Ever attend a wedding or birthday party where you couldn’t help noticing that something was a little (or a lot) wrong with the cake they were serving? Then you’ll enjoy Cake Wrecks, a blog that showcases some of the worst looking, most visually unfortunate, and thematically tasteless professionally made cakes we’ve ever seen.

Here’s a sampling of a few of the confectionery monstrosities you’ll find at Cake Wrecks…

1. The Spinning Cake of Goo

2. Say it With Meat

How about some cakes guaranteed to cast a pall over your special day:

• The Unfortunate Wedding Cake
• The I Just Saved You a Doctor’s Visit Cake
• The I Cannot Lie, Even Though It’s Your Birthday Cake

Ow my eyes…here’s 2 cakes that only a Medusa could love:

• Please Put on Sunglasses Before Viewing This Cake
• Keep Those Sunglasses On…I Mean It!

Here’s two cakes that are so ugly and disgusting that I can’t show you a preview photo on this site for fear of permanently killing your appetite. Click at your own risk:

• Icky Cake #1
• Even Ickier Cake #2

We’ll end with a pair of cakes that I can’t help liking…two puffer fish themed cakes:

(Photo Credits: All photos courtesy of Cake Wrecks)

In a recent New York Times article, Charleston on the Cheap, Chris Dixon focuses on a few of the simpler pleasures of a visit to the Holy City.

As it says in the article:

“Many of the area’s most captivating historic attractions are essentially free. Beaches and an outstanding farmers’ market are open to all, and the sweet tea and fabulous food can be found in off-the-beaten-path restaurants well known to the locals. With some careful shopping in advance, even a hotel room or condo can be affordable.”

I was particularly pleased that they mentioned J.B.’s Smokeshack, a down home, creaky doored barbecue shack I visit when I want to load up on hickory smoked barbecue pork, hash and rice, okra gumbo, and their deliciously rich pluff mud or chocolate eclair puddings.

Other restaurants mentioned in the article include such local favorites as the Folly’s Lost Dog Cafe and the Mustard Seed on Maybank.

For those that don’t live in here, the article goes on to share some inexpensive places to stay in the Charleston area, as well as a few off the beaten path attractions on James and Johns Islands that won’t break your vacation budget.

You can read more of the New York Times article here.

Charleston was also named one of Fortune Magazine’s 100 best places to live and launch on their recent 2008 list.

For those that enjoy golf, nearby Mt. Pleasant, SC was named one of the 10 best retirement spots for golf nuts by U.S. News & World Report.

As it says in the article:

“Located just outside historic Charleston, S.C., Mount Pleasant has 30 courses close at hand. And since it’s within day-trip distance of two South Carolina golfing havens—90 miles from Myrtle Beach and 110 miles from Hilton Head Island—boredom is one obstacle you’ll never face on the links…”

Other South Carolina cities that have recently won awards include Greenville, Aiken, and Rock Hill which were all recognized as one of the best places to live in America by RelocateAmerica.Com. Charleston also made the list.

Here’s a roundup of delicious recipes for homemade ice cream that feature flavors you won’t easily find in your local supermarket…enjoy!

• Pickled Peach Ice Cream from the Times-Picayune

• Lemon Verbena Ice Cream from David Lebovitz’s Living the Sweet Life in Paris Blog

• Cream Cheese Ice Cream from Epicurious

• Thai Tea Ice Cream from My Cake Wardrobe

• Super Simple Nutella Ice Cream from Chocolate and Zucchini

• Cardamom Peanut Butter Ice Cream Brownie Sundae with Chili-Spiked Chocolate Sauce from The Conscious Kitchen (It’s vegan!)

• Matcha White Chocolate Ice Cream from Steamy Kitchen

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As we move further into the dog days of summer, our thoughts return to the all too obvious pleasures of ice cream, which we first wrote about here. Surprisingly, the history of ice cream itself is fraught with debate and controversy.

In many quarters during the late 1800’s, the ingestion of the then highly popular, (though apparently sinfully delicious) ice cream soda, was considered to be immoral and improper on the Sabbath. Some communities even passed resolutions to outlaw its consumption on Sundays.

It is said that the phrase ice cream sundae was first coined in Evanston, Illinois; a phrase that may have paved the way for the beleaguered ice cream soda parlors to remain open on Sundays.

According to What’s Cooking America…

“Evanston, Illinois (then know as Chicago’s Heaven or Heavenston) was one of the first towns to outlaw the ‘Sunday Soda Menace’. Evanston was a very strict religious town where the Sabbath was strictly observed. The town even passed an ordinance prohibiting the retailing of ice cream sodas on Sunday. According to sources published in Evanston, the word sundae originated at Garwoods’ Drugstore…They did not serve ice cream sodas. They served sodas without soda on Sunday. The Evanston Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) championed it as a pleasant alternative to alcoholic drinks.”

To continue the controversy, both Two Rivers, Wisconsin and Ithaca, New York (our former stomping ground) claim to have invented the concept of the ice cream sundae itself. Wisconsin’s claim dates the invention to 1881 while New York’s claim of 1892 is later, but with more extensive documentation. Both cities have been fighting amiably on the topic since the 1970’s.

The lascivious ice cream soda itself was invented by Robert Green in 1874 at the Franklin Institute’s exhibit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

According to Michael Witzel:

“After sneaking a tentative sip, Green was wowed: the resulting blend of soda, syrup, and frozen cream was delightful! Without hesitation, the innocent libation was added to the menu, and by the end of the exhibition, customers showed approval by cracking their money purse. Green was taking in over $600 dollars a day in ice cream soda sales alone!…The phenomenon spread quickly and soon, ice cream sodas were slurped in fountains from New York to California.”

(Of course, when it comes to the history of ice cream, there’s always a little controversy. Fred Sanders of Detroit, Michigan also claimed to be the inventor of the ice cream soda at his confectionary shop which was named The Pavilion of Sweets.)

You can read more about the invention and popularity of ice cream here, from President James Madison’s wife, Dolly who started a craze for ice cream when she served it at his second inaugural ball in 1812, to the invention of the hand crank ice cream maker in 1943 by housewife Nancy Johnson.

Even today, controversy and ice cream go hand in hand. In 2006, the town of Wadowice, Poland temporarily banned the sale of ice cream during Pope Benedict XVI’s papal visit.

In Hudson County, New Jersey, it is now illegal for Mister Softee ice cream trucks to play their music after 9:30PM (growing up there I have fond memories of their velvety swirls of soft serve ice cream). Similar noise ordinance bans have been discussed across the country and enacted in parts of Pennsylvania, Illinois, and California.

Please join us tomorrow for the last part of our two part series on the joys of ice cream: More Exotic Ice Creams for the Sun-Ravaged Soul, which will feature a roundup of recipes for delicious flavored ice creams you won’t find at your local supermarket.

(Photo Credits: the first ice cream photo is courtesy of Thomas Hawk, while the second is by Emilie Hardman.)

Please join us tomorrow to read our newest daily food and cooking feature on HuggingtheCoast.Com.

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