Nothing helps smooth over those awkward early teen years quite like getting a cake with a half-naked stud-muffin on it from your parents, eh, Tracy? Just wait 'til your mom asks to go "halfsies" with you on a lap dance.
I am told that these "Love is" characters were really popular back in the day, so I'm going to assume it wasn't the decorator's idea to draw two nekkid kids of indeterminable gender hugging. However, what the heck is going on behind kid #1? Either that's a tail, and it's wagging, or kid #2 is patting kid #1's butt. Considering the "warm embrace" sentiment, I honestly couldn't say which of those options would creep me out less.UPDATE: That's hair? Really? I mean, I guess I'll have to take the word of my [cough cough] older and wiser readers, but I still don't see it. Maybe if it wasn't flesh-colored...
Chelsea Y., & Jessica M., love is getting such awesomely inappropriate Wrecks.
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141 comments | Post a Comment
I'm pretty sure that that "tail" is kid #2's ponytail. Hopefully, that's just a girl with really long hair. Hopefully.
Trish
The "tail" is her pony-tail, but it's drawn very badly.
Love is... is a single panel comic strip that still runs in some newspapers. Yes, the figures are a naked boy and girl. The thing behind her butt is probably the extension of her hair, poorly executed. But I like the idea that he's patting her butt better. ;)
The first cake... well, that scares the living day lights out of me.
But the "Love is..." cake is actually not what you make it out to be. "Love is..." characters are not children. They are adults. Nude, yes. But that is how they were usually drawn. And that is her hair, I think behind "Kid #1's butt". You can read more about "Love is..." here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Is...
That waggly tail is actually her pony tail.
I had a notebook with these two on the cover in the '70's.
Ouch. Now I need some cake.
Okay...worse still was how I first read the writing. I saw it as "your warm entrance" at first...which is hilarious and disgusting all in onme. SO, if you thought it couldn't get any worse....trust me, it did in my mind.
Those look to be done in the style of "Precious Moments" which means that is probably meant to be a wing as cherubim were a staple.
It looks to me like half-naked stud-muffin's face is falling off his head, adding a bit to the creepiness factor.
At first I thought that was like an angel wing on kid #1. Did you also catch that kid #1 has some nips decorated on?! Just to add some extra creepo.
.....wow.....yeah, totally inappropriate. The first one looks liek a cake you'd see at a bachelorette party...the second is just...wrong.
Oh my. That first one looked disturbing enough, and then I read the "Happy 14th" on it. What a cake for a 14-year-old! I'm completely creeped out. I'd hate to see what the 14-year-old son's cake will be like...
I AM YOUR NEW FAN (and german too, so please forgive me any language mistakes here, okay?)!
It took me sooo long to finish looking through your whole blog. I simply couldn't stop before I was done. And it was a very bad idea to do so in the office with 8 others around (and without humor).
It was soooo hard to keep a straight face, can you imagine??? = )
I definitely come back for the wrecks and your hilarious comments!
Bye, Naemi
My husband just declared that the nekkid kid is passing gas. I'm not discussing the first one...
Although the "Love is" characters are not exactly as they were "in the day" they are instantly recognizable.
The left character is the female ande the right character the male. For extra feminity the female character had long blond hair. The "tail" you are seeing is the bottom part of her long hair.
So both your options are, fortunately, wrong and nothing suspicious is happening.
By the way the "Love is" characters were much much sweeter and mushy than icing on a cake and I don't mean that in a positive way. Therefore they left an aftertaste that wasn't to my liking. But the sweetness and mushiness might just make it on a cake, especiallye if it was for someone familiar with the characters.
Like your blog, keep up the good (or bad) work.
Jeroen
yes, i remember these cheery little naked kids. They creeped me out when i was 5 and they continue to do so on a cake.....
::LOL::
I think it's the end of kid A's ponytail. :)
I remember those dumb "Love Is" kids, too. I think they inspired the big-eyed Precious Moments figures (which are NOT naked but equally sappy + God).
