Zimpapers Logo

A casino-themed cake

Naledi Sande Lifestyle Reporter
In the past years, companies that make cakes always made huge killings as they supplied weddings every weekend and birthday cake orders came regularly.

Cake makers would work overtime to meet targets and, after the hard work, they would smile to the bank to pocket huge amounts.

But this has somehow changed over the past couple of years.

Very few people are going to bakeries to get a birthday cakes or place an order for a wedding cake.

Technology, creativity and entrepreneurship skills have brought cake-making to many households.

Every small community has someone or a number of people making cakes. This has encouraged creativity and exceptional cake designs have emerged.

Individuals have tasted the sweetness of cake-making and some big companies are losing business.

Local cake-maker Gladys Doba said the business of making cakes is a cash-cow.

“You never get broke with cakes. As long as you have a good clientele base and do the cakes the right way. You are assured of huge profit margins.

She however classifies the cake-making business according to where one has gotten training from, stressing how training from a college differs from home training.

“Competition is stiff because people have seen that you can make money with cakes. However, training at the house and training at a college is different. So competition will differ from the market you will be selling to,” she said.

Themed cakes are popular with many clients

Cakes costs anything from six dollars for shop bought mass produced cakes to over $20 000 for some of the elaborate creations that grace some high key events.

Another lady in the business, Sukoluhle Nyoni, said she loves making cakes for the joy of her clients.

“I just love the creativity, making my clients happy and giving them the best. I have always been passionate about cakes and baking,” Sukoluhle said.

Creativity for many comes from breaking away from the conventional styles.

This is a personal intuition of Stacy Chirwa, a Bulawayo-based home-baker.

“I have noticed that local customers have a huge demand for fondants and buttercream cakes. I see my work as a breakaway from these. I feel that a dessert can look appetizing and beautiful in its simplicity,” noted Stacy.

Vanilla, chocolate, black forest, cheesecakes, marble cake and the now popular red velvet are flavours that one can order from next door.

Now, when it comes to celebrating a special occasion with loved ones, the good old butter cream written with jam cake just fails to make the cut.

The demand is for superb looking cakes, are customised as per your preference and made with interesting flavour combinations.

Since baking has become an art, requiring immense creativity, the new age bakers are now faced with a challenge of doing something unique and out-of-the-box to lure customers.

Naked cake is the new international style

Now it’s all about customised cakes.

These fancy cakes are all works of edible art, each one as much a feast for the eyes as they are on the taste buds.

They come in multiple tiers, flavours, layers, and colours and are always embellished with handmade sugar blooms, ornate lace, ruffles and frills, shimmer, pearls, buntings and what not, to add a touch of elegance.

Gladys said value and respect for the occasion is important when making a themed cake.

“Customised cakes are popular now because they have an attachment to particular things or events so it is basically about the value of the occasion.”

With the idea of running away from the traditional cakes, Stacy appreciates the popularity of customised cakes.

She said, “Although it is not new in other countries, it is good to know that people are now appreciating cakes as a form art.

“For toddlers, Barbie-shaped cakes and car-shaped cakes are popular, while others may just request a picture of their favourite cartoon character be printed on edible sheets.

For teenagers, handbags, heels, make-up kits, football jersey, football and also cricket bats are on demand.”

Betty Mlambo one of the bakers in the city who specialises in customised cakes weighs in on the trend.

“New brides are looking for contemporary designs for wedding cakes. They have specific ideas and often come for the discussion with photo references of the theme/design they have in mind,” she says.

While white wedding cake, complemented with pastel decorations, is always in good taste, cake designs generally tend to follow some theme or the other.

“The colour and style themes of the cakes usually match the colours of the wedding décor, the colour of the bridesmaid’s gowns, the flowers in the bride’s or bridesmaid’s bouquets, the hobby of the bride or groom or some element close to their heart,” said Betty.

Two or three-tier cakes are in style at the moment, but the number can go up depending on the client.

Despite all the cake flavours in the world, most Zimbabweans still go for fruit cakes for their wedding cakes probably because they get better with time and give the maker ample time to ice them cautiously and in stages as they mature.

A new trending cake type internationally is known as ‘Naked cake’.

More and more brides (mostly in US and UK) are opting to serve “naked cakes” rather than the frosted white cake.

Thanks to their name, one might assume that naked cakes are less complicated than their frosted counterparts. But in fact, its preparation takes quite a bit of skill.

Instead of frosting the outside of the cake with layers upon layers of plastic icing or butter-cream, this bare cake trend involves increasing the filling between tiers and leaving layers exposed, for a fresh and delicious look.

With the rising competition between local individual cake-makers, it is not likely to be long before the new type lands here.