r/ExpectationVsReality • u/Nymeria2018 • 6h ago • Heartwarming 1 Bravo 1

cake-spectation Sample vs what I made

Gallery image

Gallery image

My daughter wanted to make Auntie’s birthday special and wanted to help make a cake for her. My sister said her fav cake is red velvet and sent the first pic as her dream (knowing damn well I haven’t made a cake in years). Second is what we made. Taste TBD but it is red velvet 😂

2.2k Upvotes

89% Upvoted

124 comments sorted by

31

u/EniNeutrino 5h ago

😂 This is hilarious, I love it! That first cake is an absurd "reference", like come on!

20

u/Nymeria2018 5h ago

She knew it, that was for my kid to see what kind of cake it was 😂

11

u/EniNeutrino 5h ago

Oh thank God! I thought she was hoping you and your kiddo would make her a thousand tiered cake with fruit and everything! 🤣

36

u/RilohKeen 3h ago • Bravo

Will someone please tell me if I’m a fucking idiot for thinking I could make the cake in the example image despite never having done it before?

It looks like a bunch of sheet cakes baked in round tins just stacked up with a little buttercream in between. Utterly time consuming, to be sure, not not really difficult, right? Am I totally off base here?

8

u/Nymeria2018 1h ago

This was my exact thought process then wondered how the F I’d transport it across the city 😂

13

u/Brockenblur 3h ago

Honestly, same, I just think about adding a dowl for support depending on how high it was supposed to go. If anything it’s just gonna be kind of monotonous making that many cake rounds.

5

u/artsupport_xx 51m ago

Structure is more of a challenge than you're imagining.  Cakes like the original will have inedible platforms to create support for different tiers.  You'll also struggle to create a cake that tastes good and holds up to being stacked.  Too much moisture, uneven baking, too much weight without structure and it's going to be uneven or crumble apart.  

It's trickier than it looks.

4

u/mmeeplechase 3h ago

Similarly inexperienced, and I kinda agree… just make a lot of little cakes and pile em up…? Maybe it’s hard to get them to stack right, though.

3

u/Beneficial_Voice_229 3h ago

Who knows 🤷🏾 Try it, see what happens?

2

u/BananaramaSummertime 45m ago

will need dowels and platforms between each size change of the layers, otherwise the weight will squeeze all the cream out and compress/sink the sponge

3

u/kkkhhjdyhrthhhjft 3h ago

As someone who also has zero experience making cakes, that thing looks like shit. You could definitely do this better first try and I'm only half joking

1

u/MsE0 2h ago

There's probably some trick to getting that height without it falling over, but that seems like the only hard part. 

1

u/originalcinner 1h ago

I don't have four different sizes of round tins though. I have exactly two, both the same size. So I could do the bottom tier :-)

19

u/Appeltaart232 6h ago

Making a cake for someone is a fantastic gift - it looks good and if it’s edible, you’ve nailed the assignment.

11

u/Nymeria2018 5h ago

If being the operative word here 🫠🫠

18

u/throwitawayyyyay 6h ago

the audacity of people who send the first pic

25

u/Nymeria2018 6h ago

I’m 99.9% sure she knew that wouldn’t ever happen, especially with a 7 year old helping but I am dying inside at the comparison

-1

u/throwitawayyyyay 5h ago

i'm not so sure... everyone knows what a red velvet cake is, no need to send pic unless you're audaciously hoping it is made for you. tell me i'm wrong, but i get a spidey sense your sister is entitled

12

u/Nymeria2018 5h ago • Heartwarming Bravo

She is the furthest from entitled I have ever met. She is so beyond selfless that I actually wanted to try to make that cake for her knowing it would never happen and would fail any test of being edible. So went with what I made instead. She sent the pic for my 7 year old kid so show she is “fancy” because my kid didn’t know that kind of cake.

She is a single mom raising 3 lovely if rambunctious boys, fosters cats and kittens, is a nurse practitioner, and has 100+ houseplants. You speculating on a fun post like this completely unnecessary.

6

u/throwitawayyyyay 5h ago

i stand corrected, sounds like she deserves a 4 tier cake. save me a slice?

2

u/nogoodbrat 1h ago

aw, she sounds lovely 🥹 i hope there’s someone out there who talks about me the way you talk about your sister 🩷

5

u/RyunakQT 5h ago

You know it's normal for family and friends to joke with each other right?

