Everyone loves a good slice of cake. Whether you are chowing down on a slice of red velvet or your best chocolate cake, when it comes down to it, everybody loves cake. With cake being a much-loved dessert across the world, especially on the internet, it is subject to a lot of online trends. Many of these trends can be fleeting moments in the grandeur of the internet, but some of them are here to stay.

Cake trends, much like regular trends, are constantly changing, and bakers all over must constantly keep up with this shifting landscape, hurrying to hop onto the next trend and cater to their hungry customers.

“There are a lot of inquiries about the new cakes [and] about the new trends that people always ask about. Can you make these? Can you make this one? Or whatever is new…I have to say no if I am fully booked for that week. Because it’s just me, so otherwise I’m just going to be falling over my feet trying to get things done,” says Taahirah Jardine of The Cake Jar, a specialty cake business in Cape Town.

The trends in the industry right now seem to be leaning towards simplicity, with bento/lunchbox and Lambeth cakes being all the rage online.

 “…there’s been a lot of lunch box cakes. I think people are going [for] smaller cakes rather than bigger cakes…the lunch box cakes have been really popular because I think it’s small and people just want to give them as a gift or they don’t really want a big birthday cake,” says Jardine.

Lunch box, or bento cakes, are essentially just miniature versions of larger decorated cakes, packaged into a cute little to-go container. These cakes are perfect for a small gathering of any occasion and leave virtually no leftovers due to their compact size.

With the ongoing trend of sustainability and leaving as little waste as possible, it comes as no surprise that trends in the cake world have begun to lean more towards minimalism and smaller cakes. Plus, bento cakes are just really cute!