While most of us can probably scratch together a decent dish or two, baking is a whole ‘nother ball game. There is no touch and go, no feeling, just cold, heartless measurements and temperatures that have to be achieved. Naturally, things tend to go wrong all the time. 

We’ve gathered the worst cake-baking and decorating fails people thought had to be shared online. From decoration “art” that might inspire horror, to cakes so poorly baked they don’t even hold together, get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites, and be sure to share your own cake fails in the comments section below. 

#1 Every Time My Wife Or I Look At This Cake I Made, We Immediately Cry Laughing

Image credits: nieltown

#2 My Daughter Requested One Of Our Cats As Her Birthday Cake. It’s The First Birthday Cake I’ve Ever Made For Her (Cat Included For Comparison)

Image credits: Nor_edu

#3 I Made Cake Toppers For My Wedding And Forgot To Check The Oven’s Temperature Before Putting My Fiancée In

Image credits: flapflip3

For better or worse, bad cake content does appear to be quite popular. Baking show aficionados know that for every series documenting the best things professional bakers can make, there is a show dedicated to amateurs trying and failing. Take Netflix’s Nailed It! which centers on home cooks attempting to recreate professional cakes.

As one can imagine, it goes horribly wrong most of the time. Even without the pressure of a time limit and competition, people at home mess up constantly. After all, baking is a science, while decorating takes hours of practice. In that sense, a delicious, gorgeous cake takes such a cross-section of skills that it might be best to leave it to the professionals. 

#4 So, There Is Going To Be A Cake Competition Fundraiser At My Little Sister’s School, And She Made This

Image credits: Coldanian

#5 Spider-Man Saving His Own Cake

Image credits: Sober_Redhorse

#6 I Tried To Make A Cat Cake

Image credits: PalpitationAdorable2

Good cakes simply take a lot of planning. Your oven and dishes need to be ready, and your ingredients measured out properly. Temperatures have to be managed, you can’t let your butter be too warm in certain situations, in others, it can’t be too cold. Don’t overmix, but also don’t undermix, let things cool, and don’t overbake, the list of things that can go wrong simply goes on and on. 

#7 That’s Brilliant

Image credits: Friedman_Lab

#8 The Cake Decorator Was Told To Spell “Marc” With A “C”

Image credits: MrsCatDish

#9 An Attempt Was Made

Image credits: bigestaban

Because the oven and mixer are doing most of the work, the “human” element of making a cake has to be managed perfectly. Cooking a dish often has more leeway, you can taste, add, and adjust as you go. Even with the plethora of bad cooking tips out there, most of us can make a tasty dinner, given time. 

#10 My Friend Made A Danny DeVito Cake For Her Friend. It’s Worse In Person

Image credits: brilliant_fungi

#11 I See Your Ugly Hedgehog Cake And Raise You My Hedgehog Cake

My sister made this for my birthday and brought this bad boy into a restaurant for a grand reveal. It was quite the spectacle, and the servers stopped to get pictures of this beautiful boy.

Image credits: itsalivything

#12 I Tried To Make A Baby Yoda Cake For My Boyfriend’s Birthday, But I Didn’t Have Enough Cake For The Ears, So He Didn’t Have Any. Then My Friend Edited A Photo Of My Cake

Update: I left the cake on the side while I showered, and my cat licked all the icing off.

Image credits: alitheloaf

Of course, even if you have mastered the cake batter and baking process, no mean feat, there is also the question of decorating. Applying frosting, managing its temperature, and mixing food coloring to get the right effect isn’t exactly easy as well. It’s like painting, except your tools are five times larger than the more ergonomic paintbrushes. 

#13 My 17-Year-Old Wanted An Owl Birthday Cake And Sent A Photo Of Her Favorite Design. My Dad (81-Year-Old) Decided He’d Make It

I have no idea why, as he’s a retired power station design engineer. He unveiled his cake (2nd photo) with a flourish, and I laughed so hard, tea shot out my nose. 

Image credits: PintSizedFarmer

#14 “It’s Going To Look Just Like That!”, It Didn’t Look Just Like That

Image credits: Kizzycocoa

#15 See Those Eggs? They Are Supposed To Be In The Pies. I Made Two Hot Oily Chocolate Garbage Circles

Image credits: themattcrumb

Once you add in fondant and modeling chocolate, you are in a world of pain until you learn how to do it. After all, chocolate needs to be tempered, which feels like a particularly cruel chemistry experiment. Fondant has to be rolled and modeled, colored, and painted. All this just to make a cake slightly more pretty before it’s sliced up and consumed. 

