Then vs Now: Wrecks Edition

I love - LOVE - old cake photos. Not the pretty magazine ones, of course, but the yellowing snapshots of children's birthday cakes from 20 or 30 years ago. They're a total blast from the past, and even when they're all lopsided and misspelled and ridiculously wrecky, you just can't help but love them.

Like Sarah's here, from the 80s:

It's a one-armed Care Bear, of course. Holding a pair of lips. Stomping on something that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike grass.

Compare that with today's Care Bear cakes, and you'll find we've come a looong way, baby:

Oh, how we've grown.

Of course, the only thing better than vintage cake photos are vintage cake photos with the birthday kids in them:

That's CW reader Amanda P. with her cousin Ryan, and she tells me no one noticed his "Ghostbusters"cake was misspelled until her mom uploaded this pic to Facebook ... 22 years later. THIS IS WHY THE INTERNET EXISTS, PEOPLE. To pick apart our childhood memories. And to make me jealous of 4-year-old boys' TMNT t-shirts.

(I also like to think Amanda is dressed as a sailor as a subtle Stay Puft homage, because, c'mon, how awesome would that be?!)

If you're wondering what you get today when you order a Ghostbusters cake, though:

Kristen's husband picked up this "Ghostbusters cake," but neither of them have an explanation.
(Maybe it's supposed to be Slimer? Maybe?)

Still debating if that's worse than this one, though:

YOU. We're ready to believe... YOU. C'mon, bakers, don't you have the entire script of Ghostbusters memorized like the rest of us? I mean, REALLY.

Ok, just one more, in reverse. Here's a "modern" Barbie doll cake:

Come for the ridiculous sinking Barbie, stay for the bonus crotch photo bomb.

And here's the way most of us gals remember them from our childhood:

Ok, so maybe we'll call this one a draw.

Thanks to Sarah R., Tina H., Amanda P., Kristen C., Tiffany G., Linda G., & Celeste R. for the memories.

PS - I'm really getting a kick out of comparing vintage cakes to the newer ones, so if you have some old snapshots of your childhood birthday cakes around - professional or not - then please, send them in! I won't promise not to make fun of them, but I do promise I'll do it with lots of love. And maybe some bad puns. So, you know, the usual way.

Pumpkin Invasion

It still feels about a thousand degrees down here in Florida, but apparently it's "Fall." You can tell because everything in the stores has suddenly turned into pumpkin-ized versions of themselves. Candles, coffee, beer, M&Ms, lip gloss... it's a marketing exec's Cinderella Story, only with longer Limited Time Offers.

Cakes are not immune to the Fall'ing trend, of course, but they're not pumpkin-flavored, they're pumpkin... er... shaped?

Well, let's just call them pumpkin "inspired."

Or possibly pumpkin "poop."

Maybe it's the pumpkin beer talking, but I find this cake particularly moving.
And a little blurry.

Hey, bakers, maybe if you just put a couple of little ones together...

Boops.
Never mind.

Just go back to that half-a-wheel thing:

I want to believe that thing on top is a flower - I do, I DO.

Hey look, it's the famous "It's Not Magma" Volcanoes of the Tomato Eggplant Isles!

(Oh, please, like YOU can resist blowing a good snot joke.)

The good news about all these pumpkin cake invaders, though, is that they're Portents of Things To Come. Spooky things. Halloweeny things. Things that look oddly like the melted face of the Kool-Aid guy:

"OH YEEEAH!!"

And I, for one, can't wait.

But I think maybe this guy can:

Thanks to Jenna H., Frances J., Ashley S., Jessica S., Currey M., Lana W., & Kim U. for the gourd clean fun.