Here are a couple of very non-wrecked cakes that were posted over at Cake Wrecks as part of their Sunday Sweets feature that highlights cakes polar opposite to what you normally find posted there the remainder of the week…

Click on the image above to see some more images of this awesome, and agreeably very Hallmark-y looking work of art!  And as for some less than awesome pumpkin cake treats, well, they’ve got themselves a few of those, too…

Found At: Super Target
Price: 59 cents
Disclaimer: I haven’t eaten yogurt “regularly” in several years. (It was a diet thing; it didn’t work; I don’t want to talk about it…)
Scott Says: This tastes no different than any other flavor of yogurt that I’ve eaten over the years, except for those that are designed to be flavored like things and actually do. Case in point is those Yoplait Whips things – back in the days when I actually did force myself to eat yogurt in a feeble attempt to shed pounds, this was the particular brand that I enjoyed and I’ll be damned if their key lime pie actually tasted like key lime pie. Or at least it was in the ballpark, which is more than Archer Farms can boast.
Final Fat Free Feelings: It’s tinted orange, and without an extensive use of your imagination, that’s the closest your going to get to pumpkin by eating this yogurt. A perfect example of why the store brand is usually crap, I’ll try this again next year only if Yoplait or another yogurt maker who actually knows flavors is behind the cow…

Possible Tag Line: “Almost as good as apple butter … almost.”
Medium for Sampling: Martin’s Potato Bread
Burnt Toast to Blame? not likely
Buttery Thoughts: This stuff basically has the consistency of pumpkin pie filling before it’s baked and whatnot, and has roughly the same general taste, minus the sugar (not that pumpkin pie has a lot of sugary content, but still – this is raw veggie). And given the arsenal of pumpkin-related goodies that I’ve sampled over the last few weeks, it’s still up there in terms of accurate pumpkin portrayal, but there was just something missing.
Verdict: Undecided – didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. May need to try it on some other mediums (bagels, english muffins, pumpkin bread) before a final verdict can be announced. Stay tuned for future updates…

I don’t want to bog down the flavorful flow here too much with politics, but I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t pumpkin-related … plus, even if you’re not democratically aligned, there are still some pretty impressively carved jack ‘o lanterns here…

Of course, there’s also a website, too, if you either feel like doing a little more browsing or even carving up a little democracy of your own!

P.S. Just for the record – my two cents? Vote Obama on November 4th!

Thoughts: “I’ll show those cocky punks at Starbucks! I’ll make my own pumpkin spice latte – how tough can it be?!”
Afterthoughts: “…maybe this is something better left to trained, over-charging professionals…”
Construction Note: Instead of simply using hot water, I followed the alternate instructions on the side of the can and used hot milk in its place. For what it’s worth, this is normally how I make hot chocolate, too.
Flavor: Sort of pumpkin-y, but it pains me to admit that the $4 Starbucks creation was probably better … which surprised me because I thought with the whipped cream and cinnamon I really brought something worthy to the table! It was ok, but nothing spectacular.
Side Note: Shortly after spotting this product, I also found a Limited Edition Pumpkin-Flavored Coffee Mate coffee mix-in, too, but seeing as I’m not a coffee drinker, I figured I’d be better off going with this one instead.
Verdict: You win this battle, Starbucks, but thankfully since I don’t really drink coffee all that much anyways, it doesn’t really matter!

Epilogue: While I really couldn’t care less about coffee, per se, I have been known to be a bit of a sucker for hot chocolate. That said, I disappointingly have yet to find any pumpkin-flavored hot chocolate mix to try, so if you happen to come across some, please do e-mail me with where you found it and I’ll see if I can hunt down a sample of my own here in sunny Florida!

