A Wrecky Double-Cross

I've got a special treat for you today, guys: My friend John Gjertsen likes making double crostic puzzles, and recently he made a special Cake Wrecks one. If you're a fan of word puzzles then I highly recommend it - and if you need an extra carrot [smirk], I can tell you that the solution will give you a sneak peek at The Next Big Thing for Cake Wrecks. (Ooooh - mysteeeerious!)

Click the image below to download the full-size puzzle:

Oh, and no sharing answers in the comments! Lest I be forced to call you a "cheater cheater pumpkin eater!" And believe me, no one wants that.

Your Turn!

I've been letting your fan-made wreck-creations build up again in the inbox, guys, so let's get right to some of my favorite submissions from the past month or two:

First, the world-famous Carrot Jockeys continue in their quest for world domination:

From Katie B.

From Janet C.

From Teri B.

And here Julie K. commissioned the prettiest jockey cake EVER from High Tea Bakery:

A more adorable vegetable rodeo has never been had.

(Psst. Guys. You're going backwards.)


Steven B.'s special order made me laugh:

As did Cat T.'s bee-YOO-tiful 3D Fireman of "Good Luck in China" fame:

This next one is left over from the holidays, but I had to show you Aimee M.'s great Sandra Lee Kwanzaa cake experiment:

She made it, appropriately enough, as the Feat of Strength for her Festivus celebration. I think two people had to keep eating it until one gagged. Or something. Heh.

On a happier - if still visually disturbing - note:

This, my friends, is a fan-made wreck-creation of one of my all time favorite engagement wrecks. It's also how Jen L.'s boyfriend proposed to her. All together now: Awwwww!


But wait - what's this? My wrecky senses are tingling... I feel like someone else is using the severed hand cake to propose. Who is it? WHO?

(Made by Cakes by Karen)

Mark H., you sly dog, you. Who could say no to a carrot jockey cupid?

Hopefully not you, Wendy Lu.

{UPDATE: Yes, she said yes!}

[sniff] My little wreckies are all growing up and getting married and stuff! [wiping tear] I'm just so...so proud. Love, sprinkles, and "congralatulatons" to you all. And be sure to send pics of the wedding cakes. [evil grin]


So, punk, you think your tribute Wreck is good enough? Huh? Then send it in, and let me be the judge of that.

Wreckies of the Month

It's been a while since we featured the handiwork our noble and crafty henchpersons, so here, without further ado, is what had us in stitches this month:

Get it? Stitches? Eh?

(Wait. Does crochet use "stitches?" )

This was made by Regina W., who was inspired by the classic Cycloptic Smiley Clover of Despair.

(What, you don't remember the Cycloptic Smiley Clover of Despair? How could you forget the Cycloptic Smiley Clover of Despair?!? The Cycloptic Smiley Clover of Despair is a classic. CLASSIC, I say!)

Next we have a slightly more edible homage, which the lucky Becky F. received for her birthday:

Gotta love the ring of "sprinkles."

Then there's, uh, this:

This baby shower cake is actually a Wreck to the third power: Sharon K. made the Jockey homage for her sister's shower, but en route to the party had a brake-slamming incident which resulted in...well, what you see here. Good thing they were already going for a Wreck, huh? :D

Laura M., ran into the most bizarre problem I've ever heard of while trying to order her own Wreck homage: the bakery told her they couldn't do anything, and I quote, that the "Cake Wreckers do, because that's a trademark."

Note to bakers: yes, you can, and no, it's not. (Well, the name is, sure, but feel free to use the popular stuff like "I want sprinkles" or "falker satherhood.")

So, left with no other choice, Laura made her own cake wreck:

And what a lovely wreck it is, too. :)

Next we have Megan T.'s gravity-defying homage:

Megan would like to point out that the jockeys are riding candy corn, thereby making them seasonably appropriate. And also tasty.

By now I'm sure you are all familiar with the classic Good Luck in China/Fireman cake. (And if not, go read Scott's story immediately.) Well, when Jenni T. got a new job, her colleagues made her some impressively wrecky versions of said classic:

There were actually two more, but these were the most amusing. ;)

And finally, Max from Freed's Bakery in Las Vegas put together a fun video of a little literal cake wrecking. Check it out:

Looks like fun. Well, except for the icing-in-the-hair part. [shudder]

Have something wrecks-related to show us? Then send it in! We just might post it. And we even promise not to mock your efforts. Much.

Wreck's This? The Musical

If you enjoyed Wednesday's "What's This?" post, then have I got a treat for you!

Prepare to have your mind blown.

Then push 'play.'

This work of genius is by Joel Bradshaw, a talented Wreckie with mad video editing skilz and even madder taste in blogs. Thanks for making my week, Joel! When our bid for Wrecky World Dominion is complete, you'll be first on the list for promotion to head henchperson. ;)

Wreckies Of The Month

It's been far too long since I featured you, my faithful henchpersons! So, without further ado, here are the Wreckies among you who've succeeded in making me smile this past month.

As always, the Naked Mohawk Baby Carrot Jockeys continue to dominate. Here Angela M's sister made her a whole armada for her birthday:



And "Another Jen" and her friend Darla made this diverse "Cornucopia Rodeo" for their desks:

Banana and corn jockeys? I guess the little guys are branching out.


Yet another Jennifer had these made for her daughter's 14th birthday:

[singing] "I believe the children are our fuuuuture.
Teach them well and LET them wreck the waaay..."

