Tuesday, August 12, 2008

In Honor of the 2008 Olympic Games

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Such skill.

Such dignity.

Such...parentheses?

And quotation marks - can't forget the quotation marks:


(Three guesses what the customer asked for on the cake!)


Julie S., this one most definitely deserves a gold medal.
Jen said...

Obviously, the decorator was boycotting in protest of China's hosting...

HeatherPride said...

MIGHT BE my most favorite cake wreck EVER.

Shell said...

Wow, Talk about following directions!!

Anonymous said...

"Here ya go. That'll be $49.99."

"But I thought it was $39.99?!"

"Yes ma'am, but we charge extra for when you order parenthesis AND quotation marks."

JanetK said...

I didn't know that I had been spelling "Olympics" wrong all these years. I will have to practise saying it and spelling it with the "N". :-P
Janet

Jansky T said...

This whole blog of yours has me crying I'm laughing so hard.

Dea said...

I just love how dang adorably literal some of these decorators are. No wonder the local grocery is forever advertising "help wanted" in the bakery for a decorator....

Cabin 19 Supply Company said...

OMGosh, that's hilarious...I think if I walked up to buy that I would still pay for it and take it home otherwise no one would believe me that it really was like that!

Binx said...

The fact that it says "Olynpics" only makes it better.

Amanda said...

Whoops! Someone needed their morning coffee.

Anonymous said...

Link this one to the under-achievers, 'cause that's just plain lazy. Or stupid, but I really hope nobody's quite that dumb.

Lyz said...

What decorator (I am using that term SO loosely) thought that the folks ordering might actually want their cake to look like THAT? Didn't he/she think it looked a little...sparse? Or bad?

And how hard would it have been to draw 5 circles in different colors? Even uneven circles of incorrect colors would have been an improvement over this.

Anonymous said...

Oh, my. I just...there are no words.

Anonymous said...

Hahaha! I actually snorted with laughter. Oh, dear. That really is very very very bad.

-Laura

Liz T. said...

Olynpics?? Puh-leeze! The extra punctuation does help to, uh, fill in the space a little, I guess.

James said...

It's like some of these cake decorators just don't turn on their brain when they read the instructions. Just ... sad.

Manders said...

I hope this wasn't for an athlete... I am going to stand over the cake decorator next time and make sure everything is done correctly.

x said...

wow.

*Amber* aka Suzy SINsation said...

I now know that even with my total lack of artistic ability, I too can be a cake decorator. Sign me up (and just so ya know, I'm licking the batter spoon).

P.S. I ALWAYS get those word verifications wrong at least once. Ugh.

Mary Ellen said...

And this is what happens when you take your cake order to the grocery store.


LMAO!!!

Kyla said...

I think this is the saddest cake of them all.

Not only did the baker not understand the actual request of the customer, the 'M' in "Olympics" is handwritten like an 'N.' Not to mention that the word "Olympics" shouldn't be pluralized in the first place (but that may be the customers fault...hard to say!) I could be wrong, but in my opinion the pathetic-ness of this cake would have gone down a point or two if it at least said "Olympic Rings."

Anonymous said...

There are no words. Well, actually, there are, but they wouldn't all fit in this text field. Oy.

Kaytee said...

Wow. I think it actually takes extra talent to so blatantly disregard someone's directions. Rather commendable, I'd say!

Anonymous said...

Oh that is too funny!

Anonymous said...

My guess is they wanted the symbol of the 5 interlocking rings, and no words at all!

Azaiez said...

SO funny!! You know that preson felt BAD when they realized... :)

Me said...

omg, don't these people even think?

Anonymous said...

I think the cake decorator was up partying way too late the night before, and may have very well been wasted because, really, how could you not have a clue?!!? I got such a good laugh from this one!

Nauntie Lush said...

I have to tell you, I am not sure where people are finding these so called "decorators" but I am glad I have yet to find one. I am glad though that you are posting them (With your hilarious commentary) because this just made my morning! Indeed this is an epic olympic FAILURE!

elisha said...

"please decorate cake with something that represents the olympic games (olympic rings)."

Geo said...

I've stopped being surprised by cake blunders, thanks to following your blog, but I tell ya, I don't think I'll ever stop laughing about them.

Anonymous said...

And nothing can be done about that "n" in "Olynpics", once that baby's boxed up!