Yes, we do occasionally drink hot chocolate here in Florida – it’s not blazingly hot all year long…

In the Wind: Sometimes in times like these when it seems like all of the pumpkin-based foods to be purchased have been, all you can do is light a candle like this and take solace in the idea that new foodstuffs will eventually present themselves when the time is right. Until then, just sit back, relax, and take a deep breath as the soothing scents of pumpkin and assorted fall spices wafts through the air, whisking away your problems like leaves falling from a tree…
Buy Your Own At: Wal-Mart (air freshener section, not candle section)

Abridged Verdict: Not bad, albeit just a bit stale by the time I finally got around to eating it (not anyone’s fault but my own, mind you…).  Flavor was slightly pumpkin-y, but for true flavor, Dunkin’ Donuts makes a pumpkin muffin that’s much better than their pumpkin donut.

Time of Night Purchased: 9:26pm
Fatigue at Time of Night Purchased: VERY HIGH
Likelihood That Fatigue Made This Treat Taste Better Than It Actually Did: ALSO VERY HIGH
Pumpkin-y Thoughts: Said milkshake may or may not have actually been pumpkin-flavored, similar to the whole Shamrock Shakes Incident. Nonetheless, at 9:26pm after many a sleepless night of last-minute wedding planning, it was as acceptable of a milkshake that I was going to find in this small town – pumpkin-flavored or otherwise.
Final, Sleepy Verdict: If you fancy pumpkin and you’re eating at McDonald’s anyways, then sure – go for it, but I wouldn’t exactly make a special trip out of it….

Foreward: I know I previously said that I’m not really much of a coffee drinker, but due to peer pressure and an overwhelming urge to spend $4 on a cup of coffee, I decided that there was simply no sense in leaving this stone, err, pumpkin unturned…
Flavor Value: surprisingly accurate – as if somebody had stashed a slice of pumpkin pie in the coffee maker and deliciousness ensued!
Coffee vs. Hot Chocolate: caffeine was definitely present, although not overbearing
Returnability: If I were a coffee drinker, or if said peer pressurers didn’t live on the other side of the country and thus requested my presence at such coffee-serving establishments on a more regular basis, then yes – I do say that I would likely fancy another cup.

Starbucks Jerky Barista Note: I must profess, however, that this visit to America’s premiere coffee destination was not all sugar and spice. When it came time to determine the size of my Pumpkin Spice Latte, I saw fit to make a passing joke about how the naming conventions for their sizes was confusing as all get out (a la “Why can’t you guys just use small, medium, large?” etc, etc…). It quickly became painfully clear that said barista didn’t find my joke in the least bit amusing because apparently they hear that kind of so-called witty banter at Starbucks all the time.

And to that I can only respond, “Well, good!” I know that the guy behind the counter surely doesn’t get a say in what sizes the company puts up there on the menu, but the least you can do is acknowledge that they’re utterly ridiculous! If I opened up a sandwich shop and said, “Nah – we’re not going to do small, medium, and large sandwiches. We need to be unique, so instead we’re going with golf cart, kangaroo, and 14-month-old baby. Which one is the biggest one? I dunno…” – that would make me a jerk and it would serve me right to have customers dish out a bit of mockery in exchange for the mass confusion every now and then!

Final Thoughts: tasty, pumpkin-rich coffee, no matter what size you end up ordering

Origin: local neighborhood Dairy Queen (not my local neighborhood, mind you, but I’m sure it was somebody’s neighborhood…)
Flavor: pumpkin-flavored, with what appeared to be bits of graham cracker crust
Appearance: clearly didn’t look exactly like the promotional photo, but still looked good
Taste: left something to be desired … had definite pumpkin-flavoring, but couldn’t possibly hold a candle to something along the lines of Cold Stone’s pumpkin ice cream which is actually pumpkin ice cream instead of just vanilla with pumpkin-flavoring added in later
Footnote: This treat probably would’ve been better received had I not stood there and watched the lady make it – there was just something about seeing the spoonfuls of “pumpkin-flavoring” gunk that she put in the cup before mixing it up that really ruined the magic for me. Before ordering, I joked about how they probably just throw a piece of pumpkin pie in the blender and add some ice cream, and sadly that wasn’t too far from the truth! Some things are better left behind the curtain…