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50 Ideas for Cake Inspiration
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Sep 6, 2024
Ever wondered how cake decorators on YouTube or Instagram get their inspiration? You can find inspiration everywhere and in this video I’ll show you 50 ways to find and use inspiration for unique, show stopping cakes! For more inspiration, go to www.britishgirlbakes.com to check out my online cake school and join my Club to get access to ALL of my online classes for monthly ideas, techniques, and designs to inspire you! For my online cake decorating school click here: www.britishgirlbakes.com/online-courses To read a transcribed version of this tutorial (with photos and links to tutorials for every cake in this tutorial!) click here: http://www.britishgirlbakes.com/50-ideas-for-cake-inspiration/ SUBSCRIBE to my channel for new cake decorating tutorials every week!
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Have you ever wondered how cake decorators on YouTube or Instagram get their inspiration
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You can find inspiration everywhere. Fridge magnets, rugs, packaging, landscapes, children's books, clothes, party invitations, the weather
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For example, this cake here, which you can see hidden at the back of the bottom of this fridge
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was inspired by this bottle opener here, in the shape of a golden pineapple
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I'll show you 50 ways to find and use inspiration for unique show-stopping cakes
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Let's go! Starting with things you can find in your house. Fridge magnets with interesting designs or figures or colours
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Wrapping paper, gift bags or gift boxes can have beautiful patterns that transfer well onto cakes
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inspiring your colour scheme or you can use the pattern but switch up the colours to give it to your own twist
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Mugs or teacups are a great source of inspiration and don't overlook ordinary items like cutlery
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Knives, forks, spoons, even chopsticks can be useful tools to make lots of fun patterns
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out for interesting textures, so instead of throwing away bubble wrap, wash and reuse
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it to create an unusual print on frosting. Look for decorative gadgets like novelty bottle
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openers and pretty packaging like boxes of chocolates, picking out shapes or colours for your cake
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designs. If you have flowers in the house, in a vase or potted plants, use them as a guide
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to paint or pipe flowers onto your cake. And don't forget about your wardrobe when you're looking
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for ideas. The colours in this watercolour frosting were inspired by the colours on the leggings I was
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wearing. This leopard print frosting came into being after I was given a pair of leopard
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print slippers. The image of a cake on this t-shirt sparked the idea of a layered rainbow
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cake on both the outside and the inside and this cake version of an ugly sweater was inspired by
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you guessed it, an ugly sweater. You can use the time of year to inspire your cake, depicting a
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season or the weather. And look at a calendar and if there are any holidays coming up, you can use
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that as a theme, even if it's not a holiday you celebrate. The Year of the Rat from the Chinese zodiac
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calendar, Day of the Dead or Dear de los Maitos, National Donut Day, Hanukkah or Christmas
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Get outside and look for inspiration in nature, on a walk or a hike, like autumn leaves for
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this cake. Use photos on social media for inspiration, either your own or on the account of the
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person you're making a cake for, a landscape or scenery from somewhere they've visited, an event
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they've gone to, like the Bristol Balloon Festival, a city they've been to, using icons like
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like well-known buildings, food, or cultural behaviours or traditions to decorate the cake
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A memorable experience can make a great theme My first trip with my husband was to a sloth sanctuary so one of the first birthday cakes I made for him was a life sloth If you not sure which colour combinations will work well get inspired by searching for colour palettes on Pinterest
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or pick up some paint swatches. You don't have to use every colour in a colour palette
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but it will give you the confidence that any of the colours you use within that palette will look nice together
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If you don't want to decorate a cake based on a theme or occasion, think about the ingredients you're using to make
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it. These stoop faffles are filled with caramel so I used caramel to decorate the
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bottom of the cake to match. And the filling between the layers of this cake is edible
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cookie dough so I'm using cookie dough balls to decorate the top of the cake. Look in your
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kitchen cupboards for snacks or treats that match the theme of your cake, like
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colourful lollipops or candy canes for a Christmas cake. This purple cake was a
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Christmas cake and to make it more festive I made white chocolate bowls with crushed candy canes inside. If you have leftover ingredients from making your cake you can
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incorporate those into the design too. I had lemon curd left over from filling a cake
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so I added gel colours to small amounts, put them in Ziploc bags and squeeze them all over a cake
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smoothing it all with a frosting smoother to create a glossy, colourful, watercolour effect
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Open your fridge or freezer and keep an open mind as you look at whatever's inside
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This ice made a mould for boiled sugar, to create a fascinating sugar sculpture on a cake
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If you're enjoying this tutorial, please click the thumbs up button to like it, and subscribe to my YouTube channel for a new
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cake decorating tutorial every week. Think about the reason you're making a cake and use
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that to inspire your design. Use the type of activity or social event like a
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poker chip cake for poker night or a flamingo pool float for a pool party. If there's
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an invitation for the party you can use elements of that in your cake design, like the
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stripes on this cake, or if there'll be paper plates that match the party theme, you can
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replicate those details on your cake. If you're struggling to think of a theme for a
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a cake for someone, here are some ideas to consider. Their age is a popular one, especially
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for milestone birthdays. And as a bonus, number cakes are really easy to make. Check out my