Anonymous said...

So they wrote the "Olympic Rings" in quotes, then thought "No, that's probably not what they wanted," then added the parenthesis for safe measure.

Anonymous said...

You didn't even mention that it's "Olympics Rings" and not "Olympic Rings."

Anonymous said...

What a masterful effort, and wow, how about that going the extra mile with the creative portion of the program - "Olynpics Rings". Simply breathtaking.

Twills said...

I just want to tell you how much I love your blog. I laugh uproariously every day. My three year old has been telling people about the "baby butt cake" since he saw it. Even to strangers at the post office or the grocery store. We can't get enough!

M. Peregrine Barr said...

not to mention the fact that it spells olympics with an "N" instead of an "M".....

Anonymous said...

Note to self: next time, draw them a diagram!

Anonymous said...

The customer was looking forward to a nice simple yet elegant cake with the 5 Olympic rings. This was most likely for an Olympics party to celebrate another Phelps gold medal.

At some point the customer probably thought..."Drat, I should have specified I wanted the rings in color. Oh well, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised..."

Anonymous said...

They can't spell Olympics either.

Anonymous said...

And if we're being picky, it says "Olynpic Rings" Don't they teach people how to write in cursive anymore?

Monique in TX

Anonymous said...

No words... LOL!

Anonymous said...

This Olynpian effort wins the ("Gold Medal")!!!!

JamieM said...

haha... I have this new appreciation for parentheses after reading your site the last couple weeks :)

MaryO said...

Geez... and after all these years I thought it was OLYnPIC RINGS.. NOW I discover it's a double pleural "OLYnPICS RINGS". So wrong. So so wrong. But hilarious!
Like ordering "30 shrimps please"
O.M.G. !!!!!!!

Faith said...

Aaand the delay on the posting of the comments suddenly becomes the issue. GAH! I was all, "Why is everyone mentioning the same thing, over and over and OVER...Oh yeah. They can't see the ones that already posted that comment."

So, what exactly counts as profanity? I'm almost interested in testing it after reading 10 people putting in their two cents on what you should have posted! (For what it's worth, I read it as being an "m" in the word "Olympics." But clearly, I was in the minority there.)

Anonymous said...

A postmodern cakewreck. I'm telling you, failed cakes are evolving as an art form, and they deserve our respect.

Anonymous said...

gonzalo solis, here you go:

("Olynpics Rings in color (Blue Yellov Black Green Red)")

whywouldyouknitthat said...

And the text isn't even centered on the cake! Too funny!

Marissa said...

GOLD!

USA WINS AGAIN!

oh.my.

this one ranks up there as one of my faves now. :D

Anonymous said...

That has got to be the funniest thing I've seen in weeks. Thank you!

Alyce said...

Your site is a gem, it has brightened my excruciatingly boring afternoon. Thanks!

Tamara said...

Sad tho think that this is the literal level of literacy now.

Anonymous said...

Wow. As a professional cake decorator myself, this blog is three parts painful, hilarious and cautionary. :lol:

I can't believe these are professional decorators! I can't believe people actually PAY for these!

~Kia

Lindsey Duncan said...

Wow! I'm ... in awe?

Anonymous said...

I feel the need to point out that "parenthesis" is singular, while "parentheses" is plural; you might want to correct that in your post.

Other than that, your blog is amazing! Cake Wrecks has been my constant source of entertainment for the past week since I discovered it.

Anonymous said...

Nooooooooo! That is too much. How can people do this? I am dying of laughter here!

Pink Sith said...

This is a wonderful example I will show to my son some day if he ever whines about never getting a "store bought" cake for his birthday, party, etc. "Careful Timmy. If you make mommy mad she will buy you an ("olynpics") cake!" LMAO!

Anonymous said...

What a great blog!

I wish I had a picture, but I don't. But, a few years ago, we had a surprise birthday party...my dad's cake was supposed to say "Happy Birthday Byron."

So, I was pretty surprised to see "Happy Birthday by Ron" when I got it home. Surprise party jitters mixed with week eight of pregnancy hormones added to "happy birthday by Ron" didn't go over too well then, but it's hilarious now.

her white hart said...

As well as the aforementioned spelling and punctuation mistakes why do these people always have white cakes and ghastly blood red writing in handwriting I haven't seen since I was at primary school? Also, the handwriting is often very similar, are all these types of cakes done by the same person.

