Bakers’ delight: 5 of the hottest cake décor trends
Social media is a great place to find the latest cake decorating trends. Not only can you find plenty of inspiration, the ideas are often accompanied by useful how-to videos so you can master the technique. Good Homes has picked out some of the best cake decor ideas trending on socials right now. For maximalists, there’s the spectacular Lambeth cake, for craft aficionados there’s a knitted style, and advanced bakers there’s the impressive origami cake. Ready, set, bake…
1. Lambeth cake
Maximalism is not just a 2022 trend for interiors, cake décor is also seeing a nod towards ‘more is more’, and the centuries-old Lambeth style cake is seeing a comeback. It’s named after American master baker Joseph Lambeth, who relocated to England and started a pastry school named the Lambeth Decorating School. He launched his first book Lambeth Method of Cake Decorating and Practical Pastries in 1934, demonstrating intricate piping techniques. For a modern-day Joseph Lambeth, incredible self-taught baker Lily Vanilli has queues around the block at her Columbia Road cake shop.
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2. Origami cake
From one fiddly trend to another, the origami cake trend requires concentration, but the results are impressive. First, you’ll need to make your cake and smoothly cover it with a crumb coat, using ganache. You’ll then need to make a template with origami folds out of card (and parchment paper) to cover in whipped ganache. Add the template with the ganache to the sides of your cake, wait for it to set (the chocolate in the ganache will make it firm), then peel off the template to reveal an origami design.
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How to create an origami cake
Watch this YouTube tutorial video on how to create a splash cake by CakesbyLynz…
3. Knitted cake
USA based Siân-Amy Petitt (aka @thepetitepudding) has single-handedly cornered the knitted and pointillist look in the cake market, and her creations are absolutely beautiful (not to mention quite therapeutic to watch). Her designs run the spectrum from a Halloween-style knitted pumpkin cake to a pointillist bat and also include intricate floral cakes and summer inspired watermelons and strawberries. Her page is full of inspiration and cakes that look almost too good to eat. This is one of the good Homes team’s favourite cake decorating trends.
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4. Splash cake
Splash cakes are a lot of fun and will make a statement centrepiece at your party. Once you’ve got a crumb coated stacked cake, smooth it out, so you have perfectly straight sides. Then add a final coating of buttercream for a smooth finish. To make the actual splash you’ll need a silicone mat. Melt down candy melts or chocolate (which you’ll need to temper) and then smooth a little out on the silicone mat and drape it over a glass. Once it’s set you’ll be able to peel away from the silicone and you’ll have your splash.
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How to create a splash cake
Watch this YouTube tutorial video on how to create a splash cake by CakesbyLynz…
5. Sugar sheet
Sugar sheet cakes are brilliant refresh on the traditional buttercream décor and you can get super creative with them. An easy way to colour your sugar is to put it in a zip lock bag and drop in your food colouring and massage it into the sugar (you’ll only need a few drops of colouring), then you’ll need to mix the sugar with some slightly warmed glucose syrup. Roll the mixture out between two sheets of parchment paper (above and below). A quick blast in the oven, and once it’s cool you can cut out your desired shape and gently mould it around your cake.
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Lead image: magic_rainbow / Adobe