Cake Ink cake slices image by Danielle Trovato and Sotiria McDonaldCake Ink’s gorgeous sweet creations – image by Danielle Trovato and Sotiria McDonald

 

In our latest Foodie Profile, we chat with the inspiring and super creative duo, Samone and Janelle of cult Melbourne Cake and Stationery brand, Cake Ink. Learn how they met, the ins and outs of what they do, as well as tips for event making and who they follow on Instagram.

JC x

1. Janelle and Samone, can you tell us about the combination of your talents/professions that have lead to Cake Ink?

We met in a previous life (BC – before children), we were working in marketing related roles in the corporate world, and just had an instant connection. Sharing our love of good design, baking and photography over many long lunches, we became fast friends and booked our first job doing wedding stationery and cake for a friend, and things just snowballed from there. We find we share the same sense of design, love of colour and a similar aesthetic, and working together is a natural thing for us!

 

Cake Ink JanelleJanelle at work in the Cake Ink studio – image by Cake Ink

 

Cake Ink Studio and wall painted by Samone image by Danielle TrovatoA glimpse into the Cake Ink studio, wall painted by Samone – image by Danielle Trovato

 

2. What does a normal day involve for both of you?

We both have young families, and we both work from our home studios in and around our children. Janelle spends her days baking and decorating in our main studio with our two amazing staff members, while Samone works into the night in her little home office, drawing and designing ’til the wee hours. We come together as often as we can through the week, but often spend quick snippets of our day on the phone to each other to have a quick “what do you think about this…” chat about work in progress! Like so many busy working parents, a normal day involves a juggle of tasks, and lots of coffee.

 

 

Cake Ink party cakes image by Danielle Trovato and Sotiria McDonaldIt’s the love of little details that make creations by Cake Ink pop – image by Danielle Trovato and Sotiria McDonald

3. In your opinion, what are the essentials in creating a memorable celebration?

We think its all about the little details – the small, often insignificant things that all come together to make a difference overall and create a really memorable experience. Just little things like carrying a theme or colour palette through from the initial invite, to elements like decor, sweets and styling – and of course the cake – can create a showstopping event that guests will long remember. Injecting personality into your event too is fun and really helps to create something exciting – we love to reflect the personality and style of the guest of honour in our work, and we work closely with our clients to create this.

Cake Ink stationery                                                                            Beautiful stationery by Cake Ink – image by Cake Ink

4. What trends are you seeing lately with cake and stationery design?

Gold and metallics are pretty huge across everything. We find we try to create work that reflects trends in fashion and homewares, mixing soft pastel watercolour with bold metallics is beautiful. Combining something quite bold with something a little more romantic or feminine is good fun – think bold copper metallics with soft flowery illustrations in soft corals and minty tones.

 

5. Do you have any tips for friends doing business together?

We find that we both want the exact same things from our business, and life in general really! Being totally honest and transparent with each other is key, and respecting boundaries. Making sure we talk about the small stuff, even if it seems insignificant now, before it perhaps becomes something bigger, has worked for us – we are really lucky though, we have grown closer through working together and we are like one big happy family! Cheesey but true.

 

 

Cake Ink Samone hand drawing flowers image by Milk PhotographySamone drawing from live flowers – image by Milk Photography

 

Cake Ink Janelle and cupcakesJanelle adding final touches to some Cake Ink cupcakes – image by Cake Ink

6. Could you tell us about the finer/more unique details that go into your cake making that people might not be aware of? 

We create everything from scratch, and by hand. Our cakes are made from fresh ingredients, and baked entirely from scratch. We create handmade sugar flowers, and Janelle has refined many techniques for hand colouring these and is constantly evolving her style. Hand painting is a big trend too and something we love to do, Samone has a fine art background and like our stationery she hand paints all our painted cakes. Janelle is becoming quite good at decorating with fresh flowers too!

 

Cake Ink mood cakes image by Danielle Trovato and Sotiria McDonaldStunning cakes created by the Cake Ink team – image by Danielle Trovato and Sotiria McDonald

7. You have a stunning and super engaging Instagram feed. What are your tips for creating content and which are your favourite accounts to follow?

It’s all about getting the perfect shot – colour palette, cropping and composition, and lighting! We find Insta so inspiring, some of our faves are Maggie Austin Cake, Hello May , Design Sponge, HelloLuckyCards and Anna Rifle.

 

8. What is next for Cake Ink?

We have been working busily behind the scenes trying to get our wedding stationery into our online store, along with some new cake toppers and accessories to complement our existing range of go-to cakes and stationery. We love our custom work too, and are launching into our busiest wedding season yet!

 

Website: www.cakeink.com.au

Facebook: Cake Ink

Instagram: @cake_ink

Pinterest: Cake Ink

Consciousness: Cake Ink’s stationery is printed on eco-friendly stocks and they use local organic eggs for their sweet creations. They are committed to social good and community by donating cakes and cupcakes to charities and fundraisers when they can.

 

 

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