Cake lovers be prepared for a mouth-watering journey! We are about to delve into some of the most tasty and good-looking cake fads known to mankind. I’m delving into the past and the present to find the cake crazes which have tickled our taste buds the most.
Without further ado, let’s get started in the present with the latest indulgent cake craze to hit a sweet high in the hearts, minds and mouths of anyone who loves cake.
Cream tarts
The crave-worthy cream tart cake craze came into being thanks to Israeli baker, Adi Klinghofer. Check out her Instagram page for some truly beautiful examples. So, what exactly are cream tarts? Well they are kind of a cross between a cake and a biscuit in the shape of numbers or letters. Traditional cake lovers may balk slightly at the composition of the cakey layers as they’re not quite cake, biscuit or pastry. No one can balk at the toppings.
Most professional cake makers says the trick is in the dough recipe. It needs to produce a type of cakey biscuit that has an outer crunch and a soft texture inside. While the cakey biscuit layers are central to the success of any cream tart, the showstoppers are the wonderful toppings, which can essentially be anything sweet, but tend to include fresh fruit, sugar flowers, macarons, sweets, chocolates, mini meringues, marshmallows, and biscuits (oreos, wafers and more).
Unicorn cakes
This fun cake craze hit the headlines thanks to Canadian baker Jenna Rae when she posted a picture on Instagram of a cute little unicorn cake donning a silver horn, a pastel frosting mane and gorgeous eyelashes. It inspired bakers across the globe to create unicorn cakes for all occasions and has been especially popular as the go-to cake for little girls’ birthday parties ever since.
If you’re a creative home baker, check out this unicorn cake recipe. As for the inside, the cake choice is completely up to you! This is a very cute cake craze that’s here to stay!
Rainbow cakes
This multi-colored marvel of a cake is a perfect surprise when covered in icing. Kids especially love the layers of bright colours. The rainbow cake is usually made up of six or seven layers and involves baking different colored cake tiers. The cake mixture is a cross between a Victoria sponge and Madeira cake (Victoria sponge too soft to hold up in so many layers and Madeira cake too heavy).
This is a delicious cake that definitely turns heads. Food colouring is used to make layers of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. A simple cream cheese butter icing is all you need to make a simple contrasting outer layer to hide the surprise inside.
See some tips on how to make a rainbow cake here.
Cupcakes
Thank you cupcake takeover. Yes, there was talk of the cupcake craze being over (Crumbs in the US went out of business in 2014). But cupcakes are still popular and are the perfect way to get the full force of cake with a healthy measure of portion control.
Many have written of the cup cake craze phasing out, but anyone who truly loves cake adorned with a mountain of icing will agree the cupcake lives on. Here are 7 great reasons why we love cupcakes so much.
Cake pops
What are cake pops? Bite-sized morsels of cake, covered in icing or chocolate and stuck on a lollypop stick. Cake blogger, Angie Dudley, started the craze back in 2008. Her cakes-on-sticks went viral and she was invited onto Martha Stewart’s TV show. Why are they so popular? Kids love them and so do parents. They’re portable, mess-free, bite-sized treats perfect for parties, picnics and outings.
Either use a cake pop maker, such as this one from Lakeland, or learn how to make cake pops the easy way here.
Baked Alaska
Far from new, and not a current craze, but one I think should definitely be resurrected is Baked Alaska. It consists of cake, ice cream and meringue, which gets baked in a hot oven for 3 minutes to brown the meringue. It gets served immediately before the ice cream fully melts. It is quite simply sublime. Here’s a fabulous take on the recipe by British chef, Tom Aikens. I vote we bring back the Baked Alaska. I’d have a hard time choosing between that and the perfect crème brulee!
