While most of us can probably scratch together a decent dish or two, baking is a whole ‘nother ball game. There is no touch and go, no feeling, just cold, heartless measurements and temperatures that have to be achieved. Naturally, things tend to go wrong all the time.
We’ve gathered the worst cake-baking and decorating fails people thought had to be shared online. From decoration “art” that might inspire horror, to cakes so poorly baked they don’t even hold together, get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites, and be sure to share your own cake fails in the comments section below.
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Every Time My Wife Or I Look At This Cake I Made, We Immediately Cry Laughing
My Daughter Requested One Of Our Cats As Her Birthday Cake. It’s The First Birthday Cake I’ve Ever Made For Her (Cat Included For Comparison)
I Made Cake Toppers For My Wedding And Forgot To Check The Oven's Temperature Before Putting My Fiancée In
For better or worse, bad cake content does appear to be quite popular. Baking show aficionados know that for every series documenting the best things professional bakers can make, there is a show dedicated to amateurs trying and failing. Take Netflix’s Nailed It! which centers on home cooks attempting to recreate professional cakes.
As one can imagine, it goes horribly wrong most of the time. Even without the pressure of a time limit and competition, people at home mess up constantly. After all, baking is a science, while decorating takes hours of practice. In that sense, a delicious, gorgeous cake takes such a cross-section of skills that it might be best to leave it to the professionals.
So, There Is Going To Be A Cake Competition Fundraiser At My Little Sister's School, And She Made This
I Tried To Make A Cat Cake
That’s Brilliant
Good cakes simply take a lot of planning. Your oven and dishes need to be ready, and your ingredients measured out properly. Temperatures have to be managed, you can’t let your butter be too warm in certain situations, in others, it can’t be too cold. Don’t overmix, but also don’t undermix, let things cool, and don’t overbake, the list of things that can go wrong simply goes on and on.
Spider-Man Saving His Own Cake
After all that, Spiderman should get a piece, too.
The Cake Decorator Was Told To Spell "Marc" With A "C"
An Attempt Was Made
Because the oven and mixer are doing most of the work, the “human” element of making a cake has to be managed perfectly. Cooking a dish often has more leeway, you can taste, add, and adjust as you go. Even with the plethora of bad cooking tips out there, most of us can make a tasty dinner, given time.
My Friend Made A Danny DeVito Cake For Her Friend. It's Worse In Person
My 17-Year-Old Wanted An Owl Birthday Cake And Sent A Photo Of Her Favorite Design. My Dad (81-Year-Old) Decided He'd Make It
I have no idea why, as he's a retired power station design engineer. He unveiled his cake (2nd photo) with a flourish, and I laughed so hard, tea shot out my nose.
I See Your Ugly Hedgehog Cake And Raise You My Hedgehog Cake
My sister made this for my birthday and brought this bad boy into a restaurant for a grand reveal. It was quite the spectacle, and the servers stopped to get pictures of this beautiful boy.
Of course, even if you have mastered the cake batter and baking process, no mean feat, there is also the question of decorating. Applying frosting, managing its temperature, and mixing food coloring to get the right effect isn’t exactly easy as well. It’s like painting, except your tools are five times larger than the more ergonomic paintbrushes.
I Tried To Make A Baby Yoda Cake For My Boyfriend's Birthday, But I Didn’t Have Enough Cake For The Ears, So He Didn't Have Any. Then My Friend Edited A Photo Of My Cake
Update: I left the cake on the side while I showered, and my cat licked all the icing off.
See Those Eggs? They Are Supposed To Be In The Pies. I Made Two Hot Oily Chocolate Garbage Circles
I once made box mix brownies and forgot the eggs. I turned on the oven light about half through the baking, and hollered, "Mom, are they supposed to be boiling?"
Easter Cake My Friend's Mom Made. Those Eyes Rub Me The Wrong Way
Once you add in fondant and modeling chocolate, you are in a world of pain until you learn how to do it. After all, chocolate needs to be tempered, which feels like a particularly cruel chemistry experiment. Fondant has to be rolled and modeled, colored, and painted. All this just to make a cake slightly more pretty before it’s sliced up and consumed.
