October 17, 2007

Cakehead of the Week: Farewell to the other Cakehead

cake by the other Cakehead

For the past year, plus, we've been sharing the name, Cakehead, with another blogger named Natalie. She is as obsessed with cake as we are. But earlier this weeks she announced that she is "bidding adieu to The Great Cake Adventure...I just do not have the time to put into making cakes now that I did when I started it."

I am also dropping the Cakehead name. I originally chose Cakehead because cake was like my crack, and now I just think it sounds stupid. So until I think of something totally awesome to rename myself (that will probably never happen), I'll be known as Natalie. I know, cutting edge, huh?

We happen to like the name Cakehead, but despite the slight, we will still award her with Cakehead of the Week Award. While we're busy stealing the images of other people's cakes, she actually bakes them. Click here to look at all the cakes she's baked over the past year. We picked out our favorite cake that she made and are presenting it to her -- from one Cakehead to another. Good luck with your new photography blog.

Posted by Cakehead at 09:58 PM | Comments (1)

October 04, 2007

Cakehead of the Week Award: Sputnik Sweetheart

Kremlin-shaped cake by cakediva.com

This week's Cakehead of the Week award goes to the Russians for launching the first man-made satellite first. Today is the 50th anniversary of the paradigm-shifting event. We want to take this opportunity to revisit how far Space Food has come since the early days of the space program. The NASA website provides an overview of the astronaut dining evolution.

John Glenn, America's first man to eat anything in the near-weightless environment of Earth orbit, found the task of eating fairly easy, but found the menu to be limited. Most agreed the foods were unappetizing and disliked squeezing the tubes. Freeze-dried foods were hard to rehydrate and crumbs had to be prevented from fouling instruments. Eating on the Gemini missions improved somewhat. Bite-sized cubes were coated with gelatin to reduce crumbling, and the freeze-dried foods were encased in a special plastic container to make reconstituting easier. Gemini astronauts had such food choices as shrimp cocktail, chicken and vegetables, butter-scotch pudding, and applesauce.

Apollo astronauts were the first to have hot water, which made rehydrating foods easier and improved the food's taste. These astronauts were also the first to use utensils via the "spoon bowl," a plastic container that could be opened and its contents eaten with a spoon. Thermostabilized pouches were also introduced on Apollo. The task of eating in space got a big boost in Skylab. Skylab featured a large interior area where space was available for a dining room and table. Eating for Skylab's three-member teams was a fairly normal operation: Footholds allowed them to situate themselves around the table and "sit" to eat.

[from NASA and Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum exhibit on Food in Space]

Space food cook off. Will they beat last year's winner who made Astronaut Fish Gumbo?

Posted by Cakehead at 06:03 PM | Comments (0)

September 26, 2007

Cakehead of the Week: Cake-Shaped Soap for Rudy Giuliani

Soap Cakes from Kilian Nakamura

This week we present Republican presidential candidate, Rudolph Giuliani, with the Cakehead of the Week Award. His prize is a collection of Japanese soaps in the shape of cakes and ice cream. We're hoping that the prize can help him to "launder" the dirty fundraising money being raised tonight at the "$9.11 for Rudy" party in Palo Alto, CA. Or, better yet, they can just serve the dessert soaps at the party and all those grubby Republicans can wash out their mouths.

[thanks for the tip Rumproast and Buzzfeed]

Posted by Cakehead at 11:27 PM | Comments (0)

September 18, 2007

Cakehead of the Week: Burnt (Condi) Rice Cake

In our book, Rice Cakes aren't technically cakes, but that's what makes the metaphor so apt. Conde Rice is not a cake, even though we present her with a consolation Rice Cakehead of the Week award since the Pope hates her.

Pope Benedict XVI refused to meet US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in August, saying he was on holiday, an Italian newspaper reported Wednesday. Rice "made it known to the Vatican that she absolutely had to meet the pope" to boost her diplomatic "credit" ahead of a trip to the Middle East, the Corriere della Sera daily reported without citing its sources. She was hoping to meet the pontiff at his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo at the beginning of August, it said.

