The average U.S. wedding cake costs around $350, according to Thumbtack. What does it tell us? Well, apparently not much.
Because no matter how much we adore those beautiful pieces of confectionary art we see in Instagram pics, family photos, and window displays, the reality is sometimes different. Not all cakes are worthy of compliments. Some look barely edible. Others send the wrong message. And the rest… are something you wouldn't feed your dog.
This hilarious Facebook group is a safe place to share these sweet food monstrosities and it’s called “Cake Shaming.” Below we wrapped up some of the funniest examples people shared there, so enjoy!
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No matter what the occasion, cakes have always been a staple of celebrations. From birthday cakes to wedding cakes, cakes have been enjoyed by people of all ages and cultures for centuries. From traditional favorites like chocolate cake and vanilla cake to modern creations like red velvet cake and rainbow cake, there’s something for everyone’s palate.
Cakes can be made from a variety of ingredients, from classic white, yellow, and devil’s food cake to fruit-flavored cake and gluten-free cake. Decorations for cakes range from simple frosting and sprinkles to more intricate fondant designs.
Well Looks Like Hell Has Finally Frozen Over
Hmmm
Sometimes things need to be shared for the greater joy, you're not horrible lol
Bored Panda reached out to Lily Jones, the owner of Lily Vanilli, the creative East London bakery creating customizable dream cakes and bespoke wedding cakes, who shared some insights into the current cake trends, as well as shared the most unusual cake she created.
“We're seeing a huge trend for more artistic, asymmetrical, imperfect cakes, often with deliberately messy piping, misshapen and with fresh flowers artfully positioned/stuck into the cake,” Lily told us.
“This has been cool and strange to see in equal measure as they're very reminiscent of the cakes I was making for the first 5 years of Lily Vanilli (scroll right back on my Instagram to see). I had my first commission for one the other day and it was a really nostalgic experience."
A Duck Cake, Or Paralysis Demon...?
Found This One In "Just Disney"
Lily also said that it's been interesting seeing this go full circle: “In 2008 I was making messy cakes in response to the perfectly piped cakes that were around forever, it was all fresh flowers and rough around the edges, then since 2018, we got hugely into retro piping, and now we're seeing the response to that again!”
He Might Be A Little Beyond Help
Hmmm.... Pickle Cheesecake With Pretzel Crust
Ummm....what? This Unicorn Has See Some Things In Life
When it comes to ordering cakes for a special occasion, Lily said that the cake is such a statement that it's important to people that it reflects their unique tastes. “So they will consider the style and colors, all the way down to the tiny details that make it bespoke.”
“Beyond that, the flavor is hugely important, and multiple tiers allow people to cater to all their guests' tastes,” she added.
Found In The Wild... Someone Even Commented, "Nice...but Please Don't Quit Your Day Job"
It took me way too long to figure out this was supposed to be a car.
Posted In A Book Group Not Sure If They Made It Or Found It As Well
This Feels Like The Fake Things Mortuary Students Practice On
It's also important to consider how the cake will look in photos, Lily explained. “So positioning in the venue can be really crucial - it's always sad to see a spectacular cake with loads of story and thought behind it get placed in front of a speaker or worse, or somewhere it won't photograph well. Lighting is important too!”
When asked what was the most unusual cake Lily has ever created, she recounted her first book. “It was a zombie-themed, B-movie inspired, a comic book illustrated guide to cake decorating, so as you can imagine, for a while I was getting a lot of fabulously weird commissions. I've made a life-sized replica of someone's boyfriend's head, multiple heart and brain cakes, a cow heart cake for a music video, a dead pigeon... it's a long list!”
Found In A Marketplace Listing
First Of All…. What Is It? Second, $75?
In My Local Sell Group. She Owns Her Own Company And Does Custom Designer Cakes For All Occasions
I Wanna Cry
Hmmm
Op Said They Were Going For The “Cartoony” Look What Do Y’all Think?
My Wedding Cake. 🫠 2016
Aww. This happened to us. It was a super hot day, and the venue's refrigerator stopped working. The cake melted into itself and looked awful. It still tasted great. The poor caterer was more upset then my wife or I (she was a guest and baked the cake as our wedding gift).
I Just Feel Like Somethings Off About That Cow
Seen For A Halloween Party. I Mean It Is Scary
A Friend Of A Friend Paid For This
I Love A Good Frog Cake But What In The Weekend At Bernie's Is This
A Drake Cake
Now The Cupcakes Were Described As Blister Cakes
Hmmm
Its Meant To Be Gold
Am I Trippin? Cuz It’s Horrible To Me But She’s Very Proud Of It & Only Getting “Amazing Work” Type Comments In A Cake Decorating Group I’m In Lmao. Reminds Me Of Open Wounds, Like Gashes & Why Are The Roses So Thick & Wet
Away In A Manger …
The Caption Read ‘We Could Not Get Green Grapes So We Used Olives’ They Were Supposed To Be Tiny Yodas Surrounding The Border
Can Anyone Guess What The Strawberries Are Meant To Be?! Hint: It’s Related To The Most Successful Fantasy Series!