On the 'Love is' cake it's her hair
the "love is..." characters' genders are distinguishable by their hairstyles. the smaller one on the left has long hair, presumably that's the end of her long ponytail - at a strange angle, i must admit. it's not my taste but it's not a wreck, in my opinion, if you look at the 'original' characters. these seem to be way more popular in germany (not with me, I hasten to add). http://liebe-ist.moonweb.de/ has a collection of the pictures.
The second one is a very popular image, I grew up with the Love Is cartoons and I knew straight away that was part of the girl's hair. There's a little bit about the history of the Love Is characters here: http://www.toonopedia.com/loveis.htm where you can see what it's supposed to look like.
My initial reaction on what's going on with kid #1: fart.
I like the exasperated smile on kid #1, as if it were posing for a camera but wanted to be somewhere -- anywhere -- else.
Amos
hahahahahaha!!! I always thought those "love is" characters were up to no good.
Who in their right mind gets a cake with that kind of imagery for a fourteen year old girl? At 18 or older, okay... but 14? That’s disgraceful!
cake #2, the hand looking thing behind kid 1 is her hair. The Love Is cartoons are from the 60s-70s and the girl had hair like Mrs Brady's only longer!
So nothing suss there, just her hair!
I first read the cake as, "Zove is..."; that L looks like a Z. The thing behind kid 1 is most probably long hair, but it could also pass for a wing.
ah the "love is" cartoon...I remember seeing these as a little girl...(oh and the tuft is the end of the little girl's ponytail I think)
I'm pretty sure that is a wing. Those little "Love Is" characters were cupids.
I love that Tracy's name is on the guys crotch. Gross.
I think those might be angel wings on that cupie thing??? Maybe?
I've never seen a 'Love Is' cartoon, for which i am now devoutly thankful. (I'm 30... was it a generational thing, or do i live under a rock?)
Anyway, my first thought about what was behind the thing's butt was a broom. Which only made it scarier and more confusing.
Maybe the shorter one is a girl and that's the end of her hair? It's still weird...
While the cake #2 is ugly and creepy and I agree with those points--I'm a little worried about the implied homophobia in your post and in the comments here. I mean they are two kids or cupids and it's a cake so whatever. But please tell me I'm misreading your "omg I hope it's not too naked boys hugging." But I don't know how else to read I hope that is a boy and a girl.
Love is...reading the posts before you respond! hehehe...no less than 13 out of 28 people have already written in that it's a ponytail!
Yeah, the first cake is actually quite a beautifully executed cake, but the picture and theme (not to mention the name across the crotch) is completely craptastic.
And is it just me, or is he in the process of UNZIPPING HIS PANTS?!?
BWAHAHAHAAAA!!! "your warm entrance"!!!! That is TOTALLY going on my fiance's birthday card today!!!
that 1st cake is wrong on soooo many levels. and the "Love Is..." crap makes me lose my appetite. and I think it's a pony tail.
HOmer simpson had this to say about Love is during an episode of the simpsons..".Love is...its a comic about 2 naked children who are in love."
eek.
With that first cake...I have to say...I had some pretty outrageous friends wen I was 14 and 15 who would have thought it was hilarious to get a cake like this...so i could be guessing that the cake is from some older friends...
It looks like the dude's package is weighing down her name. This is a monument to shameful parenting.
...wait wait- could you call it a
"BEEFCAKE?!?"
bwahahahahaha
I used to collect these from the paper ~ the guy I was dating at the time ~ his name was Rob (same as the boy character) so these were my om ages to him. Seems so silly now.
Katherine,
What? Are you serious? "two nekkid kids of indeterminable gender hugging" = homophobe?
Seriously. I mean really. You are picking on that.
My sweet Lord, lighten up would you?!?!
If that's a ponytail on the "kid" on the left... then she's got some weird kind of mullet.
EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW on that first cake! I mean...First of all - what is Tracy into that her parents thought that would be the "perfect" cake for her? Does she just really dig cheesey romance novels? Ok, I get the long haired shirtless guy...but the suggested upcoming removal of his pants is just WRONG!!!! On a 21st birthday cake = hilarity. But FOURTEEN? People need to learn what is age appropriate.
For the "Love is" cake, Um, 1979 called and they want their cake back. :-/ It's definitely her ponytail/braid end whatever. That naked baby girl always had some nice, long, hippie hair.