"'The pope is on holiday' was the official response," the paper said.

It said the reply "illustrated the divergence of view" between the Vatican and the White House about the "initiatives of the Bush administration in the Middle East."

[from Breitbart via Digg.com]

Posted by Cakehead at 03:57 AM | Comments (0)

June 06, 2007

CAKEHEAD OF THE WEEK AWARD: Scooter Cake for the Jailbird

scooter cake by sugarcraft.com

You perjure, you lose is the message sent to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on Tuesday when U.S. District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton sentenced him to 30 months in prison. His consolation prize? This yummy Scooter prison cake. The frosting alone is enough to guarantee a continued career of lying under oath to protect the great master.

Posted by Cakehead at 12:44 PM | Comments (0)

April 12, 2007

CAKEHEAD OF THE WEEK AWARD: Cakehead has found her soulmate in the form of a Donut

We thought we were the only ones to issue trophies of food to honor the cakeheads among us. But it turns out that The Weekly Donut has been doing it too! We're assuming that the Pope is "The Weekly Donut" because of his infallibility and for his helping hand with Jesus' rising last Sunday.

We'd like to offer the Pope our weekly prize -- the Cake of the Week Award. This week the cake is less of a reward and more a bribe to keep his priests away from the small Catholic children. Consider the cake to be a sacrificial offering.

Posted by Cakehead at 03:46 AM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2007

CAKEHEAD OF THE WEEK AWARD

Cakehead of the Week Award Committee examining the North Korea cake

The Cakehead of the Week Award committee has been on hiatus for several months now. 2006 was a difficult year for this team of Cakehead experts. Statistics show that the number of Cakeheads around the world has soared to new levels last year. By the time the year was over the committee had processed and reviewed over 2 million nominations. The team was long overdue for several months of recuperation and recovery. But now they're back and ready to award the first Cakehead of the Week Award for 2007.

He's so dreamy

The award this week goes to Assistant Secretary of State, Christopher Hill. Not for his successful superstar negotiations with North Korea. (His clever offer to lift cake sanctions so that North Korea will end its nuclear program was a skillful move. But there are already plenty awards given for that.) We're awarding Hill with a cake for being so damn sexy. Chinese women were the ones who first turned us on to this fact. According to CNN, this "Boyish U.S. Envoy [has] Become a Heartthrob in China."

"He's so charming and attractive," said Li Kenna, a desk clerk at the five-star hotel Hill stays at in Beijing. "He sometimes asks me how I am in the mornings," she said. "He's one of our nicest guests."

...Concerns about Hill's health -- he has been sick several times in the cold Beijing winter and looked ill several days ago -- have elicited almost motherly concern from some female reporters.

"Ambassador, are you feeling OK? You don't look too well," a South Korean reporter, Koo Hee-jin, asked at one news conference during the latest round of talks that started on Thursday.

Our favorite part of the article is the list of important facts highlighted as bullet points at the top of the page. The third bullet point seems especially relevant and important to emphasize:

- Hill gets mobbed at Beijing airport, one of his security officials says
- Hill has won over media in China, Japan
- Hill is married with three children

Sorry ladies of China. He's taken.

Posted by Cakehead at 02:08 PM | Comments (0)

June 21, 2006

CAKEHEAD OF THE WEEK: SHROUDING THE NEWS WITH FROSTING

So here's a news bulletin which we know is restating the obvious: USA Today is not a good newspaper....unless you're searching for food-related headlines. This is why we are awarding USA Today with the CAKEHEAD of the WEEK AWARD - for keeping us blissfully in the dark about all matters except that which we care about most: cake. The cake we present is shrouded in a flag, in the same way that USA Today shrouds the news with its icing-like stories made of fatty sweetness and air.

