Here are the top baking and decorating trends we’re expecting to take off in 2021. From black buttercream to colorful rainbow designs, this is gearing up to be one vibrant year!

Ready to try something new and exciting in 2021? Well, we’ve gathered up the latest trends in baking and decorating to help inspire you!

Which one of these trends are you excited to try? Let us know in the comments below!

Black Buttercream

Colorful cakes certainly have their place, but nothing strikes the eye like a clean, black buttercream cake. Classy and elegant, black buttercream makes a great canvas for metallic cake paint or colorful candy decorations.

This Enchanted Energy Cake, decorated with a black buttercream, is then painted with gold metallic paint. A few candy crystals really pop against the black frosting, making this cake a wonder to behold!

Be sure to check out our post on How to Make Black Frosting to help you get the deepest shades for your designs.

Dessert Charcuterie Boards

Graze into the new year with a charcuterie board filled with all your favorite sweet treats! A popular trend for holidays and birthdays, these themed sweet boards are great for small gatherings with friends and family.

Our friend Amber over at grazinthroughlife has boards for just about every holiday. We love this Happy Birthday chocolate board, complete with peanut butter cups, gummy bears and even some salty pretzels for those who love the sweet/salty combo.

Buttercream Transfers

A time-tested method for making iconic designs, buttercream transfers are set to make a comeback in 2021. The reason these transfers work so well is that they’re actually made by tracing an image with buttercream frosting. The designs are made on waxed paper, frozen, then placed on your cake or treat. It’s essentially as easy as coloring!

You can make letters, characters or logos using the buttercream transfer technique, but you can also create amazing cake wraps, like this Buttercream Transfer Heart Cake. No need to spatula ice this one, just pipe your buttercream design on waxed paper, freeze it, then wrap it around your cake.

For more information on how to create these for your cakes, check out our blog post on How to Make a Buttercream Transfer.

Combed Cakes

Made by running a grooved icing smoother through buttercream frosting, combing your cake is a quick and easy way to add texture and style to your desserts.

Add a simple border or decoration, like on this Just-Picked Peony Cake, or fill in the grooved lines with another color of icing for a fun striped design.

Animal Prints

Always stylish and fun, animal prints are set to be big in 2021. Whether you’re looking to be the Lion King, the Tiger King or just a cool cat, these Animal Print Macarons are a great way to enjoy a walk on the wild side with this trend!

Dot Art

I spot a cool new decorating technique! Dot art, or pointillism, consists of outlining a shape, then filling it in with tiny dots for a design that almost resembles beadwork. Though it takes a little extra time to do, the end result is truly stunning!

We absolutely adore this dot art bicycle cake, decorated by our friend Siân-Amy Pettit over at thepetitepudding. The bright colors have us dreaming of warmer weather to come!

Icons

Top your cakes, cupcakes, cookies and more with candy-shaped icon art. All you need is a template and Candy Melts candy. Simply pipe the melted candy over the template and let harden. Once set, you can place the candy icons all over your cake for quick and easy decorating.

This Sparkling Ornament Cake is a perfect example. Decorated with sugar-coated ornaments, this cake shows off the classic ornament icon against a white buttercream background for an eye-catching treat that’s incredibly easy to make!

New Lambeth

Named after Joseph Lambeth, who popularized this ornate style of cake decorating in the 1930s, the Lambeth technique takes time to master, but the results are truly amazing.

Lambeth piping consists mainly of “overpiping”, or creating rows of overlapping scrolls, details and garlands. Often used for special occasions, such as weddings and christenings, this cake decorating technique fell out of fashion in recent years, but is now back and ready to impress yet again!

Our friend Sarah over at just_add_sugar has mastered this technique on her New Lambeth pastel cake. We love the vintage colors and design work!

Rainbows

Everyone can use a little brightness in the new year! Cheer up everything from cupcakes to cakes with a bright and colorful rainbow.

Easy to pipe with buttercream, candy or even batter and dough, rainbow designs are almost always popular, but are set to help bring in some much-needed cheer in 2021. We love how they brighten up these Candy Rainbow Cupcakes. Plus, how cute are those little candy clouds?!

Woven Cakes

Turn your cake into a stunning tapestry with this woven cake trend. A creative play on the basketweave technique, this trend is all about fringe, earthy tones and unique, brilliant textures.

To see this trend in action, check out this Woven Cake our friends at crumbybakeshop created! This cake has it all: basketweaving, piped pulled dots and colorful fringe. This is certainly one of those trends that’s well worth the time commitment!

Spatula Painting

The spatula becomes the paintbrush in these amazing painted cake designs. Angled and tapered spatulas are used to essentially ‘paint’ buttercream onto your cake, resulting in a one-of-a-kind masterpiece (almost) too pretty to eat!

Our friend Miri over at 10bloomcakes has done wonders with this technique, bringing edible art to life in the most extraordinary ways! We just love this Blooming Watercolor Cake. Such amazing use of color and design!

Which of these trends are you most looking forward to in 2021? Let us know in the comments below, or if you’ve tried one already, share a picture of it on Instagram and tag us @wiltoncakes.