Yenna Susanty

leftEvery year, the online clothing company Threadless sponsors a cake design contest. Contestants bake cakes based on an image in the company’s gallery of whimsical designs. It takes days to bake, carve, and decorate the intricate confections, which are made with unforgiving materials like fondant and buttercream icing. The artists who created these three award-winning cakes used sculptural techniques and edible materials, including food-based spray paints and powdered food colorings. They captured even the smallest details, from the delicate texture of a cat’s fur (left) to the owl’s shining eyes (above). These cakes look like they belong behind glass in a museum, rather than on a baker’s counter.