You may not be old enough to remember the birthday cakes of days gone by, but for me, these confections are the memories of my childhood. Of all the Nana’s getting together to bake for the local church fete. Of the Royal Melbourne show and the cake decorating competition and of my Mother’s early cake decorating triumphs. It may not be that this time was very long ago, but the traditions that came with special occasions always included a cake such as these. It wasn’t until the 1990′s for me that people around these parts started to get more modern with their designs, and then the offerings at the local fetes became not much better than a shake and bake mix.
Anyway, not that I am any good at this sort of thing myself, but I do enjoy and appreciate the work that goes into them.
Today’s vintage eye candy is most likely as sweet as it looks. I wonder if anyone is still making these?
“If I told you how old I really was, I’d have to set you on fire.”
If only I had the patience…. perhaps that explains the explosion of the cupcake market these days.
Small, pretty and much,much faster!
Hmmm……cupcakes….
“If I told you how old I really was, I’d have to set you on fire” haha! Ohhh th cake with the chocolates on top look sooo delicious!
XXASAB
wow! it must be really time consuming to decorate and bake cakes! i like the 3rd picture. ^-^ i think it’s really unique and cute. ^-^ but as we are now in such a fast-paced society, the method of making cup cakes is really widespread XD nevertheless, i still hope to see more of vintage cakes and admire the effort to make such a simple cake ^-^
i love the little dutch boy and girl! I want that for my next birthday
Are the cakes mostly covered in fondant?
Those are great! My mom used to be top-notch at making cakes for birthdays and other events. My favourite was her chocolate skor cake with whipped cream for icing. Fab!
Cheers!
~Paige
Cakes are just dangerous. Who can deal with that much temptation in front of them? I do love ogling the productions in the windows of Fitzroy bakeries though.. some incredible work.
All those cakes brought back fond memories of the delicate iced cakes my grandmother used to make. My birthday favorites included the dress made and iced around a doll and a castle with ice cream cone turrents completely covered in icing and bon bons.I remember she used to spend many weekends bent over a cake, she certainly had steady hands.
Oh wow, they are just *gorgeous*.
They remind me of the cakes my gran used to bake
I’m guilty of not being very good with cakes. But what’s great about the home-made stuff, is that even when you don’t get it ‘right’, the recipients are always aware of the love that went into it.
When I was little I loved flipping through my mom’s cooking book, they were full of this kind of cakes photos and drawings.
Every year I would tell my mom which cake I wanted for my birthday.., but she never made one of those, they were too difficult to her.., of course she did others, though..^^
I love the one with the dutch children! Reminds me of an old Hummel figurine lamp I had in my nursery!
My sister is the queen of vintage-style cakes! We live in the U.S., though, so that doesn’t help you much. :-S
Those look yummy! They probably taste better than the cakes we have now, too.
-meream
I’ve been thinking about cake decorating since I happened upon the end of demonstration in my favourite kitchen shop the other day. An elderly lady was showing an enthralled audience how to make the tiniest little flowers (unbelievable feathery petals1) out of icing. I am so glad there are still people around with the skill to do this.
The whole cupcake phenomenon is a mystery to me, a bit of icing good; 2 inches of solid buttercream? Queasy making!
Aren’t they beautiful!
Well I bake from scratch sans measuring cups and recipe. I am however usually too lazy to decorate.
I should really practise though.
Except my favorite thing to make at this time of year is a butter pudding with black cherries topped with caramelised apples, set in home made caramel – looks quite pretty without any dressing
I am way too young to remember anything as beautiful as that! Thanks for sharing!
If and when you decide to make any of these… feel free to send them my way! Nom Nom Nom!