Carrying a Cake: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Sometimes, a plot involves or is centered around a character needing to carry a cake, pie, or some other food item toward a destination.

Possibly the second most frequent kind of [[America's Funniest Home Videos|Funny Home Video]], after [[Groin Attack|testicular calamity]].

 

{{examples}}

 

* The greatest risk of ''[[Ranma ½]]'''s [[Martial Arts and Crafts|Martial Arts Takeout Delivery]] isn't being late, but having your opponents destroy your delivery. Shampoo in particular has a food-exploding technique that blows up the contents of a takeout box by jabbing at it with a finger.

* The title character of ''[[Muteki Kanban Musume|Ramen Fighter Miki]]'' is a bicycle ramen delivery girl ... who gets into [[Chronic Hero Syndrome|fights during every delivery]], with [[Slapstick|predictable results]].

* One episode of ''[[Kekkaishi]]'' had the Yoshimori help a ghost of a former pastry chef complete his [[Ghostly Goals]] of comforting his brother, who was mourning his untimely death, by recreating a cake he once made when he was little to cheer up his brother after their parents died. After many exhaustive attempts trying to create the perfect cake (doubling in difficulty since the ghost's incorporeal nature makes it so he has to direct Yoshimori to making the cake himself), they hurry with Ogata and her butler's help in their car. However the butler's reckless driving damages the cake, which the brother surprisingly accepts as the cake his late sibling baked because he did a shoddy job baking the cake when they were little (regardless it was the act himself that he cherished). His acceptance of the cake is enough to allow the ghost to pass on.

* In ''[[Black Butler]]'' Elizabeth comes after Ciel to bring him a slice of delicious cake and [[Cat Scare|nearly gets shot by him]]. The cake ends up {{spoiler|eaten by a zombie, who then tries to eat the characters.}}

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* In the [[Goosebumps]] book ''The Cuckoo Clock of Doom'', the main character Michael is carrying his own birthday cake, when his bratty sister [[Enfant Terrible|Tara]] trips him, causing him to land face first in it. When he starts going backwards in time, he tries to prevent the tripping, but it still happens anyway.

** This trope is actually both used and averted in the same story. When Michael relives his birthday a third time at the end of the story ({{spoiler|after accidentally erasing Tara from existence}}) he manages to carry the cake to the table without incident.

** He winds up in an unfilled swimming pool, but a passing skateboarder decides to do him a favor...

* Done with a twist in ''[[Practical Magic]]'' (the book that inspired the film). Younger sister Kylie makes a cake as a peace offering for older sister Antonia, with whom she had a fight. While she's carrying the cake to where she knows she can find her sister, she gets [[Attempted Rape|assaulted by a strange man]]. Though she escapes to safety, she's covered in the cake, which she sort of used as a defensive weapon. It still achieves the desired objective, though; she reaches Antonia, who helps her clean up, and the incident heals the breach between them.

* ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'', "Gourmet Night": Basil spends a good part of the episode trying to get food from a restaurant to his hotel, only to have it destroyed at the last minute. Also "Basil the Rat", in which Basil covers a cut of meat with rat poison in order to poison Manuel's pet rat (also named Basil)...and then has trouble deducing whether or not the poisoned cut was served up to a visiting health inspector.

** With the first example, the main problem is that the cake isn't even what he ordered (duck). When he goes to pick up the replacement, one of the waiters accidentally switches it with a Bombe Surprise, which he digs through once he finds out in an attempt to somehow find the missing duck.

** Also, ''[[Ace of Cakes]]'', being a reality show about a bakery, can get into this sort of trouble. Truly serious disasters are thankfully rare (it helps if the cake isn't shaped like a tall building).

* A spectacular case of ''failing'' to carry a cake happened on ''[[Cake Boss]]'': a three-tiered birthday cake with handmade decorations had to be carried down the stairs, but first it had to be lifted over the banister. One of the guys wasn't ready, and in an instant about 30 pounds of cake ended up on the floor. Miraculously, Buddy & Co. were able to recreate the entire cake in ''[[Beyond the Impossible|one and a half hours.]]''

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* In the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Hell on Earth 2006", Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy have to deliver a cake shaped like a life-sized Ferrari to Satan for his Halloween Party. They end up accidentally destroying the cake and killing each other whilst they try to bake a new one.

* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]''

** In "Waiting", Patrick successfully delivers a piece of cake to Spongebob but ends up eating it whilst looking for the fork he brought.

* Averted in the ''[[Curious George]]'' TV show episode "Special Delivery Monkey." Chef Pisgetti forgets to bring a pie to a meeting with prospective clients. George delivers it in perfect condition, narrowly avoiding disasters along the way. {{spoiler|Then subverted when the chef promptly shoves the pie in another man's face. "When you order from Pisgetti's, we guarantee that your pie in the face gag will never fall flat!" He's cheered by the prospective clients, who are clowns.}}

* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' features this in "The Best Night Ever". When Applejack fails to sell her wares to the fancy upper-class ponies at the Grand Galloping Gala, she tries to impress them with a huge layer cake. Unfortunately, Pinkie Pie has been trying to liven up the festivities, and chooses that moment to do a stage dive onto Applejack's dessert cart. The cake goes flying, and [[Disaster Dominoes|it kinda goes downhill from there.]]

* The Futurama episode ''The Mutants are Revolting'' began with the crew needing to deliver a nitroglycerin-laced souffle to Mrs. Astor. Surprisingly, they managed it, and it didn't even explode when eaten... until Mrs. Astor gave the leftovers to her dogs, at which point it promptly exploded.

 

[[Category:Food Tropes]]

[[Category:Chekhov's Gun]]

[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]