Going to the Dogs

For some reason canine cakes seem to be all the rage these days, particularly in grocery-store bakeries. Now, I don't want to get down on these decorators too much, considering that a) they are usually over-worked and under-trained, and b) they outnumber me significantly. That said, you'd think that whoever was in charge of this kind of thing would have known that these doggy designs were a little, shall we say, beyond this group's collective skill set?

For example, here's the picture you order from:

And here's what you get:


Niiice. See, you can tell it's the exact same cake you ordered, 'cuz it has that red loopy bow sticking out of its head. I particularly like the oozing eye. Plus, that red "collar" looks a lot more like a gushing cranial wound - ditto for the "tongue".

I guess this one's a little better:


But it still looks more like a dirty mop-head with a face drawn on than a dog. Where are the legs? The ears? The neck? Also, if you're going to have a cake like this, why oh why would you stick candles in the poor pooch's back? He looks like he's been the target of sky-diving archers.

Also in vogue are the tiny cupcake pups, ala Miss Love-You-1.000-Time. These are already wrecktastic in concept, given that there are only 2 cupcakes underneath the deluge of frosting, but the execution just makes 'em that much better. Check back tomorrow for those; this post is officially "to be continued"!

Many thanks to Fawn R. & Monique R. for submitting the "dogs".

Sunday Sweets to Make Henson Proud

I have a huge statue of Kermit the Frog occupying the corner of my desk. It has light-up fireflies behind Kermit and plays the Rainbow Connection. I love it.

I mention this by way of introduction to today's featured NON-Wreck, made by Heather Haynes of Clarksville, Indiana:


Yes, it's all the characters from the Muppet Show, modeled in fondant, on cake.

Awesomeness.


The Electric Mayhem is looking mighty groovy.

And I love Camilla the chicken. Say, have I mentioned that my hubby John does a fantastic Swedish Chef impersonation? Seriously. If you ever meet him, ask him to say "Bork bork bork" for you. It's downright uncanny.

Of course a Muppet Show cake would never be complete without their in-house peanut gallery, Statler and Waldorf. Still, I'm guessing even those two curmudgeons wouldn't find a thing to complain about on this sweet creation.

I don't have any info on baker Heather; I only know this cake won the blue ribbon at the 2007 Kentucky State Fair. If anyone has more info or a website for her, be sure to let me know.

Also, there's a nice slide show of these and more photos here. Thanks to all of you readers who sent in the link!