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tutorial on number cakes if you're looking for step-by-step instructions and the link is in the
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top of the screen and in the description below this video. Pick their favorite TV show or cartoon
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as the theme of a cake or their favorite movie, decorating the cake with iconic items, or one of the
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characters, or a scene from the movie, or the deep. DVD cover or if the movie hasn come out yet you can get inspiration from the trailer or from the movie poster For a more subtle movie theme incorporate an element For example this cake had a frozen theme and the frosting was supposed to represent ice and snow
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before Fultline Cakes became a huge trend. Decorate a cake with the birthday boy or girl's favourite food
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Cookies like Oreas can be crushed and mixed into the frosting and also used as to place on top of a cake
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Candy can be melted to flavor frosting and even make a candy drip
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Or, instead of flavoring your cake with their favorite food, you can decorate the cake to look like it
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A favorite book works well as the theme for cakes for children, like this hungry caterpillar cake for a first birthday
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and games are great for teenagers, like this lute lama for a Fortnite cake
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Hobbies are a good source of inspiration for any age, and you can combine multiple hobbies
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like surfing and skiing on this cake. If the birthday boy or girl is passionate about their job or career
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that can make an interesting theme, like flames on this cake for a firefighter
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and favorite sports teams can be incorporated into cake easily by using the colors of that team. If you know their favorite flower, you can
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pipe or paint those onto a cake, like these bright Frenchiphanis, and a favorite
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animal always makes for an adorable cake. Llamas, dogs, and owls are popular choices
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Once you've chosen a theme, Google Images is an excellent resource. You can search for
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photos of something you haven't personally seen, like the Disney Castle at night, or
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search for coloring pages if you want a simple line drawing to trace or copy. Or you can
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search for sketches to then paint onto a cake with buttercream or food colours
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and sketches are easier to replicate than photos because they're already simplified
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Artwork in any form can inspire your cake design. Look for sculptures, like these metal animals I saw
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on Etsy and then carved into the frosting on a cake. A pattern on a rug or carpet or even
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a door mat can look stunning on a cake. And paintings, pictures, and wall hangings can be the starting
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point of beautiful designs. Notebooks often have decorative covers which can translate well into a cake design
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and tattoos or henna designs can be piped or painted onto a cake
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to create intricate details. Go through your cake decorating supplies and let them inspire you
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The pattern on a stencil can be the starting point of the whole cake, like this one, which started with a simple stencil that reminded me of Mardi Gras
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and inspired the bold colors of the cake and the whimsical placement of the stencil design
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Piping tips can be used in endless ways, and experimenting with those can inspire unique designs
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Try repurposing tools to get the most use out of your tools but also by finding another use for them you try out a different technique to create new effects A striped cake comb can be used to create vertical stripes as well as horizontal stripes
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and to imprint grooves where you can then add other decorations, like piped details or sprinkles
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And you can also pull the striped cake comb in different directions to create zigzags instead of stripes
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Cake decorating materials can be the source of your inspiration, like colourful icing sheets or sugar sheets
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or sprinkle mixes with colors or shapes that choose the theme of your cake for you
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If you're aware of current cake trends or even outdated ones, put a spin on them to create your own unique design
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like using the style of the popular unicorn cakes to make an Easter bunny cake
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Or instead of a pretty faultline cake, make a creepy Halloween cake
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using a fault line to create a dark gap between eroding buttercream bricks
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Or instead of hot chocolate bombs make spherical chocolate cake toppers. Be inspired by your mistake
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finding creative ways to cover up any imperfections. I love how the pearl sprinkles look on this cake
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and I only thought to add them because they were dense and smudges in the stripes
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in my first attempt to add vertical stripes. So I added the sprinkles as a distraction from the imperfections
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and I think the added texture detail looks lovely. Let others inspire you
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scrolling through their photos on Instagram or Facebook, or their videos on YouTube
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You don't have to copy the entire design, just pick out elements you love
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like borders or sprinkle placement, or, textures and use those to create your own design. Remember to tag them when you share photos
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to give them credit and so that they can see your creations and know they've inspired you
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Finally, really remarkable techniques and extraordinary designs are inspired by just being practical
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Come up with a way of doing something to save you time or effort, like putting all of your colours
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into the same piping bag instead of individual bags to save time cleaning up
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Do something differently for convenience. For example, achieving achieving an effect with different materials, like creating shapes out of buttercream instead of fondant
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As we've seen, cakes can be inspired by literally anything, objects, times of year, ingredients, events, hobbies, occasions, artwork
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cake decorating tools and materials, and other cake designs. Tell me in the comments what quirky things have been your cake inspiration and which cake decorators have inspired you
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For more inspiration, go to British Girlbakes.com to check out my online cake school and join my club to get access to all of my online classes for monthly ideas
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techniques and designs to inspire you. Thanks for watching
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