BANGALORE: The year is 1994 and 24-year-old Shweta is waiting excitedly outside a tiny bakery on Mosque Road for her birthday cake. The custom made pineapple cake covered in pink icing roses, butter frosting and silver sprinkles lights up her face.
Almost two decades later, the scenario has 'slightly' changed. In 2014, Bangaloreans are opting for cakes that are fun, 'bold' and not necessary square or oval.
A trend that started almost two years back is at its peak right now. Naughty, erotic, risque—mostly custom made for bachelorette, bachelor and birthday parties, these gaudy cakes come with cheeky or double entendre punch lines.
Though window displays of plush bakeries don't display them openly, it is mostly the home-bakers that are catering to the growing demand.
Priya Vijan Gupta, who started Melt it Down in 2012 says that even though this trend started a couple of years back, it is only now that it has fully picked up. "I get atleast one order on a weekly basis. The most common designs are the corset, a king sized bed with two people under a blanket and topless women. Cakes with accessories like shoes, bags and cosmetics are also trending," she says. Chocolate truffle, red velvet and Ferrero Rocher are the popular flavours people opt for, she adds.
Her cakes start from Rs 1300 and go up to Rs 2500.
Divya Haldipur of Itsy Bitsy Bytes, a bakery in Malleswaram doesn't advertise these cakes on Facebook.
"It is only through word of mouth that I get customers for these cakes," she says. Each figurine, Divya adds, takes around 2-3 hours to make. "The price depends on the accessories you want on your cake. Sculpting different characters is tricky. The entire cake takes around nine hours to assemble," she says.
Even though these cakes don't come cheap, people don't mind spending especially for weddings.
Last week Jyoti Ramnath, an HR professional, was pleasantly surprised when her girlfriends threw a big bash just a week before her wedding.
The cake, shaped like a big bed with two figurines huddled under a blanket, was what Jyoti liked the best. "It adds an element of fun to the party," she says.
Then there are those too who cash in on the growing trend of pre-wedding parties. Dottedi on Chinnaswamy Mudaliar Road not only specialises in gourmet adult cakes but is also a one stop shop for party accessories.
"Most women who order these erotic cakes also pick up our custom-made bachelorette buckets, which come with small gifts, tiaras and funky props," says Anirudh from the store.
He adds that the store takes at least four orders for such cakes in a week. "Cakes with bed scenes in chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch, Oreo and Ferrero Rocher are very popular," he adds.
Nikita Jadhav of Sugar Kiss has even experimented with adult cupcakes. "I think only young bakers have taken up this kind of baking as the market for these cakes is very niche. I have done whole cakes made of tiny cup cakes for parties. A recent one was for a bachelor party with intimate figures," she says. Each cupcake at Sugar Kiss costs `120 and the whole assembled cake costs around `1500.