Hmmm
Might Be The "Rope" That Does It For Me Lol
Hmmm
Hmmm
This Is The Cake Of A Killer Bella
Okay Probably A Joke But Still
I'm Feeling So Bad For The Wedding Couple... That's Is So Fkn Ugly!
What The [frick] Is Going On Here
![What The [frick] Is Going On Here](https://www.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/funny-cake-shaming-63d3d124e7500__700.jpg "What The [frick] Is Going On Here")
Stumbled Upon This Gem Today…
My Mum Got This Cake For My Brothers Birthday. £150 For This Monstrosity 😂🤦♀️why Does Micky Look So Angry?
Someone Tried To Make Bluey
Hmmm
What's Goin On Here?
Hmmm
Bakery Posted This
These Are All Cakes Advertised By The Same Baker On Facebook Marketplace, Yes They Are Charging For These Sad Creations
A Lady Was Looking For A LEGO Cake And Another Lady Chimed In To Recommend Where She Got This LEGO Cake For Her Son's Birthday
Note: this post originally had 108 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
Lots of decent cakes made by people who have other jobs but did well. Are we now shaming people for not being experts in everything they do?
Most of these are not fails! Yes they may not be professional level cakes, but for home decorators they're great! I'd rather have a home made cake that some I love has taken their time and energy to make for me than a cake that's cost £100's! You should be celebrating that so many people want to try and make cakes for people. When I was a teacher, I had a rule that I would make a birthday cake for each child in my form group (same group of kids I saw each morning before lessons started). Lots of kids (11-16) would tell me they'd never had a cake home made for them before ever and some kids would cry as they'd never had any birthday cake before- home made it shop bought! Having 16 year old kids crying happy tears because they had blown out candles on a birthday cake if their own for the first time in their life was both upsetting and rewarding. Thank your self lucky you have any cake and even more so that someone you love made it instead of laughing because it's not cake boss level
It looks like a lot of these were made by people who are not professional, or maybe even great at it, but they were made with love for someone. Cakes are expensive, and sometimes it is fun to try and make a special cake for your loved ones celebration. I would much rather have a far from perfect cake that my mom put the time and effort into making over a perfect store bought cake anyway. I refuse to shame 98% of the cakes in this list because even though they may look silly or weird or whatever, someone worked hard to try and make someone else's day special.
My friend was across the country and alone for his birthday during covid. I baked him a birthday cake and sent him a picture. My right arm was in a sling due to a dislocated shoulder. The cake looked awful but he loved it because of my efforts.
Load More Replies...
Today on BP, for reasons that utterly escape me, we'll be pointing and laughing at people trying their best.
I'll lay odds that most of the commenters trashing these efforts couldn't do better.
all joking aside, Stop being so judgy about cakes. The taste matters FAR more than the appearance imo, not to mention not everyone here is professional, they are just starting out. You're not just suddenly an expert at something.
Alot of these cakes are decent if not really good. The others though definitely make me feel better about my abilities
I must be a cake apologist because most of these are fine. I've certainly seen (and made) worse in my time. I think the only ones I outright disliked were the ones given absurd price tags and the few that people actually paid for and they came out like that. Seriously though, I'm not gonna cake shame some parents doing their best. It's just unecessary.
I feel like nobody realizes how hard cake-making is. You have to get the icing to the right consistency so it doesn’t melt all over the place, perfectly cut the cake, draw the outline of your image on a wonky surface, change colors, draw details, change colors, draw details, make sure it doesn’t all blend together into one brown mass, blah blah blah. And it’s done with frosting, which is super hard to control. A lot of these cakes were great. Drawing in general is difficult, but you haven’t lived till you’ve tried to draw on a cake.
Cake decorating is extremely difficult and takes a great deal of skill. You can be an amazing baker, but a mediocre decorator. Lots of these look like they were made by people who are not professional baker. I did have to chuckle at some of them though as they are so bizarrely cute (I love the screaming mandrake strawberry cake).
#15 doesn't deserve to be in this. That's the cake from Sleeping Beauty! That's literally how it's supposed to look!
I really liked a lot of these. Hubby and big sister made our wedding cake, but were upset about how it turned out. I loved it! Exact colors of the wedding and exact flavors we wanted. They spent hours the day before the wedding making it. The fact that they went to the trouble to make it (we couldn't afford a professional baker) instead of buying a generic, pre-made cake from the grocery store (as planned) meant the world to me. They surprised me with it. It was so delicious and guests raved about it. Rather have homemade any day. People making cakes (or anything else) for a loved one is NEVER a fail.
Most of these were pretty good, or at the very least, fine, if done by amateurs.
These photos are why I stick to simple cakes. I may have the vision and proper piping tips, but I wouldn't attempt half those cakes. The closest I've come to a character cake was a Minecraft creeper and it was right on par with the pictures above.
