Is It Me...or Has Anyone Notice That The More Feminine Cakes Attract More "likes" On Cc?

Decorating By Jimmyca Updated 15 Mar 2013 , 7:00am by FromScratchSF

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Jimmyca Posted 8 Mar 2013 , 6:14pm
post #1 of 17

Hi guys,

 

 I have been thinking about this for awhile, and I notice that the more feminine ("hopefully I am using the right choice of word") cakes attract more attention and likes on CC?

 

I've seen some very difficult designs and cake construction on CC. These cakes didn't include pastel colors, flowers, and clean lines. For instance...someone made a predator cake and I thought..."WOW...how did they create that!" The time and construction alone deserves to be acknowledge.

 

Anywa, I was  just curious to see what other members thought were and if anyone else has notice something similar.hat1.gif

16 replies
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milkmonkey Posted 8 Mar 2013 , 6:30pm
post #2 of 17

I kind of have to comment here about this:-) I live in house where I am the only girl so of course most of my cakes (I just bake for fun for my family) are masculine. My husband in living in another country at the moment and when he tells people about my hobby he shows off my first fondant cake which is a Assassins Creed cake for my sons birthday. And of course the people he are showing are men and they are all amazed. 

 

Of course I love to make butterflies and flowers and do these too but my boys don't get the same kick out of it.

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Jimmyca Posted 8 Mar 2013 , 6:34pm
post #3 of 17

First off! Love your Assasins Creed cake! Very nice job. I can totally understand where you are coming from. Thanks for replying.

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milkmonkey Posted 8 Mar 2013 , 6:43pm
post #4 of 17

Thank you that was my first ever cake and was a surprise for my son who turned 9 so was doing it in the morning while he was in school and hiding the bits. Had never done modeling at all with fondant before so it was a labor of love :-)

 

my other son would love any AVP cake LOL

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Baking Me Crazy Posted 8 Mar 2013 , 7:09pm
post #5 of 17

AI guess I'm guilty of this. I didn't notice it till now that you've mentioned it. Definitely not my intention to do so. To justify myself a little, I like certain color schemes or save certain pictures based off of what I would like to use as reference or whatever my customers are requesting.

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kimmisue2009 Posted 8 Mar 2013 , 7:17pm
post #6 of 17

I raised three boys and one not-so-girly girl. I gravitate toward the girly stuff because I never get to haaaaaaave it.  That was a petulant, wailing girly whine there at the end, in case ya missed it.  :)

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IAmPamCakes Posted 8 Mar 2013 , 7:27pm
post #7 of 17

AI like clean, simple designs, myself. All my cakes are pretty straight forward in design without the girly frills. While I do have an appreciation for super feminine design, I have a hard time executing it because I always think it will be too gawdy. Personally, I'm not a squishy touchy feely girl anyway.

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DeliciousDesserts Posted 8 Mar 2013 , 7:29pm
post #8 of 17

AI think timing is everything. You may have a point, but it also depends on when a cake is uploaded & how many others are uploading at the same time.

I remember how proud I was when my Dr. Seuss cake made the favorites! I took a photo of it with my phone!! Since then, I've never had a cake get more than 2 credits. I'm not great, but there are a few I expected to get around 5 or more. Nope.

I once watched as the recent cakes flipped over 6 times in less than a minute. Some cakes never even had a chance.

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Norasmom Posted 8 Mar 2013 , 7:42pm
post #9 of 17

Thinking about this, the vast majority of cake decorators on here are women, so it might be that the target audience is choosing what they find appealing.  I know there are some very talented male cake designers out there, but most of us here are women.   I also think bold colors play a role, cakes with bolder colors are on a lot.

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tdovewings Posted 8 Mar 2013 , 8:31pm
post #10 of 17
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmyca 

Hi guys,

 

 I have been thinking about this for awhile, and I notice that the more feminine ("hopefully I am using the right choice of word") cakes attract more attention and likes on CC?

 

I've seen some very difficult designs and cake construction on CC. These cakes didn't include pastel colors, flowers, and clean lines. For instance...someone made a predator cake and I thought..."WOW...how did they create that!" The time and construction alone deserves to be acknowledge.

 

Anywa, I was  just curious to see what other members thought were and if anyone else has notice something similar.hat1.gif

 

I agree! In fact, I struggle with masculine cakes because aside from sports themed cakes it is hard to even find ideas. I'm not good at coming up with original designs, I take elements from here and there, and I have a pinterest board dedicated to just masculine cakes. There are a lot of very good ones out there, but they don't get as much play and quite frankly are hard to find. I think they are hard to find, because either people don't order much in terms of custom cakes for the fellas or we are just are not that creative (probably a mix of both). However, when I do get male clients that aren't young boys, they just want a plain cake with "Happy Birthday". I'm always itching to do something more masculine to see what I can come up with. 

