Exclusive Interview: Jen From Cake Wrecks
Inspired by a picture a friend emailed her of an unintentionally funny cake from Wal-Mart, Jen Yates, pictured, created CakeWrecks.com, a blog wholly based on the world's worst (and thus, funniest) professional cakes.
Yates, 32, is now a full-time blogger and the author of the New York Times best-selling Cake Wrecks book.
I am a Cake Wrecks super fan. I bought multiple copies of the book and gave them out as holiday gifts. I especially love the illiterate cakes and the oops-this-looks-like-a-big-penis-and-they-don't-know-it cakes.
I talked to the Orlando-based Yates via email. Which isn't really talking. But you knew that.
The cakes are amazing, but the snappy copy is what makes the car wreck confections laugh-out-loud funny. E.g. “Time to light the alien ribcage” in reference to a certain Hanukkah cake. Do you have a writing background?
None whatsoever. I've always loved writing, and making friends laugh, but I don't have any specialized education or professional experience. I never intended for anyone other than a few close friends to read the blog, but thanks to word-of-mouth and its run-away popularity, I get to write for a living now. That is still incredible to me!
When did you first realize you had a web hit on your hands?
Probably the day we went from about 200 readers a day to over 50,000; thanks to a link from Reddit, I believe. Then Digg got a hold of it soon after and we went over 101,000 readers in a single day. That was pure insanity, since the blog was only a few months old at the time.
How many pics of cakes do you now receive in a typical week?
We average somewhere around 50 subs a day; more if some other large site puts a cake up. Then we get the same pic submitted about a billion times. Heh.
What sort of submissions do you get way too often that are not right for your site?
You know the answer to that already, don't you? Porn cakes, but of course! Hah! Believe me, I've seen more fondant genitalia than any one person should ever be subjected to. They're hilarious, of course, but so, SO not right for the site. I also don't post excessively gory or disgusting cakes, like the popular poop-in-the-toilet cakes. Those things are too graphic for my taste - pun intended.
When did you secure the book deal? Did you send a proposal or did someone come to you?
I had a few agents approach me within a few months of the blog launch, and then some publishers. At first I turned them away because I honestly didn't see how it would ever work as a book. When they kept e-mailing I finally figured, hey, I've always wanted to be a writer. Why am I saying no to this? So, I signed on with an agent, and not long after we had a deal with Andrews McMeel, which is an amazing company, btw.
This stuffed animal on top of a cake thing I saw recently. Is this a trend? Could this be a whole chapter of a follow-up book?
Hard to say. I see a lot of disturbing new trends in cake decorating (curling ribbon, stuffed animals, plastic flotsam in general, etc.) but it's hard to predict which are passing fads and which are here to stay. If I continue to see a lot of them, though, then yes, they might merit their own chapter.
What are your three all-time favorite Wrecks?
What, only three? Well, my favs change almost every week. Every time I see something I think can't be beat, something "better" arrives in the inbox. However, a few that hold a special place in my heart:
The Flashdrive Cake. I invented the dialogue on this post, but the backstory itself is actually accurate - and that still cracks me up. The Sexual Harassment Cake. In today's PC world, the fact that a boss *actually* ordered and brought this to work still astounds and amuses me.
The "Dreme" Cake -- which I haven't posted yet. Yep, it's a new fav. You'll just have to stay tuned; I'm still working on commentary to do it justice.
Do people now make you gag cakes for all occasions?
I wish! Hah! But no, not so much. On the book tour we had some fabulous bakers making CW homage cakes at each stop, though, and that was a blast.
You have over 90,000 followers on Facebook and over 1 million on Twitter. I noticed you post about good causes now like Cakes for a Cure and even recently alerted people to a bakery scam. When did you decide to use your awesome cake mockery powers for good?
Aw, what a sweet question. That's just who John and I are, really. It's a given with us that those with influence - no matter how large or how small - should use it for good. When we launched our 14 days of giving over Christmas, that was something I'd been wanting to do for a long time with the blog, but I wasn't sure how the readers would react. I should have known our readers would be great about it -- but we were still blown away by all their positive feedback, e-mails, and generosity. They gave nearly $100,000 to the 14 different charities we featured - and that was at Christmas-time, and in this economy. Talk about inspiring!
What do you do when not making fun of baked goods?
You know, running a blog like CW takes a surprising amount of time - and only a fraction of that is spent actually writing posts. Sometimes that frustrates me, since the thing I love most really is thinking up poo puns or making obscure Ghostbusters references.
But, when I DO have time to play? I love reading a wide variety of blogs, doing home renovation projects with my husband John (we're remodeling our dining room in a steampunk style right now), crafts, photography, art - pretty much anything that allows me to be creative.
Does anyone work on CakeWrecks.com besides yourself?
Yes, John works with me pretty much full-time now, since our painting business has gone under due to the economy. He handles the advertisers, some of the e-mail and is also writing a lot more with me, which I love. We also have his sister in Maine, Anne-Marie, who downloads and categorizes the daily submissions - a job which takes her about 60 hrs a month to do. And, last but not least, we recently started having Jen Dorsman (aka "Number 1") write the occasional post and handle Facebook updates. She's awesome and a super funny gal.
When is the next Cake Wrecks book coming out? I want.
We're in talks with Andrews McMeel now for a holiday book for 2011, but nothing's been set yet. The last book was so much work to promote that I'm weighing the decision very carefully. I have the material, no problem, and I of course love the writing, but in today's market an author has to work his or her tail off to promote the work. Being a media-shy hermit with health issues to boot, that's really tough for me. So, we'll see. If the fans demand it, I'm sure I can be convinced.
We do have two Cake Wrecks calendars coming out this October that are available for pre-order: A 52-week wall calendar and a mini version. We've been working really hard on these things the past several weeks, and I think the fans are going to love them. There's even some new, never-before-seen Wreckage going into them along with new commentary.
Do you think you will exhaust the earth’s supply of amazingly bad
cakes or will there always be enough untalented professional bakers in
this world to keep you afloat?
Oh, I'll always have
material. 'Cuz here's the thing: not all Wrecks are poorly made. I can
be just as amused by a perfectly executed mole rat cake as I can a
horrendously slopped-together wedding cake. Many of my posts aren't
about the technical skill, they're about the thinking behind the design
- like the baby shower belly cakes. Why is eating a replica of the
mom-to-be's belly considered cute? Beats me. So, really, as long as
there are people ordering cakes, I think we'll always have Cake Wrecks.
Finally, my boss hates it when movie characters feed each other cake to show how in love they are. He wonders how you feel about this. Indulge him, please?
I despise romance movies, so I haven't been subjected to much of this. As you can probably imagine from my despising romance movies, though, I'm not a fan of any hugely mushy PDA's. I also cringe every time I see a bride and groom having a food fight with the wedding cake. Not cool, man. Not cool. That's a waste of perfectly good cake.
