The Most Disappointing Cake Fails
Have you ever tried your hand in the kitchen and ended up with a complete disaster? The internet is filled with all kinds of exciting and creative cake ideas we’re just dying to try. However, not all of us are experts when it comes to baking. Measurements and timing must be precise if you want to avoid making a mess of the dessert, and that goes double if you’re attempting to create something super fancy! If you want to prevent your baked confections from looking nightmarish you might want to stick to the basics if you’re a beginner.
Here are some creative cakes that didn’t turn out as the baker intended!
40. The Newlyweds Want to Have a Word with the Baker
Wedding toppers are a cute addition to any wedding cake. But any couple who saw the toppers on the right at their wedding would demand a refund. We certainly hope the bride and groom aren’t as scary looking as these botched miniatures. The original version on the right is so adorable and sweet, while the second pair look like rejected Happy Meals toys.
Can you think of a couple who wouldn’t be insulted at the sight of these? Perhaps it would have been better to buy toppers at a store instead of asking a friend or family member to make them from scratch. Even a couple of plastic dolls would’ve been better than those!
39. “We Ordered A Dragon Cake”
The Original cake in this paragraph is absolutely beautiful. It’s also clearly professionally made, and while we appreciate the effort that went into attempting to replicate it, it’s clear that this baker understood pretty early on that the similarities would be few and far between.
Our personal favorite part is the small plastic dragon on the cake itself, reminding you of what it is supposed to originally look like. There’s almost a funny comfort to it as if the dragon himself knows he doesn’t look anything like the original image, but he’s certainly doing his best, and that’s good too.
38. Whipped Cream Dog-Creature Cake
This is a pretty straightforward idea- It’s clear when this original cake was commissioned, the people who ordered it hoped to get a cute dog made of whipped cream and icing- what’s unclear is how the bakery ended up with this cute bear-cat creature instead.
Once again, if we’re being honest, we prefer the “ruined” cake on the right. Something about it is so endearing and cute, and it’s definitely like nothing we’ve seen before. We think we would have been very happy receiving a cake like that, not to mention it looks absolutely delicious. We hope the people who received it felt the same way.
37. Who Doesn’t Love Creative Wedding Cakes?
The idea for this cake is really funny- Mayhem on the wedding day- the groomsmen attempting to attack the bride and “save” the groom from her. The concept is simple, the execution is complicated, but not impossible. Or so thought the couple who ordered this hoped when they commissioned this cake from a bakery for their wedding.
As you can see, the end result is… Hilarious. This is one of those things that are funny in hindsight and funnier if you’re not the aforementioned couple. Those bride and groom statues are absolutely abhorrent. We wonder why the bakery didn’t simply offer a refund when they realized this idea was more than they could handle.
36. Pretty Good Fox Recreation
We had to include at least one pretty good recreation on this list- This fox is no perfect imitation, but it’s pretty close and entirely adorable. There was clearly a lot of effort put into this cake and design and we love the way it came out in the end.
This was a homemade attempt at a Pinterest-inspired cake, for a sister’s 30th birthday. She was absolutely thrilled to receive it and we can see why- This fox is very cute and does a great job of imitating the source. We personally do miss the chocolate-bark ears, however.
35. When The Picture Printer Is Broken
There’s a very far cry from being “a good artist” and being able to replicate a fully rendered minotaur print onto a cake free-hand. The artist responsible for this cake seems to belong to the former group.
While it is a valiant effort, we feel that the best course of action for the bakery would have just been to refund the money and confess that the cake printer was broken that day, rather than attempt to draw the print themselves. The resulting cake, while pretty hilarious, must have been quite disappointing for Michael. Next time they ask you to paint the Sistine chapel because you can color within the lines, sometimes it’s ok to say no.
34. Happy Second Birthday Elmo Cake
The attempt for this Elmo cake was actually pretty great. You can tell it was intended to be Elmo from Sesame Street, and it’s a very cute idea in theory. However, with the yellowish eyes and blackberry teeth, the Elmo-imitation comes out a little scary for a child’s second birthday party.
We wish the baker who made this cake would have taken a second swing at making it, unfortunately for this two year old, that was not the case. All jokes aside, We’re sure this cake tasted delicious. It was clearly made really lovingly and with a lot of care to the original idea.
33. Have You Ever Seen a Soccer Ball Before?
We’re not sure the person who recreated this cake had ever seen a soccer ball before. The cake didn’t come out perfectly round, but that’s not the biggest issue here. What we’re wondering is why none of the hexagons on the ball are filled in. Did they run out of icing before they could fill them all in? The end result looks like a white blob with random shapes all over it.