I'm sorry. I totally misread the comment. I haven't had coffee yet. *hangs head in shame*
Wow. Someone gave THAT cake to a 14 year old? All I got was a stupid chocolate chip sheetcake when I turned 14. That would have gone over GREAT at the church birthday party!
I would like to point out, that the "sexy" (in quotes because I think that guy is disgusting looking) subject matter aside- the actual cake itself is pretty good looking.
Fourteen!
My god, when I was fourteen my parents were still trying to leave me flowers and smileys - MAYBE for a bachelorette party or something, when did we get sexualized so young? Plus he is a little creepy...
Are there 14 y/o girls who lust over fabio?!?!
I would have guessed angel wing behind that kid until I read the comments. And, wow on the first cake. Some 14 year old kid is reading romance novels and that scares the crap out of me. Of course, I did that, but I hid them under my bed like any normal teenager, not shared my favorite characters w/ my mother!
oh my, now I feel ancient, looking at all you bright young things discussing the Love Is characters. I recognized them instantly and thought "Haven't seen them in a long while..." Yes, utter schmaltz, blecch! And I knew it was the female's hair but the idea of it being a fart is far more entertaining.
As for the beefcake cake, YUCK. I *don't want to know* what is going on at 6 o'clock with that one!
I can't imagine what the people who ordered that cake for a 14 year old wer thinking. It's a little gross all things considered.
On number two -- I wish, I wish the nekkid girl figure didn't have nipples...0_o
I'm very disturbed by those.
I'm disturbed by the stripper cake for the 14 year old girl.
The only thing that disturbs me about the second cake is that a sweet, innocent drawing of what appears to be children (but aren't) was sexualized by the viewers of the cake.
Can no one just appreciate innocence anymore?
Umm.. ewww.
I love kid #1's mullet hair do! LOL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Is...cl
Incidentally, I'll point out that when I commented, there were 0 comments - comments get moderated and posted in chunks, which is why sometimes it seems that everyone is posting exactly the same thing without reading comments first (not to say that some people don't do just that). I'm not sure how to get around it, as I'm sure Jen has things to do besides moderate the blog, during daylight hours ^^
*snickers then points and laughs* I just love where "Tracy" is written and the fact that it's sagging....somehow the combined imagery is just. *cough*
Well then.
I'm so tempted to show this to my 14 year old to show her that there ARE ways I could be a more embarrassing parent. She probably would have gone in her room and refused to come out if I got her that cake (not that I would have!)
AARGH! Either the parents on cake #1 are idiots or this kid is already out there and her friends gave her this one.
Did birth control pills come with the slice of cake?? Hmmm?
Man, you can tell age of the readers of this particular post! Yes, I too remember the "love is..." comic. As a matter of fact I have several of the cartoons in my wedding scrapbook! sigh... Maybe I should drown myself in that cake! lol
As for the other cake? Wow, that mom needs to get a clue! Not just tacky, inappropriate & embarrassing for the teen but Wow!!! Wonder how the guests reacted & especially the guest of honor.
The little red decorations (the linear ones, not the heart shapes) on the second cake... somehow they seem just not quite right. Not wreckitude on their own, really, and it took three viewings before I even noticed them next to the cheezariffic "love is" characters, but they do add a certain... what are those things? Some of them look like they should be seeking her "warm embrace," if you know what I mean, and I think you do.
And where are Tracy's parents!? Why would they be okay w/a cake like that for their minor daughter? Idiots. Idiots..they're everywhere.
Love is..a walk down memory lane! I remember those comics, as my sister used to collect them.
I don't think the original comics meant to imply underage, minor kids in a weird relationship. Sadly, this comic strip has gone out with bell-bottom jeans and hot pants. :o)
Amy
OMG. I HATED those "Love is..." characters when I was growing up. I would vomit if I had to eat a cake decorated with them. For a split-second, I thought the boy was giving a "thumbs up" behind her back! How inappropriate would that be for the "innocence" these two always represented?!
