Steampunk cake

Jake von Slatt sez, "A local baker created this wonderful cake for some lucky steampunk!"

Steampunk Cake! (Thanks, Jake!)

[#1 posted by Maddy , February 10, 2009 11:48 AM]

Guys -- you might want to back off the steampunk thing a tad -- Courtney Love talks about it endlessly, it's replaced the word f*ck for her.

[#2 posted by Brainspore , February 10, 2009 11:54 AM]

Mmmm... pointy.

[#3 posted by emmagoldman , February 10, 2009 11:56 AM]

grd!

'm bt s trd f th stmpnk thng s m f Shphrd Fry's "cnc" mg

[#4 posted by DeWynken , February 10, 2009 11:57 AM]

Okay..someone needs to up the ante...

Steampunk Realdoll!

[#5 posted by Jeff , February 10, 2009 12:02 PM]

"I loved the cake, although I broke a tooth on one of the gears."

[#6 posted by dculberson , February 10, 2009 12:04 PM]

Oh wow, I just looked at the closeups and it seems like everything is edible. I could be wrong, but the gears look like cookies with gold icing. I absolutely adore the icing-based pressure gauge. Really neatly done.

Naysayers, just move on, please, your pathetic cries are way more irritating than the very occasional steampunk post.

[#7 posted by Xopher , February 10, 2009 12:05 PM]

EmmaGoldman...if I can't steampunk, I don't want to be part of your revolution.

[#8 posted by CptNemo , February 10, 2009 12:13 PM]

BoingBoing Steampunk Checklist®

1: Useless, impossible to function gears. Check!
2: Poorly constructed by wannabe craftsperson. Check!
3:Plenty of stained plywood and brass. Kinda Check!

Post to BoingBoing.

[#9 posted by Takuan , February 10, 2009 12:19 PM]

fear not, I've been quietly building a Steampunk Appreciation Through Kindly But Firm Re-Education Facility (got a deal on a sub-lease on one of those FEMA camps) You may notice the loudest non-appreciators dropping out of sight soon.

[#10 posted by Tensegrity , February 10, 2009 12:21 PM]

@8 how is this cake poorly constructed? It's not like a decorated cake is intended to be a functional device. And who cares if the gears are non-functional? Is a spiderman cake supposed to actually catch criminals or look as if it could? If someone made a sci-fi robot theme cake would you complain that the frosting-rendered circuits were not properly wired? I'd like to see you decorate a cake to look brass and woodgrain. Holy smokes!

[#11 posted by kiltreiser , February 10, 2009 12:23 PM]

Steampunk has definitely jumped the shark. Except it's still cool. And that cake looks tasty. I think...

[#12 posted by nehpetsE , February 10, 2009 12:35 PM]

How many psi can it withstand before it blows?

[#13 posted by EH , February 10, 2009 12:41 PM]

Needs pipes.

[#14 posted by CptNemo , February 10, 2009 12:45 PM]

@10, To someone who know anything at all about machinery, the usual steampunk depictions of gears are on par with drawing a car with the wheels mounted sideways and on the roof.

Of course it doesn't have to function - it IS a cake after all - That doesn't excuse it from being so mechanically unconvincing!

[#15 posted by mdh , February 10, 2009 12:56 PM]

Is is made from real steampunks?

[#16 posted by Kaden , February 10, 2009 12:56 PM]

At least this is edible, which makes it marginally less offensive than that sewing machine with the propellor on it from last year.

[#17 posted by seijihyouronka , February 10, 2009 12:57 PM]

1) I think it's lovely!

2) One could dress up something like this with LEDs and the like, if they wanted to -- I'm thinking of the section on electric cakes in the Hungry Scientist Handbook, and the NYT article on their development of the process. That they tried to frost a cake with electrode gel is a testament to their dedication.

3) Why can't everyone compelled to comment on Boing Boing posts with "This is too popular to be cool" just use their hands to cover their perpetual yawns instead?

[#18 posted by minTphresh , February 10, 2009 1:07 PM]

gadzooks! i must say, that comestible, spartanic though it may seem, is creating a certain masticatory wonderfulness in my salivatorian regions.

[#19 posted by allen , February 10, 2009 1:42 PM]

I still love the aesthetic of steampunk, even if the name makes me violent (I solicit that the ability of the suffix "punk" has lost all its power to make something edgy by now (and yeah- I know the term has been around at LEAST since bruce sterling and william gibson wrote the difference engine)).

