Wendy Brandes Jewelry Blog

Never Is the Next New Thing

Good Wedding Cake, Not-So-Good Wedding Cake

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MrB and I are celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary on Sunday. Last year, I tried on my wedding gown for a blog post, but this year I’m going to concentrate on cake. I loved my crazy-looking wedding cake by Ron Ben-Israel.

July 22, 2001.

Here’s another shot of it.

Guests lined up to take pictures of that cake. As a result, their friends and family all across the country saw it. That inspired one bride to attempt to copy it, but her baker didn’t have Ben-Israel’s skills. As former pro boxer Eric Kelly would say, “Everything ain’t for everybody.” Here is the result.

It looks a little squat, doesn’t it?

If I recall correctly, the whole thing started melting and the top layer of the cake slid off. Bystanders quickly piled the flowers onto the second, corset-shaped layer.

I treasure these photos because they remind me of the Goofus and Gallant feature in Highlights for Children, if Goofus and Gallant were cakes. But, hey, it’s not a real party until something goes wrong. I hope the rest of the wedding was great and, more importantly, that the marriage is going strong.

For more pastry hilarity, check out Cake Wrecks. To hear former pro boxer Eric Kelly call a bunch of Wall Street guys “motherfuckers,” check out this video.

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Comments

  2. Happy Anniversary, Wendy & MrB! I adore reading your blog and thank you for all the marvelous flights of fancy you have shared. Wishing you all the best!

  3. That is one sexy cake you had at your wedding!! Also, I love Cake Wrecks–I check it out whenever I need to laugh hysterically at the ridiculous things people have done to cakes and assorted pastries. I also like the idea that it’s not a real party until something goes wrong…..I will tell myself that the next time it does 🙂

    • It’s amazing how funny Cake Wrecks is. You wouldn’t think cakes could go soooo wrong. The captions are always excellent too.

  5. Awww happy anniversary!

    We had a pretty lol-tastic time with our cake. We ordered a plain white cake intending to decorate it ourselves with fresh flowers and ribbon, but the bakery decided to DIY it themselves with awful frosting rosettes and black ribbon. Thankfully my MIL got it looking semi-decent but what a bizarre thing!

  9. Happy Anniversary to both of you! It’s my 11th this year as well.You looked gorgeous in your dress Wendy (and in your halter neck & hip huggers!) That cake is Amazing. Mr B has quite the movie star bone structure, doesn’t he? Don’t scratch my baby blues out – I’m just appreciative! Meow!

  12. Wendy, only you could link boxing to wedding cakes in one tight, neat little blog post. That’s one of the things I just love about you — the way your quirky, brilliant mind works!

    So… HUGE CONGRATS to you and MrB. 11 is a good number! 🙂

    WTF is up w/ that horrible knock off? I mean — shoes, handbags and clothes are bad enough, but now we’re copying wedding cakes? Really people? This is something I cannot wrap my head around — the lack of uniqueness and originality that most people possess or care to possess. Lame with a capital ‘L.’ Anyway, their cake was horrific and didn’t capture a fraction of the elegance that yours had.

    It’s very appropriate that my anti-spam word is “oprah” because I was feeling very powerful and righteous just now going off on that wedding cake rant!

  13. Happy Anniversary to you and Mr. B. I’m jealous of your big number, 11. (I’m still working on 1.) Here’s to nuptials! Have a beautiful day together tomorrow.

    Your wedding cake is a knock out and Stacy’s comment cracked me up.

  15. Oh I love that Ron Ben-Israel baked your cake! His bakery is one of my favourite places in Soho, because of the tastefully (heh) elegant gray-and-white sign hanging outside the door and absolutely NO indication of cakes in any window anywhere. To me he is the mystery baker of Soho. (I know he’s on the second floor.)

    But I still think it’s a wonderfully subversive business strategy not to display the cakes. It certainly put my imagination to work.

    Happy anniversary!!

  18. Congratulations to you both and many, many more. And you rocked that tiara- how lovely! I was, no kidding, sewing my veil together as we drove to the wedding- had just slipped my mind what with planning everything and working etc etc etc. Now, 20+ years later, I realize I coulda had a tiara! Easier, classy, and more sparkly!