We Sent This Cake Photo (Left) To A Cake Shop, And This Is What We Got (Right)
This Was Way Cuter When I Pictured It In My Head
"It's Going To Look Just Like That!", It Didn't Look Just Like That
The end result is that many will fail, as can be clearly seen here, but there is then all the more glory for the bakers who can manage to turn out something beautiful. So if you struggle to bake something that is edible, keep trying, this article is evidence that most people, including some professionals, simply can not make it.
Your Daughter Will Go Far
A Betty Crocker Attempt Was Made. I Tried To Make My Mom A Hedgehog Cake For Her Birthday. For Context, I'm 34 She Was Turning 62. Tasted Great
I Made A He-Man Cake Today. Let The Hubby Decorate. Likeness Is Uncanny
The Cake My Wife Ordered From Walmart. She Called Me Upset And Said She Wanted To Take It Back. I Told Her Nahh It Can’t Be That Bad
I Told The Child That This Was The Last Time I Would Mix Anything With Food Coloring. I'm Not A Baker And I Don't Create Any Masterpieces
He Had One Job - To Write "Happy Birthday"
The More I Look At This, The Better It Gets
I Tried To Make My Long-Distance Friend A Cake To Celebrate His Birthday. There Were Not A Lot Of Supplies. It’s Really Bad
Happy Easter From The Cohen Family
My Wedding Cake. Yes, We Paid For This
I Made A Cake For My Friend. It’s Pretty Obvious But Just To Make Sure It’s Sonic
That is obviously Sonic, getting his implants styled. It's hell when a hedgehog starts losing quills.
This Is Just Too Funny
This one is actually pretty good and accurate.
Tried Making A Frog Cake For My Boyfriend, I Think He's Going To Leave Me
It's My Spouse's Birthday, So Here's A Throwback To The Time He Said He Wanted An R2-D2 Cake (His Mom Still Had The Cake Pan From His Childhood) And I Made This Monstrosity
The jawas wouldn't make too much money off of this droid.
The Cake My Girlfriend Baked Me
I Tried To Make A Unicorn Cake Once And It Turned Out To Look Like Godzilla. It Was An Angry Unicorn
If My Writing Career Fails, I Can Always Fall Back On Cake Baking. It's Such A Relief To Have A Backup Plan
A nude woman with uneven nipps being surrounded by sharks for a 9th birthday?
May I Offer You A Frog?
My Horrifying First Attempt At Using Fondant For A "Phantom Of The Opera" Birthday Cake. It Was A Big Hit
Wedding Cake. What I Asked For vs. What I Got, Publix Edition
The decorator clearly honed their craft on the sides of traincars.
I Made A Shrek Cake
Asked My Mom For A Hulk Cake. Nailed It
My First Duck Cake
I don't care for the popcorn hair. I like the other duck cake better.
It's Seen Some Stuff
Best Eat That Cake, Before It Eats You
Looks like an escapee from hell. And WTF is up with those teeth?! It sure is something…
My Dad Tried To Bake A Cake For My Mom's Birthday. Tried
What’s This
Shrimp Cake
It's My Daughter's Birthday And I've Made Her A Cake. It's Been Cooling Down In The Fridge. Let Me Just Check On It Real Quick
Cake I Made For My Boyfriend's Birthday
When Whole Foods Tried To Make A Little Mermaid Cake
First Time Baking A Cake For Wife’s Birthday. YouTube Shows Make It Look So Easy
An Attempt At A Christmas Cake
I hope it was yummy ...it does look like an elf was skinned for the fondant
My Cake Naturally Formed An Evil Smiling Face
The Neighbor Purchased A Birthday Cake For His Wife
Asked the deli lady if she could put her name on it. She replied "Yes, but I’m not the greatest at cake decorating". She wasn’t kidding...