We’re guessing the birthday kid is a big sports fan, this cake is likely to be a huge disappointment to them. This may have looked like an easy enough cake project to take on, but it ended up being way more than this amateur baker could handle.
32. Ruining a Kid’s Fourth Birthday
You might think that this was an attempt by an amateur baker to create a professional cake, but that’s far from the case. Someone actually paid a professional bakery over $80 to recreate this Hulk themed dessert! Instead of making the cake look like a wall that this superhero had smashed through, they simply printed out a photo and stuck it to the front of the cake.
This must have been a major disappointment for little Artin. He was probably hoping his favorite Marvel character would make an epic appearance on his birthday cake. He might’ve even picked the original design himself. Sorry, Artin! Here’s to hoping your parents find a better bakery to decorate the cake for your 5th birthday!
31. Sad and Soggy Cupcakes
What a devilishly creative way of displaying your devil’s food cake cupcakes. Flawless execution aside, the original little cakes look absolutely mouthwatering. However, when it comes to the recreation we’re guessing there was more than one tray of leftovers after the party ended. These sad cupcakes look like they have lumpy bunny ears rather than devil horns, and the frosting looks nothing like the sweet swirls from the original.
With the lavender cream leaking out from the middle, we have to declare these a major fail. There’s no real way to tell how they taste just by looking at them, but the sad presentation isn’t going to do much to stimulate anyone’s appetite. Better luck next time!
30. This Attempt At A “Rose Cake”
These people were dismayed when they discovered that their order of a “rose” cake (pictured) was fulfilled a little less than desired, with the result resembling more like a “before” photo than a finished product. We hear this cake was ordered for a wedding- a wedding cake is one of the most central items in a wedding.
We imagine the bride must have been horrified to wake up on her nuptial day to find this waiting in her reception. If we were delivered this by our baker on the big day, we can’t imagine agreeing to pay for it. Not only is there no resemblance, but the end result also looks barely complete!
29. Snowman Cupcakes Go from Cute To Scary
These original snowman cupcakes are too cute to handle. The Marshmallow head is such a great touch and it looks so cute with the puffy body. However, we can tell some wires got crossed in the imitation process of this one.
The wonky eyes, the mismatched hat, the falling-off nose, it’s hard to see the similarities between these designs. We can’t be mad at them for trying, though, and there’s a lot to be said for effort. We’re sure it was a good laugh at the holiday party when these came in the door, to be sure.
28. Gomorrah Cake Knows What Happened
This Gomorrah cake knows exactly what it looks like. You don’t need to tell her, she knows. She, too, wishes she looked a little better, but she hopes you won’t hold it against her that she doesn’t, because she’s a cake, and she can’t help it. It’s not up to her.
We almost feel the need to forgive this cake for how little it resembles the source material or how hilarious its expression is. How can you stay mad at it? At the very least, delivers hours of amazing laughter and a good story later. This cake was made at home, and not by a professional bakery, so it also gains points for personal effort. Fondant is a hard beast to tame.
27. The World Famous Elsa Cake
This cake made the rounds on the internet for it’s “inaccurate” design in comparison to the original Elsa. While that may be true, we can’t say this is a bad cake- simply because we truly enjoy looking at it. The story behind it is absolutely amazing too: It was a donation through “Icing Smiles” – a charity that delivers birthday cakes to needy children.
It is no easy feat to create these elaborate fondant-sculpture cakes, and this attempt is one that we really enjoy seeing. It was a really ambitious project to take on to begin with- Beyond not really resembling Elsa, it’s still a pretty great looking cake. And we’re sure it made the kid who received it incredibly happy.
26. A Minnie Mouse Fondant Disaster
It Seems Minnie Mouse has found her way onto our list twice this time, with another disappointing commission. The cake was ordered to look like the one on the left and arrived looking like the cake on the right. Where to start with this one?
It was clearly an expensive order and we imagine that the family was pretty unhappy to receive this for their expensive order. The fondant seems glossy rather than matte, which makes the cake look melted and waxy, barely edible. We hope they were able to get a refund because this one is truly a BAD cake.
25. Rabbit Cake: Low Versus High Effort
The cake on the right, if you can believe it, was commissioned from a professional bakery for a children’s birthday party. It looks unfinished at best and unprofessional at worst. We’re not sure why the baker wouldn’t simply attempt to make the cake similar- there is so much to pick apart.