We wouldn't typically turn to this rag for information, but the hotel where we're staying left a copy hanging on our door and who can resist the gigantic font-size and bright blue masthead. Naturally we had to skim it for the national and world news. Here's what we found:

In the Nation section, "Fluffernutter ban hard to swallow in Mass." was the first headline that grabbed our eye. A full two paragraphs are dedicated to how state lawmakers in Massachusetts are working on a bill to limit the number of times school lunch programs can serve the delicious Marshmellow Fluff/peanut butter combo. Currently, if the dining service wanted to, they could serve it every day of the week! The new law would only allow one appearance per week of the Fluffernutter on school lunch trays.

If they were working to ban the Fluffernutter altogether, we can understand it being an appropriate story for page 3 of USA Today. But the sandwich will still be available at least once a week, even if the bill is passed.

In the World section a story about Santa's elves preceeds a story about North Korea's long-range missile testing. It seems that USA Today has taken the public's request for positive news reporting to heart. What could be more uplifting than learning that:

Santa Park in Finnish Lapland has turned a profit for the first time after cost cuts...Willie Rajala, director of the 8-year-old park, credits a change in philosophy. "We are not open every day, but a couple of months in witner and another couple of months during summer."

Ahh. That's so much more uplifting than learning that North Korea has missiles that could potentially reach USA. Thanks USA Today!

Posted by Cakehead at 06:35 PM | Comments (1)

April 27, 2006

CAKEHEAD OF THE WEEK: But where's the cake?

CAKEHEAD of the WEEK. WE SEE THE CAKEHEAD, BUT WHERE'S THE CAKE?

This week's CAKEHEAD OF THE WEEK AWARD goes to Big R. R as in Rumsfeld. We were almost certain that he had received the award before, but after scouring the CAKEHEAD HALL OF FAME, we found no indication that he had.

So this one's for you Rummy. Not only has he been too preoccupied eating cakes with his cronies to make smart decisions about war policies, but during his recent "surprise visit" to see the troops, he forgot the cake! Now that's a cakehead kind of thing to do. He thinks that just because he has the "Support the Troops" yellow ribbon magnet on his SUV and wears an American flag pin on his lapel that the troops would greet his arrival with whoops and cheers. Not the case.

Read what troops told CNN reporters about Rumsfeld's surprise visit:

If I see him, "I'd ask him for a plane ticket home to see my wife. I have barely seen her in the last two years," said a young sergeant, who did not want to be identified. Like many of the soldiers with the 4th Infantry Division, he is on his second deployment to Iraq.

Some joked that whenever VIP's come to visit they just go to the main bases and meet the "fobbits," the nickname given to troops who do not go outside the barbed wire.

"They have to get out to see the people that are doing the jobs they are making them do. If they didn't they would not be very good leaders," said Maj. Michael Humphreys, one of the few soldiers here willing to tell journalists some of his opinions on senior leadership.

Posted by Cakehead at 12:41 PM | Comments (0)

January 05, 2006

These cakes are watching your every move

Gallery of Cakes with Eyes

What's worse than cakes with eyes staring you down from a bakery window? How about secret wiretaps on your home phone. This week's cake of the week goes to that President who some claim as their own. You know the one. He's admitted to illegally wiretapping United States residents. This impeachable offense deserves not one spying cake with beady eyes, but a whole gallery of them. From alien to teddy bear eyes, these cake eyes are going to be watching to see what stunt Bush tries to get away with next.

And while we're talking wiretaps, we'd like to also extend this cake of the week to Supreme Court nominee, Sam Alito. In 1984, while working for the Reagan administration he wrote in a memo that federal officials should not be subject to accountability for ordering domestic wiretaps without a legally required warrant. Great. Why not renounce the Constitution, declare a state of fascism and write up a list of top ten rules we as citizens should abide by according to our fearless leader. And if a person doesn't obey, execute the sucker! Stay tuned for next week's cake of the week.

