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Sunday, April 3, 2011

Sunday, 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?)

They're all really cake except for the helmet and the kitten (obviously). Notice that all of them are submitted by actual people. The helmet was submitted by "Lirpa F." ... an anagram of April F. April Fools!

The helmet is not cake, obviously not the cat either (that much they said) and I think the bowl of the gumball machine is plastic but the actual body of it is cake. The drumsticks *might* be cake or bread but they are awfully well-done if so. The front shoe is the cake (its in the photo below as proof).

The helmet's not edible media and here's why: not because it's shiny (enough skill with confectioners' glaze can do that), not because it's got such shiny silver bits (Albert Uster's silver dust which is technically inedible but made for cakes can be pretty shiny), not because it'd take phenomenal skill to cast pastillage like that to get that perfect shape (because there are people out there who could), and not even because of the anagram April Fools name as others have cited.

No, that one is obviously fake because of the little clear rubber piece. Sorry, there isn't an edible medium that does that. Hot sugar, even isomalt, would not have that rubbery appearance. Gelatin is too yellow. There are candy products out there that come close but not close enough, especially without the equipment candy manufacturers use.

Nope, that wee little piece was my first bang-on-the-head clue.

And if I'm wrong, I need to kidnap whomever has such skill and keep them in my kitchen Misery-style until they show me how to do it!

I'm with those above saying helmet, back shoe, drumsticks and, of course, kitty in a bowl (why with a moldy tomato?) are not edible (or is that subjective? Maybe if you're a goat?)

Josin- I am a little iffy on the drum, too... could be cake, but why make the top look dirty? The metal parts are very realistic. I think it's the color of the drum & the lettering that are the most "cake-like". I don't think that's an insole in the front shoe, though-- some kind of cakey-fondanty-gum-pasty thing.

I think that shoe cake is just so ugly--- blechh.

I'm also throwing in the bottle of wine (the rest of that cake is cake). Jameson bottle is not the right shape-- cake! :)

At this stage, I'm assuming anything that looks like it's not "real" is cake. I.e., it's obvious that the basketball isn't a real basketball, thus, cake. Likewise crayons, the base, at least of the gumball machine (Less certain about the globe), etc.

That puts me in certain that the cat is a cat. I'm in serious doubt about the drum and the wine bottle. I'm pretty sure the helmet is a helmet.

There is no way the kitten is a cake - gross!I can't imagine that any of those cakes actually tastes good. Anyone who bakes knows what you have to do to get that level of craftsmanship (use a lot of dyes, gumpaste, rubbery fondant and other yucky stuff). They look great, but give me a messed-up looking cake with real buttercream any time!

I think that the helmet, back shoe, drumsticks, popcorn on top of the popcorn box and the wine bottle in the wine and cheese cake are all real parts.... oh and that kitty too!Awesome post! this was fun to look at after sleeping in on a Sunday morning!

The helmet is not cake, the kitten is not cake- but a tasty treat for a large dog, the back shoe is real- the front one is on the cake in the next picture, the drumsticks are not cake and the metal elements on the drum are either from a real drum and stuck on cake or the whole thing is just a drum sitting on a cake board!Excellent post! I love the continuation of April Fools!

I was showing these to my kids, and when I got down to the kitten, my daughter yelled out, "That's a picture from YouTube!" She spends most of her time looking at kitten videos on YouTube, and she recognized the picture. :)

As others have said--helmet is not cake. Has too many things that are non-cakey. Kitten is not cake, because while someone might photo their kitten sleeping in the salad, I cannot fathom why on earth anyone would make a cake that looks like a kitten sleeping in a salad bowl. I say the drumsticks are real atop a drum cake, but I'm 60-40 on that.

Also though, the trunk cake, I think is done by the shop that made my wedding cake 11 years ago! Woot!

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.

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.

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

#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.

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!

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...

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