Finding Your Cake Design Style

In a world of endless of design inspiration, overflowing social media content and constant competition to be the "best cake designer", it is easy to loose yourself in trying to impress your clients by replicating the designs they request.

Before you became a cake designer, you were first a human being and an entity on its own. This needs to be reflected in your cake design style, which translates to the question of "who are you?"

Yes really, who are you? what do you like? what makes you happy? what can you never get tired of doing?

As much as the cake is designed for your client, it needs to be a reflection of how you see yourself.

Designing any and every cake that is brought to you by your customers will bring you profit

undoubtedly, but will make it harder to get bespoke clients who are in search of a CAKE DESIGNER and not a cake decorator. Being a home baker, it is very important that you have a style which defines your brand as a bespoke cake artist and separates you from a bakery whose main goal is mass production and profit.

When you define your style, be it - modern, rustic, traditional, contemporary, kids oriented or colourful etc... you automatically carve out your niche in the cake industry which then filters out the kind of clients you get.

When starting out as a home baker, you are eager for orders to showcase your skill, so you tend to take any order thrown at you. We've done that as well, so don't beat yourself up, you are not alone!. I remember in my early cake days, taking orders ranging from a floating airplane cake, train cake, doll cake etc. As time went by and as I perfected my cake decorating skills, I began leaning towards modern, clean line, luxurious but yet simple style cakes.

These are some simple steps you can take to help shape/define your cake style:

1. Master the basics: Before you define your cake design style, you need to master the basics of cake decorating. No matter what style of cake you make, you will need to first know how to fill, layer, dowel, stack and ice a cake. Without this basic knowledge, you will be far from creating a cake style that truly reflects you. Do as much research as you can, take courses, read blogs, understand how the different frosting mediums work and ensure you perfect the basics.

2. Know what you like: When you look at at cake, what draws your attention? sharp edges, clean lines, flowers, bright colours, layered fondant decorations or handmade fondant figures etc. Choose what you are naturally drawn to and focus on creating more cakes in this style. Be proud to let your customers and followers know that this is what you like to do. Don't be afraid to turn down orders for designs you do not like. They will only frustrate you, trying to be someone else.

This also brings us into a hot topic of "copy cat cake designs" on social media. As a beginner it's ok to copy other bakers styles and I call this stage "finding your cake feet". Ensure to always credit whoever you get inspiration from, but remember, constant copying limits your creativity and by doing this you will never truly find your creative self. You need to be the baker whose customers say " my event colours are green and gold. Do your thing!"

3. Evaluate your resources and time:

• Resources: Depending on your location, some cake decorating elements may or may not be available to you. Before leaning into a particular style of cake decorating, check that that the resources needed for this will always be available. For example: flowers, silicone moulds, food colourings, piping tips etc. If you choose to focus only on wedding/floral cakes, based on your location, you might need to work closely with local florists. Are there any in your area? If you enjoy using silicone moulds to create layered effects on cakes, how good is shipping to your country? as you would need to purchase various moulds from all over the world. These are only a few examples.
  

• Time: Some cake decorating styles require a lot of prep time beforehand and assembly on the day. Check that your schedule allows you to take on orders which require a lot of prep time like fondant figures or sugar flowers, to name a few. It is not a crime to be a lazy cake designer. By lazy, i mean someone who doesn't enjoy making lots of decorations for a cake, in this case you will be termed a minimalist cake designer. The downside to this style is, you need to ensure you master achieving a clean, sharp and spotless cake base as there's not much decorations to hide imperfections.

4. Check affordability: Although a certain cake design style is what you like and a true reflection of your artistic nature, please check that that style is affordable in your location. This is because if your customers can't afford your style, it wouldn't be rewarding for your business. You can also work on adjusting some aspects of your unique style to suit your customers needs.

Benefits of defining your cake style

• Money saving: Your design style determines if you’ll keep buying tools or not, reason why you will need to determine your cake decorating style from the start of your business, to prevent you reinvesting your profit into the business. If you are the baker who bakes any and every design brought to you by your customers, be prepared to buy tools all the time.

• Enhanced creativity: Defining your cake design style enables you delve more into your creative mind to find designs that suit your style. It pushes you to come up with new designs as you wouldn't want to repeat a previous design for a new client. Plus the clients who come to you can already see what you can and cannot do, hence trust your design ideas.

• Faster niche creation: When you define your unique cake decorating style, you quickly establish your niche in the market. Your unique cake decorating style makes it easier for the clients who align wit your style to reach you and place orders, because from your portfolio, they can see what they will get. This also weeds out time wasters or customers who do not align with your style, and gives you the courage to respectfully decline based on your previous creations. This however doesn't mean you shouldn't explore new styles. Feel free to branch out in a new style because as you know, variety is the spice of life! and if it works for you, add it to your portfolio!