Cake gallery comes via:
Cakes from The Girl Who Ate Everything
Ned Batchelder's blog
Crunchy Thoughts
Kate Sullivan Cakes

Posted by Cakehead at 02:21 PM | Comments (4)

August 19, 2005

Flying Spaghetti Monster Cake Award

Trophy Spaghetti Cake

Boing Boing is offering $250,000 to anyone who can prove that Jesus is not the son of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (pictured below).

Composite drawing of Flying Spaghetti Monster

This week's Cake of the Week award goes to Bobby Henderson. He is the man who created the Flying Spaghetti Monster to parody the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to allow intelligent design to be taught in science classes alongside evolution. Read his open letter to the Board of Education.

**Disclosure: This week's award was made possible by the generosity of the Intelligent Design Cake fund which also sponsored last week's Litter Box Cake Award.

If you feel that you can make a case for something as wacky as evolution, the generous people who make this cake award possible are offering $250,000 to anyone who can give any empirical proof that evolution exists. You can call 850-479-3466 (8-5 Mon-Fri CST) for more info about the $250,000.

Spaghetti Cake Recipe from Nancy:
This easy scratch cake became a family favorite because of the distinct shortening taste.

Sift:
2 cups cake flour or 1 3/4 cups white flour (you can substitute up to 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, but this will change the outcome)
1 ¼ cups sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Add and beat well:
1/3 shortening (do not use butter or margarine)
1 teaspoon vanilla (for lemon cake, use ½ tsp vanilla and ½ tsp lemon extract)
2/3 cup milk (whole milk is best, but we've made this cake with skim milk too)

Add, beating 2 minutes on medium speed or 300 strokes by hand:
1/3 cup milk •
1 large egg

Grease and flour one 9" round cake pans or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes at 350° F until golden brown and a knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool.

Frost: The entire cake with any white icing - don't forget to frost between the layers. Fill a pastry bag with a fairly thick white or off-white icing, and pipe long strands over the entire surface of the cake using a small round tip. Sprinkle red decorating sugar over the top of the cake and place 3 or more purchased chocolate candies on the top of the cake. Sprinkle with powdered sugar to give the effect of Parmesan cheese.

Posted by Cakehead at 10:23 PM | Comments (1)

August 13, 2005

There's only one person who could prompt us to award a second CAKE of the Week Award. And the winner is...

Only someone with a direct line to Jesus could wield enough power to prompt us to award a second Cake of the Week Award. This week's second Cake of the Week Award goes to a man who never misses his Monday morning meeting with the President. Pass up an opportunity to turn this country into a religious state? Not this guy.

However, he doesn't get his cake award for his Christian leadership skills with the President. James Dobson takes this Cake of the Week Award as a result of his creepy advice to parents on "how to prevent your child from becoming a homosexual."

From the Focus on the [hetero] Family

The father plays an essential role in a boy’s normal development as a man. The truth is, Dad is more important than Mom. Mothers make boys. Fathers make men.

In addition to creepy advice, we feel that his homophobic message is simply not following the lead of Jesus. For this reason, we award James Dobson with the Coming Out of the Cake Award. He sure is defensive about the gays. Is James Dobson hiding something? We'll embrace your sexuality when you come of the closet, Jim.

Click here for the first round of Cake of the Week Awards.

Oh, and if you feel like writing an angry letter, these are the folks who doing the sexuality conversions:
Exodus International
P.O. Box 540199, Orlando, FL 32854
Phone: 407-599-6872 or 888-264-0877 (toll-free)
Fax: 407-599-0011

National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality
16633 Ventura Blvd., Suite 1340
Encino, CA 91436
Phone: 818-789-4440

Posted by Cakehead at 12:17 AM | Comments (0)

August 11, 2005

Cakehead Award of the Week: The Lego Cake

Legos: Great for Building Cakes and Walls of Protection

We are proud to announce this week's winners of the Cakehead Award of the week. This week's prize is the Lego Cake. The ingredients contained in the cake not only produce a delicious snack, but can be recycled to build a wall of protection. We know these two deserving recipients are a little terrified about the world that surrounds them so we're recommending that they, deconstruct their Lego prize cakes and build a wall around themselves.

