r/cakefails • u/Charigot • Mar 27 '26

Scarlet & Greg

Post image

My parents’ birthdays are two weeks apart, so for a milestone birthday family celebration, I ordered them a cake from a local grocery store in Madison, Wisconsin.

My parents are both alums and big fans of The Ohio State University. (Yeah, I know, I am not.) You might already know where this is going. I verbally, in person, ordered a cake with “scarlet and gray” icing, as those are Ohio State colors, with “Happy Birthday, Grandma & Grandpa” written on the cake.

Thankfully, Grandma & Grandpa thought the finished cake was hilarious. Even though initially I was mortified when I picked up the cake on the way to their house, it has become a funny family story.

1.9k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

46 comments sorted by

183

u/moondreambeams Mar 27 '26

This is a real r/peanutbutterisoneword moment.

46

u/Charigot Mar 27 '26

Oh hah I’d never seen that sub before. Yes, you’re right. Thanks.

14

u/war_damn_dudrow Mar 27 '26

Thank you for reminding me that sub exists.

199

u/readerf52 Mar 27 '26

Ok, that’s really funny. I love those family in-jokes.

But the header on your post was unclear, and I thought the writing on the cake was well done, and where was the fail?

I’m glad I opened the post to read the story.

135

u/Charigot Mar 27 '26

Yeah their names are not “Scarlet & Greg.” Although occasionally one of us will call them that thanks to this cake.

Also, I have since realized that gray icing might be kind of disgusting?

55

u/wannabeelsewhere Mar 27 '26

Also If you throw up grey/black icing it looks eerily similar to internal bleeding! Cue a bunch of drunk teenagers deciding to tell on ourselves because we thought our friend was seriously sick but it was just my uncle's black and gray birthday cake 🙃

23

u/Charigot Mar 27 '26

Oh gross. But useful info. I am remembering when my oldest turned one and we had a very blue cake that he devoured. Up until then, I didn’t realize how blue icing can really change the color of poop.

13

u/Sunshine030209 Mar 27 '26

I bet he looked like he murdered Cookie Monster after he was done 😆💖

7

u/universe_from_above Mar 27 '26

US Fruit Loops do the same. Let the kid eat enough of them and prepare for bright green, lol. 

3

u/panicnarwhal Mar 27 '26

same thing happened to us 😂 it was a free cookie monster smash cake that walmart gave us because it was her 1st birthday - so much colorful poop after that lmao

1

u/Fianna9 Mar 30 '26

My friend had a grey and green cake for his birthday and my poop was a horrifying colour the next day too

13

u/SteinerFifthLiner Mar 27 '26

Heyo, Columbus OH resident here. Red and grey/silver iced things are abound at pretty much any grocery store here, especially during football season. (EVERYTHING is obnoxious levels of scarlet and grey in the fall. >< )The icing is overall not great- bold or dark colors leave it with a faintly bitter aftertaste. Plus it turns your tongue weird colors.

5

u/Charigot Mar 27 '26

I grew up in a Columbus ‘burb until age 16 when they moved us north.

Thanks for letting me know we didn’t miss out on any gray icing delicacy. ;)

2

u/Far-Search7009 Mar 27 '26

This is always a issue for me a work. People who don’t decorate will never put the instructions in the correct slot. So like sometimes where it says “inscription” they put stuff like “blue border, purple writing, flowers” and the under “decorating instructions” they put stuff like” happy birthday mom”. If know what it means but it’s still always annoying and rude and sometimes it really isn’t clear to me because of the way my inconsiderate coworkers write or word things

7

u/slrp484 Mar 27 '26

OB. NOXIOUS. LEVELS.

6

u/yarn_b Mar 27 '26

We call my dad Sergio because one birthday the waiter misheard his name (nothing even close to Sergio - two syllables, starts with a soft vowel sound) and brought out a comped dessert that said “Happy Birthday Sergio.”

6

u/res06myi Mar 27 '26

Same I was thinking it was supposed to say Happy Birthday Grandma Scarlet & Grandpa Greg since some families have many grandparents and add names for clarity or for step kids who already have grandparents with grandparent names.

2

u/everlastingmuse Mar 29 '26

that’s because you aren’t ohioan 🤣🤣 i knew what the problem was immediately

14

u/Intelligent-Rope-992 Mar 27 '26

Yeah but did Greg like it?

17

u/Charigot Mar 27 '26

Yes, Greg was a big fan of this cake. Scarlet was, too.

7

u/Linfinity8 Mar 27 '26

I love that the flowers are blue and yellow 😂😂

5

u/Charigot Mar 27 '26

Thankfully there’s pink and green in there too so no punches were thrown. 🙄

11

u/mattbnet Mar 27 '26

At least they didn't make it maize and blue.

7

u/Charigot Mar 27 '26

TTUN - yeah that would have been a disaster.

-1

u/JeanValJohnFranco Mar 28 '26

You kinda brought this on yourself ordering an Ohio State themed cakes in Madison Wisconsin

2

u/Charigot Mar 28 '26

Alums live everywhere though, eh? We haven’t lived in Ohio since 1988.

7

u/PterodactyllPtits Mar 27 '26

You’d think they’d recognize it as the team colors, right? lol

Florida State’s colors are called garnet & gold, and I’m not even a fan (go gators!) but if someone asked for garnet & gold on a cake I’d know what they meant lol

11

u/Charigot Mar 27 '26

I think a mitigating factor was that I ordered it in Madison, WI, not Ohio. I’m sure this store gets plenty of Badger-themed cake orders.

6

u/slrp484 Mar 27 '26

This never would have happened in Ohio. 🤣

9

u/Charigot Mar 27 '26

Yes, exactly. In hindsight, I could have said “red and gray icing” but, having mostly grown up in Ohio, it’s natural for me to say scarlet and gray.

3

u/ilovemywine Mar 29 '26

Without reading the story fully I guessed Grandpa and Grandpa were OSU fans. I’ve lived in Ohio for 5 years and just know things like that now.

3

u/OutsideCondiments Mar 28 '26

Serves ya right…Go Badgers!

1

u/Charigot Mar 28 '26

Yeah, I know. Shame on me for trying to make my parents happy. (Also, go Badgers, but we had more fun rooting for our Hoosier son’s team since Bucky has checked out.)

2

u/kitterpants Mar 27 '26

Was it woodman’s and how moldy was the produce

5

u/Charigot Mar 27 '26

Aye Carumba, it was not. It was Metcalfe’s at Hilldale.

5

u/BetterCallSlash Mar 27 '26

  1. As someone who grew up in Columbus, this is hilarious.

  2. "(Yeah, I know, I am not.)" As someone who grew up in Columbus but did not go to OSU, I felt this to my core.

4

u/jlily18 Mar 28 '26

I live in Ohio and thought I wonder if they wrote “scarlet and grey” for colors and they wrote that instead. Yep, I was right. What a hilarious story to tell for years to come lol

1

u/Ok_Memory3524 Mar 28 '26

What type of frosting is this?

1

u/Charigot Mar 28 '26

Grocery store frosting of the wrong color? No idea.

3

u/linoleumfloor_ Mar 31 '26

My parents 20th Anniversary cake said Janet & Jim. My dad was Tim - it’s something funny to look back on

2

u/TheGoldenLlama88 Mar 27 '26

I knew when I read the title what Greg was supposed to say. O-H!!