A cake or cake-
like dessert, such as a cupcake or delectable cookie-cake, that represents, inspires, or responds to a catastrophe. Such artistic desserts were first imagined in the salons of late-18th century Paris during discussions of the plight of the Sans-culottes. The
oft-repeated "let them eat cake" reflected the aristocratic belief that the Parisian
poor should indulge in cakestrophe so that they might come to understand the futility of resisting the will of the Second Estate. Because the discourse of these educated salon-frequenters was primarily grounded in esoteric cake theory and not in practice, caketastrophe remained a largely conceptual dessert until the innovations of Brown
University undergraduates in the fall of
2007. These
brave students, inspired by the
work of Hemmingway and certain gay fantasies, struggled against the forces of uncooperative frosting and poorly calibrated dorm ovens to produce the first recorded caketastrophes.
Dude 1: "Why does your cake resemble mutilated genitals?"
Dude 2: "Haven't you ever heard of a caketastrophe before?"
Dude 1: "No"
Dude 2: "I guess this is the end of our friendship"
Dude 1: "Yeah"
