With all of the publicity and celebrity revolving around the culinary and food presentation industry during the past decade or so, the world has been shown just how prominently any food creation’s visual imagery factors into its overall appeal. Many artistic aesthetics go into the final presentation of the dishes and foods served everywhere–from restaurants to events, public and private celebrations and all the way down to small dinner parties and even many weekday family meals. As a result, there’s a new and unprecedented high-level standard for the way food must look now, only possible from a more highly evolved and dedicated effort toward that effect.

Dessert Standards Bring New Love to a Cakewalk
In keeping with the visual food trends, desserts are among the most visually impressive of culinary creations, even at times seeming to kind of forego a similar level of taste. Just as long as the look is achieved, there’s much to savor just by looking. The professional cake industry has been developing into a major art form, and any event or production requiring a cake–think weddings and birthdays–is faced with the pressure to impress that will not only depend on talent but a budget to pay for it. Custom cakes come in all types, styles and sizes, and are found as sheet cakes, multi-tiered novelties and totally sculpted 3D designs that are impossible to differentiate from whatever inspired their theme. And when the main, centerpiece cake is astounding to behold but incapable of feeding a larger crowd, today’s cake pros have figured out how to smooth the service. They add on as many complementary sheet cakes as needed, with artfully-rendered icing colors and decorations that play into the theme of the main cake. The key challenge to the cake designer/decorator is to make the entire creation, down to every detail, fully edible.

Styles of Cake WOW
No matter what the occasion or theme, an infinite variety of possibilities exist for the cake maker to produce a cake of marvelously sympatico styling. With articulate detailing on down to the most minute of aspects, cakes are created every day to precisely duplicate favorite high-end designer shopping bags, Cinderella at the ball, an entire Superbowl stadium packed with fans and a play in action at the 50-yard line. The sky’s the limit, where if you can share any detail, a fabulous cake awaits your delighted pickup. You might order the fashionista’s birthday cake to duplicate a sophisticated brown Louis Vuitton bag, replete with the identical multicolored VPs. Add on a chic stiletto draped by pearls, and impress.

Birthday Fun for the Cake
Birthday cakes can be sculpted and fondant applied to create a gorgeous replica of a dreamy dress designed by the birthday girl’s favorite designer, or birthday guy’s signature jacket, with personalized details and his go-to hat resting on its side. One cake customer was thrilled when she arrived to pick up her order, made precisely for her birthday boy: an absolutely identical replica–true-to-size sculpted classic Nintendo game console. Included, was a fully edible Super Mario Kart game to “play.” A birthday cake for a food lover could portray any favorite, from a “silver” cake-chafing dish, containing “cake” meatballs in fondant gravy, or a giant, all-the-way submarine sandwich, revealing a realistic looking sub bun, stuffed with thin layers of ham and turkey embellished by lifelike cheese and tomato slices, lettuce, pickles, mustard and mayo all showing as extending beyond the bun’s edges. Dr. Seuss Cakes and Alice in Wonderland Cakes are among the most colorful, adventurous and whimsical. A car cake is a delightful way to duplicate a large, 3D replica of the cake the birthday boy or girl either wants or is receiving for a birthday gift. Any make, any model–any color and details down to wheels and license plate make it rock the party.