Top Tips For Making The Perfect Illusion Cake

There are few designs for custom cake delivery as shocking, visceral and as much a crowd-pleaser as an optical illusion, and they can be as fun to make as they are to see.

Chances are you have seen a video on social media where you see an object that looks uncannily real before a large knife is taken to it and reality as you know it seems to collapse as it turns out to have been cake all along.

From toilet paper to raw chicken breasts to Crocs shoes, here are some top tips for making the perfect illusion cake.

Swap Icing For Fondant

Most realistic cakes use a type of icing known as fondant instead of more typical frosting, and it is mouldable in the same way modelling clay is.

It can sometimes be a bit of a pain to work with, especially given how quickly it dries, so make sure to buy more than you need.

Moulding chocolate may also be needed for recipes such as the Coke bottle illusion.

Buy Crafting Tools

Complex crafting will require dedicated tools at times, especially if you plan on making a cake with a particularly metallic texture or glaze, as this can sometimes need airbrushing tools.

Generally, you will need brushes, craft knives and other tools to create small details so get at least the bare minimum.

Take Your Time And Start Simple

There are many different tiers of difficulty in creating illusion cakes, ranging from the relatively simple likes of the bakelite phone or the roll of toilet paper or the book, all the way to more complex bakes such as those that look like raw meat, fish, or a glass of water.

Some of these cakes take many hours, complex techniques and camera trickery to get right, so start with more simple illusions and practice.