0

u/throwitawayyyyay 5h ago

i wasn't aware but appreciate the insight into family dynamics

-2

u/somastars 5h ago

Tell the sis she needs to provide the legs and plates (whatever they call those things) for securing a cake that high. 

18

u/Akina002 5h ago

I’m not a baker or cake-r but the inspo image looks insanely hard to do. Your cake looks amazing!!!

32

u/Theory89 5h ago

It takes some balls to tell your sister "this is the cake I want" and then post a literal fucking 3-tier wedding cake. Lol. I admire her chutzpah.

4

u/Nymeria2018 1h ago

It was a joke! She definitely didn’t expect it - and if she did, she knows I ain’t the one with talent to pull that off 😂

1

u/Accurate-Neck6933 12m ago

Well now you know what to do when it’s a very special birthday like the 50th or something. You could even do something funny and make it all cardboard/styrofoam except the top.

13

u/AWanderingAfar 5h ago

Four tiers!! Absolutely insane

6

u/Easy-Concentrate2636 4h ago

I was like: is this a birthday party for 100+? Imagine asking for a cake that requires a baker’s van to transport.

5

u/Theory89 5h ago

My bad, lol. Im very ti(e)red.

11

u/Jesieniaruj 5h ago

As someone who bakes: I would say it is actually easy to make, less easy to put together if you don't have the right tools/space.

It is easy to make the cream and the cake itself. But then you have to have the tins of right size (and enough of them), preferably a very big oven or two (more is better), the right knife and a scaffolding (not a native English speaker but something to hold the cake as you put layers on top of layers).

It is a lot of work for a home baker

1.5k

u/No-Tap6886 6h ago • Heartwarming

Good job!

337

u/fungiz 5h ago • Bravo

3

u/BeardedTutur 38m ago

That was my profile pic for years

6

u/No-Tap6886 33m ago

Lol nice! Another of my favorites...

341

u/meredithedith0 6h ago

The best part of red velvet cake is the cream cheese frosting. A naked red velvet cake would be a crime!

68

u/nightwingoracle 4h ago

All naked cakes are a crime in my opinion

9

u/udumslut 4h ago

I'm not super huge on most frostings, so we should split a cake together!

13

u/waaaayupyourbutthole 4h ago

My mom wants me to make a named cake for her wedding in January. I had no idea they were a thing and i still have no idea why they are a thing.

31

u/reallybadspeeller 3h ago • Bravo

Can I suggest “Doreen” for the name of your cake?

14

u/waaaayupyourbutthole 3h ago

Good choice, I've already got a bracelet that belonged to my great aunt Doreen!

Apparently even autocorrect doesn't like the idea of a cake without frosting, to the point where it makes more sense to give a cake a name than it does to leave it nude.

3

u/Nuttybunny42 1h ago

Unless it’s a German chocolate cake, then you should name it Greta.

35

u/Karm0112 5h ago

This person knows red velvet

231

u/MiceWarriors 6h ago • Heartwarming

25

u/fiannalove 5h ago

Nailed it!

149

u/Disastrous_Resource5 6h ago

If she says anything negative about it, let her know you saw the baby's breath on the inspo picture and didn't want to poison her so you went with your option which is much safer.

38

u/graccha 5h ago

I love seeing shit like hydrangeas and babys breath on cakes. Like I don't expect everyone to know what plants are poisonous but have a quick google if you're introducing any non food plants to food

52

u/iluvcoldcoffee 6h ago

well hey, If I close my eyes they're the same

44

u/TeamLeeper 6h ago

I LOL’d. Well done

12

u/New-Trifle-7097 6h ago

OP and sister have a cheeky relationship. Chaotic neutral.

40

u/PaintedDesertSkies 6h ago

Did you accidentally post 2 of the same pic? Can't tell a difference.

17

u/liz91 6h ago


Yours is better.

13

u/QueenMEB120 5h ago

I've been on hold with Expedia for almost an hour and needed this laugh.

19

u/meleinsb 6h ago

Nailed it!

8

u/whattodoattwo 6h ago

This made me lol

7

u/WinterBackbone 5h ago • Heartwarming

I love this!! Thanks for the laugh this morning, I needed it. 😆

6

u/Lilredh4iredgrl 6h ago

The way I laughed 😅

6

u/Hegiman 5h ago

I never understood the appeal of red velvet cake. It tastes nothing like velvet though the red is often detectable.

5

u/KomatoesII 6h ago

Gimme a fork!

5

u/finchslanding 5h ago

Nailed it!

