Sunday
Apr032011
Sunday Sweets: Cake or Fake?
April 3, 2011 Here at Cake Wrecks, we're still in the mood to celebrate April Fool's Day. After all, what other day of the year is it acceptable to go grocery shopping in swim trunks and a propeller beanie? (No? Wrong holiday?) So let's check out some amazing cakes that just might fool you into believing they're the real deal.
(Or maybe we threw in a few non-cakes just to trick you. Think you're up to the challenge of spotting a fake?)
Is this a real guitar? Or is it just a rockin' good cake?
Can't tell? Well, don't fret. We won't string you along for long.
And speaking of music, is this a real drum, or one of our evil snares?
The wear on that drum head is unbeatable!
Assuming it's actually cake, of course. Or is it? Hmm?
Or are we just messing with you?
Here's a tough one: which of these shoes is edible?
Or are we just messing with you?Here's a hint:
All of this trickery is making me hungry. How about some real, delicious, spicy buffalo wings*?
*May or may not actually be real, delicious, spicy or buffalo.
Then you could wash those wings down with a tall pint of Jameson's Irish Whiskey:
You're supposed to drink whiskey by the pint, right?
If you think you've already spotted the fakes, take a look at this Louis Vuitton luggage:
Better buckle down and really study this photo before we carry on.
Has a basketball ever made you hungry?
And if so, does that make you a real basket case?
Or maybe a head case?
Submitted by Lirpa F., made by The Sweetest Thing
I heard it through the grapevine that this fancy "wine" and "cheese" cake could be an impostor!
Submitted by Missie and made by Simply CakesOr am I "lying"?
There's no way these crayons are cake... right?
Color me stumped.
How about this gumball machine? Real or cake?
Submitted by Jeni H. and made by The Cake Shop of San JoseI hate to burst your bubble, but we're not giving the answer just yet.
Check out this lo-mein attraction - do you think it's sweet, or savory?
Submitted by Emily T. and made by ~Er-caEither way, those fortune cookies look delicious ...in bed.
This stack of pancakes makes me want to have dessert for breakfast.
Submitted by Catherine C. and made by Julie Brew FinlaysonWould that be called Dreakfast? Bressert? Brinnersertunch?
So, think you've got us figured out? Then this next cake will have your whiskers in a twist!
Such form! Such skill! Such artful mastery! Can you believe that this isn't a REAL CAT? Absolutely mind-blowing.
(Okay, so maybe it's not really a cat cake. Maybe it's more like a kitten salad.)
So, who spotted the fakes? Assuming there were any?
Have a Sweet to nominate? Then send it to Sunday Sweets [at] Cake Wrecks [dot] com.
Reader Comments (153)
The guitar? Cake.
Evidence: wood grain is wrong.
Drums? Cake. Drumsticks: not cake.
Evidence: chrome isn't actual crhome. A drum head that worn would also be accompanied by a dented rim.
Shoes: Closest shoe is cake, furthest is real.
Evidence: stitching on furthest shoe, presence of a sole, looks like it could actually hold a foot. Also, closest shoe is present on the cake in the second image of the set.
Chicken wings: Cake... all of it, except may the celery.
Evidence: No bone visible on the wings.
Jameson bottle: Cake. Labels and cap: Not cake.
Evidence: funky shape (too wide in the middle), and reflections don't match. The two light sources visible from the bottle itself don't line up with the light sources reflected by the gold foil or the bottle cap... The foil and cap, however, do agree with each other. Wonderful fake reflection of the cloth below the bottle, though.
Trunk: Cake.
Evidence: The strapping on the side, above the handle isn't straight, despite it being stretched across the lip of the trunk. Also, the pattern may be lined up diagonally, but not horizontally... Very close, but just slightly off.
Basketball and shoes: Cake.
Evidence: I have yet to see any perfectly spherical cake. This ball is made up of at least 3, probably 4 layers of cake. The skin of the ball also doesn't reflect light like leather does. Neither do the shoes.
Helmet: The cake is a lie.
Evidence: clear plastic, thickness (or complete lack thereof) of supporting structures.