The first Lego Cake award goes to: Kurt Anderson for his recent article in New York Metro.com where he revealed his desire for a thick concrete safety suit. We hope these legos will make you feel secure, Kurt.

[From Gawker via Catch via FREEWilliamsburg.com]:

I felt a little guilty the other afternoon in Foley Square, walking between two big federal buildings, when I darted off the sidewalk the moment I saw a woman approaching in a full black burka. I wanted to get beyond her killing radius as quickly as I could. It was silly, and slightly shameful, but reflexive: In the summer of 2005 in New York, ostentatiously pious Muslim = potential suicide bomber.

The second award goes to Jerry Fallwell who we feel, frankly, really needs more than a lego wall. But we're hoping until he creates his theocracy, he can cordon himself off in Christian la-la land and leave the rest of us alone.

[From The Associated Press]:

Falwell, founder of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., and Moral Majority, included with his mass fundraising letter for Falwell Ministries a sticker that reads, "I Vote Christian."

Posted by Cakehead at 04:35 AM | Comments (0)

August 05, 2005

Cake Award of the week goes to the biggest pussy of all

Litter Box Cake Award Trophy

We love how inquisitive those Christian are when it comes to tracing the origin of His Majesty. We just don't like that they're throwing their weight around in the public schools - trying to possess the minds of our precious atheist offspring.

[From Chicago Tribune]:

President Bush said Monday that he thinks schools should discuss "intelligent design" alongside evolution when teaching students about creation. …During a round-table interview with reporters from five Texas newspapers, Bush declined to detail his views on the origin of the universe. But he said students should learn about both theories….Christian conservatives have pushed for the teaching of intelligent design in public schools. Scientists generally have rejected the theory as an attempt to force religion into education.

Since George W. backs the teaching of Intelligent Design in our public schools this week's cakehead award goes to our President. We present him with the Kitty Litter cake. The symbolism works on two levels. Level one, Bush is a big pussy, afraid to stand up to the Christian conservatives on any social issue. Level two, Bush is full of shit – just like the cakey litter box.

Posted by Cakehead at 11:45 PM | Comments (0)

July 21, 2005

Thousands slaughtered, Condi's bodyguard gets a paper cut

Survivor Party Poke Cake

We present a very special cake award this week. It is the Survivor Party Poke Cake Award (and no, this is not a recipe invented by the cakehead staff. Kraft is responsible for this masterpiece). No one is more deserving of this cake award than Condoleezza Rice for her remarks earlier today. Rice is currently traveling in Sudan. As we're sure you're aware, there is a genocide going on in the western Sudan providence of Darfur, which is presumably why Rice is there. Poor Rice, is so used to having to monitor and babysit the nursery school-like activities of the President, that she lost track of the task at hand. Rather than focusing on the ruthless slaughter occurring in the country which she visits, she's once again lapsed into her role as playground mediator. [From the Associated Press]:

Security forces in the Sudanese capital manhandled U.S. officials and reporters traveling with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, marring her round of meetings with leaders of the new unified government. Rice demanded an apology, and got it.

"It makes me very angry to be sitting there with their president and have this happen," she said. "They have no right to push and shove."

Rice, in her statement, not only takes a jabbing poke at the survivors of the genocide by shifting the focus of people who are dying to the security people whose job it is to be pushed and shoved, but with her super power abilities manages to distract the press from the real story: the reason Rice is in Sudan in the first place - the genocide. Way to go Condi. You've really earned the Survivor Party Poke Cake Award. Happy eating.

