Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Evolution of a Wreck

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

First, there was the football helmet CCC:

Although you'll have to take my word for it on the whole "helmet" part.


Over the years, Wreckerators struggled to make the helmet CCC recognizable...

...with limited success.

Ok, extremely limited.

You know what, just forget the "success" part.


Anyway, one day someone realized that the answer was a specially shaped baking pan.

And a while later, someone else figured maybe that specially shaped baking pan should be helmet-shaped.


And all was well.


UNTIL....

You know how Wreckerators are always using shaped pans for ridiculous and completely unrelated designs? Like upside-down heart grad cakes, and guitar-shaped beer bottles? Yeah? Well, what would you imagine a determined Wreckerator could make out of a football helmet shape? Hmm?

Think carefully, now.

Any ideas?

No?

Give up?

Ok. Keep scrolling.








Jennifer D., Shellie M., Holli M., Chris B., Melissa G., Adam S., & Drew, it's like you could almost reach out and touch it, huh? Really ground-breaking use of technology. Although, I must say, now I feel oddly depressed....
Tricia L said...

Alton Brown would be proud. He's always talking about kitchen items that are multi-taskers.

Elkman said...

That last cake must have come from the Pablo Picasso version of Avatar.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I did not see that last one coming. Wreckerators never cease to, um, surprise us, do they?

burton said...

Avatar cake is both a misappropriation of the baking pan and a copyright infringement all rolled into one!! Touchdow.....sorry. It seemed funny when I started typing it.

Mike said...

Lol, with an exterior shape so open to interpretation, I have no doubt the helmet cake will be used for countless unrelated designs. I mean, just look at how many different ways the heart-shaped pan is used. I see great things in the future of cake wreckorating.

Kate in Italy said...

The only reaction to the Avatar cake my body was capable of at the time was a severe eyebrow raise...

Jules AF said...

That Avatar cake... whaaat?

Auntie Meme said...

I'm completely wowed by the Avatar cake. What a mastery of spatial relations that required! I never in a million years would have thought of that. Creative--I kinda like it.

Half Assed Kitchen said...

A helmet pan is like a cloud. Keep staring at the shape and it seems to change into different things.

Taylor said...

So since this was the "Evolution of a Wreck" are you going to post an "Intelligent Design of a Wreck" tomorrow?

Probably not.

Alison said...

I'm mellllting....!

Larissa said...

Ahahahahahahahhahahahahaha! OMG, seriously? Seriously?!

But kudos to you for figuring out that all those early ones were helmets. I'd have been at a complete loss.

Anonymous said...

The Colts flotsam on the third cake is placed in such a way that it looks like a pacifier. And a football helmet with a pacifier sticking out? Awesomeness.

Mary Connealy said...

There were a few really ... um ... what's the word I'm looking for....Let's just say WRECKY... ways you could have gone with that. Thank you for picking Avatar.

Trevor said...

I did NOT see the Avatar cake coming. I was totally expecting something dirty.

On a totally unrelated note, have you been by a Willams Sonoma recently? THey have Star Wars cookie cutters now.

Receptionist Row said...

See now, I would have thought a skull would be the logical use, but Avatar? My jaw literally dropped and my scalp began itching. Sort of a Laurel & Hardy expression (I am only guessing since I have no mirror at my desk.) I do wonder, what do those creatures taste like? Is that a special color? Avatar-blue, perhaps??

Anonymous said...

Almost all was well with the Colts helmet - the wreckerator put the horseshoe on the cake sideways - oops! Close, but yet so far...

I, too, would never have imagined the Avatar usage of the helmet cake pan. It was done quite lovely, however.

jo said...

What ELSE could a helmet cake be used for? maybe we should run a contest for ideas. Everybody, put your wreckerator thinking caps on (I know, it's hard to think like them, but still....)

Meanwhile, cake #1 looks like it has a big scary toothy grin.

#3 looks like a ghost. a creepy, flower shaped with a three prong goal post and a pair of eyes on it ghost.

#4: UFO with a net trolling for specimens? or one of those automatic vaccums that go under the beds by themselves?

#5 the Picasso-esque heart shaped *faceslap* helmet reminds me of the cover of the box for the game Taboo.

The scary Avatar cake is sad. Makes me feel a little blue.

Jamie Kline (Bookerella) said...

LOL Tricia, I totally agree. Although when Alton uses kitchen items for multiple purposes, it actually works. Using a helmet shaped pan for Avatar? Not so much.

Jenn said...

Great buildup. I like.

otherrobert said...

And my mind is broken. I've stared at the screen for five minutes just laughing in silence. Nothing has screwed me up this much since Stevie's cake caught fire on Challenge.

Monique B said...

The third one totally looks like General Grievous to me!

M M said...

