Style Seeker: Sneaker Cakes
An elite level athlete lives a privileged life thanks to their contribution to sports, media and mega marketing companies. They can afford almost anything their heart desires. So, what do you get for the NBA player that has everything? A recent trend for basketball birthdays is the sneaker cake. Players and their loved ones, are having their signature model recreated in delicious creations. Why not just wear your dominance of the game on your feet - players can literally have their cake and eat it too!
This past weekend, Brandon Jennings celebrated his 21st birthday in his adopted NBA hometown of Milwaukee with not only his new signature sneaker in cake form, but his favourite off-court shoe, too. His Under Armour Micro G Black Ice featured the Milwaukee Bucks colours, very proper considering where he held the event. The other shoes was a pair of studded Christian Louboutin sneakers that he often flaunts in his TwitPics. While the pastry chef didn't match his birthday kicks (Brandon's shoes were leopard print with gold studs), the lettering on the infamous Louboutin box and the "red bottom" sole is a key part of Louboutin shoe equation. The icing on the cake, so to speak, were the Under Armour logo cupcakes - you can't pay for that kind of product placement. Apparently, the cakes cost a cool $2000 dollars and were a gift from the Brandon co-host, Teyana Taylor. For half the price of the cake, you too can have a real pair of studded red bottom shoes.
LaLa Vazquez surprised her then fiancé (now husband and Knick, Net, still Denver Nugget), Carmelo Anthony with two edible versions of his Jordan Brand partnership. The first cake was a present from his son, Kiyan. It was a copy of his Air Jordan Future Sole Melo M6's in both his size and his son's mini-size. It was cute, a little cartoony but the perfect cake for a son to give his poppa with an adorable message of someday "growing into his shoes". The Melo M6 cake is one of the more accurate sneaker copies so far.
The second cake, a gift from LaLa, was a giant sugar insignia of the Melo #6 logo in red, gold and black. It was served flaming and full of sparklers for a grand birthday effect. Sugar icing is edible but difficult to eat, unlike a regular sneaker cake, but it's certainly a dramatic statement piece.
Sneaker heads and footwear designers alike are also replicating their favourite kicks in cake. Video director, designer, artist and kicks collaborator Va$htie was surprised earlier this year with a great cake copy of the infamous cement Jordan III. Do you think her cake had the most coveted "Nike" inscribed on the heel like the original drop?
One of my favorite sneaker cakes of recent years was a couple from Austin, Texas' Air Jordan I Groom's cake in the classic banned red colourway. It's not the best Jordan I cake around, but it's still obvious which shoe it's meant to represent. Nothing says I'll love you forever, like a classic pair of kicks that will never go out of style. I'm not sure why they even bothered with a traditional cake, but I'm sure it made for some interesting comments and questions come cake cutting time.
Would you or have you ever had a sneaker cake? I'd love a tasty replication of the Nike SB Pigeon Dunk (definitely vanilla filled) or my pair of Nike Air Max 90 Infrared's. For more footwear feasting that's cream filled, check out the piece that Sneaker Obsession did on the subject. I'm personally a huge fan of all the work they feature, but the Nike Tiffany Dunk and the Jordan Brand IV are the cakes I'd most like to eat though that's partly because those two shoes are on my most wanted list.