I Was Told My Cake Didn't Look Like A Cake
Drake Cake My Sister Made For My Mom's Birthday
I Made This Messy Dinosaur Cake For My Boyfriend’s 22nd, And I’m Really Proud Of It Even Though It’s Kind Of A Mess. Never Decorated A Cake Before
I Made An Elmo Cake For My Fiancée’s Birthday
It Understands Its Purpose, And It's Afraid Of What Is To Come
My Attempt At A Zombie Cake For My Son’s Birthday
My Wife's Attempt At A Scooby-Doo Cake
She Liked Hedgehogs, So We Made A Cake For Her Birthday
This Was For My Friend’s Birthday Last Year: What I Asked For vs. What I Got
I can’t make this up. I bought the cake on my way there and asked if they could add some lettering and the guy said yeah and this is what he came back with. He said it looked like that because the fudge was cold…
What I Asked For vs. What I Got
So the first two pictures were what I wanted for my college graduation cake last year. I wanted the graduate wearing a cap and gown sitting on the mini tier, my school’s logo and colors on the middle tier, and music notes on the bottom tier above my name. Fondant all over since it was going to be an outdoor party in the heat.
I got in touch with a bakery in my area that does custom cakes. I have ordered from them before. They are known for making really stunning custom cakes of any design. They said that they could make the cake for me with 40 servings. I paid a deposit, and that was it.
Fast-forward to the day of my graduation party. I get to my party and start helping my family set up. I grab a box cutter and start opening the box containing the cake. The last picture was what I saw. The graduate at the top looked poorly designed, the school logo completely slid off of the cake due to the heat and the cake being made of buttercream instead of fondant as I had asked, blue icing was melting everywhere by the time I cut it, the black ribbons around the base were sliding off, the “music notes” at the bottom looked like Hebrew, and the banner with my name slid off of the cake as well. Just terrible-looking overall and not worth the $500 I paid.
This is just sad, poor girl busted her butt and even paid $500 for her own college graduation cake. I'd be pissed if this was my end result. Also kinda wondering why she wouldn't follow up with the bakery or ask for pictures of the final cake before dishing out $500 without even seeing it? 🤷♀️🤦♀️
Tried Making My Friend A Birthday Cake. They’re Supposed To Be Frogs
To make it worse, my house was too hot while I was trying to ice it, so it was just perpetually melting and sliding. It’s the thought that counts right?
I Tried Making A Birthday Cake For My Friend
Ugly Shrek Cake
In Honor Of Taylor Swift's "Midnights" Release Tomorrow, We Baked This Cake
My Beautiful Garfield Cake
My Sister’s Attempt At A Homemade Caterpillar Cake
I Thought Y'all Would Enjoy My Poorly Made Birthday Cake For My Dad
There Was An Attempt To Make A Ghost Cake - Thanks To The Employee For Pointing This Out To Me
At The Last Minute, Violet Decided A Star Birthday Cake Would Be Cool. Poor Vi, This Is The Ugliest Cake I've Ever Made. But I'm Sharing It Because It Is Hilarious To Me
I Made A Cake To Surprise My Wife For Her Birthday. I'm Obviously Not A Baker
Duck Cake
My daughter turned 4 years old yesterday, but I could only make this today since we were over at a friend's then. I used strawberry cake and buttercream frosting. This was so difficult to make...
My Very Own Disney-Themed Birthday Cake Fail. It’s Horrendously Perfect
Mickey just found out what it costs to go to Disneyland/World.
Cake For Our Civil Wedding Ceremony
This was a last-minute order for our marriage signing. We didn’t want anything crazy - just a simple cake to cut. This is what we were given. We just had our actual wedding (much better cake this time around), but we will forever laugh about this one.
I Hosted My First Football Viewing Party And Wanted To Impress My Guests. Tasted Okey
This Cake
That Third Layer Really Got Me! Just Add More Frosting Right?
If your cake comes out with a domed top, let it cool, freeze it for a bit, then slice the top off to make it even. There are even slicers you can get from a cake shop specifically for this.