That first cake is such a jolt to the senses. The cake itself is pristine and beautifully executed. It looks like it belongs on a Victorian Valentine's Day card. Then - wham! - there's Mr. Hunk in the middle, all oiled and ready for action. Ew! Double-ew when you read that it's for a 14-year-old girl. Her name is across his nether regions!! I dread to wonder where the candles were placed...
I LOVE this blog though!
Love is... eerily anthropomorphous flesh-colored shapes staring blankly out with their dead eyes.
I really hope that "Tracy" is a 56 y/o Leap Year baby. That's the only scenario in which that first cake could be construed as appropriate and even hilarious!
I swear I thought the baker added angel wings to kid #1. But what bothers me most is why does kid #1 have "nipples" and #2 doesn't? *shudder*
phew! I am glad people brought up the pony-tail, because it seemed like some sort of furry cake!
I think it's part of the hair, they just didn't connect it very well to the top of her head. Oy. Either that or I'd like to think it's a tail.
Ack - why is the guy unzipping his pants?!? And I can't believe the 14-year-old's name is written write over his crotch. That's awful.
Homer Simpson said it best, when referring to "Love is...". "It's about two naked 8-year olds who are married."
If I'd been given that birthday cake at fourteen, I might still be hiding in my room...and I'll be 46 tomorrow.
The Love Is... cake isn't all that wrecktastic, per se, given that it's a pretty close representation of the actual comic. All the same, when I see it I no longer want cake because the decoration is so cloying I've developed diabetes and gone into a coma.
Maybe, just maybe, that first cake is for someone born on Feb. 29. So while it would technically only be her "14th" birthday, really she's 56 years old. It could be, right? Please let that be it, because otherwise it's just too scary, and someone should be calling child protective services.
You must be quite young, my dear, not to remember the "Love Is" characters. One of their famous quotes was, "Love Is . . . .Never having to say you're sorry." Even as a youngin' I knew that was a load of crap. They're the poster children for modern day co-dependency. And to see them on a cake - yuk? But I guess some people may have liked them - lol. Just not me :-) I've always been a tad opinionated . . . . if you couldn't tell.
wow. That first cake is awesome. Why didn't I get a cake like that for my 14th birthday?
Awesomeness.
Oh wow, I remember the "Love is..." thing. I think they're supposed to send a "sweet back to nature all you need is love" vibe. What a flashback! I thought it was sappy and weird back in "the day". Never thought I'd see them on a cake. Ew.
The first cake should come with a birthday card, don't you think? I'm pretty sure I know what it should say:
Oh icing-covered Conan
With your sugar-frosted abs
Make Tracy's birthday extra sweet
But please don't give her crabs!
When I first saw second one, I thought the little boy was hugging the little girl so hard she made a little fart. But, going by the body porportions of that area to her feet.. I guess it couldn't be a fart unless it was coming out of her shoulder blade.
It looks as if the girls hair does end just about where the boy's hand is on her shoulder. But after reading the comments I guess, yeah, I do see the ponytail now. :)
Heh-heh. I remember the "Love Is..." cartoons from when I was growing up in the 1970s. That is her hair; it's usually a darker brown, though. Here's a link with more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Is...
I'm enjoying this blog!
I kinda think it looks like he's choking her.
The saddest part about that hunk cake is that I would not have put it past my mother to give me one for my 14th birthday. This ignited a few uncomfortable flashbacks...oh well, such are the perils of cakes!
-Melissa
Actually, I think it looks like a weird angel wing. These things remind me of those creepy "precious moments" things. Anyway, why are their legs so short?
I have been reading this blog for a while but this is my first post.
The first cake looks like a creepily executed version of Peter Steele from Type O Negative.Considering that is his stage name,let the innuendo flow freely;).
And the whole saggy name/unzipping panst thing?Eww,who the hell gets THAT piece of cake?!
ohmygosh...ohmygosh... those are awesome!!
seriously, this blog makes me laugh like no other. thanks for brightening my days.
In the Love Is...cake: I can almost accept the weird tail/hair thing, but what is up with the boy's arms, somewhere between his left arm and her neck, there is some weirdness going on.
I don't see it as a pony tail?! I thought it was the boys hand. Hmmm...
Who cares what the "Love is" actually is, lets just say she is passing gas, and her slogan is "Your warm embrace." Much more funny if you look at it that way!
