Cake Wrecks
Encyclopedia
Cake Wrecks is an entertainment website
featuring user-submitted photographs of professionally made cake
s that are unintentionally humorous or strange in appearance. Founded in May 2008, inspiration for the confectionary-themed photoblog
began when site-master Jen Yates received an e-mail that included a photo of a sheet cake
, decorated with a customer's verbatim request: "".
, Florida
, began searching for images of what she describes as "unintentionally silly, sad, creepy or inappropriate" cakes. She posted the images to her new blog, Cake Wrecks, but assumed a limited supply of strange cake photography would result in the blog running out of available material. An increasing amount of "Wrecker" photos submitted by site readers revealed "cake wrecks" are in fact inevitable in the baking
industry. Blog entries have included photos of cakes decorated
with sonogram
images, an image depicting sexual harassment
, and a message reading "".
Described as an Internet phenomenon by The New York Times
, Cake Wrecks quickly gained in popularity. Mary Alice Yeskey, an employee at Baltimore
's Charm City Cakes and co-star of the reality television
show Ace of Cakes
, explained why fellow bakers visit Cake Wrecks: "Everyone in the baking business follows Cake Wrecks almost daily, if only to make sure our cakes aren’t ending up on there".
By the end of 2008, approximately 100,000 users visited Cake Wrecks each day and the website had received two blog award
s: the 2008 Blogger's Choice Award for Best Humor Blog and the 2008 Weblog Award for Best Food Blog. During the 2009 Weblog Awards ceremony, also known as "The Bloggies", Cake Wrecks was named Best Food Blog, Best New Weblog, and Best Writing of a Weblog.
Print
In 2009, Yates compiled user-submitted photos for her book, Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong, which debuted at No. 9 on the New York Times Best Seller list
for hardcover
advice. A second book, Wreck the Halls: Cake Wrecks Gets "Festive", was published in October 2011.
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
featuring user-submitted photographs of professionally made cake
Cake
Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet and enriched baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape...
s that are unintentionally humorous or strange in appearance. Founded in May 2008, inspiration for the confectionary-themed photoblog
Photoblog
A photoblog is a form of photo sharing and publishing in the format of a blog. It differs from a blog through the predominant use of and focus on photographs rather than text...
began when site-master Jen Yates received an e-mail that included a photo of a sheet cake
Sheet cake
A sheet cake is a cake baked in a large, flat rectangular pan such as a sheet pan or a jelly roll pan. These single-layer cakes are almost always frosted, and may be decorated on the flat surface on the top...
, decorated with a customer's verbatim request: "".
History
Yates, a resident of OrlandoOrlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, began searching for images of what she describes as "unintentionally silly, sad, creepy or inappropriate" cakes. She posted the images to her new blog, Cake Wrecks, but assumed a limited supply of strange cake photography would result in the blog running out of available material. An increasing amount of "Wrecker" photos submitted by site readers revealed "cake wrecks" are in fact inevitable in the baking
Baking
Baking is the technique of prolonged cooking of food by dry heat acting by convection, and not by radiation, normally in an oven, but also in hot ashes, or on hot stones. It is primarily used for the preparation of bread, cakes, pastries and pies, tarts, quiches, cookies and crackers. Such items...
industry. Blog entries have included photos of cakes decorated
Cake decorating
Cake decorating is one of the sugar arts that uses icing or frosting and other edible decorative elements to make otherwise plain cakes more visually interesting...
with sonogram
Obstetric ultrasonography
Obstetric sonography is the application of medical ultrasonography to obstetrics, in which sonography is used to visualize the embryo or foetus in its mother's uterus...
images, an image depicting sexual harassment
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
, and a message reading "".
Described as an Internet phenomenon by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Cake Wrecks quickly gained in popularity. Mary Alice Yeskey, an employee at Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
's Charm City Cakes and co-star of the reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
show Ace of Cakes
Ace of Cakes
Ace of Cakes is an American reality television show which airs on the Food Network. The show focuses on the daily operations of Duff Goldman's custom cake shop, Charm City Cakes, in Baltimore, Maryland; including small-business ownership, working with various vendors, tasting with customers,...
, explained why fellow bakers visit Cake Wrecks: "Everyone in the baking business follows Cake Wrecks almost daily, if only to make sure our cakes aren’t ending up on there".
By the end of 2008, approximately 100,000 users visited Cake Wrecks each day and the website had received two blog award
Blog award
A Blog award is an award for the best blog in a given category. Some blog awards are based on a public vote and others are based on a fixed set of criteria applied by a panel of judges....
s: the 2008 Blogger's Choice Award for Best Humor Blog and the 2008 Weblog Award for Best Food Blog. During the 2009 Weblog Awards ceremony, also known as "The Bloggies", Cake Wrecks was named Best Food Blog, Best New Weblog, and Best Writing of a Weblog.
New York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
for hardcover
Hardcover
A hardcover, hardback or hardbound is a book bound with rigid protective covers...
advice. A second book, Wreck the Halls: Cake Wrecks Gets "Festive", was published in October 2011.
Further reading
- Yates, Jen. (2009) Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong. Andrews McMeel PublishingAndrews McMeel PublishingAndrews McMeel Publishing, LLC is a company which publishes books, calendars, and related toys...
. ISBN 978-0740785375
External links
- "Cakes Gone Wrong", slideshow via The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
- "12 worst cake mistakes", slideshow via msnbc.comMsnbc.commsnbc.com is a news website owned and operated as a joint venture by NBCUniversal and Microsoft.In addition to original content from its news staff, msnbc.com is the news website for the NBC News family, with content from the cable television news channel MSNBC, NBC shows such as Today, NBC Nightly...
- "Cake disasters", video via Steven and ChrisSteven and ChrisSteven and Chris is a Canadian television talk show, which debuted on CBC Television on January 14, 2008. The show is hosted by Steven Sabados and Chris Hyndman, formerly of the home renovation show Designer Guys, who host celebrity guests and talk about topics ranging from entertainment, cooking,...