The icing is not piped but spread. It’s not uniform, either, and the M&Ms don’t match, much less create the adorable rabbit cake like the original. The original poster claimed that they asked for a refund for this cake, and we understand why. They were promised a complete carbon copy of the original idea. While this cake does look like a rabbit, it’s understandable why they were so disappointed.
24. Watermelon Jello Cake Turns A Little Less Than Picture-Perfect
Here we have some matcha-jello watermelon cake. While the end result on the right is not exactly picture-perfect, we think it looks more delicious. It seems the mishap here was due to a language barrier, as the recipe was in german and our novice baker speaks English.
Everyone can relate to the feeling of wanting to recreate those Pinterest-worthy desserts for your fancy garden party or soiree. However, sometimes we can bite off more than we can chew (No pun intended). We think they might as well enjoy the cake as it is, though, because there’s no use wasting a perfectly good cake, even if it isn’t aesthetically perfect as they’d hoped.
23. Boy, We Hope She Has A Good Chiropractor
Speaking of unfortunate freehand cakes, here we have a snow-white who seems to need a chiropractor, with her neck, unfortunately, bent to the side. Her torso is so much bigger, that we have to assume this ambitious baker miscalculated the space delegation in the oval and didn’t leave enough room for our princess’ head.
Thankfully this cake looks absolutely delicious, and we hope it was devoured quite quickly, rescuing our poor princess from her aching neck problems. We can’t imagine the embarrassment when handing a cake like this over to the expecting client who is eager to receive a perfect Snow-White cake.
22. Minnie Has Seen Better Days…
This cookie is definitely a valiant effort and is one of the better results on our list. We still can’t help but feel as though these are before-and-after photos, taken the night of a party and the morning after it.
We can’t say we would be unsatisfied to get this cookie, as it looks absolutely delicious, but we can imagine how disappointed a little girl would be to receive these after asking for “Minnie mouse cookies”. The plus side is the makers of this cookie do not need to worry about posting a photo of it online and receiving legal action from Disney, as we’re pretty sure this doesn’t qualify as a copyright stealing.
21. Guitar Cake Goes From Realistic To “Good Effort”
In this case, I would say not to judge a book by its cover. The cake on the right may be a little worse for wear than its predecessor on the left, but we think personally, it looks much more delicious.
We love musical instrument cakes. There’s something about those that look so realistic you could almost play them, but also there’s something about those ones like the one on the right, that is simple and yet effective. We think that even if it doesn’t have beautiful wood grain it certainly did its job, and we’re sure that the person who got it was happy to receive it.
20. Bear-Holding-A-Pecan Cookies
The original idea for these cookies is so cute, we are absolutely in love with it. However, it’s hard to imagine what these young bakers were thinking with the imitation below. The idea behind these cookies is to bake them a little bit and then when they are half-baked, the arms are able to be folded inwards to hold the pecans.
What seems to be the problem here is that these cookies were baked with the pecan in, to begin with, and therefore sunk into the cookies and created the darker, more misshapen cookies. The silver lining is that the resulting terrified cookies are actually pretty cute, and we think we’d really enjoy having them at our party.
19. Bye Bye Miss American Pie
Pie crusts are notoriously tricky. This original idea for an American Pie was absolutely darling. The problem with our baker seems to be that unfortunately her dough was rolled too thin, and was perhaps made with too much oil (as you can see by the dough being too see-through)
We can’t fault our tenacious baker for trying this cake. It’s a really ambitious project and a very cool idea in theory. It’s important to be able to laugh at and learn from our mistakes- and we hope they were able to in this case as well. Quite an American Pie!
18. Spongecake SquarePants
Imitating a beloved character is never easy. You have to get all the proportions just right, and it’s scary that any small mistake could result in the image reaching the uncanny valley and no longer looking like the beloved character that you were commissioned to make.
That being said, we don’t think that was the case here. No small adjustment could have saved this cake from looking like it was left in the sun for a few days. We dread to think what the child who received this for their birthday thought of this cake, that is the stuff of nightmares, however unintentionally.
17. The Belle Of The Ball
This one is actually kind of endearing. That little smile gives this cake a sort of innocent “I know I don’t look the same, but I’m doing my best” energy, that we honestly really relate to. Cake-belle on the right never hurt anyone, she’s just here to have fun. And you know what, we’re here for it.