Good work, Jennifer.


Duncan S. stayed up just a little too late reading the wreckage, and got inspired to draw a few hilariously wrecktacular pictures:




Hah! Nice job, Duncan.
(And thank you for putting a diaper on the cowboy jockey. No, really. Thank you.)


One of the book-exclusive Wrecks got some love this month:

Katelynn S. made this for her birthday. Since I hear she's prone to shouting "Nappy Blob Blob!" at other people's birthday parties, I find this only appropriate.

And here's Danielle Q.'s version, which she made for one of her fellow pastry chefs:

Wow, that jockey has some seriously orange hair. Nice.

Wrecky henchperson (wrenchperson? henchky?) Cat T. decided to try her hand at cake decorating. So what did she choose to make for her very first decorated cake? Why, this, of course:

Hee. Ahee. Hee.

And finally, I got a real kick out this e-mail from Hannah:

"I am a government employee working overseas, and part of my job duties include acting as chief coordinator when we have VIP visitors in my city. A few weeks ago I was working with a high-level government official...(and) our schedule included lunch with a major world religious leader, who found out that it was the official's birthday. The religious leader produced a cake that was, by all accounts, incredibly delicious. However, as soon as I saw it, all I could think was CAKE WRECK!!

So let's recap: I'm sitting at a table with the spiritual leader of several hundred million people around the world and a high-powered go-to guy in DC who could destroy my career in one phone call... and I can't stop snorting into my napkin in an attempt to pass my laughter off as bad allergies.

I hope you're happy with yourself."


Me? Happy?

Aw, you better believe it.

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

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for: yesterday's winner!

Actually, your one-liner entries were so good that I decided to pick *three* winners. And they are [drum roll, please] :

Jenniffer ("Now Dolphin-Free!"), Lynn ("Get used to disappointment."), and
Dolores ("In some foreign countries this is actually a compliment.")!

Congrats, ladies! Please e-mail me with your addresses & any special requests for the personalization.

And since I'm sure most of you didn't read through all 1000+ comments yesterday, I've added a bunch of my favorites to the end of yesterday's post. Be sure to check 'em out!

Tour Roundup: San Diego

We arrived at the La Jolla Festival of the Arts not really knowing what to expect. Fortunately, people actually showed up - and some of them even knew who we were! (For the rest, the words "free cake" were more than enough incentive to cram into the tent. Heh.) Whatever the reasons, we had a hefty, happy crowd - so much so that our hosts ran out of books. (Oops. Sorry, guys.)

We neglected to get a shot of the crowd, but here's a cutie in a custom CW shirt:

John & I were touched by how many Wreckies chose to pay their own admission rather than allow us to pay for them. In the end, we only owed the Festival admission for 51 of the more than 150 people at the show. Several folks told me they paid their own way despite financial hardships and even unemployment. That's super humbling stuff, guys. Thank you.

And now...the cake!

Get a load of this jungle goodness! Lisa of Cake Dreams and Cookie Wishes pulled out all the stops in crafting this sweet treat - especially considering she only had a week's notice when our first baker had to cancel.

Lisa putting the final details in place.

A few close-ups:


And my favorite bits:

Awww. My name's on the Disney hat! Plus, the little book was perfect - and edible.

Oh, and Lisa's carrot cake? Phenomenal.

I was thrilled that there were any wreckplicas entered in the contest - and even more so when they turned out to be this amazing:

She even included the tiny penguin! Ha!

A photo of the WoW cake on a cupcake. Perfect.

Our "winners!"

I love that two of our three winners were wearing Disney shirts. :)

And their cakes:

This was our grand prize winner - because "Pink Cat Gives You Wings!"

And that's it for our third "world" tour! Thanks so much to all of you who came out, to our volunteer bakers, and to our host stores for making John and me feel like wrecky royalty. It's been a great week, thanks to all of you!

Note from john: Special thanks to Sean Boston for finding us a sushi knife/full on sword to cut the cake. You rock absolutely!

Tour Roundup: Pasadena, CA

On Saturday we did our 16th tour stop at Vroman's in Pasadena, CA. If you haven't been there you should go; it's awesome. And a big thanks to Connie, the book store rep, for being all around wonderful.

Some smiling faces in the crowd:


And hey, look! Our computer's working! Weird!

Our last-minute replacement baker was the phenomenal Linda Darck of Sweet Art Cupcakes. She made a meringue-based buttercream that was sooo good. The chocolate tasted like rich chocolate mousse, and John loved the strawberry so much that he stole a bunch of them to bring back to the hotel room for later. :D

Plus, look how pretty!


And a few of our fav wreckplicas:

A few fun Disney ones:

The photo on the table is of the Epcot attempt that went horribly, hilariously wrong. ;)

Seriously, you guys have mad wreckerating skilz.

(We'll put the rest of the entries on Facebook later this week, so watch for those.)

And our "winners!":

We didn't get a close-up of the stuffed bunny on the cupcake, but as you can see, it was a stuffed bunny. On a cupcake. John laughed so hard I think he teared up a bit. Then he stole the bunny. (Yes, we still have it.)

The suggestively hairy graduation cheese! Isn't it great?

And our grand prize "winner":

Complete with censor bars. Awesome.

Thanks to everyone who came out! Oh, and thanks also to wreckies Mike & Michelle for taking us to an amazing Afghan restaurant later, and not kidnapping us. That was swell.