Cartoon cakes are the new baking trend sweeping Instagram and TikTok. The idea is to make a real cake look 2D, so you can have one of those, “is this cake or fake?” moments.
Hi, trust issues. Great to see you again.
The trend is similar to the pop art nail design we’ve been seeing everywhere. Maybe we’re all reclaiming our youth? Or maybe the matrix has finally broken and we’re reverting to our original cartoon forms.
Either way, we’re cool with it. Cartoon icing looks delicious.
Making this pastry isn’t as hard as it looks, as long as you’ve got a steady hand and lots of black icing. Try the trend yourself, or take the inspiration photos we rounded up to your local bakery for your next special occasion.
Yes, a Monday counts as a special occasion.
How to Make a Cartoon Cake
The main idea behind a cartoon cake is to make everything look…well, cartoon-ish. Think simple, bright color palettes and a basic design. It’s the kind of cake you’d see Homer Simpson dig into. We’ll get back to that point when we finish eating this cartoon donut.
Directions
- Bake your cake. Your favorite kind of cake. You just need to be able to put frosting and icing on it.
- Choose between fondant or buttercream for the icing. For the cartoon design, fondant can result in a sharper effect, but it’s not impossible to achieve with buttercream.
- Ice the cake with a base layer. You can choose any color, but ideally it’s light.
- Add black outlines to make the cake look like a cartoon. You want to line every border: the top, sides, layers, icing drips, candles, center lines, etc.
Check out this tutorial on YouTube for a more detailed explanation of how to create this cake aesthetic.
15 Comic and Cartoon Cakes to Live Your Simpsons Fantasy
1. Roller Skating 2D Cartoon Cake
This cake uses muted, pastel colors with a roller skate cake topper. Is it normal to feel jealous of 10 year olds? Oh right. Some of them are rich because they like corn. Of course it is!
2. Pink Birthday Cartoon Cake
This pink birthday cake looks like a bubblegum dream. Like, a good one. Not the one where you have so much bubblegum stuck in your hair that you have to shave it all off after your cat gets stuck to your head.
3. Festive 2023 Cartoon Cake
Who needs champagne to ring in the new year when you could serve cake instead? Please join us in our campaign to celebrate everything with cake in 2023.
New car? Cake. Dentist appointment with no cavities? Cake. Your Amazon package came on time? Cake.
4. Pink Vintage Cake
We finally understand what they mean by “visions of sugarplums danced in their heads.” Visions of this vintage cake are living in our head rent free. Can you at least refill the Brita while you’re here?
5. Orange Cartoon Cake
Pink is a popular choice for cartoon cakes, but we love this orange and yellow version as a sunny alternative. We’ll take the piece with the extra frosting. No no, the other one.
6. Simple Cartoon Cake
The only thing disappointing about this cartoon cake is when you blow out the candle and look up, only to remember you are not, in fact, in a Dr. Seuss book. We strive to enter a world in which our biggest problem is whether we should eat green eggs or not.
7. Cartoon Cake With Slice
What’s better than a professionally made birthday cake? A professionally made birthday cake that was sampled to ensure it meets the highest standard of quality. We applaud you for your due diligence.
8. Black and Gold Cake
This special cake is a golden alternative to the classic cartoon colors we’ve seen so far. For only the classiest of soirees. Black tie required. Shirt recommended.
9. Purple Cartoon Cake
Purple is pink’s aloof, older cousin. She doesn’t need to try to be cool, she just is. Warm-toned colors could never.
10. Mini Christmas Cartoon Cake
What’s better than a cartoon cake? A giant, life-sized cartoon cake. What’s even better than that? An adorable, miniature Christmas cartoon cake. Don’t ask us why, mini things are just superior.
11. Pusheen Cartoon Cakes
This creative cake designer added an actual cartoon to their cartoon cake. Quick, grab a bite before Pusheen eats it all. Or gets it all…furry.
12. Comic Christmas Tree Cake
This cake takes a totally different shape than the other circular creations. It serves as a great example of the level of creativity you can ascend to with this type of cake style. In fact, we’re so high up we can see the dust on the top of the TV.
13. Birthday Cartoon Cake Slice
We found the missing slice! It was under the bed, right next to a sock that’s been missing since 2015 and a pile of candy wrappers from Halloween. Ooh look, and uneaten Reese’s!
14. Gingerbread Cartoon Cake
When we see people out there making cakes like this, we begin to understand why our Great British Baking Show application keeps getting declined. Our smiley face cupcakes just…don’t look that happy. Or like faces.
15. Pastel Cartoon Cake
This cartoon cake is top tier. Top two tiers, to be more specific. It looks like the third one melted before the picture was taken.
When she's not typing away on her laptop, you can find Laura working on her MBA at Boston College, listening to Taylor Swift, or sweating it out at an OrangeTheory class. Follow her on Instagram @LauraKristine21 and LinkedIn.
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