CakeWrecks

By Bethany Larson

The True Nature of Cake Decorating

From television to movies, bookstores to the state fair, the Foodie craze is everywhere. But you don’t have to sit in front of the boob tube or attend Bobby Flay’s book signing to get your Foodie fix — you can check blogs.

Food blogs focus on those who love food: eating it, cooking it and talking about it. But for those who want to laugh at it, that blog is out there too:

Cakewrecks, founded in 2008 by Jen Yates, shamelessly critiques professionally designed cakes that go “horribly, hilariously wrong.” Although shows like The Food Network’s Ace of Cakes and TLC’s Cake Boss, feature beautiful and sometimes, wacky cakes with minor issues, they very rarely show one that is ugly or tacky or just bad.

But, thanks to Jen at Cakewrecks, those of us that enjoy the real world follies of cake decorating can see blunders, misspellings and huge errors. In one of my favorite posts, Jen, whose sense of humor is both derisive and outrageous, weaves a tale of three girls — Amber, Cassie and Lisa. Cakes with tacky, albeit hysterical, messages (ie. “Amber, Good Luck with your Porn Career”) are punch lines for her little story.

Jen also calls out “Wreckerators” who use airbrushes to decorate their cakes, because she believes airbrushes are a cheat tool for cake decorators who are “artistically challenged or color-blind.” She also hates the popular Cupcake Cakes, known as CCCs in Cakewreck jargon, because they are “fugly.”

Outside of the sheer hilarity found in the photos of the cakes, Jen’s sharp wit and well placed pop culture references make this blog a must read for anyone who likes to laugh. And for those of you who think that she shouldn’t be making fun of the poor, over-worked cake decorators, do yourself a favor and check out her blog. She’ll change your mind.

Photo courtesy of cakewrecks.blogspot.com