What's The Deal With The Burnaway Cake Trend On TikTok?

If you've been on TikTok recently, you've likely noticed an epic trend of people showing off their burnaway cakes. A burnaway cake is a cake that reveals hidden images and messages when you burn away its top layer by setting it on fire. The dramatic anticipation that these create makes them one of the best cake hacks every baker will wish they knew sooner. Making one of these fun cakes is actually quite simple.

To make your burnaway cake, you'll need an image printed on wafer paper. This image will be the top layer of your cake to create mystery and intrigue before you burn it away to reveal the fun surprise. That revelation will be a second image printed on edible icing paper. Cut your images out and ready them for layering on your cake.

Take the image you want to reveal and put it on top of your cake. Add a double-layered frosted border around that image with a pastry piping bag. Chill the cake in your refrigerator to solidify the frosting. Bring it out and place the burnaway image above the frosted border. Make another frosted border above the burnaway image, creating an aesthetically pleasing cake. Grab your click lighter, set the image on top of the cake on fire, and watch it burn away to reveal your surprise! So, how did this TikTok trend start?

According to the Washington Post, Denise Stewart posted a video of a burnaway cake on her social media channels. A top layer of her cake showed a 2023 New Year's Eve midnight countdown. When Stewart set the cake on fire, that top layer burned away to reveal a cake-written message of "In My 2024 Era."

@denises_delights93

Love you all 🖤🫶 #nye #cake #cakedecorating #cakeart #2023seasoncomestoanend

♬ 오리지널 사운드 – minlee 민리

That inspiration continued to flow when Stewart's video was discovered by baker Namaya Navaratnarajah, who began making all kinds of burnaway cakes that have generated millions of views online, including cakes featuring Pokemon, The Hunger Games, and Spider-Man.

Navaratnarajah told Today, "I first came across Denise's Delights' burn-away cake right before New Year's, and I thought that was really impressive ... At the time, they weren't known as burn-away cakes but I decided to give it a title. I was like, 'Well, you're burning something away.' So it was just right there for me."

Folks worldwide have gone online to post their special burnaway cakes, making it the latest social media cake hack trend following the likes of the viral cake-cutting hack. While most burnaway cakes feature the top layer of cake being burned away to reveal an eyebrow-raising image or message, this actually isn't the only way to make these fun and unique cakes.

You can also make a front burnaway cake, which features the face of the cake being burned away to reveal your surprise image or message. Making a front burnaway cake is similar to a top-layer burnaway cake but with some slight adjustments. For a front burnaway cake, apply the base image to the face of your cake. As with the top-burnaway cake, create your double-layered frosted border (perhaps flavored buttercream) around the image, and chill the cake so the frosting gets firm. Here's where you'll have to tweak the process for your front burnaway cake. Add another layer onto your frosted border slightly further out so you won't have to bend the burnaway image when you apply it to the cake.

Before attaching the burnaway image to the face of your cake, line the back of the wafer paper image with frosting, which will help it stick tightly to the front of your cake. Apply the burnaway image to the front of your cake with enough pressure so it sticks firmly to the cake. Lastly, line another small frosting border around the wafer paper image on the front of the cake to hold it in place and make it look cool or beautiful. Set the front image on fire to create some suspense, and it will burn away to show your revelatory image or message.