loop to make an h.
You can just imagine:
Customer: "O.K. so can you put best wishes Suzanne, and underneath that, we will miss you. Oh, and could you add sprinkles?"
Baker: "So that's best wishes Suzanne and underneath that, we will miss you. And sprinkles."
Customer: "Oh, and could you do it in pink?Thank you!"
Baker: "Yep, O.K., that will be ready for you to pick up tomorrow morning."
And this is what they get:
(On a cake)
Best Wishes Suzanne
and underneath that
We Will Miss You
Sprinkles
It in Pink thank you
Lol!
Doesn't it worry you that these bakers might actually DRIVE?!?!?!
Thanx, Scarlett Robyn
It made me hungry, what should I do now???
I think it's so delicious!!
'and under neat that' ....lol That quality humor.
I am a bakery manager. I can see this happenning if the decorator doesnt speak good english. I laughed hysterically when I saw it.
Love it! I had a similar cake wreck with a bridal shower cake. It should have said, "may your love be as timeless as the tides and as deep as the sea". Instead it read - "may your love be as timeless as the tide SAND ASS deep as the sea.". And this was from the "Cake Boss" in Hoboken, NJ! Thankfully we got it fixed before it was delivered to the bridal shower! Just wish I had a picture!
ah yes...verbal cake directions, i have found from experience, do not work well.
when my brother ed got married to his wife ruth...the bakery congratulated 'ruth & Ned' on the cake.
we freaked and corrected it...but couldn't resist telling every guest there about it.
That cake looks like something from the early seventies - but the literal misinterpretation is hilarious -
Great blog! I had to read all the posts, I couldn't stop...