Mixed Grill

It's Memorial Day, and as every red-blooded American knows, there is only one nationally accepted way to demonstrate your sense of patriotic pride in the men and women who have sacrificed for this country. One which involves fire, hunks of raw meat, and at least one guy in a "kiss the chef" apron cursing out the blippity bleepin' starter switch on the filth flarnin' grill.

That's right: It's barbecue time, baby.


Is this creative? Sure. Appetizing? Not so much. It looks like a giant half-cooked hamburger with steak and shish kabab'ed Elmo fingers on it. [shudder] Great, now I gave myself the willies.

Speaking of shish kababs, here's the "cheater-cheater-plastic-eater" version:

[shaking head] Til the end of time, Wreckerators will be trying - and failing - to make circles out of cupcakes. What's the definition of insanity again?

And here's one with the oh-so-authentic chalky briquette look:

Ah, there's nothing like leprous-looking cupcakes to get the ol' saliva glands going!

Some bakeries are breaking down the two main components of the grilling experience. See, while this next one may look like a penned-in bunch of baboon butts, you can tell by the "GRILLIN'" sticker that it's actually a grill:


Huh. Thank goodness for stickers, is all I can say.

Oh, and here's the raw, malformed lump that goes on it! Yum!


Now there's some bloody good fun, eh, guv'na? Jolly good, pip pip, and all that. (Hey, I've read Wodehouse, Ok? I'm practically an expert on British terminology. Really.)

Shannon S., Amy J., Joanna C., & Nichole H., I'm suddenly inspired to find a doll on a grill, just so I can write the caption "Barbie on the barbie". Unless one of you knows a girl named Barbie? You could even turn the grill off, if you like.

UPDATE: Ask, and ye shall receive:

Barbie on the barbie!

Defying Gravity

Hi, all. John here with your weekly dose of Sunday Sweets. This week, we'll be looking at the design staple of bakeries everywhere: the topsy-turvy.

Observe:
This one's from Design Me a Cake, and is one of Jen's all-time favorites.

I remember going to the ICES convention at Disney and drooling over the topsy-turvy pans. Sadly, they were like a thousand bucks* so we ended us getting the super-ultra-mini-version for like half a thousand bucks.** It's kind of hard to ice a top tier that's only two inches across, though, so we haven't had much success with it.

Check out this funky example:

(By Sharon of Sharon's Cake Art)

Topsy Turvies are most impressive when it looks like the cake is juuuust about to fall:


And then there are the ones that really do seem to break the laws of physics:

This "Moulin Rouge meets Tim Burton" beauty is by Gabrielle of Cake Coquette, and is "nearly" fondant-free, too. (According to Rachel R., only the swags and swirls were made from fondant - which means that is some shiiiiny buttercream.)

I wanted to show you the nifty cake Bronwen Weber did on that Food Network Challenge last month, but this was the best photo I could find:

That sidepiece was the only thing supporting the cakes. Crazy.

Just goes to show: If the folks at your party have the uncontrollable urge to run forward to try to save the cake, then you have done your job well.

And finally, for you Dr. Seuss fans...

So. Cool.

Jen thinks this was the winner - or at least one of the winners - of a Dr. Seuss themed contest over on Cake Central. It was made by The People's Cake.

Thanks to, ah, Jen for finding most of these beauties. You're a real trooper.

* I'm probably exaggerating here.
** and here.