Greg Napolitano of Campbell’s Bakery remembers the days when a standard cake came with vanilla custard, chopped walnuts and whipped cream. Those days are long gone.

“Now we feature tres leches cakes with strawberry, pineapple, guava — anything the customer wants,” he says. “When we fill our tres leches cakes with fresh fruit, it’s a very heavy cake. Our trademark is our tres leches cake.”

Founded in 1959 in Brentwood, New York, Campbell’s Bakery is among the growing number of bakeries that recognize the surest way to turn a profit in the cake business is to impress your customers with dazzling designs (suitable for Instagram) and flavorful fillings.

Mario Hernandez of La Flor de Puebla in Riverdale, Maryland, agrees that customers expect something truly special in today’s competitive cake business.

“We buy Sprinkelina Glitter Glaze from BakeMark because the glitter glaze on our cakes is very popular with our customers,” he says. “It is really helping our cake business.”

Cake decorators at La Flor de Puebla use Sprinkelina Glitter Glaze to create a shiny and colorful decoration on top of white icing, similar to the popular drip cake design, which drips down the side of the cake for dramatic effect.

Campbell’s Bakery cake decorators also work on the latest popular designs, such a semi-naked cake (where you can see some of the cake around the icing) topped with mounds of fresh strawberries, blueberries and grapes. The fresh fruit plays well to customers who are not only looking for a cake with dramatic presentation but also who want something that they consider to be fresh and appetizing.

“We are in the happy business,” Napolitano says. “We always try to make our customers happy with beautiful and delicious cakes.”

Consumers these days want food that looks as good as it tastes. Traditional designs will always have classic appeal but adding an artistic touch to make your desserts appear original is necessary to stand out. 

Experiment with different designs and even hold contests for your customers to submit their own designs.  This can be a fun exercise and with the right designs, your bakery will appear to be high end and original.