Taylor

You say this as if you expect the wreckerators have intelligence.

akgreentea said...

I love how even when the wreckerators use a football helmet shaped baking pan to make a football helmet cake, they still manage to wreck it even with flotsam that shows how the wreck is supposed to look. Here's to you, the makers of that Colts helmet cake.

Suzanne said...

I agree with Jo about #4 - my first thought was a UFO. But then the Avatar cake fits in with the alien theme, I suppose!

wv: sheeder. I sheeder to think someone was paid to make that cake!

Anonymous said...

To each their own. I think the Avatar cake shows at least as much creativity as the film did and may be somewhat more charming.

Fluffy Cow said...

Upon seeing the helmet shaped helmet, my daughter exclaimed, "How dare they!!"

Then we scrolled to the last picture.

Um...

Yeah.

Kris said...

My kids were looking at the cakes with me and one asked "what is that silly thing?" (said about more then one cake) and the other said "Look, a dinosaur cake" when she saw the last one.

Miranda said...

A blue alien head. Oh, delish. *gags*

gross. Do Not Want.

VeggieT said...

wow, that's has to be the best avatar cake I've ever seen. Oh I know it's still a wreck to the 2nd power, but it's still the best I've ever seen, way better than those cupcakes with the avatar picks in them, or the photo cake (although what better photo to use on a cake than one with blue skinned people...) Sorry I don't have pictures of those, but that what my grocery store had on the dvd release day...

KatjaMouse said...

That Avatar cake will haunt my dreams.

Lu said...

The careful spacing at the end led to a magnificent reveal.

Also, it's a good thing there was no one around because I snorted pretty dang loud. I can still feel the vibrations in my skull.

Candace said...

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

Yeah.... that about covers my reaction to the final cake. lol

Miss Sheep said...

It's funny how in the last helmet cake they fail in the easiest thing... the C is in the wrong position!

Anonymous said...

I thought it was unwise to smoke around all that sugar and butter, but how else could this have happened. Heh, heh, heh. Norine

Isolder74 said...

That first one looks very creepily like a jawbone.

Unknown said...

There's nothing new about rotating the same oddly-shaped baking pan to create a variety of designs. Just look at Carvel's ice cream cakes! "Fudgie the Whale"'s tail could become the tassel on Santa Claus's hat every December.

Anonymous said...

I must say, the last one isn't as bad as an Avatar cake could be. Nonsequitur? Well, yeah. But if someone took a Na'avi, cut it down the center with a semi-sentient knife, and sprinkled some frosting and wrote "Avatar" on its face, then it would probably look like that.

BADKarma! said...

The Avatar cake is nearly as based in anything even vaguely resembling reality as the movie itself, so I call it a "win".

Sugargirl said...

HAHAHA, Tricia L, I seriously did just "LOL" at that! How true, how true...however, I think even that has its limits!

Stephanie said...

The 1st cake is obviously an albino alligator wearing a "Jets" eyepatch. I don't know how anyone could confuse that with a football helmet.

Anonymous said...

My children think the Avatar cake looks like "Bob" from Monsters vs. Aliens!!

Anonymous said...

I was so impressed with the Colts wreck in a helmet shape that I didn't notice until now that the horseshoe is sideways -- making it a 'C' for Colts, I guess.

Anonymous said...

The one with the uprights looked like it had eyes....and was staring at me. Creepy!

Anonymous said...

#1 looks like a bird head with big teeth in the bill.

#3 why does the ghost have a round tongue depressor in it's mouth and blue whiskers or claws around it's cloudlike blobby head?

#4: what team is this one supposed to be for? it does look like a UFO--the white icing looks like a beam of light. the yellow dot could be an eye if it were a rolling floor robot.

#5: in restaurants, 86 is the term the staff use when they've run out of something. (ex. "86 the salmon special!") These cakes should be 86ed.

I had such hope for the good looking Colts cake. I didn't even notice the C was wrong until someone pointed out the flotsam. If they didn't include the flotsam (whcih theyshould have skipped anyway), who would have known but true FB fans?

The Avatar cake is totally creepy. but if it's a cookie like the Colts' wreck I'd totally eat it. Those cookies are delish--minus poop-staining blue icing.

wv: thing. What is that thing? What we aske of these wrecks.

Anonymous said...

LOL @Mama Martinez. Eyepatch! definitely questionable as a helmet

wv: enaryo. something in Avatar language.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I was not expecting that! So horrible it's hilarious xD

Etiquette Bitch said...

effing hilarious. i still say, when will the bakers that be realize that CCCs are NEVER a good idea?

And, for the first time ever, your photos of CCCs made me *crave* a cupcake. Urg. Here I go to the bakery...

Sara said...

Excellent! They are quite inventive. Although, if my end results looked like theirs I could be inventive, too.

