Sunday, April 26, 2009

Cake Wrecks, a Role Model?!?

Sunday, April 26, 2009

I love reading all the e-mails y'all send in, and over the past months I've had several proud parents send in the cakey creations of their little ones, who they tell me are inspired by this blog. (Let's hope they're referring to the Sunday posts, heheh.)

Anyhoo, I thought today would be a good day to give a shout-out to two of my young fans-turned-prodigies.

First up, there's six-year-old Max. According to his mom Alissa, Max demands to see Cake Wrecks every night before going to bed, and when he finally made a cake all by himself, he begged her to send it in to Cake Wrecks as "a good-looking cake, not a wreck."

Here he is, looking proud-as-punch with his cakey creation:

Excellent work, young Max. I particularly like your sprinkle placement. Tell me, do you deliver?

And next, here's Kelsey holding a lovely two-tiered cake she made for her older sister's baby shower:

Kelsey's mom Renee tells me Kelsey made this entire thing from scratch, including the fondant, and designed and baked it completely on her own. Not too shabby for a girl who's only - wait, what's this? Today is her 15th birthday?!? Aw, hey now, how's that for good timing? It's almost like someone [wink wink] wanted to feature her cake on her special day. Yep, yep, yep. So good work, mom, and happy birthday, Kelsey! May your cakes always rise, your fondant never crack, and your spelling skills never falter.
..Karen.. said...

WoW! Great job to both of them! Maybe I should have started baking and decorating cakes younger?

Philippa Lodge said...

Awesome cake, Max :)

And wow. I'm hiring Kelsey for my birthday cake. What's the law on hiring minors in her state? And do they deliver?

A Paperback Writer said...

Whoa.
It is so depressing to look at something a 15-year-old has done and know you could never in your life do it as well as s/he has done.
So, let us know her contact details so we can hire her, okay?

Dani said...

Wow! What talent! Those flowers are so impressively adorable!

Tiffani said...

Wow Kelsey! That cake is gorgeous! And Max...dude! It's ALL about the sprinkles :)

Mona Monster said...

Yay! Happy Birthday!

EllenFanatic said...

Wow, what a great job!! (both of the cakes are wonderful!)

I like the sprinkle arrangement on max's cake, too. I hope he delivers!!! My brother's b-day is coming up, haha


And the 15-year-old girl, Kelsey if I recall correctly?

That was uh-MAZ-zing!!!!

Anonymous said...

And let me assure you, Kelsey's cake tasted just as good as it looked!

-Big Sister

Kateri said...

Great work...inspiring a six year old to start baking--good job to you and Max! And the baby shower cake is beautiful!

XOXO said...

Cheers to both!

Good job -

doing it pretty well, actually.

XO

Half Assed Kitchen said...

Aw, these are great. And you are great for featuring them.

By the way, I finally went over to Sweet Baby James and read their story. It was very moving. And I have a new found respect for you (your generosity and your cake baking skills).

Angie (from over at www.HalfAssedKitchen.com)

Patricia @ ButterYum said...

Fantastic!!!

Sean said...

Great job kids!

Max, amazing! And you're so young! You can go places.

Kelsey, beautiful! I hope you go to a vo-tech high school for culinary.

And I love this site! First time I've ever wrote on a comments section, but I check a few times a week.

I encourage all the parents to encourage their kids to bake and cook! It's so great when kids cook, I should know, I've been helping in the kitchen since I can remember!

Lafianza.doula said...

Max - your cake looks great!! you could certainly teach a thing or two to the local bakeries! ;)

Kelsey - SO impressive!! you clearly have a natural talent for this!

Dino said...

Congratulations on your cake coming out STUNNING, Kelsey. Max, I'm quite pleased at how you managed to get that icing just right, and even. Because as much as sprinkles count, cake is really just an excuse to eat icing!

TheDaughterOfTyr said...

That's awesome, way to go Kelsey and Max!

Glory von Hathor said...

Nice work, cake artists.

Anyone wanting Sprinkles would not be disappointed at Max Bakery.

Scritzy said...

Aw, Max knew how much we love sprinkles! I'd love a piece of that cake.

And Kelsey, WOW! What a talent! If she decides to go into cake art as a career, she's going to clean up!

StuffCooksWant said...

Kelsey's a ROCKSTAR!

Mary@Holy Mackerel said...

Wonderful cakes, amazing talent!! Lovely blog!

Camille said...

Wow, Kelsey's cake is really cute! I can't decorate a cake to save my life. I always let my kids help so I have someone to blame.

Lobbie said...

Jen-
Both these Sunday posts were heart-warming and still delectable. Thanks so much for the heart put into these two posts.

Anonymous said...

Max, that cake looks so yummy!!!!

And Kelsey, WOW. Just WOW. You are so talented. Happy Birthday!!!

jo said...

Good job! Now go do the dishes

Anonymous said...

Jealousy!

April Mack said...

Hey, it's my birthday, too! I'm 24.

Guess we're "twins" Kelsey. ;)

Das Mutter said...

This post is so sweet...it was so nice of you to post this, I'm SURE it made both of their day! And both cakes are absolutely fabulous.

Joy said...

WOW! Kelsey's cake looks almost too good to eat- that is some serious talent young lady!

I just want to bury my face in Max's cake.

Between this and the sweet post earlier- I'm getting all weepy here today

Alyson said...

It's gorgeous, Kelsey! I don't think I'd have the patience to do that. Wish you could make one for me. :)

Jayme Q said...

Wow, both of them did a fabulous job! I must say, Kelsey puts my homemade cakes to shame!

Unknown said...

I think both of those cakes look good! I like the sprinkle kid. LOL

And the baby shower cake? Awesome!

~Amy B

Anonymous said...

Kelsey you are flat-out amazing! I'm 32 and you inspire me!

