Animated cakes push the boundaries of cake making and become what is more of a work of art than a cake.
The origins of animated cakes, that is, cakes that have moving parts, date back to 2007. They weren’t started by professional baking companies or a famous artist, in fact, they were first created by a Texan couple. Animated birthday cakes are probably the tip of the iceberg when it comes to personalized and fancy birthday cakes. They are very popular with children, and any child who sees one will instantly demand that they have one for their next birthday, guaranteed!
The simplest form of animated cake has LEDs (light-emitting diodes) embedded in parts with a lighting control board to make the lights turn on and off, or in a specific sequence. The next level is to implement some motorized features on the cake. This could come in the form of spinning wheels on a car for a children’s cake or a switching motor for a golfer’s arm.
These two components are the best and easiest way to start making your animated cake, from there you will feel more comfortable using them. As you become more familiar with electronics and what it can do, you will come up with more crazy ideas and designs for animated cakes.
exist many other devices which could be used to make an animated cake:
- A smoke generator from a toy train could be used for a home chimney.
- A plasma balloon for a witch themed cake.
- Dry ice could be used for a graveyard or animated Halloween cake.
- Miniature air and water pumps for various liquid effects such as rivers.
- Heaters to liquefy chocolate, such as a chocolate pond to dip fresh fruit.
- Many other possibilities.
You don’t have to be an electronics engineer to add these features to a cake, and they’re not expensive either. LEDs can be purchased for as little as 5p (a few cents) each at any electronics store and all you need to power them is a battery – hardly rocket science! The motors may take a bit more skill in setting up to get them to do what you want them to do, but for basic rotary motion they are as simple to set up as the LEDs. Just plug in the thing you want to spin and connect it to a battery – again, very simple!
Animated cakes open up a plethora of avenues for more creativity in cake design than ever before. People’s growing desire to be more different and unique than others fuels this emerging genre of cakes. It won’t be long before we start seeing animated wedding cakes and even more extravagant birthday cakes!