From funfetti to fever dreams, cake aesthetics are a cultural commentary
I have a theory that I can guess what year your birthday party was in, based on the cake in your Instagram photo. I’m always curious to see what brides choose as their wedding cake and I’m quick to notice when a new dessert flavor or format shows up on multiple NYC restaurant menus.
For highly photographed moments, cakes aren’t just desserts. They are personality statements, inside jokes and signals of cultural clout (why yes I can afford a $600 birthday cake, thank you for noticing!).
And because this newsletter is all about the tiny details, let’s acknowledge: cakes are a timestamp. They’re a reflection of the times, of trends, of whatever collective mood we’re in.
So, how old do these cake photos make you feel?
Cakes, like fashion go through cycles.
The viral Flour Shop explosion cakes that were found on every NYC it girls tables circa 2017-2019 leaned on playful, irreverent, colorful nostalgia. The economy was booming, Rent the Runway had unlimited memberships and we were living in the peak of the subsidized Millennial lifestyle.
Emerging from Covid lockdown, we went all in on maximalism. Cakes became opulent and all frills. A revolt against the mundane days that kept us inside, dreaming of when we could blow out the candles with friends without fear of illness.
Cake is no longer relegated to a few minutes of attention, it’s now the main event. It’s color matched to your outfit, it’s the star of the photoshoot, it’s cultural currency, and it shows you’re paying attention.
This isn’t new. Food, especially elaborate, over-the-top desserts has always been a symbol of wealth and status. Think of the towering, gilded confections of European royal courts or the extravagant banquets of the Gilded Age. Having the right cake was as much about sending a signal as it was about eating. Today, not much has changed. The $600 birthday cake, the table-length wedding sheetcake, the large format tiramisu, they all say something. About taste. About status. About who gets it.
Where are we now?
The feeds of food influencers have long bypassed the pristine piping and oranate decoration and are embracing unique shapes, etherial aesthetics and other worldly designs. Two personal faves are Yip Studio (a fellow Kiwi in NYC) and Gigi’s Little Kitchen.
What’s next?
If the unhinged energy of 2025 is any indication, we’re about to move past the dreamy aesthetics of Yip and Gigi and straight into the bizarre. Gen Z’s deeply unserious nature, mixed with our collective need for nostalgic coping mechanisms is about to take cake trends into the ridiculous and even ugly.
We could blame Is it Cake? But I think we’re also longing for a time that didn’t feel so heavy and serious, when our biggest concern was how many gifts we would get to open and who was coming to our party. We want to sink our teeth into the cakes of our childhood. If you lived in New Zealand or Australia during the 90s some of the below cakes will feel familiar.
As hosting, dinner parties and table-scapes continue to feed our domestic aspirations cakes are a canvas to curate a vibe or tell a story.
To embody my own trend forecasting, I’m already planning the most deranged cake for my ten year New York anniversary. If you know bakers who will make me a cake that resembles the orange and white funnels that flow steam onto New York City streets, send them my way.
Shout out to the iconic women’s weekly cake book
man i miss millennial lifestyle subsidies....