Grown up birthdays
Birthday Cakes
A birthday cake for an adult room is a different brief from a children's cake. Fewer characters, more restraint, and usually one strong idea carried well. This is where milestone numbers and design-led celebration cakes belong.
Before you order
Ordering a birthday cake that suits the room
Four decisions settle most birthday cake briefs, and getting them right before you enquire makes every quote easier to compare.
- Decide the room first.A restaurant table, a backyard in February and a hired venue are three different cakes. Say which one it is.
- Servings, not the photograph.Work out the number of people before you fall for a design. It is the number that decides tin sizes and cost.
- One strong idea beats five.The best milestone cakes carry a single device: a number, a colour, a texture or a drip. A birthday cake designer will steer you toward one and away from a crowded design, because crowded cakes photograph badly.
- Say when it will be cut.A cake cut at 9pm in a warm room needs a different covering from one cut at 2pm indoors. Makers plan around it if you tell them.
Milestones
The birthdays people brief a cake for
Every year is worth a cake, but these are the ones that most often get a custom one.
18th birthday cakes
The first grown up cake, and usually the first time the person has an opinion about it. Bold, personal and photographed constantly.
21st birthday cakes
Still a milestone in Australia and often the largest party of the three. Expect a bigger guest count than the design suggests.
30th birthday cakes
The point where the brief usually turns design led: a palette, a texture and a number, done cleanly.
40th birthday cakes and beyond
A 40th birthday cake is often a seated dinner or a hosted event, which pushes toward an elegant single tier and a considered finish.
60th and beyond
Frequently a family gathering across generations. Larger servings, softer styling and a classic finish.
Number birthday cakes
A number birthday cake uses the age itself as the cake or the topper. Simple to describe, and harder to execute cleanly than it looks.
Ordering
How the order actually works
Send four things and the rest follows: the date, the suburb or postcode, roughly how many people are eating, and one sentence about the celebration. Add two reference images if you have them and mention any dietary requirements. That is enough for a birthday cake maker to come back with a design direction and a price. You do not need to know tin sizes, tiers or flavours before you ask.
Two to four weeks is comfortable for most birthday cakes, and it is the window in which you can still change your mind once. Milestone cakes on a Saturday go earlier, particularly between October and December. If the date is inside a week, ask anyway and say clearly that it is short notice, because cancellations happen and a simpler design often makes a tight date possible.
The room. A birthday cake here means a cake designed for an adult celebration: milestone numbers, restrained palettes and finishes that suit a dinner or a hosted event. A kids birthday cake is built around a theme, a character or bright colour and is made to be photographed with the child. A first birthday sits with the kids cakes even though the styling is usually soft rather than bright.
Ready to ask
Send the date and the numbers
Send it once. Cake professionals who cover your suburb and are free on your date reply with what they would make and what it would cost. There is no obligation to book anybody.
Not sure on servings? Work it out with the cake size and serving guide first and every response gets easier to compare.
Ask birthday cake makers
Send the date, servings and suburb, and see who is available.
- 1Tell us about your eventtakes about 2 minutes
- 2We match you with local specialists
- 3Compare free quotesno obligation
Free, no obligation. Your details are only shared with matched specialists.
Delivery and detail
Photos, logos and how much you need
Do birthday cake makers deliver?
Many do within a radius, and most also offer collection, which is almost always cheaper. For a single tier cake collection is straightforward if you have a flat boot and air conditioning. For anything tiered, let the maker deliver it. Give your suburb in the brief so delivery is priced properly and not added later.
Can I get a birthday cake with a photo or a logo on it?
Yes. Edible printing is standard work for most makers and one of the cheaper ways to personalise a cake. Send the image at the highest resolution you have and ask about the finish, because a printed panel sits differently on buttercream than on fondant.
How much cake do I need for a birthday party?
Count the people who will actually eat cake rather than the guest list, then work from dessert portions over the smaller wedding portions. A 25 cm round typically gives 24 to 28 dessert servings. The serving guide has the full table by tin size and tier combination.
Every year is worth cake
Brief a birthday cake
Tell birthday cake makers the date, the number of people and the kind of room it is. They respond with what they would make.