Custom Creations: Baby shower trends seeing shift to creative, aesthetic

With baby shower season in full swing, reality shows like Ace of Cakes, which chronicles a Baltimore bakery and its extreme cake decorating, has inspired a new trend among local bakeries right here in the Rio Grande Valley.

On any given day of the week, customers will find Cory’s Cakes with its game face on. Business has changed within the last year or so with mom’s-to-be requesting something a little out of the ordinary.

Folks are saying ‘so long’ to subtle pastels and run-of-the-mill sheet cakes, opting for multi-layer fondants with bold prints and quirky toppers.

“People are looking for something more aesthetic, even for as simple as a baby shower,” said Nancy Cantu, a cake designer at Cory’s Cakes in Alamo. “They’re watching these shows on TV and want the same thing.”

Take the three-dimensional butter cream Care Bear cake, which comes equipped with an exact replica of the plush toy handcrafted by the designers. Details like the bears’ rosy cheeks, rounded tummy and sparkling blue eyes are sure to spark some interesting conversation among guests.

With most orders Cantu sketches the design, and brings some of the most intricate designs to life. Other more recent requests include multi-layered ‘cup cakes’ arranged in a way so that it looks like an actual cake or a 3-D Noah’s Ark, atop a colorful sheet cake.

“For baby showers, people like the individual-style serving better than cutting through a cake,” she says. “It looks really cute and it’s definitely something different.”

Like many other contemporary bakeries, Cory’s Cakes has seen a rise in fondant cakes, pliable sugar dough that give the cake a fine, almost artificial, finish. Expect to pay a little more for custom-designed creations due to the extra time spent on handcrafting each piece.

For a more crafty approach to baby showers, Nisha Williams of Creativebabyshowerideas.com suggests creating a diaper cake, one of the newer trends of the season. Diaper cakes are actual diapers rolled and stacked to form a cake and decorated with baby items. The cake can later be dismantled, allowing the diapers to be used.

Not only is the process easy, adding a little bit of your own creative flair at the same time, but it’s also inexpensive, she said.

“Baby crafts are a huge new trend showing up at baby showers,” Williams said. “They are a fun and creative way to give useful baby items to a new mommy.”

Other ideas include towel cakes, sock roses and a diaper wreath.

When planning a baby shower, Williams says choosing a theme/style that best suits that particular family is a smart move. There are varieties of alternative baby showers people use in place of the typical celebration like: a sprinkle shower, an activity shower or a casserole baby shower.

A sprinkle shower is when a child doesn’t need many gifts, hence the term “a sprinkle of gifts,” Williams said. It could be used for a second child that the parents already have. An activity shower is used in place of games, setting a more relaxing environment. Guests can casually chat as they work on a project for mom and baby-perhaps building a scrap book, decorating onesies, making a baby quilt or making diaper cakes, she added.

“Success comes with proper planning and creativity,” Williams said. “A baby shower is a celebration of life and love. It is also one of the best gifts of love and support a new mom can get.”

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Miriam Ramirez covers features and entertainment for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4468. For this and more local stories visit www.themonitor.com.