My gran used to have one of those 'Love is' things, and one of them had a ponytail, so that's what I'm assuming the thing is.
my first thought was that it was hair... but then I saw how (her?) haircut was cropped just above her right shoulder. I mean, technically it could be like a radically different length in the back center, like a big rat-tail or something?
Good work.
AAAHHHHH.. the hair... yeah, I remember that hair. all short at the front, 'business' in the back. Don't you remember that??? (sadly, I saw this in real life recently!!)
As far as hunky goes, I now feel like the most over-protective parent in the world (ok, the world of that kid's parents, anyway...) I won't even let my 11 year old see Mama Mia!!
I would agree that it's a ponytail EXCEPT that, if you look, her hair appears short and ends just below her jaw. So if it is meant to be long hair, it's one heck of a mullet!
just a thought, what if Tracy is a boy? It's not unheard of for boys to be named Tracy.
Back in the 70s, the "Love Is" comic strip was printed in my local newspaper right next to "The Family Circus", another one-panel strip. Cheesy and 70s-era it is, but there is nothing creepy about it. The drawn figures were as ubiquetous on "cutesy-themed" love items as the Precious Moments figures are today; and "Love Is" bothers me considerably less than those ugly Precious Moments mutants.
If a stylized naked figure bothers someone so much as to call it "creepy", we've really taken a backward slide into the Dark Ages as a society.
OMG.... those are so inappropriate!
I used to be a cake decorator...and I can recall getting orders like this. I also can't imagine handing some of these cakes over to paying customers with how poorly done they are. I'd be ashamed!
No way is that hair! That is a hand that is in motion as in a pat on the back during a hug! Those look like cartoony fingers in motion. Definitely NOT hair!
Oh, and 14?? Isn't there some sort of child protection for nearly pornographic material for children? Ha Ha, I bet the parents think they are really hilarious to humiliate their 14 yr old.
When I was younger, I was always creeped out by the "Love is..." cartoons. The fact that they are indiscriminate genders does creep me out. Because it always sort of bothered me to see naked images without actual - you know - parts.
But then, considering the first cake, maybe I should be thankful for those creepy blank spots!
heatherbstamps, I think you mean: Business in the front, party in the back. As in a mullet.
This is just too hilarious. And sick. Can it be both?
@MetalNoir:
It's not that they're naked, and it's not even that they're stylized... it's just the WAY they're stylized that makes them a bit creepy.
I was going to say I agreed with you that Precious Moments are worse, but actually I'm not sure I do. Not that I don't hate PM, I do, just that these little weirdos are legitimate competitors to PM in ickiness. I can't decide!
At least in the 70s I only had to put up with Holly Hobbie, which was kind of cheesy too but never achieved the same creepy factor.
(One of my relatives was forced to go to the Precious Moments museum with someone. Yikes. Just the fact that there is a Precious Moments museum: yikes.)
I love your blog! I am a cake decorator in a grocery store bakery, and I have to say all of your cake pictures and the commentary on them are hilariously entertaining.
The 14 yr old's cake is decorated nicely, only.... what kind of parent orders their kid a cake like that?? and those two cartoon kids...the picture the baker used is so out of date!!
Just wanted to give you a round of virtual applause - I am LOVING your site. HILARIOUS!
I *wish* I had a picture of my own cakewreck...but, I don't, so here's the story.
Date: 1993
Event: 14th Birthday Pary, featuring a trip to see Jurassic Park in the theaters
Cakewreck: Stegosauras-shaped RED VELVET cake. So that it looked like the poor creature was bleeding when you cut into it. It was awesome!!
Yep, it's her hair. I was a teenager back when the "Love Is" kids were popular and got to see them in a variety of tableaus, and she has long hair. This is the first time I've ever been glad I was familiar with the "Love Is" couple, because otherwise, I'd now be screaming "OHMYGOD IT'S A FURRY!"
My gods, my mother would slap the heck out of anyone who would suggest giving cake #1 to me at that age! When I was 14 I would have wanted a a cake shaped like a horse, or maybe one with an image of of the Relic Hunter. But knowing your mother got you a cake with a beefcake shot on it, plus where the girl's name is written....no. There are some things that just are more appropriate for later in life.
