Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Do What to the Mayo?

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Did you know that on this day in 1862, the Mexican army enjoyed an unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla?* Yep. It was such an auspicious occasion that they named that fateful 5th of May... [consulting clipboard] the...er...5th of May.

Wait - is that right? [searching through papers]

Oh, but they named it in Spanish - I see. That way, instead of sounding silly, it sounds all "exotic-like" to us Gringos.

Anyhoo, these days we Americans have put our own spin on Cinco de Mayo:

Namely, we consume copious amounts of alcohol at extended happy hours across the country. Though to be fair, some of us will be wearing sombreros at the time.


"Hey Jo, what'd you find down at the bakery?"

"Meh. Just a couple of Mexican clowns waving flags."

"What?!?"
"Oh."

(Anyone else think those "music notes" look like a pack of sky-diving sixes?)

I was going to suggest that something like a taco cake might be more appropriate today, but then I realized that's stereotyping. So instead, how about this?


Display it in a sink**, and all your Spanish-speaking friends will think you're hilarious. Or stupid. But then, they probably already think you're one of those anyway, so what have you got to lose?


Yenni, Matt J., & Kristin M., I hear happy hour starts at noon. Chop chop!


*Thank you, Wikipedia.

**
Sink o' de Mayo? Get it?
Kate said...

Is it sick that I find that jar of Mayo far more appetizing than the previous 2 cakes?

Amazing Greis said...

Just what I've always wanted...

A MAYO cake!

Shadow said...

Love the mayo cake. I wonder if there's mayo in the cake batter as well, I've seen that in some recipes

Cat said...

"It was such an auspicious occasion that they named that fateful 5th of May... [consulting clipboard] the...er...5th of May."

That's almost as crazy as naming the great day that your country achieved independence on July 4, 1776 the Fourth of July.

Oh.

:)

Tami said...

ZING!

I was totally unprepared for that last one.

loisgroat said...

Thanks for telling me they were music notes. I thought the clowns were sleeping with their eyes wide open. Clowns are plenty scary enough without that!

WV: "senso" What is the senso having a Cinco de Mayo cake, if you are not going to spell out Mayo?

Charlotte (WaltzingM) said...

Are those empty mini bottles on top of that first cake? It's hard to see.

Anonymous said...

In defense of whoever named the day, I just want to point out that we usually call American Independence Day the 4th of July. Not too creative either. :)

Love the mayo cake in the sink!!

Mallory said...

I'm pretty sure those music notes look so silly because they are backward! Also...I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I didn't get the mayo in the sink joke until I read your footnote!

Duck said...

And just this morning I was wondering if you'd have any wrecks related to Cinco de Mayo :P

Will said...

Hmm, you mean silly like calling one's national holiday the 4th of July?

Shelley said...

Haha Sink o de mayo. Love it!

Dorci said...

Okay, somebody please enlighten me about the Hellman's in the sink!

Brenda said...

Calling it Cinco de Mayo is kind of like the 4th of July, eh? :)

Alison said...

Hahah sink 'o de mayo.. I love it!

The Courteous Chihuahua said...

**Sink-o de Mayo

arrrgghh...yes, Jen, I got it. You can have it back.

;-P

Das Mutter said...

Love mayo. Love Sinko Mayo. Great post!

Valerie said...

Mayo in cake batter is just a substitute for eggs if you're out of 'em (you can also use a little soy protein powder with water). I was wondering how y'all would honor the day. Me? I'm gonna cook up some yummy Mexican (meh ee con) vittles and down a few bottles of Negra Modelo.

Knitty said...

Love the Sink-o de Mayo cake! The only thing better than a nicely executed and tasty cake is one with a pun thrown in!

GM said...

That clown cake is just plain scary. I had no idea those were supposed to be music notes. I thought the clowns were being attacked by a flock of crows.

carol said...

sink o' de mayo--
I think that's an Irish-Mexican holiday

Half Assed Kitchen said...

Now can we have a bacon cake to go with the mayo cake?

Angie (from over at www.HalfAssedKitchen.com)

Benjamin said...

I wonder what they used for frosting on that mayo cake....

I sure hope its filled with *butter*cream!


Still hunting my local bakery for wrecks...but the prey is wary.

-Benjamin

Sallie said...

All I have to say is: Cake Wrecks is about the only thing that makes me happy about having to get up in the mornings. Thank you for the absurdity!

Leah McNally said...

A taco cake would be awesome. Por favor, seniorita?

