As most of everyone’s travel plans were pretty much cancelled this summer, some people chose to bring summer onto their plates instead.
Bakers across the globe took social media by storm after offering Island jelly cakes – cakes that look like tropical islands that most of us certainly miss.
Maryam Khan, owner of New Zealand’s Cakes by MK, said that island-themed creations was one of the trickiest cakes she has ever made, and it takes about two days to finish.
“When I saw pictures of this new 2020 cake trend emerging I was immediately mesmerized by it and had to try it,” said Khan.
She added, “It’s certainly given me more confidence to think outside the box. I love being able to get creative with my cakes and trying new things that will push me out of my comfort zone.”
Meanwhile, Elena Ignatenko who runs her own shop in Krasnodar, Russia expressed how she loves the many details that go into island cakes.
She says that the most difficult part in making the cake is to not “overload the cake with details.”
Anna Filatova, a pastry chef in Moscow, Russia, shared how she was inspired to make island jelly cakes after her trip to Thailand earlier this year.
“The beauty of this country was really fascinating, and the Phi Phi Islands were the main inspiration,” Filatova said.
“I wanted people to enjoy the beauty of this place, even if it was a piece of cake.”
Filatova also made cakes based on real island destinations such as Finland, French Polynesia, and the Caribbean, although she describes the process as “painstaking,” and is “probably the most complicated” cake she has ever attempted.
These jelly cakes makes use of blue-dyed gelatin for the ocean, actual cake for the islands and crumbled cookies or nuts as sand.
The smaller details such as shells were made using chocolate ganache, marzipan, or modelling chocolate.