Forget What You Think You Know: All of These Dishes are Actually Cakes

We’ve come a long way since cupcakes.

In most major cities there are now at least a few stunningly talented pastry artists and cake designers who have the ability to make custom cakes personalized to look like…well, like they’re not actually cakes. 

In Toronto, Sweet Things has made Yodas, Elvises and toy chests brimming with vegetarian-friendly stuffed animals. In Vancouver the Pink Ribbon Bakery will gladly make you an edible iPad or a delicious corset and Sugar Rush Cakes in Montreal is well-versed in the finer things like expensive Chanel bags, rare vintages and boxes of Cohibas.    


But then, south of the border, there’s Debbie Does Cakes in Oakland, California. The big difference with Debbie is that she only does “sculpted” cakes. Meaning that if you want a layered cake, round cake, cupcake or any other cake you might find at your average bakery or retirement party, you’re out of luck. But if you want a cake that looks exactly like a Gibson electric guitar or a turkey sub, and we mean exactly, then Debbie is your gal.

Custom cakes all start at $250 with the exception of “vehicle” cakes, which start at $350, and then have a per-serving fee added on for complexity and materials, which can end up pricing a cake at the $2,000 mark. So they’re pricey. She also doesn’t deliver outside of the San Fran area, so if you really want a cake that looks like a payphone, you’ll need to make your way to Cali.

But take a look at her cakes designed to look like other foods and try to tell us it might not be worth the road trip…

And just to give you an idea of how difficult this is, a few months back the Toronto Notable team went out to Le Dolci together and had themselves a cake-off. It was boys vs. girls and the theme was, “Travel”. The boys did the suitcase, the girls did the beach. Here is what their final efforts looked like:

Now, clearly the men won that competition, but if Debbie was around, we all would have been laughed out of the room…


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