My fave celebrity, Katherine Ryan, popped back into our inbox. This time it was for her son's 4th birthday cake - Spiderperson themed!
I know, you're probably rolling your eyes with me saying "Spiderperson". I am also rolling my eyes as I say it. Thing is, I could say Spiderman, but then we open ourselves up to a whole can of worms in terms of copyright and what not.
But also, come to think of it, Spiderman could've hidden his identity a LOT better if he went by Spiderperson. Suddenly, the entire adult population of NYC is the suspected webbed crusader, not just the men. It also makes better business-sense - crime is on the rise, so presumably we need more superheroes on the beat. Spiderman can't be everywhere all at once so he could scale up and recruit more superheroes of any gender, mask up, and fight crime everywhere at anytime.
We do get a few enquiries for kids birthday cakes where the requirement is for all natural ingredients and Disney/Marvel/Unicorn themed. Sadly I can't make that kind of magic happen and Katherine is fully aware that we need 1,095 E numbers to do Spidey and she's cool with it.
Once the Hero Sponge layers were covered with red Swiss meringue buttercream (we use Sugarflair Red Extra) I spent 10 hours piping straight and curvy lines with black buttercream (Sugarflair Black Extra) with a no.2 plain tip nozzle.
This was a real test of the nerves because there is no erasing of eff-ups. One wrong wriggle and we have to wipe the whole thing and start from scratch.
It looked so perfect that I almost...ALMOST did not want to add the hand-modelled Spiderperson head and hands crawling out of the cake. This is the same edible-modelling craft behind our custom figurine cakes, where the figure becomes part of the finished celebration cake.
But it made the cake POP.
And of course, the metaphorical cherry on top is when Katherine shares the sweetest family photos on her Instagram with the cake and Fred taking centre-stage.
Custom, Not Fully Bespoke
This cake sits in custom birthday cake territory. The web piping, red buttercream, hand-modelled Spiderperson head and hands, and character-led finish materially adapted the cake around a theme. It was not a blank-page private commission designed around a completely original structure, venue, guest count and flavour direction.
The distinction matters. The character work and hand-modelled edible details are custom cake work. A short name, age or plaque message would be personalisation. A full private commission designed from scratch is bespoke.
If you’d like a ready-to-order version, our Custom Spiderman Photo Caricature Cake turns your photo into an illustrated Spidey-style birthday cake. For a different hero or style, browse our superhero birthday cakes. If you want to materially adapt a design around another character, colour palette or party theme, use our custom cakes route. If the brief needs a fully original structure, major centrepiece or event-led private commission, then our bespoke cakes route is the better fit.
Love,
Reshmi xoxo
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