Popcorn box: Cake. Movie reel: Cake. Popcorn: can't tell; I'd expect to see the kernel husks somewhere on a small sampling of kernels, but the variety of shades, along with the shape, makes me think that however the popcorn was made, it isn't icing... Especially considering that the cake layers are very obvious in the box, and the paper saying "Happy Birthday Jeff!!" (almost exclamations of ellipses...) doesn't match with the side of the film reel...
Cheese: Cake. Bottle: Cake. Box: Cake. Knife: Cake.
Evidence: Again, the reflections aren't uniform... The wood grain is also faked... and no self respecting cheese is going to be that mushy AND that holey.
Crayons: Not crayons.
Evidence: The shape of crayons is wrong for that brand. The wrappers aren't paper. There is no waxy sheen. Since they're not real, they have to be cake.
Gumball machine: Cake. Gumballs: Not Cake. Bowl: Not Cake. Lid: Cake.
Evidence: Multiple layers, no reflections off of the plastic (although the airbrushing at the bottom of the "metal" gives a very good illusion of brushed aluminum reflecting a bright surface underneath.). The gumballs, however, all have uniform reflections, so they're actually shiny.
Noodles: cake. Take-out container: Cake. Take-out container top flaps: cardboard. Chopsticks: chopsticks. Fortune cookies: not fortune cookies. Fortunes: not paper. Handle: Not cake.
Eggs: not eggs. Bacon: not bacon. Butter: not butter. Syrup: probably syrup. Pancakes: cake.
Evidence: the way they stack. That many pancakes would have a huge bulge in the middle.
Kitty: Kitty. Give it a cheeseburger.
Helmet, Rear shoe, and obviously the kitten are not cake.
I'm on the fence about the drum.
That last one is a kitten no way is that cake. The helmet also looks real lol. Heck most of those have me stumped but I just know that last one is a kitten.. it has to be.
Loved those shoes!
I also play the "in bed" game!
I think the cat cannot possibly be cake. Please. Please tell me it's not. If it is it definitely shouldn't be on Sunday Sweets!
I agree about the helmet and the back shoe (the stitches...) and the drumsticks. Also..the globe on the gumball machine.
Kitten, drum, helmet and Epcot. If the wings are cake, I assume they should not be eaten because God knows how they got the little bumpy things and the glaze on those bad boys.
the helmet is real. the gumball is a cake (it's on their website). the chicken wings could be cake, but i didn't see it on her website, which is very nice btw, and i didnt see the bottle either, which has to be real because the glass is just too glassy!
and the cat is real
if you read the credit name for the helmet backwards it's april f (april fools?). so my guess for not real is the helmet and cat- everything else real.
I just assumed that if it said "by (insert name) bakery/cakes" it was real. Anyone else think of that method?
Besides the link beneath the helmet cake (thanks for the hint!), the submitter was Lirpa F. (or April F., if you read it backwards).
Taaadaaa
One extra hint.
So my final vote...back shoe, drumsticks, helmet, kitty.
Guitar, whiskey bottle, trunk and wine & cheese are (to me) obviously cake, but who can say?
#2 The drum is real, although the drumsticks could be made of turkey. (Rim shot!)
#3a Shoe in the foreground is cake. Not because of the lack of stitching or the type of material used in the construction of the inner frammis, but because it is identical to one in the photo below (also why it doesn't have a heel).
#4 Real wings; the celery and lettuce are fake, and the dip is ranch buttercream. Deal with it.
#7 Cake; no texture.
#8 Real helmet. This should be posted in every bakery in the galaxy. Not that it would necessarily help, but it might.
#9 Film reel: cake. Bag: could be fondant; looks a little thick for paper. Popcorn: if it isn't real, someone went to a *lot* of trouble.
#11 Cake. You can tell, because some of the colors are off by 1/4 shade.
#12 Cake. [My theory is] The bowl is made of gelatin, but these people know how to keep it from melting all over everything.
#13 Cake. This isn't a wreck, so I am assuming the wire handle is food-safe.
#14 Cake (and things related thereto), from butter to plate. While bacon cake is an excellent idea (especially if bacon-flavored), this looks a tad pre-cooked.
