Finding My Sweet Spot: Getting Really Good at Baking Vintage-Style Cakes

I’ve always admired those elaborate vintage-style cakes—swirls of icing, dramatic piping, and that nostalgic charm straight out of a 1960s cookbook. But admiration recently turned into obsession. Over the past few months, I’ve gone all in: practicing chocolate sponge, perfecting ganache drips, burning (and eventually mastering) hazelnut praline, and piping Swiss meringue buttercream like it’s a competitive sport.

And last weekend, I pulled it all together for something special: a towering, vintage-style cake in bold shades of blue to celebrate a 28th birthday.

It wasn’t just any cake. The base was a deep, rich chocolate sponge—moist but structured, the kind that slices clean but melts on your tongue. I layered it with silky chocolate ganache and shards of homemade hazelnut praline for that nutty crunch that makes people stop mid-bite and go, “Wait, what is that?”

The icing—my current pride and joy—was Swiss meringue buttercream. Light, glossy, and not too sweet, it holds its shape like a dream. I dyed it two complementary shades of blue: one bold and bright, the other a cool, vintage-inspired pastel. I piped shells, ruffles, and rosettes, referencing retro cake designs but adding my own modern flair. Think: Marie Antoinette meets Pinterest-core.

I won’t lie—it took me weeks of trial bakes, late-night YouTube deep-dives, and a lot of sticky cleanup to get here. But the look on my friend’s face when they saw the cake? Pure magic. It was edible celebration. Art with a whisk.

I’m nowhere near done. Next up: experimenting with color gradients and gilded accents. Maybe even a few jelly-filled centers or sculpted sugar flowers. But for now, this blue-on-blue chocolate-hazelnut beauty feels like a turning point.

I’m not just baking anymore. I’m becoming a baker.