Many special occasions warrant a celebratory cake. On some occasions - weddings, christenings birthdays and Christmas - the cake is an inescapable part of tradition.
Even when tradition doesn’t demand one, a cake is a great way to celebrate any milestone - buying a house, launching a product or business, graduating or making it to your silver anniversary.
A stunning cake makes a great centrepiece or focus for your buffet table. An elaborate or themed cake is a talking point, with a huge “wow!” factor. And of course, everyone loves eating it!


Why a cake designer?
Before you rush off to the local bakery or decide to make your own, remember: creating a cake that’s a work of art is no job for an amateur.
The quality ingredients required to make a delicious cake can be pricey - not to mention the confectionery needed to adorn it. Shaping, icing and decorating a special cake can take hours of painstaking effort and considerable skill. And getting that professional finish is well nigh impossible unless you know the “tricks of the trade”.
Even if you’re a keen home baker, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to create a better cake than a specialist. So be smart and hire a pro.

Choosing the flavour
Most specialist cake makers offer a wide variety of fillings, equally delectable and made from top quality ingredients. If you’re not sure what flavour cake you want, ask for ideas and suggestions. Specialist cake designers keep abreast of the latest trends, and can suggest cake styles and flavours you may not have considered, or a new twist on a traditional theme or flavour - a tropical fruit cake, for example, or a contemporary ice-cream cake. 
•  One modern trend is the ‘segmentable’ cake: a bunch of individually baked, iced and decorated cupcakes cleverly fitted together to make a whole.
• A variation is the popular profiterole cake, great for casual, contemporary celebrations and parties where the cake doubles as dessert.
• These days, healthy fillings are in vogue: cakes incorporating fruit, carrot, orange-poppy seed and banana.
• Then there’s the perennially popular mud cake, rich and kilojoule-laden but a guaranteed hit with chocoholics; and the decadent Black Forest.
Work with your designer to create a cake that’s as impressive on the inside as it is on the outside.

This article continues in Party Magazine covering:
Icing on the cake
Briefing your cake designer
Themed cakes
Commemorate the cake!
Cake on a budget
Serving the cake