Love your blog by the day, came over from FHOTD and have checked back ever since!

Anonymous said...

(Three guesses what the customer asked for on the cake!)

1. A puppy dog

2. A baby's butt

Nope, nope... I know... They wanted something of the same "high quality" as the products that are imported from China.

Sonya said...

I can't stop laughing while reading your blog...I just can't! I have to say, your commentary punctuates the humor, too (for those of us not receiving the cakes, of course). I just never realized there were so many alternative uses for fondant (and I'd hardly refer to the grammar errors as being made by "decorators"). Hahahaha! Thank you! Keep posting, please!

die Frau said...

Do you think they're all literally-minded decorators, or are some just bored and don't care and do this on purpose?

And which is worse?

Soggycarrot said...

Actually, the diagram would have been a good idea. I doubt most people could get the olympic rings right without one. I know I sure couldn't.

V. Nicharico said...

My oldest son just looked over my shoulder and asked "Did someone actually get that on a cake?!" 0.o I was already laughing, but that put me on the floor! LOL!!

Lauren Smith said...

what a brilliant blog! I'm very pleased to have found you.
Its probably a 'Free Tibet' thing.
I will be adding you to my blogroll. And if any of my cake go wrong I will send them your way.

KYredhead said...

When I saw this cake in person, I thought Julie had ordered it on purpose to be funny. It's even funnier knowing that it was actually a Cake Wreck, though! :)

The Fiskeaux Family said...

Technically, it says "Alynpic Rings" (if you go by cursive rules). That almost sounds like a medical disorder, doesn't it?

"I'm sorry, honey. You know you can't have any cake since you're alynpic..."

skatej said...

I feel so sorry for these people that ordered the cake!

Miranda said...

Who's making these cakes, Amelia Bedelia? Sheesh.

Tina@ SendChocolateNow said...

Love this. Obviously the decorator was going for the Gold in Underachievement.

This blog is so funny it makes me spit coffee, I have to issue a warning to myself before I open it.

T.

Liz said...

...this entry had me crying, too, from laughing so hard. did anyone notice that it may in fact not say OLYNPICS but rather ALYNPICS?? that first letter really could be an "a" - which makes me giggle even more...

Gina Miyamoto said...

Oh my. I am becoming increasingly afraid of subjecting myself to the local cake decorators when I need a cake for a special occasion. I do have to say that I have laughed until my sides hurt and tears were running down my cheeks while reading your blog. Thanks!

Unknown said...

> (Three guesses what the customer asked for on the cake!)

Actually, it should be five guesses.

Meg said...

I love this site! Just discovered it a few days ago and passed it on to everyone I know. Hope you don't mind that I linked it on my own blog. : )

This cake...takes the cake. LOL

leihei said...

This cake got ("8.5") from the Russian judge.

Paolo said...

Actually there's a copyright on the five rings symbol... Nice one.

The Caked Crusader said...

Simple designs are always the best!

Just come across your site - love it

Anonymous said...

lol that's probably the coolest!

:P

Unknown said...

hahahah! just gold! just gold!

love the blog! please keep on posting!

Anonymous said...

Is that even a cake? It looks like someone frosted a piece of tin foil. What are we looking at?

Anonymous said...

That is the hardest I've "laughed" in quite (some) time. I literally ran laughing out of the room. Honestly, even if you're an idiot you have to sit there and think, after you've created a wreck like any number of these, that quite possibly the person who ordered this cake didn't want the words "'Olynpic Rings'" written on their cake. It'd just be stupid. This website is pure gold.

Unknown said...

Heheheh. Jen, you need an "overly literal" or perhaps "only following orders" tag for posts like this one! :D

Anonymous said...

I love how everytime I check back, someone's found another problem with this cake

Anonymous said...

I have actually worked at a supermarket bakery and I have never wrecked anyone's cake like that. Then on the other hand I can understand how it could happen, taking into account the 2 am mornings, the unrealistic expectations of management, (there is no way anyone person can crank out 125 cakes in a 8 hour shift and NOT have them look like fresh hell), and the refusal to hire the correct amount of people to run the department. Add all of those up and stuff like this happens. I’m not saying the decorators aren’t partly to blame, but in my personal experience I know if my cakes are going to turn out great today or not since my emotions and moods effect my end product. I mean come on the “Olympics Rings” cake is just embarrassing and what is sadder is if this customer didn’t take this cake home the decorator would just scrape the wording off and redecorate and resale it to some other unsuspecting customer. Yes a lot of supermarket bakeries recycle their cakes.

