Cakes have always been a hugely popular savoury treat to round off any delicious meal, yet their popularity has soared in recent years thanks to shows such as “The Great British Bake Off” and the general appeal of cooking or baking our own desserts.
With a spike in popularity comes a group of trend setters that gradually branch out to create newly inspired trends, which is exactly what has happened to cakes over the last decade. There are now so many different styles, themes, decorative ideas and flavours that are being used for a variety of special occasions such as weddings, birthdays, graduations and more.
There are a number of cakes and cake recipes available on the market today that are extremely popular and make up a list of cake trends. With 2014 coming to a close, what type of cake can the population simply not get enough of? Is there are a specific theme that seems to be leading the way? Or are we simply putting flavours first? Here are four cake recipes that are trending at the moment.
Fluorescent Cakes
Nothing screams innovation, glamour and substance more than a vivid range of fluorescent colours, so it’s no surprise that many of us have gone for colour as a top priority when decorating cakes. Colour and cake usually come together to create the perfect birthday cake, especially for younger children.
Fluorescent cakes are a modern alternative to traditional colouring and allow you the chance to be creative and artistic. You can also fuse fluorescent colours with an imaginative cake design to create something that’s spectacular and more than worthy of being a centrepiece a t any event. They are best suited to younger children’s or teenager’s birthdays as an abundance of colour can be hugely appealing to people of this age group.
It’s really easy to create a fluorescent cake and the final result is usually dependant on your chosen design. Once you’ve got the first draft completed, fluorescent colours can be introduced to bring everything to life. All you need to do is apply fluorescent food colouring to the icing you’re working with and you’ll end up with something that really stands out.
Patisserie Cakes
If you’re not one for fluorescent colours or glitzy themes, patisserie cakes could be the perfect choice for you. Patisserie cakes or “naked cakes” as they’re often known, are ideal for weddings as they are un-iced with any styles or themes concentrated in the sponge. It’s quite common for patisserie cakes to have intriguing sponge colours and patterns similar to Battenberg cake without traditional icing.
Patisserie cakes, as you may have already guessed, don’t include icing. They work well at weddings because any traditional wedding cake won’t include a complex icing design. The interior is usually filled with colour and innovative shapes and patterns to surprise those who take a slice.
Patisserie cakes have many different appeals, one of which is the unique and novel aspect to them. A complex cake that is sure to reveal a wow factor when cut open to showcase the variety of colours and multiple layers inside.
Dessert Tables
Dessert tables are all about artistry as you haven’t got that one centrepiece cake that steals the show. Instead, you’re bringing together a collection of sugary treats, usually including cakes, cupcakes, cake pops, biscuits and sweets and possibly even a chocolate fountain, together to form a themed dessert table. They work well at a huge range of events, from weddings all the way to children’s birthdays.
There’s usually quite a lot of baking to do with dessert tables but that’s all part of the project that it ultimately is. You’re looking to create different types of sweets that work well together or correspond with a similar theme. Once you’ve got past the baking, you can bring your creative mind to the forefront and start building a display of savoury treats that is guaranteed to both look and taste great.
Choosing a specific theme for your dessert table is entirely down to you. You could go for something classy and traditional for a wedding and have a centrepiece cake accompanied by smaller treats and sugary delicacies, or you could have a superhero theme for a birthday party and maintain continuity by having a similar image on each cup cake. There are so many options with dessert tables and they’re great for someone who’s desperate to push their artistic skills to the max.
Coloured Sponge
A baking idea that goes hand-in-hand with any patisserie range is the idea of coloured sponge. Coloured sponge inside the cake is a great little baking surprise for you to incorporate into your recipe to subsequently impress your guests even more. Coloured sponge can create unique patterns within the cake or even an artistic design that resembles a specific theme that you’ve chosen.
To achieve coloured sponge you need to incorporate a specific baking technique into your recipe. Many coloured sponge recipes, often referred to as rainbow cakes if they include a spectrum of colours, involve baking a number of separate sponges with different dyes mixed in so that they can be layered. However there are many other coloured sponge recipes available that give you the option of creating a colourful masterpiece within the cake itself.
Coloured sponge cakes are great at any event and they work really well alongside any patisserie range, which doesn’t focus on the cakes exterior. If you want to create a simple, layered rainbow cake, you will find that this can be achieved without that much difficulty. However, the more detailed you decide to be with coloured sponge, the more complex it can be.
You should practice this method a few times prior to creating a final product for a major celebration such as a birthday, wedding or anniversary so that you can be extra confident that your coloured sponge has turned out exquisitely. Of course, you can always purchase a coloured sponge cake from a specialist cake designer!
Louise Jaimes has years of experience in the wedding industry at a styling level and can often be found sourcing information on the most up to date trends for weddings and celebratory events for those looking for inspiration including Style Marquee for marquee and chocolate fountain hire and Cakes by Robin for bespoke wedding cakes.