Jen T. said...

What do you call a sinking ship full of condiments? Cinco de Mayo :o)

Shawna said...

Happy Five de Mayo... LMAO... That's really making the extra effort. (shaking head)
Yes people we've got it... 4th of July... moving on. Can only hope there will be a Happy Cuatro of July cake for the occasion.

Haiku Joy said...

"Like July the 4th!"
is so going to be the new
"Spacewaah? That's Epcot!"

wv: dizeste

All dizeste comes from de spices.

Bilby P. Dalgyte said...

OK who comes up with these ideas? "Hey guys! Let's make like... a jar of mayo......... in cake form. Yeah? Yeah? Huh?" "Yeah OK." "Wooooo!! Yeah! Mayo-cake time!"

and hence started the epic saga of how someone wasted their life being weird but kinda awesome at the same time :)

carrie said...

Love the Hellman's cake!
By the way, I work with a lot of Mexicans in manufacturing, and NONE of them have ever celebrated Cinco de Mayo. They think we are stupid gringos for taking a minor Mexican holiday and thinking we're celebrating something big with them. Oh well, any excuse for a margarita will do.

Buffy said...

I nearly aspirated Special K at "sky-diving sixes".

Anonymous said...

Bah ha ha ha ha... Sinko de mayo. Excellent...er, I mean Excellente (that's Spanish for excellent - if I could type the accent that is)

By the way, to a previous poster...the 4th of July is also widely known as "Independence Day."

Perpetual Mommy Exhaustion said...

I know its been said before, but I can't help pointing out that the actual name of the 4th of July is Independence Day. We're just lazy.

Also, I bet our Mexican neighbors really appreciate the lengths we go to to celebrate their special day. Giving clowns Mexican flags? Drinking while wearing sombreros? If that doesn't show respect, I don't know what does.

Megan said...

A few of those sixes look much more like sevens!

And I'll never understand why the same old flowers are used on ALL cakes. Ick.

Megan @ adventuresofacarnivore.com

Anonymous said...

What occasion would call for a Mayo cake? I need the back story on this....

wv...Proust...She must have been so proust of that cake.

Redd said...

My dog just came over to check if I was all right--the noise I made when I saw the dead Mexican clowns was apparently that concerning.

Ronnie said...

I personally thought the music notes looked mostly like "7"s with little tails.

Who's with me?

-Ronnie

BLAM! said...

What's with the comments saying that Americans call Independence Day the Fourth of July? Sure, that is one way to refer to it, but its main, official name is Independence Day. ,':\

Cinco de mayo has no other name that people commonly refer to it as.

Anyway, ha.. mayo in the sink. I see what you did there. At first I was wondering why in the world you'd have a mayonnaise cake in a Cinco de Mayo themed post, but then I read the rest.

Susan G. said...

My favorite is cake #1 with the pretty pink roses and tasty olives sprinkled all around to wish me a "Happy Drunk Day"

Anonymous said...

Well the music notes are backwards...i hate it when ppl who dont know do stupid things like that. and FYI cinco de mayo is also known as the mexican independance day just like our 4th of july.

The Sikorski Family said...

I am ROTFLOL at the "sink o de mayo"....too funny!!!

HatesSeeingHistoryBoggled said...

To correct the poster above me... Mexican Independance Day is in SEPTEMBER... it is commonly mistaken to be 5/5. But it's not.

Unknown said...

A friend of mine sends out this story every year, and I thought you'd appreciate it. Please send all virtual roses and rotten tomatoes to him. :D

--------------------

We all know the story of the Titanic: giant boat, set sail for New York from England. She sank in a horrible tragedy in the middle of nowhere 15 April 1912.

Most people don't know the whole story however.

Early in 1912 Hellmann's Mayonnaise (an English company) revolutionized the condiment world by successfully preserving mayo in jars. The Titanic was carrying over ten thousand jars of Hellmann's mayo in her hold when she went down.

The Titanic's second port of call was to be Cozumel, Mexico. This was also the ultimate destination for the Hellmann's in her giant iron belly. It seems that mayo had never before been commercially available in Mexico and the populace was just going nuts over the stuff. When news hit Mexico of the Titanic's sinking in early May the nation went into mourning for the loss. The government of Mexico declared a national day of mourning, in fact, to be celebrated every year in remembrance of the event: Cinco de Mayo.

Share with me, won't you, a moment of silence. Lest we forget.

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone.

LanieChuang said...