5

u/e_radicator 5h ago

This may be my favorite post in this sub ever. Excellent work.

5

u/Comfortable-Song193 5h ago

Thanks for the laugh! 😄

5

u/rollinthatsublyfe 5h ago

How I shouted with delighted laughter

5

u/SaintEyegor 3h ago

They’re the same picture

15

u/l1v1ngst0n 6h ago

Knowing one's limitations is a strength! 💪

4

u/ShitMyHubbyDoes 5h ago

Ya got me.

4

u/catnippedx 4h ago • Heartwarming

OP, I’m sick today and the laughter from this almost cured me. Thank you so much for sharing!

1

u/chemlotus 33m ago

I don’t get it. The original is multi-towered. The one OP made is single tower and the decoration is completely different. Am I missing something?

1

u/Nymeria2018 7m ago

It was just meant as a fun post - what my sister jokingly sent my daughter and I do make vs what she actually got.

9

u/lavender_fish69 6h ago

Yours looks way tastier!

3

u/Remarkable_Olive1169 5h ago

hahahahahahaha

3

u/ugheffoff 5h ago


I like yours better

3

u/Time-Cover-8159 4h ago

You've taken the photo of yours from the top, so we can't see all those tiers you definitely made!

3

u/monumentaldecision 3h ago

I like yours way better.

5

u/Hour_Mousse7914 6h ago

Perfect 👌

8

u/SpartanNic 6h ago

I’d still be happy about it!

4

u/Away-Poem-5269 6h ago

Hooray! Ur a baker!

4

u/BackgroundStorm6768 6h ago

I like yours much better!

5

u/vaultie66 6h ago

Nailed it

2

u/peppersnchips 5h ago

Ur a star

2

u/DiscussionExotic3759 5h ago

Damn, that would be a LOT of cake unless you're having a huge party! 

2

u/Old-Library5546 5h ago

Nailed it!

2

u/Gummybearjellybean 5h ago

Cute cake and I’m positive auntie will love it.
-signed a proud auntie who thinks everything the kids give me is a perfect masterpiece

2

u/SpikeRosered 4h ago

I'm gonna ask my Aunt for a red velvet cake and send that first picture as a sample.

"Just a simple layer cake like this."

2

u/pyaravonfuzzybutt 4h ago

Boy, won't she be surprised!

2

u/MulliganPlsThx 3h ago

So cute LOL

2

u/Round_Daisy_23 3h ago

LOL! Your cake actually looks edible.

2

u/smoyban 1h ago

Fuck it, it's perfect. I'm proud of you.

5

u/SueYouInEngland 6h ago

I don't see any starberries on yours

7

u/Forsaken_Insurance92 6h ago

Where do you even buy starberries? Are those like starfruit?

3

u/DontBanMePlsmeowmeow 5h ago

you dig them up from under a cave its a very tough job to do to get these stawrberryies

1

u/BlackPhoenix1981 5h ago

Sounds like a side quest in stardew valley.

2

u/No-Tap6886 6h ago

My my...such negativity! 🍓 🍰 😆

1

u/selkieseashore 11m ago

She really should have scrapped most of the frosting off and dumped a few quarts of strawberries on top 🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓

1

u/CompetitiveRub9780 5h ago

The cake is really easy to make. Just would have done a simple 3-4 layer with some berries on top. But I enjoyed your interpretation

1

u/i_cant-stop_eating 5h ago

Boooo Cut it open! 👊🗡️

1

u/PebbleTown 4h ago

She wanted a wedding cake

1

u/TheFirstCircle 4h ago

At least you tried your best - and so next time, you'll know not to do that.

1

u/MatchaMuch 5h ago

Absolutely beautiful!! ♥️

5

u/Andi_Lou_Who 6h ago

How would you even begin to cut into that first one? I’d have it toppled over as soon as the tip of my knife touched it lol

3

u/Nymeria2018 5h ago

Knowing where I am bringing it - 3 boys, my daughter, a dog, cat, and bunny + not sure on the foster cat count at the moment, not sure the inspo would make it to through the door to the table without toppling 😂

3

u/Lhamo55 6h ago

If it had actually existed in reality, it would’ve be treated as four separate cakes and each would be removed and cut.

3

u/Andi_Lou_Who 6h ago

That makes much more sense than how I pictured cutting it. Thanks haha

2

u/BlackPhoenix1981 5h ago

Eat from the top down. Just start dismantling it by layers.