Saturday, November 7, 2009

On The Road Again

Saturday, November 7, 2009

So, as some of you know, Jen and I have picked up our bootstraps and our IV bags and gone back out to finish the tour. Our first stop was Kansas City, official state motto "The Home of Steak and Tornadoes." We got to meet about 200 awesome fans and a bunch of the folks from Andrews McMeel, our book publishers, came by. We had the most amazing cupcakes provided by Baby Cakes. We even had a few "Super Fans:"

These three drove all the way from St. Louis, MO to be there. Talk about dedication! And check out those super-cool, custom shirts. They even brought us one. Here's a closeup of the back:

They explained that they made the shirts for the first tour before I got sick so the last few dates are wrong. I think maybe a red sharpie slash through those dates would take care of it in true Cake Wrecks fashion.

Of course, we did the cupcake wreckplica competition and here were our three enthusiastic winners:

Okay, two enthusiastic winners, and Logan who had a terribly itchy nose but was far too polite and gentlemanly to scratch it. Wreck on, my young friend. You're a better man than I am.

The dead rose petal wedding cake was the winner:

Crystal C. made the monkey/frog cake, complete with custom painted paper flotsam:

And Logan made a near perfect copy of the "I'm purrin for you" cupcake cake (ptoiee!)


Honorable mentions go out to Emily Spittler who made some of the most realistic icing poo I have ever seen:


And to Kathy Spittler (I wonder if they're related) who made the snowman from one of my all time favorite posts:


Fantastic, right? Well there's lots more where those came from, so check out the Kansas City Facebook Page for more great entries!

Our next stop was New York City, Official Motto, "Phenomenal Cosmic Powers! Iiitty bitty living space." We were at what is apparently the smallest Barnes and Noble in the world. (Maximum occupancy: 4, as long as they aren't wearing heavy coats.) That said, this was our view of the crowd:

There were actually people sitting on the floor in front of the lady in pink. Let's just say we were "cozy."

Though we only had six entries, we managed to find three champions:

The girl in the middle was even decked out with various wrecky accoutrement. Carrot earrings ftw!

The winner's cake was the nauseated basketball:


And then there was Cookie Monster (appropriate for this week's Sesame Street celebration):


And an also seasonally-appropriate Thanksgiving turkey, shaped like a football:

We actually had two bakers for the show. (Score!) The first was Perfect Endings Bakery and their cake was a Cake Wrecks Wreckerator Wrecker (Woo! Wreck-alicious!):

Complete with side panel signage misspelling:

And we also had Jacy Cakes who provided an awesome gluten-free book cake, which (appropriately) was dropped mid-transit, resulting in a Wreck Wreck. Despite the few bumps and scrapes, however, it still looked pretty sweet:

I thought it was cool that they even managed to nail the Andrews McMeel "U" Logo on the book spine:

And that's about it for the first two shows of Cake Wrecks - The "World" Tour, Part 2! You can check out more pics from the New York Facebook Page. Stay tuned for a wrap-up of Bethesda, Boston and Atlanta!
cryandwriteasong said...

The nauseated basketball wreckplica is dead on!

Looks like you kids had some fun, and I'm glad that you're feeling better and able to get some more touring in. ; )

Gary said...

Looks like fun!
(Under Neat That) great wreckplicas, too.

Sonya said...

I wanted so bad to be at the KC one but I was sick. I'm jealous of those who went!
Sonya

Lucia said...

that cake is AWESOME! (the last one.)

House of Holt said...

Aladdin Genie quote FTW!! I really hate that I'll miss you guys in ATL - you had to go and pick the week I'll be at Disney, didn'tcha? Yep I knew it, it was premeditated planning. (Redundant, I know, but I love alliteration)

WV: barno - Bingo's not-as-smart little brother

Lucia Winter said...

wish i was there! but alas, i am going to Russia tomorrow to bring my newly adopted baby home! :)

Anonymous said...

The Jacy Cakes cake is awesome. I love the little carrot jockey on the end of the pencil. And the books...and the cake holding up the books.

Anna said...

Fun stuff. I like the truck cake with the spelling error. Perfect way to do a Cake Wreck Cake.

Love the site.

Anonymous said...

Kansas City has a state motto? ;) I still appreciate that you ventured to the middle of the country!

And to the NYC fans--how many millions of people are there in NYC and you only produced six cupcake replicas? C'mon! They were pretty good though--I'm really impressed that people are reintroducing some of the more obscure wrecks with their entries (like the nauseated basketball).

--kate

NYCGirl said...

As I said on the Facebook page, you guys are both really cool. :)

gatofish said...

Loved the Aladdin quote! Nice to see your tour is back on. Wish I could attend!

Djinn said...

Good that you're back on the road! Watch out for wrecks.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I looked at the tow truck cake at the NY meetup and thought it must suck to be the other baker and get totally upstaged by that.

Then I saw what the other baker did... Nope, not upstaged in the least! Wow! That is a couple of very talented decorators, I would hire either of them in a heartbeat.

AlisonH said...

Does the U mean everything in the book's kosher?

Crystal C. said...

Thanks for coming to KC, Jen and John! I kind of like “Home of Steak and Tornados” better than our more familiar nickname, “Cowtown.” Ahem.

