MADAM, YOU’RE BAKING A SCENE
Supermarket mud cake and candles? You’re kidding!
GOLD Coasters are no longer happy with supermarket mud cakes to celebrate their special occasions. Instead, they want a slice of genius – and Tamar Gagie is only too happy to provide it. Among the many novelty cakes Ms Gagie has created was a Q1 cake for a child’s sixth birthday which cost $700 and served 40 people. She said the increase in the number of custom cakes she had taken orders for during the past 12 months had been astonishing. “It’s easily doubled and I’m expecting it to grow more,” she said. “Last week, I made 14 custom cakes – which is a lot – as just one cake can take up to 15 hours to create.”
IS this the end of the $5 mudcake from the supermarket or burning your fingers baking your own?
More and more Gold Coasters are after extravagant and over-the-top designs to celebrate special occasions, including one family who spent $700 on a sixth birthday cake ‘model’ of the Q1.
Dreams are coming true in birthday cake form, among them a tribute to reggae legend Bob Marley, childhood heroes including Batman (complete with Batmobile) and the Hulk, and even some lucky birthday boy’s favourite tipple with a stubby of Burleigh Brewing’s Bighead Lager being poured into a stein labelled with the birthday boy’s name.
Whether it’s topped with a plethora of chocolates or lollies, or has a handmade figurine perched on top, the Instagram and Pinterest boom has “upped the ante’’ as bakers, cake makers and artists pull out all the stops to create showstopping pieces and produce dozens of custom cakes each month.
Not surprisingly, they can cost a pretty penny.
Baked GC owner/artist Tamar Gagie crafted a Q1 cake for a child’s sixth birthday which cost $700 and served 40 people. A Batman and Batmobile cake cost $390, Bob Marley’s portrait cake was $290, and the Bighead beer cake $440.
Ms Gagie said the increase in the number of custom cakes she had taken orders for during the past 12 months had been astonishing. “It’s easily doubled and I’m expecting it to grow more,” she said. “Last week I made 14 custom cakes – which is a lot – as just one cake can take up to 15 hours to create.”
Gold Coast marketing and trend expert Stephen Holden said evolution, social status and social media all contribute to why we’re more inclined to go for an extravagant cake.
“We’re in this weird world now where the way we show affection is how much money we spend on buying things,” he said.
Mr Holden said social media was a channel to give us access to more excellence around the world.
Two Little Bakers mother/daughter duo Kris and Ash Gleeson said they are booking out between six and eight weeks in advance for custom orders.
“We’re pretty much booked out between August and October,” Kris said.
Karma Cupcakes’ Mark Griffiths said he’d seen it all.
“Some people want to spend $600 for a 16th birthday, while some want to spend $100 for a wedding,” he said.