I'd hate to see all the DIY computer case mods and house projects in that style replaced by cute ukulele girls. And I'll be damned if I let Courtney Love determine what I do and do not think of as "cool".

[#20 posted by Darren Garrison , February 10, 2009 2:30 PM]

"I'd hate to see all the DIY computer case mods and house projects in that style replaced by cute ukulele girls."

I, for one, welcome our new cute ukulele girl overlords.

http://ukulelehunt.com/2009/02/01/kate-micucci-ted-scrubs-screw-you-tab-chords/

[#21 posted by Xopher , February 10, 2009 2:31 PM]

I want to know how they got the polished-wood effect here.

I'm going to look into that, then see if there's any way I can make chocolates that look like they're made of wood...maybe with brass around the bottom. Steampunk chocolates!

[#22 posted by adonai , February 10, 2009 2:40 PM]

@ Maddy #1 - cutely enough, a Google search for "courtney love steampunk" brings up your comment as the first result :)

[#23 posted by Connie H. , February 10, 2009 2:50 PM]

I complained about the sewing machine, but I have little trouble appreciating the cake.

Tho' it would be more impressive if the gear were moveable, or there was a small motor that would make part of it move, or real steam come out of it somehow.

I sense we have not begun to explore the heights of confectional steampunkery.

[#24 posted by Xopher , February 10, 2009 3:02 PM]

It's also one of those dual-vision things, almost like that picture of a young/old woman...only internal. You can look at it and see the wood and brass thing it's representing, but then also see it as a cake.

Either way, it's yummy.

[#25 posted by Nesbitt , February 10, 2009 3:04 PM]

Cld ths pssbly mrk th nd f th "stmpnk" psts t BB? Pls????

[#26 posted by Xopher , February 10, 2009 3:08 PM]

Nesbitt: Nope. Could this possibly mark the end of your whining about steampunk on BB? My sense is also nope, but I thought I'd ask just in case.

[#27 posted by Takuan , February 10, 2009 3:23 PM]

I say! Does a young gel jump out of it at the last moment? In striped pantaloons?

[#28 posted by Antinous / Moderator , February 10, 2009 4:14 PM]

I thought that was supposed to be tortoise shell.

[#29 posted by Tensegrity , February 10, 2009 5:12 PM]

@14 Cpt nemo, I actually do know something at all about machinery. I also know the difference between a design motif and a functional representation.

I have no problem with a car themed cake with disembodied wheels applied in all sorts of crazy directions. It would be a car themed cake, not a realistic representation of a car rendered in cake and frosting.

Have you ever seen a music themed cake with music notation on it that doesn't actually create a recognizable melody or chord? Are you going to stand there and complain about discordant cake decor?

[#30 posted by Nesbitt , February 10, 2009 6:59 PM]

Hey Xopher #26 - I've never posted before about Steampunk anything.

[#31 posted by Nesbitt , February 10, 2009 7:01 PM]

...and what's with the random renmoval of vowells?

[#32 posted by Xopher , February 10, 2009 7:12 PM]

Nesbitt, my 'you' was generic. We've had quite enough of the complaints in steampunk threads. If you don't like steampunk, just scroll past it. And the disemvowelling isn't random.

[#33 posted by Cragsavage , February 10, 2009 9:04 PM]

"I know the difference between a design motif and a functional representation"

[Round of applause]

[#34 posted by Takuan , February 10, 2009 9:12 PM]

itsa nicea place
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFacWGBJ_cs

[#35 posted by Nesbitt , February 10, 2009 10:04 PM]

Hey #32, just as well I just *love* everything steampunk and can't wait for the next example of something with gears and leavers added. Now that's wonderful.

[#36 posted by Pirate , February 11, 2009 7:49 AM]

@ Tensegrity(29): I actually do know something at all about machinery. I also know the difference between a design motif and a functional representation.

Bi-Lal Kaifa!

I must say, all the Steampunk griping reminds me of a moment in the LotR bonus materials, when one of the special effects guys with a degree in bird-stuff kept needling John Howe about him drawing Winged Beasts with a particular wing configuration that does not exist in real life.

Eventually Howe replied, "Shut up, Ben. It looks cool."

Tasty as well.

[#37 posted by dculberson , February 18, 2009 9:01 AM]

Just dropped back in on this thread... Cptnemo got told!!