#16 Easter Cake My Friend’s Mom Made. Those Eyes Rub Me The Wrong Way

Image credits: CupMAN-

#17 We Sent This Cake Photo (Left) To A Cake Shop, And This Is What We Got (Right)

Image credits: Mohamadil

#18 Your Daughter Will Go Far

Image credits: Natt

The end result is that many will fail, as can be clearly seen here, but there is then all the more glory for the bakers who can manage to turn out something beautiful. So if you struggle to bake something that is edible, keep trying, this article is evidence that most people, including some professionals, simply can not make it. 

#19 This Was Way Cuter When I Pictured It In My Head

Image credits: howierid

#20 A Betty Crocker Attempt Was Made. I Tried To Make My Mom A Hedgehog Cake For Her Birthday. For Context, I’m 34 She Was Turning 62. Tasted Great

Image credits: L29MXV

#21 I Made A He-Man Cake Today. Let The Hubby Decorate. Likeness Is Uncanny

Image credits: HeideAnne

#22 The Cake My Wife Ordered From Walmart. She Called Me Upset And Said She Wanted To Take It Back. I Told Her Nahh It Can’t Be That Bad

Image credits: War-Weasel_4798

#23 He Had One Job – To Write “Happy Birthday”

Image credits: madhatton

#24 I Tried To Make My Long-Distance Friend A Cake To Celebrate His Birthday. There Were Not A Lot Of Supplies. It’s Really Bad

Image credits: semispectral

#25 I Told The Child That This Was The Last Time I Would Mix Anything With Food Coloring. I’m Not A Baker And I Don’t Create Any Masterpieces

Image credits: henulens

#26 I Made A Cake For My Friend. It’s Pretty Obvious But Just To Make Sure It’s Sonic

Image credits: reddit.com

#27 Happy Easter From The Cohen Family

Image credits: lyn34z

#28 My Wedding Cake. Yes, We Paid For This

Image credits: sprudelcherrydiesoda

#29 The More I Look At This, The Better It Gets

Image credits: Ultra_Cas

#30 It’s My Spouse’s Birthday, So Here’s A Throwback To The Time He Said He Wanted An R2-D2 Cake (His Mom Still Had The Cake Pan From His Childhood) And I Made This Monstrosity

Image credits: mariahankenman

#31 Tried Making A Frog Cake For My Boyfriend, I Think He’s Going To Leave Me

Image credits: reddit.com

#32 The Cake My Girlfriend Baked Me

Image credits: atriz544

#33 I Made A Shrek Cake

Image credits: KaleiRenay

#34 This Is Just Too Funny

Image credits: elsalwilliams

#35 I Tried To Make A Unicorn Cake Once And It Turned Out To Look Like Godzilla. It Was An Angry Unicorn

Image credits: Odonata6500

#36 If My Writing Career Fails, I Can Always Fall Back On Cake Baking. It’s Such A Relief To Have A Backup Plan

Image credits: ErickaWaller1

#37 My Horrifying First Attempt At Using Fondant For A “Phantom Of The Opera” Birthday Cake. It Was A Big Hit

Image credits: ninarose0090011803

#38 My First Duck Cake

Image credits: keithschafer

#39 May I Offer You A Frog?

Image credits: FallGuysGame

#40 Asked My Mom For A Hulk Cake. Nailed It

Image credits: pkthunder01

#41 It’s Seen Some Stuff

Image credits: blue_jay440

#42 My Dad Tried To Bake A Cake For My Mom’s Birthday. Tried

Image credits: kingfisherman999

#43 Best Eat That Cake, Before It Eats You

Image credits: stekenwright

#44 Wedding Cake. What I Asked For vs. What I Got, Publix Edition

Image credits: Zenuba-x

#45 Shrimp Cake

Image credits: indigooo32

#46 What’s This

Image credits: zeekodatjit

#47 Cake I Made For My Boyfriend’s Birthday

Image credits: kumori_77

#48 It’s My Daughter’s Birthday And I’ve Made Her A Cake. It’s Been Cooling Down In The Fridge. Let Me Just Check On It Real Quick

Image credits: an303042

#49 When Whole Foods Tried To Make A Little Mermaid Cake

Image credits: team_stewart6

#50 First Time Baking A Cake For Wife’s Birthday. YouTube Shows Make It Look So Easy

Image credits: awnawnamoose