"I am the Cakenator!" -- Cakenator 6 introducing herself to Strawberry Shortcake. "Strawberry Shortcake touch does not compute!" -- Cakenator 6's last words before malfunctioning and exploding.
The Cakenators are robot versions of Strawberry Shortcake invented by Lemon Meringue to help around the Berryworks. They would debut in "The Cakenator" with the sixth version (as the previous five exploded), and make sporadic appearances across the series.
Appearance[]
The Cakenator resembles Strawberry, but with silver skin, metal-lined clothes, larger eyes, and a longer, stiffer beanie.
History[]
The Cakenator was designed by Lemon to help Strawberry Shortcake with her baking business. The first model exploded when Lemon tested her leg movement, the second stirred some batter that exploded in Lemon's face before exploding herself, the third threw a pie in Lemon's face before exploding, the fourth dropped two pies on the ground, deployed a propeller from her hat and her torso flew away, leaving her legs to explode; and the fifth gave Lemon a cupcake before exploding again, followed by the fourth model flying by and taking the cupcake out of Lemon's hand.
The Cakenator was finally perfected with its sixth version, being revealed conveniently when Strawberry Shortcake mentioned that she was getting overworked. Lemon explained the Cakenator's purpose in helping Strawberry bake, and Strawberry accepted. The two worked well together at first, but the Cakenator ended up upstaging Strawberry as it could bake anything in seconds, leaving Strawberry feeling obsolete. Eventually, it is revealed that the Cakeanator is different from Strawberry Shortcake, as it cannot deviate from a recipe to suit the customers' needs, such as not adding the dash of cinnamon that Honeydew Sorbet likes on her fritter and adding berries that Huckleberry Pie did not want on his slice of pie, something that Strawberry Shortcake catches onto right away when they and another customer tell her. The Cakenator notices Strawberry Shortcake correcting the food orders and questions her actions, not understanding why Strawberry was altering the food. Strawberry Shortcake then tells her that the treats do not have to be perfect and that they just need to be made with love, something that she calls the Strawberry Shortcake touch. The Cakenator 6, unable to comprehend the concept, begins to malfunction and glitches out upon trying to process the idea. The Cakenator 6 short-circuits, and explodes seconds later. Lemon returned upon seeing the explosion. Strawberry Shortcake explained what happened, which Lemon isn't surprised by. Lemon then reveals that she has got another idea, which Strawberry Shortcake guesses to be the "Cakenator 7", leading to Lemon having a fantasy of her piloting a giant robot and destroying a city, which Lemon begins to maniacally laugh at.
The Cakenator 4 made two cameos in Spring Cleaning, being amongst the trash that the Berry Besties cleaned, and flying away from the piles of garbage.
The Cakenators were brought up by Strawberry as she listed Lemon's inventions in All About Lemon, noting that all of them exploded. The fourth Cakenator flies by as Strawberry says this.
In Hot, Fresh & Trending, the Cakenator would make a proper return as its seventh version. Bread Pudding, in an attempt to appeal to modern trends, wants the Cakenator to be brought out. Lime, distracted by the Cakenator flying, ends up tripping on Pupcake, and causing Parfait to panic and crash into the Cakenator, which destablizes the flying robot which crashes into the peanut butter sculpture of J. Quincy Cupcake that Orange Blossom was making, causing it to explode (it makes more sense in context). The Cakenator 7 is seen fully intact in the aftermath of the incident, however, making it's status unclear.
In Strawberry's Friendship Party, Strawberry hosts the titular party in an attempt to keep her friends close and avoid drifting apart. Lemon, like the other Berry Besties, was unable to attend and decided to send the Cakenator 8 in her place. The Cakenator began singing karaoke in binary code at the party. At the end of the episode, the Cakenator 8 was seen helping the Berry Besties with their assignments at the Berryworks, and joins in the group photo.
In Trick AND TREAT, The Cakenator was used as part of the Berry Besties' prank against Cheese Strudel and Cherry Streusel, pretending to be a possessed Strawberry Shortcake who flies away.
In Sky High Pie, two Cakenators were used by Strawberry Shortcake and Raspberry Tart to help them bake a giant pie. Either one or both of them ended up exploding, which Lemon hurriedly ran off to correct. Two more Cakenators were seen backing away from the giant pie as it overflowed with pie filling and exploded (the pie, not the Cakenators). The Cakenators ended up crashing into the wall and exploding at the end of the episode, much to Lemon's chagrin.
Abilities[]
- Flight: Several Cakenators can sprout a propeller from their beanie, enabling it to fly. They can also use their repulsor hands to boost themselves.
- Whisk hands: The Cakenators can turn their hands into whisks to mix batter.
- Repulsor blasters: The Cakenators feature built-in lasers in their palms, intended to bake treats quickly.
- Detachment: The Cakenator 4 could separate its upper half from its lower body and function on its own.
- Super speed: Can prepare 75 mini peach trifles within the span of 4-6 seconds.
- Emergency Apple Fritter Protocol: In the event apple fritters are sold out, The Cakenator will quickly prepare one in seconds. Presumably it can do this for other baked goods, but it's not confirmed.
- Weakness: The Cakenator 6 is unable to comprehend the idea of altering recipes to suit the needs of its customers, which leaves several of them dissatisfied. It is also unable to comprehend the concept of love. Attempting to process both of these causes the Cakenator to malfunction and explode.
"Deaths"[]
The Cakenator, being a robot, has a tendency to explode whenever it appears.
- Exploded when Lemon Meringue tested its leg movement
- Stirred some batter that exploded in Lemon's face before exploding herself
- Threw a pie in Lemon's face and exploded
- Upper torso flew away, the lower half exploded. Technically still "living", but its status after Season 2 is unknown
- Exploded after giving Lemon a cupcake.
- Exploded after trying to process the concepts of love and the "Strawberry Shortcake Touch"
- Exploded after being knocked into a peanut butter sculpture of J. Quincy Cupcake. The Cakenator's body was still intact, however, leaving its status unclear.
- Exploded offscreen out of nowhere in the beginning of Sky High Pie
- Exploded offscreen after crashing into a wall at the end of Sky High Pie
Trivia[]
- The Cakenators are technically the first characters to die on-screen in Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City, and the franchise as a whole, though it could be argued they don't count as they are nonsentient robots that aren't "alive". If we refer to actual, living creatures, the first living character to die is the cockroach that was eaten by Frappe while being interrogated in "Who stole the Pies". J. Quincy Cupcake is also deceased, however he had died long before the events of the show. It is also implied that Strawberry's grandmother, Grandberry Jam, is deceased as well, but it's yet to be explicitly mentioned aside from being referred to in the past tense.
- A running gag with the Cakenators is that they tend to explode randomly, as a continuation with the overall running gag of Lemon Meringue's inventions randomly exploding.
- Another running gag was the Cakenator 4's upper half flying across the screen. It has since been retired after Hot, Fresh & Trending had the Cakenator return in full. Presumably, Lemon caught the Cakenator 4 and rebuilt it, or it simply flew away and Lemon decided to build more.
- The Cakenator 8 is the first Cakenator to not explode. It is possible one of the Cakenators from Sky High Pie was 8, but it is unclear as all of them are identical.
Gallery[]