I love how the second cake says Happy 5 De Mayo.

Katie Kiekhaefer said...

Five minutes later and I am still laughing at the idea of mayo in a sink.

Raychel said...

haha I didn't get it at first : )

I liked the mayo jar cake.

www.mycreativeway.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Strange thing. I'm mexican and we don't make cakes of this day or any other day. It's funny for us to hear how you say "Cinco de Mayo"

Cheryl said...

I am just LOVING those orange chaps on the clowns!! Sexy! ; )

ren said...

those are music notes? eeks...

Unknown said...

Olives on a cake...ewwwwww. Ewwwwwww. Loving the Mayo reference. Very funny!

Ros said...

Naming it Cinco de Mayo isn't any sillier than 'Fourth of July' is it? Especially since nothing important actually happened on July 4th. Voted on July 2nd, signed on August 2nd. July 4th? Um, date of printing. Wow.

Alicia said...

The 4th of July, as many have already said, is not the name of the holiday. The official name is Independence Day but people like nicknames so 4th of July came about. I'm hoping that the people trying to be snarky don't live in America (like myself), otherwise, you just made yourself look a bit...silly.

Anyway, I'm working at a Mexican restaurant today. I bet there will be drunk "Ugly Americans" galore. But they won't look any worse than the clown morgue that is cake #2.

Earl Junior said...

The mayo cake reminds me of my favorite holiday story.

We all know the story of the Titanic: giant boat, set sail for New York from England. She sank in a horrible tragedy in the middle of nowhere 15 April 1912.

Most people don't know the whole story however.

Early in 1912 Hellmann's Mayonnaise (an English company) revolutionized the condiment world by successfully preserving mayo in jars. The Titanic was carrying over ten thousand jars of Hellmann's mayo in her hold when she went down.

The Titanic's second port of call was to be Cozumel, Mexico. This was also the ultimate destination for the Hellmann's in her giant iron belly. It seems that mayo had never before been commercially available in Mexico and the populace was just going nuts over the stuff. When news hit Mexico of the Titanic's sinking in early May the nation went into mourning for the loss. The government of Mexico declared a national day of mourning, in fact, to be celebrated every year in remembrance of the event: Cinco de Mayo.

Mackenzies Momma said...

*snort* Sinko de Mayo. *snort*

(oh and on an o/t note in case you didn't hear: Dom DeLuise passed away last night)

Unknown said...

lulz. mayo cake would be good for a bbq

Yolanda said...

Jen -

Good afternoon. The Happy 5 DE Mayo clown cake totally put me over the edge...hilarious.

Marga said...

After reading the comments over the last few days, and particularly after the "Epcot" debacle, I can only conclude that Cake Wrecks has become a victim of its own success and now attracts a number of "outsiders" who just don't GET IT!

Crow Jane said...

Boy, I wish someone would make a point about how Independence Day is often referred to as "4 Of July". Because no one has done that. I feel this need to read 20 different "OMG Americans say Fourth of July!" comments and you people just aren't helping.

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure the skydiving sixes is more appropriate than "music notes" since those "music notes" are totally backwards. Stem and flag both go on the right, fyi. (Sorry, I'm a musician...) =)

Unknown said...

Love the sink o the mayo. Yes, I got the joke straight away.:o)

Those clowns..eek. No wonder I hate clowns!
~Amy B.

Melissa (& Billy) said...

It's...ah...a jar of mayo. What I always wanted. 0_o

Jen, are you sure you're not related to Mookie (www.dominic-deegan.com)? He loves puns just as much as you do. *g*

"Happy Drunk Day"--LOL is that for 5 de Mayo or someone's 21st birthday?

And oddly enough, those are the least scary clowns I've seen on a cake. Their ruffly trousers look...festive. Go figure!

Anonymous said...

To Benjamin:

Ugh... the thought of the jar of mayo cake actually having mayonnaise filling just turned my stomach.

To others:

Actually, Cinco de Mayo isn't a major holiday in Mexico; and certainly not Mexican Independence Day, that date is September 16th. Now THAT day is a huge party day for Mexicans :)

Pickyknitter said...

Today is my birthday and when I ordered cake, i made sure to say 'no writing' although I was tempted, in hopes that i would win (?) the CW lottery...

Anonymous said...

to "ctoan"... look on the calendar it is not named the 4th of July, it is named "Independence Day"

ErinMSW said...