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Elcee Posted 9 Mar 2013 , 1:02am
post #11 of 17

Part of it is also that people don't favorite here in the same way they "like" stuff on Facebook. Here, saving it puts it into a file (for lack of a better word) for future reference. Most of us are far more likely to need inspiration for wedding and over the top girly birthday cakes than for raptor cakes (just an example). A fabulous wedding cake will strike my fancy immediately and prompt me to hit favorite where a need for a raptor cake will prompt me to search for examples. 

 

The other thing I wonder about is the photos themselves. I have had three cakes hit the top spot in the day's most saved feed. In all three cases, the cakes were professionally photographed. Are we more likely to have nice photos of perceived girly-style occasions (weddings, baby showers, major birthday, etc.)?

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cazza1 Posted 9 Mar 2013 , 1:36am
post #12 of 17

Elcee you pretty much said what I was thinking.  I think people 'like' the cakes that they think they might be capable of producing themselves and save them as inspiration for in the future.  I know I certainly do this.

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Jimmyca Posted 9 Mar 2013 , 5:36am
post #13 of 17

Wow guys.. You said some very interesting stuff. I do have to agree with what Elcee said. I also can see  how timing is everything. I posted a throne cake which I put a lot of hours into and bout 10 pr more photos were upload at the same time. My picture didn't even stand a chance..lol

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mcaulir Posted 9 Mar 2013 , 9:01am
post #14 of 17

I don't save cakes so I can look at them again later and stare in wonderment. I save them because there's something about them that I might want later. I saw your throne cake, and while it was magnificent, it's pretty unlikely that I'll need to reproduce anything like it. Saving into favourites isn't an acknowledgement of a great cake- it's a way for me to find it again. I'm not going to clog up my favourites list, which is already clogged up enough, with stuff I won't use.

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KathysCC Posted 15 Mar 2013 , 4:23am
post #15 of 17

I had to laugh at your post! icon_biggrin.gif  

 

Being a moderator, I talk to so many members here on CC.  I would have to say that females way outnumber the males here.  I know a lot of us are stay-at-home mom decorators so that could be one reason.  AND that could be what you are seeing as far as cakes getting attention.  With a few exceptions, a lot of us girls are just not going to get excited over a predator cake.  Now my husband would love it but even if he had a CC account, he wouldn't take the time to "like" a cake, even if he was thrilled with it....lol!  Yes, despite what you hear, girls and boys ARE different..lol!

 

That said, I can appreciate some really good "manly" cakes.  I really like all the great groom's cakes we have posted here and I especially love 3-D animal cakes.  

 

Everyone is also right about timing.  It just depends on how much your cake gets seen that day.  Don't worry, we are all peeking in off and on all day, so everyone's cake gets seen by more than a few of us.  

It's always nice to leave a comment on a cake you enjoyed seeing.   We all like to get a little feedback on our cake uploads. icon_smile.gif  I think comments are even better than "likes"!

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cakefat Posted 15 Mar 2013 , 4:45am
post #16 of 17
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcaulir 

I don't save cakes so I can look at them again later and stare in wonderment. I save them because there's something about them that I might want later. I saw your throne cake, and while it was magnificent, it's pretty unlikely that I'll need to reproduce anything like it. Saving into favourites isn't an acknowledgement of a great cake- it's a way for me to find it again. I'm not going to clog up my favourites list, which is already clogged up enough, with stuff I won't use.

 

 I do this as well.... 99% of the time, I 'favorite' a cake for future inspiration or a particular style/technique that I would like to recreate later. Also I do admit to liking the 'girly' (and well photographed) cakes. I would most likely think your 'manly' cakes are awesome and be very impressed with the skill/talent it took to create it but I'm not going to reproduce that style of cake, as my style is different.

 

On the other topic of photography (not directed to any cakes discussed here at the moment):  I really think the photography is so very important. I mean, if the photo is blurry or in bad light...why even bother saving the photo- let alone posting it??  I won't ever 'favorite' a cake that was photographed badly- it doesn't need to be professionally taken..but come on - blurry, fuzzy photos taken in the worst light possible? Makes me wonder about whomever took the photo! seriously.

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FromScratchSF Posted 15 Mar 2013 , 7:00am
post #17 of 17

Another thought - I actually don't save cakes in favorites anymore, I pin to Pinterest, which I don't think counts at all towards "most saved".  Honestly, last year if I uploaded a cake I was almost guaranteed to be in the most saved.  Then CC integrated Pinterest and now I haven't made it to most saved in a LONG time - yet I'm on the cover of the magazine this month and my cakes are all over Pinterest.  So people are seeing cakes that are uploaded, I just think the way they are being seen is changing and it's no longer an easily thing for us to track.  I mean, all it takes is one person to pin - it puts your cake in front of million of people!

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