This is one of those times that the baker’s conviction to finish the cake absolutely worked for their benefit. We’re not sure what the feedback was when this cake arrived at the birthday party it was for, but we would like to hope it was met with hearty laughter and love, much like we felt when we saw it.
16. Did the Grinch Make this Cake?
Christmas is the perfect time of year to break out a festive looking cake. This triangular Christmas tree dessert, complete with a candied star, looks like the perfect thing to break out over the holidays. But it looks like there were no master bakers in this house because the tree they ended up baking looks more like a candy-coated rock!
It appears that they made the star out of chocolate Rice Krispies, which isn’t a bad idea on its own. But we’re guessing it ended up falling off after this picture was taken, it’s just too heavy! Looks like there was extra Rice Krispies leftover that they clumsily stuck to the bottom of the tree. Not the prettiest Christmas gifts!
15. The Little Mermaid and The Little Clown
Thankfully, This baker has a great sense of humor about her cake abilities. She made this cake for her little sister’s birthday and realized pretty early on that it won’t resemble the little mermaid so much. Nonetheless, she finished the cake and did her best, and even though the result looks a bit more like a clown, it’s delightful.
Cakes are hard, and there’s nothing wrong with trying and failing to create these complicated masterpieces. We know all of the people in this article were glad they at least tried, and came out of it with great stories or at least a good experience for the next time.
14. Something is Terribly Wrong with Patrick
Who wouldn’t want a cake modeled after the dumbest (and funniest) sea star? Spongebob is a favorite cartoon of adults and kids alike, so it’s really no wonder someone tried to recreate this Patrick Star birthday dessert. However, the final result looks nothing like the beloved cartoon character. The cake looks like it’s screaming in agony because its pink skin is melting off.
Maybe whoever was decorating this cake decided to roll with the creepy vibes, because they ended up making his eyes blood red. There isn’t a single color here that matches the original. Not to mention, this second Patrick is shaped all wrong, did they want him to look like he’d just go on a diet?
13. Santa Bread Becomes Cthulhu Bread
Making bread is a lot harder than it looks. It doesn’t stop people from trying though. This bread is ALMOST perfect- the beard looks pretty good and so does the nose! But the hat begins to fray a bit and the big spooky eyes bulge out, and that gives our Santa a bit more of a Krampus/Cthulhu combo look.
We think this is one of those things that would look a lot better the second time around. File away the edges, make the beard a bit larger, the eyes a bit smaller, and you’ll be absolutely golden. This just goes to show that if at first, you don’t succeed there’s absolutely no harm in trying again.
12. From Porcupine To Monster Mountain
The original concept for this cake was simple enough: a chocolate cake with small chocolate cookies to imitate the spikes on the porcupine, with a cute cherry nose to boot. Unfortunately, the end result, while close, was a little different. This second cake reminds us a bit more of a mud monster than a porcupine.
That is not to say a mud monster is necessarily such a bad idea for a cake. It does look very delicious, and even cute. We’re sure it was a conversation starter at the party after everyone was done laughing at the good attempt to replicate the cake.
11. Fondant Failure Results In Less Than Amazing Results
We wish we could say this cake was made to look intentionally like play-doh, or that it was the result of a challenge to bake a cake with your eyes closed. But unfortunately, it’s simply the result of an inexperienced baker attempting a higher skill level than they are capable of.
Which begs the question, was there ever a point in the process where they sensed that the end result may be less than satisfactory, and decided to truck on ahead regardless? Inquiring minds wonder. We would recommend this baker not quit their day job, unless of course, baking was their day job, in which case, yes they should quit.
10. Well, They Asked For A Monster Cake…
In some of these entries, the cake seemed too intricate, but the tenacious bakers made an effort to finish it nonetheless. In this case, it seems that the bakery decided VERY early on that this replica was not going to be a carbon copy.
If you’re struggling to find the difference between the two photos, the one on the bottom is the result of asking the bakery to replicate the monster cake on top. While the resulting frog cake is very cute on its own, it’s not exactly what was on the tin. We hope the birthday party wasn’t ruined, regardless! Five-year-olds like frogs too, right?
9. Guitar Shaped Cake Goes A Little Awry
This cake was ordered to look like the one on the top and was told the person who ordered it was promised an “exact replica”– unfortunately, the reality was a little different to their expectation.
The original looks realistic enough to pick it up and play it! Though in the defense of our poor imitators, this cake looks completely professionally made and is very close to an edible sculpture. That is no easy feat to achieve, much less copy. We hope the cake was at least delicious and didn’t ruin too much of the overall festivities. Happy 10th birthday, Landen!
