The festive season is upon us and that means there’s going to be a lot more cake to indulge in all the way up to New Years Eve. From skilfully hand-painted works of art showcasing uncommon flowers, to edible lace designs, chevron prints, and gourmet cakes that feature creative toppers, cake decoration today has come a long way.
According to Joonie Tan, pastry artist at Lavonne, “This season we are seeing a lot of painting techniques and wafer paper flowers being used on cakes. Looking ahead we can expect structural cakes. 3D cakes with an internal structured support will be a big hit.”
“People are getting more creative with cakes,” observes Tina Jadav, owner and pastry chef at OvenTreats. “Clients come with ideas of personalised cakes. They want something which can be related to the person. Often, cake decoration is based on specific themes like shopping trips abroad or a special cake for someone moving back to Bangalore from NYC.
So artists are busy making fondant models of shopping bags, shoe boxes, luggage trunks or passports. Since cakes today are meant to be show stoppers at a party, people are being super creative if it means asking for risqué cakes for stag parties or a ‘naughty at 40’ theme party,” she adds.
Proprietor of Ms K Cupcakes, Katherene Deborah Abel, finds “wafer paper flowers, sugar lace, on-lays, hand painted cakes, and caricature figures are only some of the few cake deco trends we’re seeing now. Soon cake artists will be experimenting a lot more with taller cakes, abstract structures and gravity defying cakes.”
Ombre cakes were a huge hit last year and there are still takers for it as also with checker board cakes. Since the wedding season is in full swing, regal cakes will be seen around a lot more thus royal icing is witnessing a renaissance.
Feminine patterns and floral embellishments on cakes are trending the world over. Cake designers are also exploring history through their work. Cake decoration is now leaning towards inspiration from period dresses, vintage jewellery, intricate lace patterning and the like.
Birthday cakes today don’t just involve Barbie or Chota Bheem. “My son, aged four, is a huge fan of The Avengers so for his birthday we had a four tiered superhero theme cake. The decoration for each tier was dedicated to Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and Hulk respectively. For my husband who is a gadget freak, we ordered a cake that came with fondant toppers of a phone, a laptop, a Bluetooth device, and a remote control,” says Anuradha Krishna, a homemaker.
Cake decorating is an art and like any other art form, the artist draws inspirations from various sources. For Joonie, “Everything around me can be an inspiration. There are a lot of designs, patterns, and textures that I see or come across daily that inspire me. Every time I see something interesting, my first thought is ‘how can I apply this to my cakes?’”
“Clients are usually the ones who come with the brief but the good thing is that they give us liberty to experiment with the design,” Katherene says. Nature, fabric patterns, flowers and movies are always a source of inspiration for Tina.
Creativity knows no bounds and like they say ‘good cake isn’t cheap and cheap cake isn’t good’, today’s customer is willing to spend a fortune on cake and so it’s true, you can have your cake and eat it too!