And thanks for the cool carrot jockey necklace, a prize that has earned a place of honor in our home: right next to the TV, where everyone will see. :D I was elated to earn it, as it better justified the 30 minutes or so I spent on that (cup)cake-wreckplica over the weekend. (Or as my husband said, “Those 30 minutes of your life you’ll never get back again.”) Come to think of it, I’d also like to thank the original baker, who probably spent less time than that.

Jill said...

Wow... I absolutely love that Sesame Street cake. Also, my mother was diagnosed with Celiac's Disease (gluten intolerance) five years ago and the minute I saw there was a gluten-free cake at the event I think I about cried at how amazing everyone associated with Cake Wrecks in any way is... Then again, I just watched a couple of movies that may have left me sort of overemotional :)

Rose said...

These are awesome!

Rose
http://roseintheslowlane.blogspot.com

Eva said...

I just realized I watched Aladdin in french (didn't understand a word but enjoyed it anyway) and german (so I finally got the jokes), but not in english. Hope I'll get the chance one day.
Anyway, I always love the cupcake replicas and try to think about what wreck I'd chose... as if you'd ever visit my country. It's still fun to imagine.

WV: sinsein - the black belt earned only by the most skilled wreckerator

xerx said...

The cookie monster wreck with a cookie for a mouth is hilarious! I love Sesame Street, so I might be biased ;)

Fluffy Cow said...

Big hugs to Logan! My kids were so very excited to see the little baby wreckplica of the purrin' wreck that we found and they got me to send it! What a wrecky job!

Becky Yocum said...

a BEAUTIFUL gluten free cake?!!?

my hero!!!!!

Steph said...

I love the cake pencil! I had to look twice to make sure it wasn't real. They should make those so kids could take them to class and chew on them, like Sugar Quills! Mmmmm.

Lisa said...

Logan wants me to report that he was, indeed, very excited, but he was trying really hard not to scratch his itchy nose (that would have wrecked the photo!)

He is very proud of his carrot jockey necklace but decided it would be "inappropriate" to wear at school. He just treasures it at home : )

Meg C. said...

love the aladdin reference!!

john (the hubby of Jen) said...

Lisa and Logan,

It really was an excellent cake and it was a pleasure to meet you both.

I would like to give the young Logan one piece of advice that I have gained from my years of hard won experience: When your nose itches, scratch it! There are so many distractions in life that you have no control over. Your nose shouldn't be one of them. Imagine missing a memory because of a nose tickle. Just saying...

Thank you both so much for coming out and Wreck On!

john

Unknown said...

i, too, am super excited to see a gluten free cake!! my daughter was diagnosed with celiac july 08.

Unknown said...

Thanks to Jen and John for our fun night in KC. My moment of fame for the dead rose petal cake has been fun- my 18 year old son who came along was quite shocked and impressed. He spent the evening texting everyone how his mom won the "lame cupcake award".

Wearing the carrot jockey apron with pride!

Ron Villarreal said...

As one of Logan's uncles, I could post some pictures where he didn't hold back from scratching when the urge struck... but his parents would probably never forgive me.

Great job, Logan!

Uncle Ron

Anonymous said...

GLUTEN FREE!!!!!!!
(!!!!!!!!)

(Grins)
not that I get to, or, in most cases, would want to actually eat any of the cakes you have on the site anyway... but it's still nice to be one degree of hypothetical closer to being able to taste the pretty things myself :-)

Miss Lizzy said...

Where is the Chihuahua Poo cake from?

Heather Rogers said...

im sooooo disapointed my sexual harassment wreckplica didn't get any recognition... boo!

Banana said...

That's great that a gluten free cake was provided, cheers to that baker! My brother, mom, and I have Celiac, but it does not prevent me from enjoying Cake Wrecks in any way!

Angela said...

Yay, you fixed it! Thanks!
I don't see my comment about the "to". Perhaps I'm WAY off here, but did you feel it was mean-spirited? I'm so sorry if I offended you. I just thought we shared a similar sense of humor and OCD about grammar. I wasn't trying to be critical or rude. I don't normally have the guts to correct people on their grammatical errors for fear of insulting them, but I thought you might appreciate the comment and maybe even find it humorous. Please forgive me. I love Cake Wrecks!

john (the hubby of Jen) said...

Hey Angela,

Sorry about the confusion. We have learned that most folks who give us feedback on grammar are trying to be helpful, not mean, and are generally right. We will usually fix the issue and delete the comment because if we don't, we'll have 20 people bashing you because the grammar, which was wrong when you commented, is now correct. It's kind of a headache. And, sadly, there's no way for us to answer you directly on the board without sounding out of left field.

All that to say, please always point out anything you see that even looks wrong. E-mail is sometimes faster but Anne Marie and I see the comments almost as soon as they are posted so that works too. We really do love the fact that you guys care enough to watch out for us.

Thanks,

john

Angela said...

You guys are awesome!

Thanks!

Wendy said...

In response to kate's comment about all the people in NYC and only 6 entries - I was actually surprised we even got 6! My theory is this. For other locations, people go home after work, can pick up their cupcake and then drive to the event/bookstore. In NYC, most of us went to the event straight after work, which meant that we would have to carry around our cupcake all day, on various bus and subway trips. Also, it was Election Day, which for me meant I had to get up even earlier that morning to vote before work. Needless to say - I am surprised my entry remained intact for 12+ hours of transit!