Cake Wrecks: Interview with Jen Yates

Take cakes that are so bad they're good, mix in a great sense of humor and what do you get? A madly popular blog phenomenon, and now, a book as well! Jen Yates, the founder of Cake Wrecks, one of my all time favorite blogs, has graciously agreed to do an interview about cakes, the universe and everything.

But first: the book. As I'm sure you all probably already know or can guess, Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong is obviously about cake carnage. It chronicles some of the weirdest, silliest, creepiest and downright fugliest cakes ever made professionally (in order to be featured in the book and blog, each cake has to be made by a professional baker). There are over 150 cake wrecks included (3/4 of them never-before-seen material).

But there's something very subtle about the book that made me appreciate Jen and Cake Wrecks even more. This is something I came to realize only after I read the advance copy of the book (I know, I know, the perks of being a famous blogger). Cake Wrecks is actually the celebration of having a bad cake. It's an homage to Murphy's Law asserting itself over flour, sugar, egg and shortening mixed together
and popped in the oven.

Think about it: how many birthday parties have you gone to and not remember a whit of what happened? Now, if you had one where the cake was horribly wrong (but still very yummy) - wouldn't that stick in your memory forever? (I can imagine the conversation - Q: "Hey, remember that party with the foot cake?" A: "Yeah ... good times!")

'Nuff said. Let's get on with the interview:

Neatorama: Before we talk about cakes, I'm curious about what you wrote for the "About the Author" portion of Cake Wrecks, and I quote "Jen has been a clown, a cash office accountant, a Jungle Cruise skipper, a business owner, a children's book inventory expeditor, and a house painter."

Now, if you don't mind - a clown? Really? What's that like? Did you come up with your own Jungle Cruise skipper jokes? And just what the heck is a children's book inventory expeditor? Sounds like a smuggling ops.

Jen Yates: Hah! Yes, I do have some interesting "work" experience. Ok, let's see...being a clown? That can be surprisingly difficult, on account of your not being allowed to retaliate while being kicked in the shins by a horde of candy-seeking 9-year-olds. Heheh. Other than that it was a blast, though. I learned to juggle, make balloon animals, and perform funny skits. This was during my teens, so that's also where I first learned public speaking skills, believe it or not. We visited hospitals, shelters, expos, churches, you name it.

Jungle Cruise was also fabulous, and yes, we got to ad lib a bit. That's where my love of puns truly blossomed. There's this crashed plane on the ride, and I made a game of fitting as many plane puns as possible into the few seconds we had before it passed out of sight. (I think I got up to 8 or 9.) I wasn't happy until the whole boat was groaning in agony.

My other jobs were less glamorous. The expeditor gig? That was me in a cubicle calling various national warehouses to see if their shipment had arrived yet. Lots of spreadsheets. :)

Neatorama: What's the very first cake that got you thinking of creating Cake Wrecks - the cake that started it all?


The cake that started it all

Jen: Yes, that cake really and truly DID start it all. My friend Abby e-mailed it to me, and the idea for Cake Wrecks just hit me. I think I started the blog that very night, just for fun.

Neatorama: What's your favorite cake wrecks?

Jen: My favorites are usually the ones with the communication breakdowns. The literal stuff like the Under Neat that cake, and then the garbled phone order ones.


Cake submitted by Elizabeth R.

Remember the flash drive cake? That's the one where the customer wanted a photo cake, and so brought in the picture they wanted on a portable thumb drive for the bakery to print out. Instead, the bakery drew an exact replica of the flash drive on the cake! Heh, I LOVE stories like that.

Neatorama: Let's see some geek cred - what are the geekiest cake wrecks you've ever gotten?

Jen: Game console cakes are really popular, especially for grooms cakes, and I've seen some doosies:


Cake submitted by Monique B.


Cake submitted by Diane B.

Here are a few more geeky Wrecks:


Cake submitted by Maggie G.


Cake submitted by Kelly J.

Cake submitted by Gretchen W. (That's supposed to be Luigi, believe it or not)

And this one's not a Wreck, but I thought it was funny:


Cake submitted by Amy L.

I *think* that says happy birthday in binary. Am I right?

__________

Jen has kind enough to offer a free copy of the book for a giveaway - got any question for Jen? A lucky commenter with the most interesting question will win the book (I'll post Jen's reply as an update).

