Cake....To Eat or Not to Eat?

Cake,in its original form, is a favorite dessert for millions around the world, so why wouldn’t it be a favorite in the digital form either? Author Jen of food blog “Cake Wrecks” has discovered this same love for cake in her blog about cakes gone badly. Just like after taking your first bite of cake it’s hard to make yourself stop, this blog has attracted much of its readers by letting them take a nibble, hooking them, and watching them come back for more! Jen has an uncanny skill for using modern speech and rhetorical tools in such a casual manner that many of her readers do not realize the addiction that has formed for this physical and visual desire for cakes. Without a target audience, Jen has allowed this blog to become an activity that is enjoyable for people of all ages, shapes, sizes, and situations. In searching through her blog, it is easy to see that Jen’s diction, presentation, and ultimate love and passion for what she does has created a strong dialogue between herself and her readers that keeps people coming back for more.
Filled of wit and charm than one of the beloved belly cakes displayed on “Cake Wrecks,” is Jen’s consistent use of dynamic humor. It seems that when pictures and comments couldn’t get any worse, or any funnier, than they are, the author finds a way to sneak attack and get the reading rolling on the floor with laughter. Besides the already comedic use of regular blogs and updates each day, Jen has been able to unveil some of the most creative writing of all time. Giving you the option to divert yourself away from the main page that is updated almost daily, the audience can also choose to go onto separate sections or categories away from the main page called “fan faves” and “the classics.” While some of these receive more attention than the others, once you read the titles about what you can go to, the temptation is almost too much to resist. Jen even finds ways to interact with her readers simply through entertaining titles, for example: The Oh-So-Gross Foot Cakes, When Gangsters Go “PC,” Naked Mohawk-Baby Carrot Jockeys, and When Brides Have No Budget (or taste) to just name a few. How could anyone fight their curiosity against this well used skill of connotation?

As the reader continues it is not hard to feel Jen’s lighthearted tone and good humor is what helps to solidify her use of kairos. By being aware of her readers, Jen has focused on making her blog very up to date. Using this blog as a casual form of journal, the readers are able to connect with the author on a more personal level, almost as a friend. Speaking candidly, and showing no mercy to those wrecks presented on her blog, Jen has created a form of entertainment for people of situations. The thing that was most appealing to me as a reader was the fact that there was no vulgarity, and only some innuendo, that allowed a feeling of comfort to me when sharing this with others. Evident through some of the pictures of little kids present on this blog, the audience can sense that there is no need for censoring or editing to make this appropriate for even young children.

Much of the success of this blog has come directly from Jen’s use of diction. A true proficient of interaction through her blog, Jen creates relationships with her readers through her various forms of humor. One of the most evident tools in her humor is the overstatement used in introducing the topics, witty titles, commenting on pictures, or even making fun of herself the sarcastic comments define her as an author. Playing a sort of guessing game with the readers, Jen posted a bunch of pictures of cake wrecks that were supposed to represent Texas (in the form of longhorns in cakes, pictures, and unknown objects) hoping to tip the reader as where she was; however, It wasn’t until that final picture that we experience some of Jen’s overstatements, “what, nothing? Tch. Look, I don't see how this jumbled mass of shotgun shells and strawberries could make it any clearer. [head tilt] Well, unless maybe you held them up to a mirror. Heh. Yeeeah.” This more subtle form of humor gives Jen even more interaction with the readers because it’s not enough that she is teasing the actual person who wrecked the cake, but she goes on to make fun of the reader. The best part about it is that she has made it so that the interpreted humor isn’t offensive, it actually just makes the readers laugh harder.

Another section of her blog that truly takes an immature point of view to find entertaining is called “oh poop,” where the use of imagery is quite vivid. When describing what was supposed to be hamburgers cooking on a grill, but were unfortunately not so realistic in their design, Jen was quick on her feet when saying, “Let's kick things off with a zesty selection of grilling poo, shall we?” Now if that doesn’t create a mental image, or stand as a rhetorical question, I don’t know what will! Similarly, Jen goes on to make some grammatical corrections from other bakeries that include notes on orders that weren’t supposed to be there or don’t have punctuation in proper places to give it proper emphasis. One of those cakes presented on this site is written “glad your ‘here’” all in sloppy cursive, as if that were going to make it better, and not only was the “your” misspelled, the quotations completely changed the meaning behind the cake. Jen commented by saying, “Is this person really glad you're "here"? No, of course not. Just look at the signs!” What a nice cross between her overstatements and rhetorical questions to add to the already bad display of cake décor.

Although Jen has a great knack for rhetorical tools, she also relies greatly on the visual appeal of her blog. If her blog was not visually appealing, and didn’t suit the type of blog she was creating the readers would not be intrigued as quickly as they are. Having dark backgrounds with bright writing and big titles help to bring the focus of the readers to the writing and pictures, proving that fonts and images are the key elements of her blog. With an easy to read font, tabs, organized categories, and just overall fun aspects of the site allow the reader to have freedom over whatever they want to do! Readers can find humorous cakes in almost every topic, each of them having their own witty title and pulling the reader from one section of the blog to the other. It’s amazing to see how quickly anyone could really get caught up in this blog because of all of the various things that the authors have been able to discover!

One of my favorite visual elements of this blog is the contrast of pictures. In our minds we have an image of how things should look when certain words or topics are being said; however, through the skills of many talented “wreckers” some of these words are bringing on all sorts of new meanings. In the multiple sections about bridal cakes we see the largest interpretations of the connotation behind words, and the contrasting visuals of what some brides had originally ordered but were unfortunate enough to receive. Some examples include an organic style cake shaped like a tree stump, but delivered looking more like a pile of mud that was dropped several times on the way there. Or there was the cake in the shape of a bride, but delivered without any appendages and looking more like a decapitated chicken! Once more, I don’t know where this woman is able to find these unfortunate excuses for cakes, but without a doubt they are the best at contrasting what should be a good cake and what constitutes a complete “cake wreck.”

Ultimately, without Jen’s sensitivity for quality humor and keen eye for “cake wrecks” we would all be wandering around wondering why anyone could make those simple mistakes or hideous decisions when creating things that are supposed to be both physically and visually appealing. Jen has been able to use all sorts of imagery on her blog both in creative designs, but mostly in her great commentary that brings a fun and light-hearted tone for the readers to enjoy. By applying all sorts of rhetorical tools, Jen has been able to attract readers of all sorts without having to force her blog onto others. Recognized for her great skills we also see that she has received awards for the funniest blog, as well as the best food blog! Obviously this girl knows what she is doing, and what the audience wants or she wouldn’t be as successful as she is and we wouldn’t love it as much as we do. I can only look forward to future postings of “cake wrecks,” and learn those things I need to do to avoid any unfortunate “cake wrecks” of my own.