Two Cakes Rule

Synonyms:	two cakes theory
See also:
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The Two Cakes Rule asserts that while the artist may judge themselves against the best in the field, the audience is usually glad to see an increased number of offerings. It is an expression of how audiences appreciate art, even when it seems less fancy than other art. The two cakes rule is frequently reblogged and referred to in media fandom. It has been used to encourage fanworks, original creations, comments on fanfic, and many other kinds of participation in artistic and creative communities.

It comes from a simple ms-paint comic commonly found on Tumblr, with the art originally by stuffman (who is now stuffman-art) in a now-deleted post sometime around 2013 to early 2014.

Caption:

People have written a lot of touchy-feely pieces on this subject but I thought I’d get right to the heart of the matter

On July 18, 2014, sqbr, sqbr added a transcript:

[The artist, putting a simple cake next to a much fancier one: “Aw man, that guy’s cake is way better than mine.” The Audience, gleefully holding up a knife and fork “HOLY SHIT! TWO CAKES!”]

Two Cakes Response

• Knowyourmeme Page with spinoff examples, ^{Archived version}
• Two cakes still helping people in 2018 on Reddit on Reddit about Erasermight fandom community
• Vent post about two cakes rule + discussion in comments, ^{Archived version}

Variations

• 'i made a variant of [link: two cakes] to illustrate a related principle' (Oct 2023) by orchidbreezefc