Posted by Cakehead at 09:25 PM | Comments (1)

July 06, 2005

I smell a rat cake

Today, the staff of cakehead.com presents journalist Judith Miller with a very special cake to honor her courage and sacrifice in the face of terror.

We live in dark days. It is a time when zombies walk the halls of the executive, legislative and now judicial branches of our government. Judge Thomas F. Hogan hoped that by gnashing his bloodthirsty fangs and threatening a jail sentence he could turn Miller into a rat and put an end to a free press. But Miller didn’t allow this zombie to erode away the tenants of the First and perhaps most important Amendment in our Bill of Rights. She will go to jail. And for this, we present Miller with a rat cake. It’s ironic, yes. But sometimes that’s what you need to make those award-aspiring journalist pay attention.

With this new award it is our hope that we can prevent cake-loving journalist from turning into rats. Knowing this prestigious award could be theirs, we hope journalists will aspire to protect the confidentiality of their sources and continue to provide the checks and balances those zombies need. Not only will they keep the zombies in check but they will also get to devour this delicious cake.

For complete list of U.S. recipients of the Rat Cake Award go to The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

The Rat Cakes are made by Barbara Jo at Theyrecoming.com. Her hobbies include: “carving award-winning pumpkins, sculpting unwholesome 'Tragic Moments' figurines, and baking cakes that bleed, explode, or grow flowers while still tasting good.”

yes, it's a cake. it's a thorax cake

She also makes a mean Thorax Cake that closely resembles George W. Bush’s abdomen after his latest recent klutzcapade. [from Drudge Report]:

PRESIDENT BUSH CRASHES BIKE INTO SCOT POLICEMAN DURING G8 REPRIEVE... A WHITE HOUSE SOURCE TELLS DRUDGE PRESIDENT SUFFERED 'MODERATE CUTS AND ABRASIONS'... POLICE OFFICER SENT TO HOSPITAL FOR POSSIBLE ANKLE INJURY. DEVELOPING...

Posted by Cakehead at 09:17 PM | Comments (3)

June 29, 2005

Cake of the Week Great for Hiding WMD

Hidden Treasure Cake
The recipe for the Hidden Treasure Cake suggests hiding fruits like mandarin orange sections or strawberry Jell-O in the hollow of the white cake. But why stop there. We suggest that journalists Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper, bake the cake with a creamy filling made of confidential sources. This cake will guarantee the sources will not leak, even if the journalists who baked them spend 18 months in jail.

Stay tuned for next week's Cake of the Week: The Medieval Castle Cake - great for people feeling nostalgic for times when countries were run by feudal lords and the words "freedom of press" was the punch line of a court jester's joke.

Posted by Cakehead at 04:14 AM | Comments (1)

June 19, 2005

Christians aren't eating cake...the end must really be near

Christians have stopped eating Kraft Food cake and Procter and Gamble potato chips. No, they are not on a collective diet - which God hath decreed.

They are on a boycott. It's hard to believe they aren't eating, but they think by fasting they can stop our friends the gays from being gay - or at least stop representation of gay characters on television.

Expect to see the Christian lemmings - followers of Rev. Donald Wildmon's American Family Association (AFA)-slimming down.

In just the past year and a half, AFA protests and boycotts -- or even the simple threat of boycotts -- have been enough to make a host of American companies pull their ads from TV shows the Christian right considers pro-gay or salacious. "Desperate Housewives" has lost ads from Safeway, Tyson Foods, Liberty Mutual, Kohl's, Alberto Culver, Leapfrog and Lowe's after the AFA's One Million Dads campaign targeted the show's sponsors. "Life as We Know It" got the same AFA treatment -- and lost ads from McCormick, Lenscrafters, Radio Shack, Papa John's International, Chattem and Sharpie. [Read full article]

Tell the snack providers what you think of this move:
Kraft Foods
Procter & Gamble
Tyson Foods

Kraft Foods recipe for the golfing cake (pictured above)

Posted by Cakehead at 03:38 PM | Comments (2)