Nearly every day, Jen Yates' blog Cake Wrecks makes me laugh really, really, really hard. Her parade of pastry preposterousness is spit-take entertaining -- but the frosting, if you will, is Jen's well-written, playful commentary.

Jen's new book comes with new wrecks, a book tour and a bio that touts her experience leading up to the Wreckerator-in-Chief job as including clown, cash office accountant, Jungle Cruise skipper, business owner, children's book inventory expeditor, and house painter. So impressed was I that I asked her for a BlogHer exclu -- below you'll find my questions and Jen's answers. Enjoy.

BlogHer: My favorite Cake Wrecks are always expertly executed but fall into the "beyond bizarre," category -- like Naked Mohawk-Baby Carrot Jockeys or Creepy Baby or Why Suzy Needs Therapy. What kind of approach to cake do you think leads to the most regularly Wrecktastic creations?

Yates: I think it's the desire to be unique that leads so many talented bakers down the path of Wreckage. Sometimes they get a little carried away with their creativity, and then we end up with wedding cakes that are life-sized sculptures of the bride, shower cakes with baby appendages sticking out of them, and groom's cakes that look like giant dead deer. These things might be artistic, but they're not very appetizing!

BlogHer: Has Tom Selleck ever told you how he feels about his chest hair (in frosting) being used to feed your family?

Yates: Hah! No.

BlogHer: Which celebrities are most frequently memorialized in cake? Besides Tom Selleck, which are the most interesting when encakeulated?

Yates: At the moment I mostly see the tween stars: Hannah Montana & the Jonas Brothers.

BlogHer: Is this your first book?

Yates: Not only is it my first book, Cake Wrecks is also the first time I've ever written professionally. Wait - am I allowed to call myself professional now? Heh, when John and I first started painting we used to joke that if you get paid for it, you're a professional. So if you go by that standard, then I guess now I'm a pro. ;)

BlogHer: What's your favorite new cake in the book?

Yates: I was particularly enamored with the resume cake, believe it or not. It was really hard to save that for the book, because I wanted to post it on the blog the second I saw it. It's just such a funny idea to put an edible resume on a cake, although you could argue it borders on genius; the guy *did* get the job! As far as ultimate Wreckage goes, though, you can't beat the new "dearly departed" baby cake and some of the new wedding horrors.

BlogHer: What was the most challenging cake to write about? How come?

Yates: Ooh, there are so many hard cakes to write for. So many times I'll look at a Wreck and say, "Sure, it's a Wreck no question, but it's not funny!" That's the key to Cake Wrecks: if it's not funny, and I can't make it funny, then I scrap it. I'm after laughs more than I'm after cringes. So all that to say: The biggest challenges were in the early days of the blog when I didn't have the option of picking and choosing like I do now. Sometimes that resulted in unexpected gems, though, like Drew's Birthday Wish. That cake isn't a Wreck at all, but John challenged me to write a post for it anyway, just to stretch my literary muscles. And you know what? Not only did the readers seem to like what I came up with, but it was probably one of the most fun writing experiences I've ever had.

BlogHer: What's your all-time favorite post (or posts)?

Yates: Gosh, I have so many favorites! Well, I still love the Cake Head Diet Aid -- even though it was kind of a flop when I posted it. (All anyone could talk about was that they thought the cake was PhotoShopped, which was a bit ego-bruising. Heh.) Other than that, I of course adore the Carrot Jockeys, runaway hit that they were, and Supermom VS the Diabolical Decorator of Doom. I love writing dialogue and little stories to go with the Wrecks; I imagine these little sketches in my head, and it's a blast brainstorming new ways to make them even more ridiculous.

BlogHer: What is more rife with danger: Wedding cakes or baby shower cakes?

Yates: Baby shower cakes tend to be Wreckier, but wedding cake Wrecks can be more traumatic (due to the whole once-in-a-lifetime thing). So I guess it depends on your definition of danger! From my standpoint, baby shower Wrecks are funnier, because bakers are finding so many new and creative ways to make it look like you're eating a baby, or part of a baby, or part of the mom and the baby. Wedding Wrecks, on the other hand, at "best" are just sad technical failures; not nearly as fun. Well, for us viewers, anyway. [grin]

BlogHer: OMG! Dr. Horrible in Sunday Sweets! What would you like to see in cake format that you have not yet seen? What are you entirely too bored with?

Yates: I feel that the world is Ghostbusters-cake deficient; I've only seen one or two really good ones. And Labyrinth, too; I'd love to see a wedding cake based on the ballroom scene. [gazes off dreamily] Yeah, that'd be awesome. Really, though, I like seeing anything that is different and shows a lot of personality. That's why geek and game-based cakes are so much fun.

Yates: And what am I bored with? Hmm... Well, I guess you could say I'm bored with boring cakes. I see lots of excellent cakes, but it has to have some kind of "Wow" factor to grab my attention these days. It could be something simple like a great color scheme, or one dramatic flower, but if it's just your average square tiered cake with ribbon borders, meh. You know what I'm sayin'? Just, meh.

BlogHer: What is your point of view on fondant?

Yates: Ah, fondant. You're looking to get me in trouble with this question, aren't you? Heh. Well, let's face it: most bakers agree that fondant looks fantastic and tastes -- at best -- less than fantastic. At worst, it tastes like a plasticy chewy dough, which is essentially what it is. I have hope for the future of fondant, though. I recently tried a brand called Fonderrific that tasted amazing, and readers have told me about bakers who make their own custom fondant flavors that also taste wonderful. This is good news, because as much as the buttercream purists hate it, I'm pretty sure fondant is here to stay.

BlogHer: Cake Wrecks makes me laugh really, really, really hard. What blogs go there for you?

Yates: Aw, thanks! You know, I actually don't follow too many humor blogs, although I'm always on the lookout for new sites. If I'm looking for a chuckle I might head over to Awkward Family Photos, Passive Aggressive Notes, Geekologie, or It's Lovely! I'll Take It (now called Lovely Listing). Most of the blogs I follow, though, are just written by fascinating people or contain fun facts and tidbits from around the web (Super Punch is one of my favs). I love reading about everything from art to indie fashion to Disney lore to geek news -- and yes, even some cake blogs! So I have a pretty diverse blogroll.

BlogHer: Where can I buy the calendar?

Yates: Hah! Give it time. We've always thought that would be a fun idea, but picking only 12 Wrecks would be torture for me, and one-a-day might be too ambitious. Do they make weekly calendars? I think 52 would be a good number.

(All images courtesy Cake Wrecks)