So we English-speaking folk look at that 2nd cake and read "Happy five de Mayo" but a Spanish-speaking person would look at it and read "Happy cinco de Mayo" so...it looks funny, but it's kinda not that funny, really. Call me a party-pooper.

The sink-o de Mayo cake, though? Priceless.

Mantolwen said...

No such thing as an unlikely victory over the French! (No offense to any French readers intended, but I am English)

Em said...

The music notes are also backwards, except for the one under the "a" in happy. That one is pointing two different directions.

Kate said...

**Sink o' de Mayo? Get it?

GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAN. :D

Cathy said...

The 5 on the cake works--it just forgot one key element. It needs a superscript circle next to it. Spanish speakers don't always write out fifth anymore than English speakers do. They abbreviate it 5 superscript o--looks like five degrees.

Mexican Independence (and Independence Day for most or all of Central America) is September 15th.

Cathy said...

I need to correct my own comment after a September 16th date was posted. The 16th is the official Mexican Independence Day, with the 15th being the day for other portions of Central America. The official declaration was made in Mexico on the 15th but the army didn't support it until the next day. Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras declared their independence on the 15th: Guatemala at least celebrates it on that day.

CarrieP said...

For those who would like to partake in a non-wrecky Latin American cake, the tres leches cake is pretty awesome.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/tres-leche-cake-recipe/index.html?rsrc=search

http://www.texascooking.com/features/sept2002treslechescakerecipe.htm

Olson said...

I had to enlarge the drunk cake to see that those are, in fact, champagne bottles and not olives. My first thought was, "Yeah....you'd have to be pretty drunk to eat a cake with olives on it" followed closely by the thought of what other odd surprises might be lurking UNDER the icing.
That cake also has a piece of paper beside it with the date 12/21/2008, so it might be some holiday that we have been neglecting to celebrate all these years.
Also...on the note beside the cake it looks like they repeatedly wrote "How I met" and then scratched it out. (Or is it "How I wet?")

David T. Macknet said...

And most US people think that Cinco de Mayo is all about Mexican Independence ... when they don't really celebrate it down there.

Barb said...

This is exactly why I like Miracle Whip! :p

Anonymous said...

way to completely ignore the fact that spanish is spoken by over 30 million people at home in this country, and that 15% of this "us" you mention are latinos, who don't think the concept of a mexican holiday — or the spanish language — is as weird and wacky as you do. as someone who lives in a state with almost as many latinos as gringos, i'm pretty shocked to learn that this is how the rest of the country views people, languages, and holidays that aren't lily-white.

Anonymous said...

OMG! SINK O' DE MAYO!!! NOTE TO SELF: NOT SUPPOSED TO BE LAUGHING OUT LOUD AT THE COMPUTER, SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING! DO YOU THINK ANYONE NOTICED???!

StuffCooksWant said...

OMG... the mayo cake is awesome! I totally would stick that sucker in a sink and call it sinko de mayo.... except I'm not having a party and it's already 3:00... no time. Maybe I'll remember for next year. Probably not.

Sara said...

I would also like to know why there is a jar of mayonaise cake (aside from that you can put it in the sink and call it a Sink-o de Mayo cake). It's one of those cakes that is actually reasonably well executed, but you still wonder why anyone would want that. I demand more investigative journalism from Cake Wrecks!

Scritzy said...

Gad! Olives on a cake — I only hope they were candy.

And since I can't abide mayo, I'd not only put the Hellman's cake in the sink, I'd put it in the disposal!

Hmmm. Hellman. Is that Hellboy's father?

I need a Margarita ... with salt ...

Pilar said...

As a Mexican(American) with family in and from Puebla, I suggest all those erroneously celebrating Mexico's Independence day today relinquish all alcoholic beverages to me. I will dispose of them in proper fashion.
It is rather strange that we celebrate someone else's Independence day at all. I still don't think there's a need to get in a such a tizzy about technicality. Bottoms up!

Alice said...

For me what's funniest is that in Mexico Cinco de Mayo is such a non-holiday. I mean, we don't celebrate it at all!! For us Mexicans in Mexico te Cinco de Mayo celebration with parades and booze and everything is as exotic as can be to your average gringo.

But I guess any excuse is fine to have some cake ;)

Little Luxuries said...

What the heck are those half-dozen greenish things lurking around the edges of that first cake? They look somewhat... menacing.

31 To Go... said...

Okay, the Mayo joke -- priceless!

Shanti said...

To all the commenters pointing out what a minor holiday Cinco de Mayo is for actual Mexicans - I chuckle in sympathy.