Natalie said...

these kind of cakes makes me want my decorator to mess up just so i can show it to people.

Bill said...

At least they did not write it 5 times :)

Anonymous said...

Hahaha!
Your blog is só funny!
Keep it up. You have a new fan in the Netherlands now (who sofar have won 5 medals in the "Olynpics", rings or no rings!)

Amy Ellen said...

Oh my gosh that is way too funny. I can't believe how many people are just clueless. With something like this you would have thought they would have stopped and said you know this just does not look right. Maybe I should ask someone, but then again that would imply that people actually care and are concerned about customer service.

Thanks for the laughs you have made me feel so much better about the cakes I have made for people. Yeah maybe not all perfect, but compared to alot of these they are pretty darn good, LOL.
Amy

Christine said...

hillarious! i hope that's not me some day... ;)

Anonymous said...

After finding your blog, I wish I had a pic of my baby shower cake (1991). I ordered the Beatrix Potter illustration of a mama bunny in the rocking chair holding a blanketed bundle (i.e. baby).

Instead I got a horrifying cake--the mama bunny dwarfed by a HUGE ugly human baby--the head was larger than the entire mama bunny. I declined taking photos of this wreck. Too bad.

Alison said...

I actually snorted while laughing about this one. Thanks for the laugh!!! (good hell!!!!)

Erin Wild said...

o_O

Ticia said...

My sister works in the bakery of a grocery store and does cakes.
I had to share this site with her.

OMG OMG: said...

beijing does it's best effort for this 2008 Olympic games.

I think most people come to beijing will have good impression about beijing.

Michelle Ames said...

My favorite part is the lack of ANY other embellishment. It's amazing that the "decorator" didn't stand back and say to him/herself "Wow, all they wanted was this writing. No roses. No balloons. Just two words and unnecessary punctuation. How odd."

Momof4 said...

How hard would it have been for the cake decorator to trace a saucer or luncheon plate, 5 times?

Cliff O'Neill said...

Why am I thinking This Is Spinal Tap and the Stonehenge directions on the napkin?

Anonymous said...

That cake decorator was a genius.

Anonymous said...

FYI. The IOC is VERY strict about protecting the copyright of the Olympic rings and/or combination of colors. This is why the cake company did not put the actual rings on this cake.

Amber / Obsidian Dragon said...

Seeing these things makes me laugh, but it also makes me very sad to think that they stuck me in the DELI, when clearly they could have used my help elsewhere. I can read, spell, AND draw, isn't the awesome?

Anonymous said...

They were trying to avoid copyrite violations and being hammered by the IOC's lawyers

Susanna said...

So I'm sure as poster number 99+ nobody will read this, but my guess for many of the wrecked, cheap, grocery store cakes are the product of the decorator's day off and some other random employee who excitedly claims he knows how to write with icing finishing that day's orders. I worked at a grocery store as the decorator for about five months and I keep waiting to see one of the cakes my poor coworkers ruined on my day off show up on this site...

Anonymous said...

Okay, I can understand that they might not be allowed to put an actual picture of the Olympic rings on a cake for legal reasons.

Shouldn't they tell the customer that, instead of making (and presumably charging for) something that's clearly not what the customer wanted?

Anonymous said...

Perhaps English was not the decorator's native language.

Kristine said...

Okay, I can understand that they might not be allowed to put an actual picture of the Olympic rings on a cake for legal reasons.

bionelly - In that case, all the decorator had to do was put five colored copyright symbols on the cake... ;-)

Arlene C. Harris said...

...aaaand the cake decorator is banned for being a dope. Oops, I mean doping. No, wait...

XD

Anonymous said...

You could use this cake for a cross-over post with the The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks!

Anonymous said...

This is so hilarious! I worked as a clerk for a grocery store for two years, and it is absolutely amazing how much we had to dumb the orders down for the decorators so that the cake would turn out the way the customer wanted. And there were still cakes that turned out like this...

pika23 said...

oh man...this reminds me of a story on planet feedback...the woman asked for a cake to say "fare well bob"
and underneath that
"you will be missed"

well someone making the cake put the whole thing on it reading

FAREWELL BOOB AND UNDERNEAT THAT YOU WILL BE MISSEDVUFYVH

Bree said...