That's The World's Happiest Birthday Boy Behind It Who Told Me "I Hope Your Love For Me Is Just Like This Cake: All Over The Place, Sloppy, And Sweet." What A Man
My Coffee Whipped Cream Bears Look Possessed After Spending The Night In The Fridge. They’ve Seen Some Things. I Thought This Was Too Funny Not To Share
Mom Gets Points For This One
Tried To Make A Cake. Not Sure What Went Wrong
Oooo fill it with bakers cream and some strawberries and blueberries and whip some toffee webs all over it and dust it with some sugar or sprinkles or whatever you’re into and mmmmmm
Duck Cake Or Portal To Hell?
Practice Makes Perfect
My Sister Sent This Cake She Ordered To Our Grandmother To Celebrate Her Pregnancy
I Made An R2-D2 Cake
My Gluten-Free And Lactose-Free Thanos Princess Cake
My Grandma And I Made This Chikorita Cake For My 14th Birthday
There Was An Attempt To Make A Lamb Cake For Easter
It's My Daughter's Birthday. Can You Make A Cake Look Like A Switch? Here Is A Picture For Reference
My Friends And I Attempt At A Hedgehog Cake
The Cake My Wife’s Work Bought For Employee Appreciation Day
That Is The Ugliest Cake I've Ever Seen
A Licorice Cake I Made For My Husband 3 Years Ago, And I’ll Never Hear The End Of It
My Dad's Disastrous Attempt At Baking A Cake
Watermelon Cake. For Mother's Day. I'm A Disappointment
My Sister Made My Brother A Birthday Cake
It's the thought and effort that counts. It probably tasted great too.
My Roommate And Boyfriend Made Me A Cake For My Birthday, But They're All Funky Looking
This Is What My "Guitar" Cake For My Boy Looks Like
Just Your Basic Unicorn
My Sister Was Looking At The Facebook Page Of A Local Bakery She Used To Frequent And Saw This. Couldn't Stop Laughing
First Attempt At A Layered Cake
that actually looks pretty good. sure, it isn't perfect, but it looks pretty nice
I Was Told My Failed Instant Pot Cake Attempt Would Be Welcomed Here
It Needs Some SOS For Sure
My Wonderful Mother Made Me This Cake For My Birthday. It’s Supposed To Be Betty White/Rose Nylund. We Had A Good Long Laugh With Her About This One
My Sad Attempt At A Bruno From Encanto Cake
I Thought This Was Thomas The Tank Engine
Rlly dunno how u could mistake this for thomas the tank engine
I Had Never Baked Before Today, But My Wife Said That She Hasn't Had A Birthday Cake Since She Was A Kid, So I Wanted To Surprise Her. It's Pretty Awful, But She Loved It
I Requested A Hedgehog Cake. This Is What My Husband Made
My Attempt At Making Bluey Cake. It Turned Out To Be A Bit Of A Disaster. My Icing Went Horribly Wrong, But We Learned And Moved On
Don't Think I'll Be Going Into Business Making Cakes Anytime Soon
Is That You Through The Ages?
My First Try Making An Ugly Hedgehog Cake
My First Ever Decorated Layered Cake. I Have Never Decorated A Cake Before. I Ran Out Of Room For The "S"
I Present This Monstrosity Of A Birthday Cake I Made With My Own Two Hands. It Looks Like A Child Made It. Be Amazed
This "Congratulation" Cake That My Wife And I Were Given A Few Years Back. The Whole Foods Employee Ran Out Of Space
Sometimes, to be fair, a task only deserves a single Congratulation.
An Attempt At A Cheetah Print Cake For Our Friend's Daughter's Birthday
It Looks Just Like Her
I Tried To Make A Cake For Lana Del Rey's Birthday And I Failed
Made This Cake For Drake’s Birthday
My Mom Made Me A Mercedes Birthday Cake
My Fiance's Birthday Is Tomorrow. Icing Is Harder To Write With Than I Thought It Would Be
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This makes me realise that my cake decorating skills are pretty good lol
This makes me realise that my cake decorating skills are pretty good lol