More wrecktastic blogger interviews with Jen Yates about her new book:

Links: Cake Wrecks | The Book at Amazon: Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong

Update 10/3/09 - Jen has picked the question to answer. Find out more here: Link

Have you come across any cake wrecks that make you suspect they were deliberate? Maybe the baker was a little disgruntled or trying to be some kind of smarty-pants?
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Jen, it's easy to assume from looking at these cakes that a lot of them come from places like WalMart and grocery store bakeries, where the decorators don't have a lot of training or motivation to strive for quality. How many cake wrecks come from this type of source, and how many come from true bakeries (where they really ought to know better)?
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I read once about you making a baker cry and you ended up apologizing (which I think is classy). Do you ever receive angry or threatening emails/phone calls/letters from people for being featured on your blog?
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I'd imagine that there is a fair degree of information being not understood on the part of the designer of the cake with some of these confection atrocities on your site, but how much miscommunication do you think is also attributed to the costumer ordering the cake?
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Do you have a fantasy wreck? One composed of anything and everything that pushes your buttons? Something that hasn't yet happened but you kind of WANT it to happen? (: ( This question made much more sense in my head. :| )
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I read on your site that you had taken cake decorating classes with your husband. I wondered if you ever posted one of your cakes as a wreck? I love your site and visit it daily. Between the cakes and your sense of humor it's a match made in heaven!
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As much as I like the decoration (or laughing at the wrecky decoration) of a cake, I'm always much more concerned about how it tastes. LOL What is your favorite cake flavor combination?
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We see the funny and "so horrible they are hilarious" cakes but have you ever seen one that made you scream, cry, or adopt the fetal position in the corner of the room?
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Jen - What's the best advice you can give to a blogger that's just started a blog that partially depends on reader submissions? Any tips for spreading the word about the site to increse submissions?
Thanks! Love your site!!
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What would you do if I sang out of tune?
And what's your favorite husband-of-Jen-posted-this wreckport on Cake Wrecks? Obviously you are the Queen and therefore the best, but he's done some pretty awesome stuff in his own right, yes?
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I've been following Cake Wrecks for a long time, and this is something I've always wondered about: Which wreck have you gotten the most repeat submissions of?
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to: Jen
cc: Neatorama

Subject: Oh God, oh God I really want a free book.

Dear Jen,

Do you ever think about the fact that there is a chance inspired people who would have, otherwise, not thought twice about decorating a cake to do just that?

Speaking for myself, seeing professional bakers awkwardly stumble through certain cake requests gives me the confidence that hey, I could do no worse! I might could even do better!

Hypothetically, one of your followers could challenge themselves and then become cake bakers and decorators themselves. Like, good ones, too!

Do you ever imagine that they'll be a message from someone one day saying, "Hey, I've followed you for quite a while now. I was amused, horrified, disgusted, and satiated by your blog. I thought you'd like to know that I recently opened my own decorating business. It's going really well. Thanks for inspiring me,"?

You make the one definite smile of the day. Thanks.

Sincerely,
Green

[send] [reply] [save draft] [save face and delete]
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While the wrecks themselves are generally not appetizing, have there been any of them that you really wanted to taste? Or any part of them that you really wondered what it tasted like?
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I'm sure you get tons of submissions for the blog....When you open the submitted pictures do you have a physical reaction (laughing, choking, groaning, milk shooting out of your nose, etc) or is it just a job now? ;)
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Willing to make a specialty cake for a small dog crate (Brownsburg)
Date: 2009-09-22, 12:10AM EDT
Reply to: sale-tnyjx-1386277033@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]

Hello,
Go check out this person's website. Her portfolio has some possibilities don't you think?

On Craig's List:
My son is getting a puppy in October and I would like to barter with someone so that we can help each other out. The dog he is getting will be no bigger than 10-12 lbs fully grown so I am thinking a crate for a dog no bigger than 25 lbs would be fine. I am a stay at home mom and make wonderful specialty 3D cakes. I would be willing to trade a cake for your special occasion for a nice small dog crate. I would prefer to have a nice black crate with the tray fully intact. You may visit my website at www.creativecakesbylisa.com to view my cakes. I hope I am able to help you if you can help me.
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Love your site! How many people ask you about some of the geek comments 'the answer is 42' springs to mind, or do your fans just assume your making butter rum frosting?
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Always enjoy the cake wrecks site. Do I have to have a question?

Let's see... There seem to be a lot of amateurish and poorly-done cakes. Do you think most cake wrecks go unreported? Do people just try to forget about them, or do they always remember that one really bad cake?
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