I have made many cakes with various decorations. NONE of them were as bad as these. When I cannot decorate a cake they way I’d hoped, I just use plain frosting the traditional way. These people should be embarrassed. Sorry I feel this way.
I don’t mind the fact that these people are not professional bakers. If the people who bought the cake did not bother to read reviews and personally see the work, then they can’t complain. I’m stuck at how the moron above is charging $1200 for a cake that a bakery would charge $60-$75 dollars for..
Shaming... what's with this need to shame things people try to create? Ugh. Shallow minds.
Lots of decent cakes made by people who have other jobs but did well. Are we now shaming people for not being experts in everything they do?
Most of these are not fails! Yes they may not be professional level cakes, but for home decorators they're great! I'd rather have a home made cake that some I love has taken their time and energy to make for me than a cake that's cost £100's! You should be celebrating that so many people want to try and make cakes for people. When I was a teacher, I had a rule that I would make a birthday cake for each child in my form group (same group of kids I saw each morning before lessons started). Lots of kids (11-16) would tell me they'd never had a cake home made for them before ever and some kids would cry as they'd never had any birthday cake before- home made it shop bought! Having 16 year old kids crying happy tears because they had blown out candles on a birthday cake if their own for the first time in their life was both upsetting and rewarding. Thank your self lucky you have any cake and even more so that someone you love made it instead of laughing because it's not cake boss level
It looks like a lot of these were made by people who are not professional, or maybe even great at it, but they were made with love for someone. Cakes are expensive, and sometimes it is fun to try and make a special cake for your loved ones celebration. I would much rather have a far from perfect cake that my mom put the time and effort into making over a perfect store bought cake anyway. I refuse to shame 98% of the cakes in this list because even though they may look silly or weird or whatever, someone worked hard to try and make someone else's day special.
My friend was across the country and alone for his birthday during covid. I baked him a birthday cake and sent him a picture. My right arm was in a sling due to a dislocated shoulder. The cake looked awful but he loved it because of my efforts.
Load More Replies... Today on BP, for reasons that utterly escape me, we'll be pointing and laughing at people trying their best.
I'll lay odds that most of the commenters trashing these efforts couldn't do better.
all joking aside, Stop being so judgy about cakes. The taste matters FAR more than the appearance imo, not to mention not everyone here is professional, they are just starting out. You're not just suddenly an expert at something.
Alot of these cakes are decent if not really good. The others though definitely make me feel better about my abilities
I must be a cake apologist because most of these are fine. I've certainly seen (and made) worse in my time. I think the only ones I outright disliked were the ones given absurd price tags and the few that people actually paid for and they came out like that. Seriously though, I'm not gonna cake shame some parents doing their best. It's just unecessary.
I feel like nobody realizes how hard cake-making is. You have to get the icing to the right consistency so it doesn’t melt all over the place, perfectly cut the cake, draw the outline of your image on a wonky surface, change colors, draw details, change colors, draw details, make sure it doesn’t all blend together into one brown mass, blah blah blah. And it’s done with frosting, which is super hard to control. A lot of these cakes were great. Drawing in general is difficult, but you haven’t lived till you’ve tried to draw on a cake.
Cake decorating is extremely difficult and takes a great deal of skill. You can be an amazing baker, but a mediocre decorator. Lots of these look like they were made by people who are not professional baker. I did have to chuckle at some of them though as they are so bizarrely cute (I love the screaming mandrake strawberry cake).
#15 doesn't deserve to be in this. That's the cake from Sleeping Beauty! That's literally how it's supposed to look!
I really liked a lot of these. Hubby and big sister made our wedding cake, but were upset about how it turned out. I loved it! Exact colors of the wedding and exact flavors we wanted. They spent hours the day before the wedding making it. The fact that they went to the trouble to make it (we couldn't afford a professional baker) instead of buying a generic, pre-made cake from the grocery store (as planned) meant the world to me. They surprised me with it. It was so delicious and guests raved about it. Rather have homemade any day. People making cakes (or anything else) for a loved one is NEVER a fail.
Most of these were pretty good, or at the very least, fine, if done by amateurs.
These photos are why I stick to simple cakes. I may have the vision and proper piping tips, but I wouldn't attempt half those cakes. The closest I've come to a character cake was a Minecraft creeper and it was right on par with the pictures above.
I have made many cakes with various decorations. NONE of them were as bad as these. When I cannot decorate a cake they way I’d hoped, I just use plain frosting the traditional way. These people should be embarrassed. Sorry I feel this way.
I don’t mind the fact that these people are not professional bakers. If the people who bought the cake did not bother to read reviews and personally see the work, then they can’t complain. I’m stuck at how the moron above is charging $1200 for a cake that a bakery would charge $60-$75 dollars for..
Shaming... what's with this need to shame things people try to create? Ugh. Shallow minds.
