Recently, I became obsessed with watching vintage cake decorating reels. The smooth buttercream and masterful piping just calms me down and keeps me hooked, and it has become my favorite form of procrastination. I’m sure you’ve stumbled upon them too–perhaps on reels like me, on a celebrity’s page, or even on friends’ celebration posts. Regardless of where we see them, they are everywhere.
Because they’re still trendy, I’m gonna compile some of the most popular/unique looking vintage cake shapes here so you can have inspiration for your next birthday cake. If this is not your cup of tea, scroll all the way down and I’ll have some other suggestions you can search later!
What is Vintage Cake?
Before we start, you might even ask: what is vintage cake?
Well, I honestly don’t know, you just kind of look at them and say, “ah, vintage cake.” However, there are some key features:
- Intricate borders
- Shell-shaped piping
- Ruffles all around
- And lots and lots and lots of different pipings that I didn’t mention
For other decorations, it varies, depending on aesthetics. But some have:
- Glitter
- Flowers
- Bows and pearls and cherries and everything cutesy
But from (very limited) research, these maximalist vintage cakes originated from the 1700s French Rococo period. And then they got repopularized in the 1900s, and now they are back in the 2020s because we’re on the nostalgic bandwagon. I babbled enough and you probably know what it is by now, so let’s get into the delicious part of our article (cake).
Vintage Heart Cake
We can’t talk about vintage cakes without mentioning the heart-shaped ones, because I feel like this is probably the cake shape that brought back the vintage/cottage core trend. It caught my eyes back in 2022-23 and then resurfaced during 2024 – early 2025 and is still thriving today.
What I love about the cake is that you don’t actually need a heart mold, you can just cut two semi circles from one part of the cake to make a V shaped corner and stick the parts you’ve just cut on top (adjacent to that sharp corner) to make the heart. This is not a baking channel so if you actually want to learn how to make the shape, just Google, they’re everywhere.
Crescent Moon Cake
This type of cake shape has been around here and there, but I believe it was popularized by kutiwacakes on TikTok/Instagram as her take on the crescent moon shape blew up in 2024. Again, nothing is wasted since you can just cut a circle out of your round cake and then decorate them separately.
These would be great for fantasy/mythology themed birthday parties. I love how the color contrasts (it doesn’t have to, but it’s nicer this way in my opinion), and there’s just so many possibilities with the shapes.
Oval Shaped Cake
Of course, there are circle vintage cakes… but oval vintage cakes just hit different. They remind me of the fancy mirrors back in the days or, oddly enough, the oval hair brushes that grandmothers use.
Candle Shaped Cake
Okay, these are a different breed. I don’t really know if these are still considered vintage, but whatever the category is, you just need to search for this beauty. Just gorgeous. I don’t have much to add, I would say these are usually sprayed silver/gold so they have a metallic finish, so that’s another cool feature you can incorporate into your next cake design.
Final Notes
Just because I didn’t mention other types of cakes, doesn’t mean they’re not out there. If you search online, there’s layered vintage cake, tall vintage cake, short vintage cake, rectangular vintage cake… the sky’s the limit, so whatever you do, don’t make your next birthday cake boring!
However, I do understand that it could be a lot for some people. Even though I’m loving these cakes, I probably won’t get one for myself (or I will, who knows). If you still want to explore different types of cake designs, you can check these out on your own free time:
Bento Cakes: Teeny tiny cakes that are usually one layer. Super cute for those who don’t eat a lot of cake or are hosting a smaller party.
Fresh Cream Fruit Cakes: It’s basically cake but with fruit filling. Super delicious in my opinion!
Burn Away Cakes: You’ve seen those cakes where you burn away the first layer to reveal a super cool message right? Yeah! I’m talking about those!!
Stab Cake: A little scary but if you stab the top of the cake, liquid splatter out. It’s more for those who enjoy a little gore or messy birthdays!
Korean Cakes: Kind of similar to vintage cakes but it can be much more minimalist. Lots of pastel, aesthetic designs and lettering, fun cartoon characters.
Well. That’s it from me. Cake care!