Jessica - Magical Mundane said...

Great job to both. I look forward to seeing them on Sunday Sweets in the future :)

Jules said...

That was a great job to both of them.Love their cake creations..;D
Very lovely.Looking forward on your next post.

http://www.soloden.com

MarieP said...

Max's creation was a fabulous early effort (we'll all be able to say "we knew him when" when replaces Ace of Cakes as the hot cake show) but, my gosh, Kelsey--do you deliver? That was a gorgeous cake! Your sister must have been thrilled!

Cindy said...

Kelsey has a future in baking and decorating cakes! Love those daisies. Way to go. And, Max, the way to a girl's heart is cake (chocolate) and sprinkles too :)

Unknown said...

WOW I love seeing cakes by young people! Max, that looks SO yummy! I'm all grown up and my cakes definitely don't look that good!

Kelsey, girl, I'm jealous! You're so talented! What great colors, and to have made the whole thing from scratch! I bet it was to die for. :-) Happy birthday, too! What a great birthday surprise.

Anonymous said...

Is this the same Kelsey from the Kelsey's Cakes blog?

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday to her! And WOW that's an impressive cake!

His is very good too, but unfortunately I think he may be overqualified for the decorating position at the local grocery store. No job this time!

Renee @ AddMoreChocolate said...

Jen - You are a treasure. You have encouraged my daughter and made her day truly special.
As usual, she baked her own birthday cake :-)

Renee (Kelsey's mom)

Alli said...

VEEERRRYY impressive! I would have Kelsey make a cake for me any day!

Judy said...

Ahem...Jen...I think Max deserves a "I want Sprinkles" shirt for that lovely creation! :D

the ginabean said...

Impressive! I'm 26 years old and still just do the Duncan Hines cakes/frosting in a regular old cake pan... :)

Renee said...

Excellent job on both cakes.

Reading about Kelsey was like Dejavu. You see, I decorate cakes, my name is Renee, and I have a daughter named Kelsey, who is also 15 LOL.

Anonymous said...

Fabulous job, Max and Kelsey!! You both are miles better than most of the "professionals" out there! Woo Hoo!

Pilgrim said...

Those are great cakes!! Its inspiring to see kids who are coming up in the world of cake decorating--- good work both of you! (May your future cakes never be featured in a cake wrecks picture!)

You both have a LOT of talent :)

Jessica said...

Aw, good work, guys! I'm really impressed with the efforts of both of these kids. It's a happy thing to see. :)

Elizabeth said...

Awww...the little boy looking proud as punch over his cake is too cute!!

MJS said...

Kelsey - did you pick that shirt to echo your cake? Beautiful job! Although, no sprinkles like Max...

Claudia said...

Congratulations for the young bakers. I would say they had a very good start. They also should keep up with CW to help them on the straight road of bakery.

onehotrobot said...

Max: Awesome cake, buddy! It's all about the sprinkles. And there's a technique to getting those sprinkles right (all in the wrist ;-)) and you definitely have that down. You're going to grow up to be one heck of a fine baker. And, like someone said, the key to a woman's heart is through cake, chocolate and sprinkles, of course. You'll be fighting the ladies off with a stick!

Kelsey: First off, happy birthday! At 15, you put MANY other decorators to shame (and not just the cake wrecks we see here...there are a lot of people working in bakeries who are nowhere close to having the talent you clearly possess.) Please make a promise to yourself that you'll never give up on making/decorating cakes. You have an abundance of natural talent; it's obvious by looking at that picture and finding out you're only just turned 15. Wow. Seriously. Keep up the amazing work. I wish the best of luck and just know that before long you're going to be a famous decorator as a very young adult. It would be really cool if you were able to participate in some of those cake challenges you see on FoodTV all the time; you clearly possess the raw talent to win those things and the exposure would open up a lot of new opportunities for you. I can't wait to see more from you in the future! If you don't already have one...definitely set up a website to display your creations. With that gorgeous of a cake, I'm sure you have quite a few more good ones under your belt. I'd love to be able to watch your styles develop and mature.

Good luck to you both, Max and Kelsey. I foresee a very sweet future in front of you!

Unknown said...

Excellent work by both of them. Max did a very nice basic cake design, with fun sprinkles, and Kelsey's could rival many on Sunday Sweets.

Do show us more of both their work! And Hppy Birthday, Kelsey!

Norma said...

Ha! Awesome! My kids love the blog, too; any time we're near a store or bakery, they run toward the cakes, yelling, "I hope there's a wrecky one!" Great work by both these bakers!

Haiku Joy said...

I shall give up now.
No sense running my cake race
Against the sweet fleet.

GJC said...

Man, that shower cake is fawesome. And the sprinkle cake from Max far surpasses many of my efforts, which is especially sad since I'm nearly seven times his age.

And I thank you for not making me weepy with this post, the way you did on Sunday, because: not nice to make obnoxious rude person cry. We don't enjoy it; it makes us phlegmy.

FGNM said...

Wow, Kelsey! You have a bright future. I'm truly impressed. Best of luck to you in your future endeavours. You are very talented, indeed!

Anonymous said...

My 7 year old loves "Cake Wrecks!" Especially any video game related cakes. -- willaful

Utahime Lorelei said...

Wow, I honestly wish any cakes I've made, at that age or my age now looked as good as Kelsey's. That's amazing.

And Max is off to a wonderful start, too! I say congrats to him as well, and awesome job!

Maybe we should send Max to the girl who wanted sprinkles. :D

Jenny said...

How awesome is it to know that your blog is inspiring kids? Maybe he'll grow up to be a chef! Good work, Max! And Jen :)

Elkian Lionblood said...

He made that cake by himself? at six?

Now THAT'S talent ^^ and I love the decor