Self-taught bakers find social media success with spectacular, vintage-inspired cakes

• Vintage-style cakes are piping hot in Sydney

Self-taught cake decorators are leading the baking industry into a new era of layer cakes, over-piped with neon buttercream ruffles and topped with glittering maraschino cherries.

The visually spectacular desserts have captured the attention of Instagram users across Australia, turning small-scale cake decorating businesses into social media success stories.

Former chef Patchanida Chimkire picked up cake decorating as a way to pass time and exercise creativity during COVID lockdown, teaching herself techniques from vintage cookbooks.

"I thought I might make a bit of cash out of it," says Chimkire, who began posting her "kitschy, fun" cakes to Instagram as @mali_bakes. "It grew so fast!"

Within three years of picking up a piping tip, Mali Bakes had amassed over 300,000 followers, creating an online demand that outstripped the capacity of Chimkire's small share house kitchen.

In 2021, she opened a successful cake studio in Thornbury, where she and her staff are able to churn out up to 60 cakes each week. The cakes range in price from $170 to $200 for pre-made designs, more for custom.

"Every time a new customer comes into shop to pick up a cake, they're so blown away by the detail," Chimkre says.

"The piping is something very intricate, it's quite a special thing."

Sydney psychology graduate Natasha Mavros also learned cake decorating during COVID lockdown, lightening the mood with funny, hand-piped messages ('F— COVID', says one heart-shaped cake with neon purple and orange ruffles).

After a little trial and error and a lot of YouTube tutorials, Mavros started the Instagram account Baked in Space (@bakedinspace). Private messages began rolling in, requesting cakes for birthdays, weddings and even divorce parties.

"I wasn't trying to start a business … but it just blew up," Mavros says.

"I had tens of thousands of followers within just five months, it was insane.

"When it was time to go back to work I realised I couldn't, because I was fully booked with cake orders for the next month."

Gen Z and millennial women make up the bulk of orders, which are usually priced between $180-$300 per cake, more for custom designs.

Renowned British pastry chef Joseph Lambeth is a commonly cited resource among the self-taught vintage cake decorating community. In his 1934 cookbook, Lambeth Method of Cake Decoration and Practical Pastries, Lambeth popularised a centuries-old method of intricate over-piping.

The style returned to favour in the '70s and '80s, in part due to The Wilton School cookbooks.

Yarraville cafe owner Mon Bishop says the key difference between the elaborate cakes they bake at Le Petit Cafe Rose and those of their parents' generation is the flavour.

"Trends are cyclical, they're always repeating and evolving, but this time around there's so much less fondant," Bishop explains.

"Swiss or Italian meringue buttercream tastes so much better than royal icing or fondant, which can be really hard."

Bishop's layered cakes are delicate, often covered in soft pastel blues and pinks. They say they're inspired by the 2006 Sophia Coppola film Marie Antoinette, their collection of Wilton cookbooks and Katherine Sabbath's Bake Australia Great.

As a full-time cafe operator, Bishop requests their customers book more than a month in advance to secure one of just five cakes they're able to make each week.

FIVE VINTAGE-INSPIRED CAKES TO TRY

• Mali Bakes, Thornbury (mali_bakes)
• Calypso Cakes, South Yarra (calypsocakess)
• Le Petit Cafe Rose, Yarraville (lepetitcaferose.cakes)
• Cake Me Crazy, Melbourne (cakemecrazyau)
• Cookies and Crumbs, Melbourne (cookiesandcrumbsmelbourne)