Eloise Market and Cakery is letting you have your cake and display it too with a new type of wall decor that is sure to trigger your cravings. And if you think these cakes look too good to eat, you’re totally right.
Among the real cakes from the Lee Drive bakery, shoppers can now find faux versions made entirely for decoration. Eloise’s owner M.J. Schmidt says she got the idea from TikTok after seeing creators make fake cakes, cereal and smoothie bowls with mirrors to add to the walls in their home. Since Schmidt spends her days icing cakes and confections, she thought this project would be fun to take on.
“It’s just something fun for me to do on my off days,” she says. “It’s a fun little craft and I know how to do it because I know how to make a real cake. I want to get them stocked up for Christmas because I think they’re a fun gift. I also think it could be fun for first birthdays because you can keep the cake forever.”
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Although they may look identical to your average cake, Schmidt finds most of her ingredients for these cakes at a craft shop rather than a grocery store.
“The first time I posted the mirror cakes a lady was like ‘This makes no sense. Why would you put a mirror on a cake,’” Schmidt recalls.
Instead of a fluffy cake base, Schmidt uses stiff, rounded styrofoam pieces to mimic the shape of a traditional, single-tiered cake. She uses wall plaster in place of icing and creates colors with paint instead of food dye. Plastic cherries and disco balls are used for embellishments before each cake gets a generous dusting of sprinkles. And, of course, each cake is topped with a polished mirror to complete the look.
Though the ingredients are not the same, Schmidt still uses typical cake tools to achieve a real-life look on the mirror cakes. But don’t worry, she has a special set dedicated for fake cake making.
“I went to Hobby Lobby and bought brand-new piping tips just like the ones I always use for icing,” she says. “I use piping bags, scrapers and spatulas just like I usually would.”
The result is a mirror cake perfect to use for a birthday photoshoot prop, to hang in your kitchen or living room as a quirky piece of wall art or to catch a quick glimpse of your reflection in. Schmidt says she has plenty of ideas for varieties of these faux desserts and even plans to make a wall display in the bakery so customers can take photos and even find one to take home for themselves.
“Everyone likes them as a cute little mirror to take pictures in,” she says. “I really want to make some with lights that turn on so you can use it as a makeup mirror.”
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Visitors can browse a selection of pre-made mirror cakes to purchase or head over to the bakery’s website to make custom orders. These reflective cakes start at $100, and the price goes up for more embellishments and bigger sizes or goes down a little if you choose to take out the mirror. Schmidt says she’ll do it all, and will even write on a cake like she does to the real cakes she makes in shop.
“Anything that we can put on a real cake, we can put on a mirror cake,” she says.
Stock up on both real and fake treats Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Eloise Market and Cakery is at 320 Lee Drive, Suite D.