And props on the second CCC- I could actually tell what it was. That one at least deserves a free throw. Wait, that's basketball. Crap.

Anonymous said...

Bravo on the Avatar piece! I know many have said it and even more will say it, but I did NOT see that coming! Kudos to the creator! (applauds)

Unknown said...

Number one wasn't a wreck! It's simply James William Bottomtooth's helmet from college!
http://media.photobucket.com/image/bottomtooth%20from%20family%20guy/Aungkhmageddon/m_c3c2646dc092b0a8470bf7dc144a8d57.jpg

John Sperry said...

OH NO THEY DI'N'T!!!!

Unknown said...

I need to know how to bake a cake that is to be covered with not-frosting, but the other stuff . Here in germany it's called fondant. We have a whole different baking tradition but I want to become a wreckie, too! Any suggestions? As creamy as possible, please!

Anonymous said...

I am not surprised-an avatar wrck was inevitable

Anonymous said...

Go Steelers!! (Sorry, it's a reflex, even when the Steelers-related item is barely recognizable...)

Anyes K. Busby - Studio Vignette Fine Art said...

Well then, I've never really seen anything like the 3rd one. A blue nail polished clawed 6-handed snowflake wearing black eyeliner with a football goal thingy iced into it's face with a whistle (or pacifier) shoved into it's mouth. I smell wooonderfuuuulll!!! :D

Duessa said...

I was absolutely unprepared for that last cake. I'm so very happy I swallowed my coke before scrolling down.

loopy joojoo said...

I haven't seen the movie and really know nothing about it except that there are blue creatures and it has been called "Dances with Wolves . . . in Space" by those who think there are no new ideas in film. I assume not having seen the movie is what's keeping me from understanding why it's a wreck. From an outsider's perspective, it's a fine cake compared to the typical mess featured here. The airbrushing is used to create dimension, the eye has nice detail, and the name is spelled correctly. I find it to be a clever alternate use for the helmet pan. Should I also add I'm pretty high on painkillers right now? Maybe tomorrow my back will feel better and I'll look at it and think it's really awful, but right now it's lovely. Everything is lovely. I love you all. :)

Gossamer said...

I think on that last one you could make it an ear cake. Though why anyone would ever want and ear cake...

Shannon said...

Fancy Dancing MOSES! That is amazingly horrific.

Leah Wolff-Pellingra said...

I have to say, this is one case where I think air brushing is an improvement...

Shalmeno said...

Jen, you and your Avatar/Football Helmet cake just washed away my seemingly-terminal PMS crankiness with a tidal wave of laughter. THANK YOU (from me AND everyone in my immediate sphere)!!! :-)

Anonymous said...

The Avatar cake: Jen, no way--that's not real. That was photo-shopped, or something...

No, I know it's real--just kind of wish I didn't have to admit that to myself...
Heather

Rebecca F. said...

OMG, that is awesome! I didn't see that coming either. Very creative and very hilarious.

Arlene said...

That second "helmet" cake looked like Pac-Man broke his jaw trying to get the ghosts. These cakes are so far from helmets they may as well be called whatchamacallits. Lol honestly did they think we would be fooled?

Jessica said...

OMG I wanna eat the lips off that Avatar cake!

@miniMum said...

OK, #3 cake? Silence of the Lambs. Hannibal Lecter mask. (Just sorta JUMPED OUT AT ME AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!)

Anonymous said...

Joeygoat said.....I had a hard time scrolling up and down the page on older cake wrecks. Could just be my cruddy pc, but just wanted to let you know.

Unknown said...

Just wanted to let you know that your post hit my inbox this morning in perfect condition and I have had no problems moving around the website. Just letting you know, per your request.
I am running FireFox w/McAfee virus software and receive my email via GMail. No problems, business as usual.

kar131313 said...

That helmet pan would be *perfect* for making a jellyfish cake.

LOL the comments and commentary, as usual. Love you too, loopyjoojoo ;-) - (hope your back's better tomorrow).

Anonymous said...

Nosferatu has turned blue!
Would be appropriate since Frankenstein's monster wore green makeup.

Harmod Jørgenson

crazytrekkie said...

That Avatar cake is.....aaaaggh. I think the "Picasso version" sums it up best. And nicest i was thinking more "chin deformity, gloppy eyes, squiggly face, and blatant copyright violations."

SzélsőFa said...

well, i'm from europe and football players over here don't wear helmets at all. also, i'm not a sports fan.
so, it took me a lot of time to decipher what i was looking at. in fact, i had no clue of any kind - but once i got it, i scrolled back and laughed at the post all they way.

Anonymous said...

While it is a pretty unusual shape, the work on the avatar really isn't that bad, and kind of impressive for a wreck.

Anonymous said...

Gasp!That poor, poor cake. What'd it do to deserve this?