Cake #2: I remember seeing those insipid "Love Is..." comics. That the characters' genders couldn't be discerned except for the long, feminine hair was never a problem with me. I hated the sappiness they seemed to just ooze. I'd rather eat one of the cupcakes from that Hot Wheels cake mentioned earlier in the blog.
There's something familiar about that first cake...
Isn't that Lorenzo Lamas from his "Renegade" days?
I just thought of something, what if cake #1 is a wreck in another way. Maybe Tracy is 41, but "they" put the 1 on first by mistake. "Crap! I don't want to mess up the icing... I know I'll just put the four on anyway. Nobody'll notice right?"
There's a Precious Moments chapel too! I have acquaintances I can totally picture getting married there.
"Love means never having to say you're sorry" is a quote from Love Story, not Love Is.
They are cherubs-it's a wing, not hair. There are no bow and arrows because they already found their love!
fromtheboonies>
OMG! It is Lorenzo Lamas circa Renegade!
That's hilarious!
That late 60's line: "Make love not war." So someone came up with those cartoon characters, and I'm right there with Cheri-Beri-- "Love means never having to say you're sorry" was the one punchline I remember from my youth. It stuck with me--it was so wrong-headed, and I always wanted to go argue with the cartoonist about that one. Good to know I'm not the only one.
The baker here needs to add more long hair at the back to get it right, but on the whole, he/she nailed those cartoon images pretty well.
If I ignore the other cake will it go away? Please?
The famous Love Is... quote was actually "Love is being able to say you're sorry." Which means that Love Story and Love Is... are like matter and anti-matter, and will explode on contact.
Love is... hugging naked while staring at the covers of trashy romance novels.
The main problem with #1 is that couch the cake is sitting on. “Hello, it’s 1975. They want their sofa back!”
they are right, it is her hair. i never did like those comics.
Dude, my 12th birthday present from mom was a Chippendale's calendar. In terms of sheer embarrassment, I think that beats the cake, 12 to 1.
yeah these little kids were popular back in the day. Not that I am old enough to remember or anything.
The worst part is that the "little girl" in cake #2 has little nips, but the boy has none. Umm...okay.
Doesn't anyone but me think that Cake #1 was probably meant for a 40 year old and they screwed up the number? The -tys and the -teens are easy to confuse.
@ chrissy:
It's the end of her ponytail. It's hair, poorly rendered though it is. Deal with it. Nothing kinky is implied. I'm sure you'll find a vast number of "Love Is" images on an image search. See for yourself.
@ kansas girl:
Yes the idea of the existence of a Precious Moments Museum causes the mind to reel. That does not diminish the fact that the US has an issue with nakedness, no matter how simply or innocuously depicted. My good friend who is an elementary art teacher is not permitted to show works of art to her students which depict figures which might be naked. One such image is Henri Matisse's painting Icarus. That's a little ridiculous. For some reason, we in the US over the course of the past 30-odd years since the seventies, have come to view our naked bodies as dirty. In 2002, curtains were draped over nude and partially-nude sculptures at the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building because the people speaking there (John Ashcroft, specifically) felt the works of art were innappropriate. The drapes were, at first, rented at a cost of $2,000 per use; then the government purchased a set for $8,000. Wow, we Americans are really ashamed of our bodies, aren't we?
Maybe, hopefully.... the 1st cake is for a "14th" birthday. As is a 56yo born on Feb 29th.
just a thought as as my FIL just celebrated his "16th" birthday
Has anyone noticed that kid #2 apparently has a lazy eye? His left eye is looking at us, but his right eye is looking at kid #1.
I remember the Love Is...characters :) My grandparents had a book on them when I was a kid...it was a little comic book type thing. It isn't meant to be perverted. The hair I agree is poorly done, but I remember the girl had a 70's haircut that made me cringe...business in the front and party in the back.
1979? Try
1970...Not that I remember ;)
And wouldn't it be funny if cake #1 WAS a 'beefcake'?
