3D Cakes: Wacky Edible Sculptures Full of Fun!
Record player or cake? (Dessert Lady)
What are 3-D cakes, the growing pastry trend that gave birth to more than one viral social media video? Like their name suggests, these cakes are three-dimensional layered confections with sculptures on top of them. They often look like various objects you could find around your house or outside, such as a pair of jeans or even a burger… People are having fun pranking unsuspecting viewers by showing them what they think are objects that they then proceed to cut through! Let’s find out more about these hyper realistic cakes and how they’re made…
It is only upon cutting that Tuba Geçkil’s cakes reveal themselves as edible (Tuba Geçkil)
3-D Cakes: What Is the Craze About?
On social media, videos of hyper realistic cakes are circulating, showing what seems at first glance like regular objects. But many unsuspecting viewers were shocked to discover the “objects” in those videos were in fact made of… cake!
Award-winning Turkish cake artist Tuba Geçkil’s wacky creations can resemble anything from a flip-flop, to a pot of spaghetti, to a designer handbag. Her confections started the “Is it Cake?” trend on Twitter, surprising thousands of viewers into wondering if regular objects were in fact cake!
Steak cake, anyone? (DLiche)
What’s in a 3-D Cake?
3-D cakes are original, beautiful cakes that bakers usually make with a sponge cake base, sometimes with layers of varying colors to create a fun contrast or rainbow effect to make the cake more unique. The cake itself can be any flavour, from carrot to ube. To this base, they add lots of buttercream, or any other choice of frosting. Sometimes, artists add simple syrup to keep the cake moist.
While cake quality is important, the fun in 3-D cakes comes from what covers them! Bakers achieve hyper realistic likeness with one particular ingredient: fondant. Different from marzipan in that it consists of a simple paste of sugar and gelatin, it also does not contain almonds. Although, it would be possible to add marzipan to a 3-D cake if your heart so wishes!
Believe it or not, this is cake! (HeyCakeThis)
Once the cake base is ready, the art begins! Cake artists and bakers pour, roll up, and shape pieces of fondant to put around and on top of the cake. Pieces that need to be added individually can be frozen after shaping for easier manipulation. To keep the pieces in place, bakers simply add some water for adhesion. Depending on the complexity of the design, the fondant design can be a tedious task and take more than a day. Although cake is more forgiving than marble, some 3-D cake sculptures require comparable precision and diligence!
Next time you see someone wondering whether a fish or a shoe is in fact a 3-D cake, you will know why! With ever-evolving trends and baking techniques, these cakes are getting more and more quirky and creative. Are you curious to try the baking trend for yourself? Head here to find some surreal 3-D cakes near you.
