Photos for Every Cake Designer

In the digital age where web users are only spending an average of 10-20 seconds on a web page, images are quickest, most effective way to showcase your product. This is especially true for a cake designer, whose final product—a delicious, towering cake—is a work of art worthy of being photographed.

While your website should showcase a gallery of your recent or most skilled work, there are some photos you should include throughout your website as well. They can also be included in your gallery, of course. But more than half of web users don’t scroll down a page to keep viewing. Instead, they just look at what’s above the fold—the bottom edge of the computer screen. The content at the top of the whole page is what sticks with them.

So, to capture the attention of your audience and effectively showcase your cake designer talent, be sure to include pictures of these five cake types. They demonstrate a range of skill, while staying on-trend. The list below isn’t specific to wedding cakes, nor does it exclude other special occasion cakes. Tailor the images to your specialty and audience—but be sure to include as many of these categories as you can.

1) Tiered Cake

5 Photos Every Cake Designer Needs

We did say these cakes are for weddings and special occasions alike, but we are going to talk about weddings for a minute. As a cake designer, we don’t have to tell you that wedding cakes typically feed more people than special occasion cakes. This, of course, results in tiers—especially if the happy couple wants to save the top tier for their one-year anniversary. And while there aren’t consistent wedding guest averages (The Knot says 136, while Brides states 167), the bottom line is the average wedding cake has multiple tiers.

Even if your website says you make wedding cakes, showing only single-tier cakes will contradict that. Pick your best 2-3 tiered cakes to include throughout the pages of your website for brides and grooms shopping for a cake designer.

2) Themed Cake

Mister Baker Cake Designer
Source: Mister Baker

Did you create a Lego masterpiece for a kid’s birthday party? Or maybe a spooky couple wanted a Halloween-themed wedding cake. If you’ve been a cake designer long enough, you’ve surely had some unique requests come through. You might wonder if they’re worth sharing. After all, they’re so unique it’s unlikely you’ll get someone else requesting a similar one. But these unique cakes show off your skills as a cake designer.

Bonus Tip: Try and get customer reviews for your most interesting cakes.

On top of your technical skills, funky cakes show how well you can communicate with your customers and understand their party needs. Plus, they’re creations you should be proud of, and your website is all about showing off your cake designer skills!

3) Cake with Flowers

Rosalind Miller London Cake Designer
Source: Rosalind Miller London

Sugar flowers, real flowers, and silk ones—oh my! The flower options for a cake designer are endless. Flowers are an important part of any celebration. The invitations can match the centerpieces, bouquets, and even the decorations on the cake. Show off your cake designer flower power on your website. You can rotate featured pictures based on the time of year, or based on your most recent creation.

Be sure to caption these photos, so planners know which types of flowers are on the cake. A non-expert eye might be able to tell real flowers from fake—but they may struggle with sugar or fondant flowers. Make it easy for your customers to tell, so they can make an informed decision. You may also consider a page that explains the different types of flowers, and when each is appropriate. With photo examples, of course!

4) Cupcake or Donut “Cake”

Le Cupcake Cake Designer
Photography: Kylie Lambert
Source: Le Cupcake

A recent reception trend is to forgo the traditional cake. Instead, offer on-theme cupcakes or a variety of donuts. Sometimes the donuts and cupcakes are stacked on tiers to mimic the look of a typical cake. But in other cases, they’re served on trays or even hung on the wall. Variety is the draw to these hand-held treats—where a traditional cake only offers one flavor, hosts can offer multiple options with donuts or cupcakes. Happy guests equal a happy host.

Bonus Tip: List the donut or cupcake flavors on your website.

If you’ve experimented with these “cakes” be sure to flaunt it! They may not be a regular order, but it will show that you’re aware of current trends—and that you can fulfill them, too. Bonus points if you can combine this with another type of cake on this list like, like a themed or flower-inspired dessert.

5) Seasonal Cake

Honey Crumb Cake Designer
Source: Honey Crumb Cake Studio

These pictures will, of course, change as the seasons do. Each time of year brings its own flavors and style. During the spring and summer, florals and water colors are used regularly. Flavors are light and often fruity. On the other hand, the warmer months boast of spices and all-white cakes with sparkling embellishments or textures.

Before choosing your best seasonal cake photos, look through your requests from the past 4-5 years. Do customers want lemon cakes every summer? Showcase a lemon cake! Or maybe every fall, customers request a tiered cake with natural leaves and branches. If so, put that on display. Play to your audience, and keep an ear to the cake designer ground, so you can be ahead of the trend curve.

Conclusion

Pictures truly are worth a thousand words—and that phrase was coined before the Internet. It’s important that any photos you include are high resolution shots in proper lighting. That may be discouraging, “But I’m not a photographer—I’m a cake decorator!” But we encourage you to contact local photographers; you may be able to partner with them and work to refer customers to each other. That way, you get professional photos that do your masterpieces justice, and the photographer gets some free publicity.

As a cake designer, what trends have you noticed in recent years? It can be with style, size, or anything in between! Share it with us below.

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