Aww, the "Fabio-wanna-be" cake reminds me of my 5th birthday. Sweet memories, followed by years of therapy. I'm just hoping the cake was really for someone's FORTIETH b-day, and it got morphed in FOURTEENTH! Otherwise, those are some messed up parents (cuz I doubt her 14 year old friends could afford a cake like that). OH NO!!! Tracy is a girl, right? This cake is getting worse and worse by the minute.
These characters were very popular when I was a kid. How funny that you think her hair looks odd, and that people think it's "poorly executed." All I see is hair.
Also very popular during that time were "pony tails." A girl with long hair wore it in a single braid, hanging in the middle of her back. An elastic band was cinched a couple of inches from the end of her hair, so it could hang and swing loose, like a horse's tail.
That's what I see on this cake.
They look like bananas.
Awww, the Love Is characters were always very sweet and innocent. I always liked them, and even though these are not executed terribly well, they are immediately recognisable. Some of these are still cut out and on my refrigerator with magnets.
Indeterminable gender? Come on, is it not obvious that the one on the left is a girl? I mean, she has boobies! /end sarcasm
The first cake is hideous. Well, I mean, the cake itself looks nice, it's just that design in the middle. I don't care how old I would be, I would not want such a man on my birthday cake. x_x (Even if I did, it would be just weird to carve "him" up and eat pieces! >_<)
Fluffy Cow and Patrick Mueller:
ROFL!! XD
MetalNoir:
Without rambling, ITA. thanks for your interesting comment.
"And Tracy, look! We printed your name right across his crotch, because we know that's just where you'd like to be."
That's unreal. Most people complain about "kids today", but I can't get past the 'rents.
PAIGE!!
YOUR COMMENT IS THE FUNNIEST---I AM GUFFAWING!!!
@ yénifer--many thanks for your comment.
I thought of another possibility for the wagging thing...but I'd rather not get into it. I prefer not to think about the reality of these things (which I do remember from my childhood), as the creative explanations are much funnier than the fact that some adult thought these would be adorable. On cake.
Jen, Jen,
You are showing your un-dyed roots! I clearly remember buying a "Love Is..." book at our elementary book fair when I was in 2nd grade, and, unfortunately, loving it.
Where were my parents in my hour of need?
Laura
My husband brought me a "love is" key chain from Germany... I was so glad when it fell apart and I didn't have to explain what looked like two naked children embracing.
Ok... No not a ponytail... Its WINGS!!! they're supposed to be angels. But seriously, So off the mark it does look like a mullet gone horribly wrong. ; )
Yep, just also wanted to add that the love is... characters are still very popular, at least in Germany and Switzerland where I am from. I never really liked them, but they are adults and appear on many little cakes and cards to be given to your loved ones - a real staple in candy shops.
Perhaps Tracy was later the recipient of this cake.
Contrast this with the cake a reader recently bought for her daughter's 25th birthday. Definitely different parenting styles going on here.
I completely read "your warm embrace" as "your warm entrance".
It looks like its meant to be wings. and since the cake is white they couldnt make the wings white. and since it speaks of love and has all the hearts surrounding, im presuming it is a valentines cake which would make what looks to be makshift "charubs."
Wow! talk about out of date! Yes, I think that is supposed to be the girls hair. It also looks like a Costco cake. This definitely fits in the "cake wrecks" category.
Karen
Oh man! I'm STILL crying over this one. Tears of hilarity, mind you. Thanks for the great blog- truly a treasure.
It looks more like a wing to me. Maybe it's supposed to be a little cupid?
It looks like he is spanking her! OMG!!!!!
Tiffany
I think the tail might be an angel wing. Hmmm go figure.
My parents used to follow the Love is... comics, one of their favorites is "Love is... letting her warm her feet on yours!" with the husbands' eyes popping open as she sleeps.
Lifted straight from Wiki: "Love Is... began as a series of little love notes that Kim Grove drew for her future husband, Roberto Casali. The strip was first syndicated in 1970 and one of her most famous drawings, "Love Is...being able to say you are sorry" was marketed internationally for many years in print, on cards and on souvenirs."
I immediately recognised it as hair and I'm 23.. Then again I always thought the Love Is... characters were sweet, just because of their origins.