#15 I think perhaps this cat would like a bit of fish. If the fish is gone later, I can assume that the cat is real, though if the fish is still there, it may simply be that the cat was not hungry.
the helmet & cat are not cakes. looking at mike's webpage of cakes, i think the drumsticks are real. he does an amazing job with his cakes! the shoe in the front is the cake and the shoe in the back is a real shoe.
I vote for the drum, the cat and the helmet.
the helmet and the cat and the show in the background are fakes... not sure about the drumsticks... and the shoe in the forground was the cake version...
no??
in any event, the details on these cakes were ridiculously awesome!
Helmet and kitten is fake!
I believe all of these are cake, except the cat, the NC helmet, and the drumsticks (the drum is cake)
Okay. I think the cat and the football helmet are real and everything else is cake.
You sort of gave away which ones were the real cakes, by putting the baker's name right underneath! :)
(Unless that's a devious double-bluff, of course.)
Those cakes were amazing! I'll be they cost a pretty penny to make though. The only two that I'd say are not cakes are the kitten and the football helmet. The pancakes I have doubts about ,too.
It's the kitten and the helmet for sure. I think the drum is a cake.
If that kitten is a cake, I'm STILL calling the humane society if anyone slices it.
ICK!!!!!!
I agree with others... Helmet & Cat are not cake. Back shoe is real (check out the stitching) and front is cake.
I'm with Julie - this post made a rough weekend light up for me! I'm honoured to be in such good company too; Mike definitely ROCKS! and Debbie is a true cake goddess.
The popcorn is all fondant - with the "butter" painted on. Took my daughter and I HOURS to make.
I think I can also say, to Anonymous at 2:44, from all of us bakers:
You're darn tootin' these cakes take hours, but we bust our butts to make sure they taste good too!!
So are you going to give the answer? Surely the cat is not a cake???? Don't eat the cat!!!!!
Smacking head on desk -
LIRPA - April backwards?????
I've been watching WAY too much of Star Trek - TOS. A Lirpa is "a traditional Vulcan melee weapon, consisting of a metal staff with a fan-shaped blade on one end and a club on the other."
I thought the baker was a ST:TOS fan....
WV: sufferst - my head is suffering the worstest after smaking it on the desk.
Helmet's a fake - rest is cake.
The helmet is real, as is the kitten (but I love that the tomato on the kitten salad appears to be rotten).
Is it just me? I just don't want to eat cake that looks like shoes.
Jen, when are you telling us the answer?
HA! how funny about the lirpa thing! I didn't even notice that. however, if you click on the link, it goes to flickr, not a cake website.
I will now live in constant fear when ordering a cake with writing on it. :-p Thanks a bunch (write italized)
The "kitten salad" reminds me of a spot they had on one of the early David Letterman shows, when it was a daytime show. They had "Handy Household Tips" and one of them was a drawing of kittens snoozing in the middle of greenery with narration "Heavily sedated pets make interesting centrepieces"... Apparently, the daytime audience "didn't get it" and there was hue and cry because callers thought it was serious...
you kinda gave them away by putting the bakery's name underneath each cake.
Olivia
I say the cat is one of those freaky stuffed toys that "breathe." Those things are really realistic!
All cake except helmet.
...and cat. ;)
Oh, and drumsticks and shoe not in the foreground!
(forgot to mention them)
the cat and the helmet.
Helmet, kitten, Jameson's.
are you ever going to tell us?
Are you going to give an answer key??
But how could they cut into that kitty cake?! :(
NOT CAKE: Helmet, drum, background shoe, kitten
Well in a way the kitten is edible just not as cake as meat.
I think it's the cat because it has no link. Sneaky. Very sneaky.
All of these are cakes except the kitten.
(taps foot semi-patiently) Well, are you going to give us the answers, please? We obsessive-compulsives are waiting!
It's been 2 months. Please tell us!!!
Chris
@ Chris - The helmet & kitten were the only two non-cakes. :)
I'm really not sure what is cake, and what is a lie. However, I DO know that the xkcd reference is not a lie.
Helmet and kitten-salad.
That helmet is NOT cake, as the screws are actually metal. I zoomed in to check. Also, the kitten is WAY to realistic to be cake.