8. Smurf Cupcakes Turned From Curious To Scared
The original idea for these cupcakes was already incredibly difficult to execute, and we commend this baker for attempting it. Whether it’s the consistency of the icing or the temperature of the pastry, the novice result was sadly a little different.
The person who posted this image claims that it actually motivated them to try again and improve on their previous cupcake. We love hearing that because truly learning from mistakes is the best way to avoid repeating them. We think this mistake could be fixed by adding more powdered sugar to the icing.
7. You Definitely Broke the Gremlin Rules
The three rules of the Gremlins are as follows: don’t expose them to sunlight, don’t put them in water, and don’t ever feed them after midnight. It looks like whoever is responsible for the monstrosity on the right broke all three of the rules! This poor cake creature is begging you to eat it already, it no longer wishes to exist on this earth.
We’re trying to understand how one would end up making a cake that looked this wrong. This is definitely the result of a beginner taking on an expert cake challenge. It’s okay to stick to the basic stuff! At least a plainer cake won’t make little kids cry and have nightmares for a week.
6. Lego Ninja Cake Becomes Scared Mummy Cake
This ninja cake is a very cool concept, but we personally love the “fail” even more. In their attempt to recreate this cake, they unintentionally created an endearing “scared mummy “ cake. And it came out absolutely adorable in our opinion.
We know that it may not be what they expected to receive, but we think we would have been thrilled with the resulting cake. It was clearly caringly crafted with that beautiful icing on the bottom- and besides, icing is always more delicious than fondant for decorations. We hope that the kid this was made for still enjoyed their cake and their party, regardless of the cake mishap.
5. Spiderman Cake Mistake
Everyone’s favorite neighborhood Spiderman is a great thing to want on a cake. Unfortunately for this couple who wanted the swinging web shooter on their anniversary cake, the drawing skills of the wife were less than perfect. The image on the right is what was hoped to be replicated.
We wonder at what stage they had decided to give up on free-hand designing the cake because clearly a lot of care went into the shape and outline of the drawing. However, at some point, they had given up and gone for the store bought cake topper, understandably. Whatever the result, we’re sure it was a funny story to tell later.
4. Power Ranger Cake Turns To FreeHand Monster
The idea for this cake is absolutely amazing. Clearly, a lot of effort and detail went into the creation of the cake on the left. The cake on the right, while it was made with clear love and effort, falls a bit short on the expectations.
We’re sure the original intent was to replicate the cake perfectly. Even though the end result was unsuccessful, clearly a lot of love and effort was put into the making of this cake. We’re sure it was still delicious. And besides, buttercream and frosting are always preferable to fondant in our book!
3. A Forest Creature from Hell
What was supposed to be an adorable baby fox turned into a demon straight from the pits of hell. In the original picture, this cute forest critter is sitting on top of a little house surrounded by flowers, but the recreation looks like it’s depicting overgrown and rotting plants. We assume this was intended for a child’s birthday, if that’s the case we would suggest getting a different cake.
One look into the dead and soulless eyes of this fox and your kid is going to be crying their eyes out. This disaster might be salvageable if the cake was cut before anyone got to see it, laying eyes on this monstrosity would kill anyone’s appetite.
2. Is That Supposed to Be an Owl?
To the left, you’ll see a silly-looking owl with crazy eyes. The attempt to recreate this definitely got the “crazy” part down pat, but maybe not in the way the original design intended. If this photo wasn’t placed alongside the original we would have no idea that this creature was supposed to be an owl. In fact, it doesn’t look like any animal we’ve ever seen.
It looks like whoever made this cheaped out on some of the ingredients. Instead of mini chocolate chips they’ve used giant chocolate chunks, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It looks like this disaster is pleading with you to eat it already and finally put it out of its misery.
1. This is Nyan Cat Now. Feel Old Yet?
Remember Nyan Cat? This internet meme was all over the place in the early 2010s, there wasn’t a person around who wasn’t familiar with this pop tart-cat hybrid. The original version looks almost too good to eat, but the opposite can be said about the version someone attempted below! It looks like they tried getting creative by using actual pop tarts and colorful marshmallows.
But it just ends up looking like a mish-mash of leftover junk food that was clumsily arranged in the character’s shape. The chocolate syrup splashed all over it doesn’t help this cake look any less messy, or any more appealing. We love pop tarts, but we’d still have to give this cake a hard pass.