Designer Cakes: Make no mistake, this truly is art. Temporary art, because you eat it. But art nonetheless. And it’s a skill. One you can learn, but you’d better have patience and a steady hand. And lots of icing (castor) sugar. We’ve got examples of designer cakes you’ve never even thought of: fault line cakes, cut out cakes, floral cakes, cactus and succulent cakes (yes, really), pinata cakes, smash cakes – you name it.
Designer cakes run the gamut from whimsical to refined and elegant. But never fear, you don’t have to make them if it’s not your forte – just check online. There are a multitude of designer cake bakeries out there that will deliver to your door. Be forewarned however and be prepared: several of these are worthy of a glass of champagne to accompany the art you are about to eat.
Fault Line Cakes: Shaking things up
What are they? Let’s start with that, it certainly is a popular style for designer cakes today. A fault line cake is made with crevices around the middle of the cake. This crevice is then filled with rock sugar, sprinkles, flowers, and more (just use your imagination) to create a fault line. Voila.
Simple can be best – but let your imagination run wild.
Just one look and you can tell why fault line cakes are all the rage in the designer cake space. This strawberry offering is perfect for a spring luncheon. But I don’t know if I could cut into it, to be honest. SugarGeekShow has a great tutorial. The cake is said to be the very first fault line cake, made by Milk Moon Kitchen on Instagram.
This crystal fault line cake is incredible. Could you be the one to cut the first slice? The name is The Enchanted Energy Cake from Wilton, with a DIY / How-to on their website. But don’t make this your first attempt at fault line cakes – it’s labelled “Advanced Skill Set” on the Wilton page. Even if the fault line looks like the easy part.
Check out Katie Rosario’s page for the How-to / DIY on this beginner fault line designer cake. Well, the roses may require intermediate skills. Experiment. Have fun with it. Designer cakes are not an exact science!
Floral Designer Cakes: Heavy on the Icing
Sometimes, simple is the best. This delicate buttercream icing is pure elegance in cake design. Source
This pressed flower wedding cake is stunning. And of course, they are all edible. Source
This is an incredible cake – and all the flowers are made of icing. From Elena Sunshine Magazine – this cake is a showstopper.
Ok, so try to tell me this isn’t art? If you want to reach this level of expertise, you need to take one of the wonderful designer cake decorating courses at Crafty. Particularly the Hand Painting Cakes class!
Ice Cream Cone and Unicorn Designer Cakes
Use an upside-down waffle cone for all kinds of things on these designer cakes. Great combo with the drip cake icing – looks like a melted ice cream cone! Source
Wouldn’t this three-tier Unicorn cake be fantastic for a kid’s birthday? And you can buy all the unicorn cake accoutrements on Etsy (made from fondant) – horn, ears eyes and more.
These ice cream cone cakes are big hits at kids’ birthday parties. And adult parties (thus the macarons). It’s a really clever way to expand on the drip cakes. Most cake shops today have something like this on their menu. Source
Designer Cakes with Themes
Under the Sea
This fantastic Under the Sea creation is from Kidspot Kitchen in Australia. We love the octopus!
The Yellow Bee Cake Company in the UK has online tutorials. This is the place to learn about creating designer cakes with themes. Or even buy one of their books. Very talented people.
The most incredible Finding Nemo cake – how long do you think it took to decorate this one? Source
Designer Cakes: Cacti and Succulents
A gorgeous succulent designer cake – from Elena Sunshine Magazine.
Saguaros decorate the sides of this designer cake – really not too difficult. From Sugar and Sparrow. They have some really incredible cake tutorials on their site, you must visit.
The cacti are in full blossom on this designer cake. From Brit & Co.
Split Open Cakes
Split open cakes start with a piece already missing – and they are marvellous.
This split open berry cake looks delicious. Source
This Split Open / Cut Away cake from MJ Bakery is one of the best we’ve seen.
This geode cake is really the epitome of designer cut away cakes – from amethyst (rock sugar) to gold (flakes). And that marble icing looks so real. Wow is all I can say.
Pinata Cakes
Just like the real things, pinata cakes are full of candy and treats.
Full of smarties, this cake is almost simple to make. Source
This is more of a pastel color cake – better suited to an adult birthday luncheon. Find out How To over at Yes Birthday.
Then there’s the TALL pinata cake. What a surprise this one would be when you cut it open. Get the recipe at Punch Fork.
This disco ball pinata cake, well, it takes the cake.
Smash Cakes
I dunno if I’d call a smash cake a “cake” per se. More like a chocolate ball full of treats. Still, who am I to say? Smash cake seems to be the name (not to be confused with the cakes you let your one-year-old eat with their hands, different thing). So, here they are. I like them. A lot.
This is a hollow chocolate shell that you smash open with a mallet to reveal the treasures (chocolate and/or candies) inside.
And oh, what treasures. There are instructions to make this here, but really, a lot easier to order. It’s a Rocher Smash Cake or a Nutella Smash cake that you’re looking for.
They are elegant. This one also has a How to Make This recipe, but it calls for Ferraro Rocher candies inside (which would be a lot quicker).
Well, only some of them are elegant. This one is fun. Source
Designer Cakes: Drip Cakes
These were probably the first designer cake to start to trend – and they are probably the easiest to make. Of course, you can add to the simple drip cake and go as fancy as you like.
This naked drip cake is easy to make, using Betty Crocker cake mix.
This one is a little more complicated. Source
This elegant wedding cake drips in gold. Source
There you have it. And there are still more designer cakes to explore! So take yourself on a journey and find a great cake to bake – or at least order!