I'm Jewish. Chanukah is one of the tiniest, least significant holidays in our calendar, but it's been blown completely out of proportion in the US because it falls around Christmas time.

We just plain love to celebrate. You just have to shrug, chuckle, and hope your cake isn't too wrecky.

Sam said...

Why do the clowns have unnecessarily large thighs?

maxon said...

Are you sure those are notes? I mean, I'm only a professional musician but they don't look like anything ... [maxon attempts to play] mmmm

Unknown said...

At a former job, we had a "Drinko de Mayo" party...named by the boss, who loved her margaritas!

Anonymous said...

Gah! Backwards eighth notes. So awful.

Ruby said...

This comment is so far down God knows if anyone will ever read it!

I just wanted to say that I went to a resaurant and they were having a Cinco de Mayo party.....on the 4th.

Genius.

Obviously i took a picture!

http://obtuseruby.blogspot.com/2009/05/fail.html

xx

JM said...

Oh, but they named it in Spanish - I see. That way, instead of sounding silly, it sounds all "exotic-like" to us Gringos.Like the first of July, you mean?

Normally this blog is really funny, but it's just not funny or clever to make fun of how other languages sound in English.

Accidental Londoner said...

What's with those olives atop the Happy Drunk Day cake? Should be accompanied by some cheap white wine and garlic bread!

Christa said...

sink o' de mayo...I almost fell out of the chair!
Yesterday was my twin daughter's second birthday...but we went to the Mexican restaurant the night before to avoid the "american celebration" of cinco de mayo. But we actually had a VERY CUTE cupcake puppy cake...you know the long haired white ones...it was super cute, the only reason I bought it was because I was in shock it was actually cute and so I could take a picture of it.

Anonymous said...

I really don't think those are olives on the first cake. I think that they are bottles, but they just look like olives due to the angle of the picture...???

"ortowate" - I ortowate to get home before I start drinking!

E.A.D. said...

I'm going to assume the comment about Cinco de Mayo/Fifth of May wasn't meant to sound racist or otherwise hurtful.

The school I work at had a Cinco de Mayo celebration. I'm going to see what I can get them to do come September 16th, since we have some students from Mexican families. Heck, we have students from almost every country in Central America, maybe it should be like a 2 or 3-day celebration.

Gothic Dragon said...

Aw, I loves the Mayo jar Cake! :)

Autumn said...

Love your blog! And as a music teacher, the one with the music notes...well, the notes are all backwards. That's why they look like skydiving 6's!

Ruth said...

I suppose you think "The 4th of July" would sound less "silly" as "Cuatro de Julio"?

Anonymous said...

Anyone who is complaining that Jen is making a racist statement with her comment about Gringos (if you can't see the humor and understand that she's making fun of the "gringos" and not the holiday or Mexicans, etc.) really needs to lighten up or stop reading her blog. If you guys annoy her again she may stop posting altogether and I need my "Cake Wrecks' fix every day.

SO STOP TRYING TO TICK OFF JEN!

Anonymous said...

Hellmann's?....never heard of it, must be an east coast cake. Now, if it only said Best Foods...

wv: unnic - That mayo cake is the most unnic I've ever seen.

Jamie said...

Those clowns have no idea what they are doing. They're singing their skydiving music notes backwards!
(trust the musician, 8th notes go the other way).

YenniJB said...

those of you talking about the "drunk day" cake. I'm the yenni that sent that in...I'm shocked to see it actually used XD

the green things are champagne bottles, and the list next to the cake was actually my boyfriend's list of tv shows he had missed....the date was a random piece of paper..that photo was taken around January 12th...my 21st b-day

Ruth said...

I have nothing against the word "gringo"; I just find it weird that she thinks "The 5th of May" is a silly thing to name a holiday when we have a "4th of July".

Actually, looking up, I see several other people mentioned this too.

Christina Ragusin said...

OMG Sinko de Mayo- pee in your pants funny. PLEASE make a shirt!!!

Anonymous said...

"Happy drunk day" would probably serve quite well for St. Paddy's day, too.

Yeah, Its me said...

All the comments we TL;DR, but if you enlarge the pic of the first cake (happy Drunk Day) what the heck does that list say? Missed....then How I wet? like three times and crossed out... Anyone?

Lisa said...

We have a holiday named after the day too. At least that's how most people refer to independence day. Only problem is, what we celebrate on the 4th of July actually happened on the 2nd of July.

Just saying...