I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to read this book! I’ve been enjoying the cake disasters posted on the Cake Wrecks blog for about a year now, having seen it mentioned by Mary Alice on Charm City Cakes. The subtitle best describes this book — “When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong.” Jen Yates started the Cake Wrecks blog in 2008 after receiving a forwarded e-mail with the picture featured on the book’s cover, and the site has grown more popular over the years as readers submit pictures of wrecks they have received from bakeries and those spotted while strolling through the grocery store.
I’m always tempted to snap a photo when I see a cake wreck, but I don’t want to offend the bakers who normally are standing right there. However, I should have taken a photo of the wreck that was Serena’s baby shower cake before I had it fixed! It was a fairly large sheet cake, and somehow they just couldn’t fit “Best Wishes Serena and Cris” without the “and Cris” going up and off the side of the cake. I was too upset to think about taking a photo, and after I complained, I felt bad even though my complaint was justified. Well, with Cake Wrecks, I don’t have to feel guilty about laughing and cringing at the cake decorating horrors gracing its pages.
Yates includes some favorites from the blog, but much of the book is never-before-seen wreckage. The photos feature ridiculous spelling mistakes, explosions of frosting that look like bathroom accidents, and cakes that make you question the intelligence of the decorators. (These two aren’t in the book, but they illustrate my point perfectly.) Yates’ humorous commentary is sometimes funnier than the cakes.
There are chapters on the horrors of cupcake cakes, wedding cake disasters, and even some hilarious-but-not-exactly-family-friendly cakes. Yates pokes fun at the latest trends in baby shower cakes, with huge baby bumps (sometimes with feet poking through), baby butts, and the creepiest baby face ever immortalized in sugar. She tells the stories behind some of the cake wrecks, and even if these stories don’t make you think twice about what you say to the baker when you’re ordering a cake, they’ll surely make you laugh out loud.
My poor husband witnessed me and The Girl laughing so hard we cried while reading this book, and I kept making him pause the movie he was watching to look at the photos. He was only mildly annoyed, as several times he laughed right along with us. From carrot-riding babies with mohawks to The Girl’s personal favorite Darth Vader baby shower cake (which is pretty cool when you read about the Darth Vader bridal shower cake that became a family joke), Cake Wrecks (and the blog) will provide hours of entertainment. The Girl and I can’t wait to get our hands on Yates’ newest book, Wreck the Halls. Watch the trailer for a sneak peek of the hilarious holiday wreckage!
Disclosure: I borrowed Cake Wrecks from my local library. I am an IndieBound affiliate and an Amazon associate.
© 2011 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.
This sounds absolutely hilarious…this is why I don’t get professional cakes…although that could be because the bakery we had do our wedding cake called a week before and told us that they were going out of business…and I had to find a business to do it on short notice. Hilarious.
I forgot about that! What a pain! Your shower cake was the first cake wreck I’ve experienced, but I’ve seen some funny ones in the bakery while I’m shopping.
The trailer and website are hysterical. Great holiday gift giving! Thanks for introducing me to Cake Wrecks! Cheers, BCC
Yea! You have hours of online procrastination ahead of you!
I love that web site so I’m sure I’d love the book too.
I’m sure!
I’ve always LOVED the cake wreck photographs and didn’t know there was a book! This is going at the top of my list right away … thanks, Anna!
I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
I love that blog! I had a few birthday cake disasters with the kids and all but never sent them in. The photos on that site are just so funny! I can’t read it at work or I burst out laughing!
The book would make a fun gift.
I agree! The only disaster I had was with Serena’s shower cake, so I should count myself lucky. And compared to some of the wrecks in the book and on the blog, mine wasn’t so bad.
I love the blog too! And yes, what a fun gift item!
Glad to know I’m not the only one who loves the blog and spends too much time on it laughing my pants off.
Lol, now this sounds like a fun book
Yes, definitely!
That is so funny! I couldn’t imagine doing a cake like that??? Checking out the blog!
I can’t believe that some decorators think these things are acceptable.
Cake Wrecks sounds hilarious! I never knew such a book/blog existed! I’ve had a few wrecks (but only a few, thankfully) when the person who wrote Happy Birthday on my kids’ cakes had the penmanship of a two-year old (excuse me, uh, isn’t there someone else in the bakery?). This seems like a fun book to share with a daughter or other close relative.
There are some penmanship issues in the book, too!
i briefly skimmed through this book when i saw it sitting on one of my friend’s coffee table, and by skim i mean i just flipped through it and looked at all the pictures. i had no idea there was a blog for it though. i can already see myself spending endless hours looking at all the disasters.
It really is addicting! And some of the commentary is funnier than the pictures.
I love the cake wrecks. They crack me up every time.
I just can’t believe professional decorators actually try to give these to customers. Ridiculous! Well, at least it provides hours of entertainment for us.
Oh, I have to go check out the blog now that I read your wonderful review! I never even knew about it. What a great book for those days when you’re feeling blue.
It would be a great pick-me-up. Can’t imagine anyone being able to page through the book and not crack up laughing.
This book sounds like something that would be entertaining!
It is most definitely entertaining!
This is a pretty funny book and now whenever I am in a bakery I look for the ugliest cakes.
Me, too!
lol..this sounds like a riot!
Totally! The Girl and I could not stop laughing.
This sounds like such a fun book! I’ve been to the blog before and the mistakes and missteps are hilarious.
They are hilarious, though I really feel bad for the brides who arrive at their receptions to find a wreck on display.
This book sounds right up my alley! I love stuff like this.
I’m sure you’d enjoy it!
I didn’t know anything about this website or book. Thank you, Anna. I need to laugh this week and these cake wrecks especially with accompanying stories are hilarious!I am sorry about ASerena’s shower cake…what is wrong with some people?!
It’s kind of amazing that there are so many cake wrecks that a website was created and flourished and a book…but yay!
Thank you, Anna!
Well, at least they fixed Serena’s cake. What really got me was that they looked at me with blank faces not understanding why I was upset. Grr!
The blog and this book would be great for those days when you need to laugh!
I really should start reading this blog! Every time I’ve visited it, I’ve cracked up. This book looks like a ton of fun!
I don’t read it every day but often, and especially when I’m procrastinating or in need of a good laugh.
I’ve never seen the site or book, but I bet it is hilarious. too funny.
I hope you’ll check them out!
You’ve made a very valid point – these things are hysterical…except when they happen to you! C’mon cake people, use some common sense!
I second your last statement!
Ohmagosh! I need this one. I laugh at Cake Wrecks regularly and am always sure to share the hilarity with my colleagues.
You definitely have to share. My husband found that out!
I can’t thank you enough for this post! I now have the perfect Christmas gift for my cousin who bakes and decorates cakes part-time. The Darth Vader cake is pretty creepy.
Great! It is creepy, but the story that goes along with it is so funny!
[...] laughing our way through Cake Wrecks, The Girl (age 11) and I knew we had to read Jen Yates’ second book of professional cake [...]