I love this cake..made me choke :)

Sharon B. said...

SPELLING????

Anonymous said...

And there...
There on the cake...
In the middle of the cake...
In parentheses...
Capital letters...
Quotated...
Read the following words:
("Olynpics Rings")

Some people have commented that a diagram would have helped. I'll betcha either the customer or the clerk taking the order tried to draw a diagram, but was so inept that he/she had no clue how to actually draw the Olympic rings. So she/he drew a box, representing the cake, and wrote ("Olympic Rings") inside it, hoping the decorator would understand.

Hello Pineapples! said...

I'm consistently baffled by how these cakes happen. What I want to know is how the cake recipient reacts to a cake of this caliber? I can't even imagine what would go through my head if I opened the box and saw that on my cake.

Anonymous said...

Somehow I doubt the decorator was particularly worried about copyright. The store is probably happy to sell cakes with cartoon characters on them. And the odds of an IOC executive dropping in that day would probably be minuscule.

Anonymous said...

Too funny. My dad loves joking about wrong things on cakes! One of his favorites is when the cake will say "under that" as if the customer said "and then....____ under that"

Anonymous said...

I am laughing so hard that I am crying!

Unknown said...

I love things that make me laugh out loud when I'm all by myself. I got close to a minute out of this one. Wow.

breakerslion said...

Perhaps this will help explain what happened. Or maybe, the owner didn't heed the warning about hiring people for minimum wage that are dumber than a bag of hammers. You get what you pay for.

Steve Devol said...

passive-aggressive cake.

Unknown said...

This is too funny! Oh, I have to show this to my cake decorating teacher. She will pee her pants laughing!

Anonymous said...

you guys are obviously missing the point. the pictures there, its just that your cake browser can't display it, so you're seeing the photo tag "olynpic rings".

geez.

Anonymous said...

I don't know if anyone's mentioned this...but my husband totally noticed that there is an 's' on Olympic. Why would they want Olympics? LOL there's only one! :D

OpaqueSkies said...

this one is so easily my favorite. although my dept editor did give the decorator the benefit of the doubt by suggesting perhaps there was a trademark issue.

Anonymous said...

OK that is just NUTS...

Carrie said...

Jen,
I'm scaring (or scarring?) the dog guffawing so hysterically at your blog. I notice you have several horse folks following your blog. Not sure the cosmic connection between horse people and laughing at cakes. Funny.

Anonymous said...

I really don't see what the problem is. The cake decorator just did exactly what the customer asked for.

jpk said...

"And I mean that literally

kwren said...

Those of you who think this is a sign of stupidity have got it wrong. There are some people (and I am one of them) who are just "gifted" this way; if there are two or more ways to interpret something, I will get it the wrong way. Every time. One time, I saw a guy in NYC with a tshort that said, "Free Shakespeare in the Park." My first thought? "What, he's in jail?"
Of course, the fact that I'm hearing-impaired just makes the possible combinations more random and nonsensical.
It can get very entertaining if you have the right attitude (and you really don't have any choice).

Anonymous said...

This cake's fame lives on, and made today's FailBlog.

http://failblog.org/2009/03/05/fail-owned-cake-ring-fail/#comments

American Idol said...

Must have been done at a Supermarket. It reminds me of the time I walked into a Safeway and saw a sign that read "Bokays - $9.99" I thought maybe Buckwheat worked there.

American Idol said...

Must have been done at a Supermarket. It reminds me of the time I walked into a Safeway and saw a sign that read "Bokays - $9.99" I thought maybe Buckwheat worked there.

Piepee said...

My persal favorite is our adoption cake it read" I'll love you forever I'll like you for always as long as I'm living in my my black heart with ruffles you'll be"

Anonymous said...

ROFL thats a funny
_littlefox ;D


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that's not a signature, THIS is a signature: CHICKEN AND PIE

Anonymous said...

Looks like failblog is getting in on your game (a few years later).

http://failblog.org/2010/08/12/epic-fail-photos-cake-decorating-fail

Cupcakes Lady said...

Lol...I cant take this serious! xx