Maybe you want to make amends for something foolish you did, or perhaps you're simply feeling bored. Either way, you've found the perfect recipe and are willing to spend the whole evening making it a reality. The problem is, nothing is as deceiving as a recipe. Not even those icebergs that threatened the Titanic. That lasagna may look gorgeous in the pictures, and the steps may sound simple enough for anyone to follow, but the reality is quite different. That, however, was enough to fool you, and now you're as oblivious as the ship's captain, heading toward a disaster—a horrible expectation vs. reality food disaster.
Instant Pot has curated some of the most amusing examples of food fails to inspire you like an Iron Chef. We all could use a bit of encouragement. From stained glass cookies that seem to have taken a leap of faith to a rice bear resembling more of a mummy than a bear, these culinary mishaps make you question if anyone dared to taste them.
Take a look below to see why it's sometimes better to just order a pizza and vote for your favorite expectation vs. reality food pic entries.
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#2 Expectations Vs. Reality: Cake Edition

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#3 Homemade Smiley Face Fries

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Why Do We Find These Expectation Vs. Reality Food Photos So Funny?
We’ve all experienced those hilarious food fails that result in burnt dishes, collapsed cakes, and croissants that resemble sharp dough sticks instead of buttery, flaky crescents. Let’s be honest: while these epic food fails can be maddening, they’re also quite funny. Plus, there’s something so relatable about them! It feels like we’re all in this together, trying to master culinary excellence one food fail at a time.
Let’s not overlook the visual aspect of these expectation vs. reality food pics. There’s something inexplicably hilarious about seeing regular food items turn into chaotic jumbles of gooey textures and incredible colorations. Sure, this can be considered part of the creative process, but these unexpected visual plot twists are what make this epic food fails so deliciously funny. Plus, sharing these moments of culinary catastrophe can bring us closer together, as laughter is a social glue that connects us.
At the end of the day, funny food fails to remind us that we’re all human and that it’s okay to make mistakes. Even the most seasoned chefs have been there or started there. So go ahead, cherish the imperfections, and have a good laugh.
#4 I Don’t Think This Project Could Have Been Saved

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#5 My Wife Made A Dragon Cake For Her Mother's Birthday

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#6 They Are Very Yummy Cupcakes That Are Decorated In A Scarier Than Intended Manner

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#7 Elmo Fail

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#8 Chocolate Hedgehog Cake

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#9 I'm Not Good At Frosting

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#10 Bunny Rolls

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#11 Apparently I’m Still In A Halloween Mindset

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#12 Unicorn Of The Sea

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#13 Olaf Quesadillas

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#14 Ordered Cake On Left, Received Cake On Right

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#15 Friend Ordered Guitar Cake. Cake Maker Said She Could Make An Exact Replica

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#16 Adorable Rice Bear

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#17 Spongebob And Patrick Have Seen Things

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#18 Chocolate Covered Banana Penguins

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#19 Grooms Cake Disaster, What We Wanted Vs. What We Got

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#20 There Are No Words. My Sister Asked For A Peppa Pig Cake. This Is What I Made

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#21 Dinosaur Cake

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#22 So Close...

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#23 Blueberry-Splosion

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#24 Devilled Egg Chicks

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#25 Please Kill Me

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#26 I Would Never Attempt This Again

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#27 It's A Good Thing Cats Don't Care About Cake

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#28 I Made A Santa Shaped Bread From A Recipe I Found, It Turned Out A Bit Different From The Picture

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#29 This Makes Me Laugh So Much Every Time I See It That Maybe It Was Worth The Fail

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#30 My Wife Made Croissants For Breakfast. Nailed It!

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#31 Stained Glass Cookies

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#32 Merry Christmas Everyone

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#33 I'm No Cook But I Didn't Expect To Screw Up A Baked Potato

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#34 My Dad Said He'd Made Macarons. Expectation Vs. Reality. Still Tasted Divine Though

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#35 Ordered A Birthday Cake For My Niece

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#36 Rainbow Heart Cookies Surprise

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#37 Nailed It!

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#38 Matcha Cake Did Not Matcha Expectations

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#39 Girlfriend's Halloween-Themed Cupcakes

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#40 Was Asked To Make Food Network's Brown Sugar Pecan Bears

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#41 Not So Much ‘Arrrrah, How Cute’ And More ‘Arrrrraahhh What The F*** Is That?'

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#42 We Tried To Be Creative This Christmas. It Didn't Work Out So Well

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#43 Pinterest Finger Cookie Failure My Friend Did. They Were Still Delicious

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#44 My First Attempt At Decorating A Nice Birthday Cake. (I Apologized Profusely To My Mom As I Gave It To Her.)

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#45 My Sister And I Attempted To Make A Kinder Egg Cake For My Nephew

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#46 I Made A Mistake Early In The Process And That's Why This Is An Exorcist Swan

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#47 I Saw A Thing. I Tried To Make A Thing. I Shouldn't Try To Make Things

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#48 Paint Splatter Cake

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#49 My Birthday Cake Attempt. To Be Fair I Had Quite A Few Drinks Beforehand And Not The Right Cooking Utensils

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#50 The Force Is Weak With This One

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Kitchen disasters got you feeling like a horror movie chef? Don't sweat it! Even the most seasoned cooks have faced their fair share of lopsided cakes and burnt offerings.
Take a break from the battlefield and find culinary comfort in the delightful chaos of "funny cake fails" online. A good laugh is guaranteed to chase away your baking blues
Before you go, make sure to check out Bored Panda's compilation of the funniest food fails in their article, “Expectation vs. Reality: 50 Epic Food Fails”.







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