Amirah Kassem has one of the most memorable business cards on the planet: Her contact info's printed on a pack of sugar. An actual pack of sugar. In a way, it's a symbol of the 29-year-old baker herself — everything she does is sweet, whimsical, and unexpected.
As the founder of Flour Shop in New York, she specializes in creating what The New York Times deemed "playful, high-concept" desserts that appeal to some of the entertainment industry's biggest names. Seriously — her clients include Katy Perry, Sting, Beyoncé, and Snoop Dogg. Back in 2013, she worked with photographer Henry Hargreaves on a dessert-based art exhibit in honor of Wu-Tang Clan's 20th anniversary. (It was fittingly called C.R.E.A.M., for Cakes Rule Everything Around Me.)
Since then, she's made cakes that look like golden pineapples, Dia de Los Muertos sugar skulls, giant piles of spaghetti and meatballs, and donuts. Kassem's a self-taught baker — she worked in fashion for years, baking on the side, before taking the leap to making cakes and treats full-time. Many of her designs draw on her years of fashion, design, and on-the-job cake decorating skills, but what caught our eye was her clever take on a polka-dot cake that anyone can master. Yes, even straight-from-a-box bakers.
The concept is simple: Prepare two batches of vanilla cake batter using whatever recipe you like best, then set one aside, dividing it into four bowls. Put a few drops of food coloring in each one, mixing it to create four different colors of batter.
Bake the batter in a cake pop maker and set them aside to cool.
In two round cake pans, evenly divide the plain vanilla cake batter. Pop a few cake balls into each one, coating them entirely, then bake the cake according to the recipe's instructions.
As for decorating the cake, that couldn't be any simpler: Cover it in vanilla frosting, then pat rainbow sprinkles to cover the top and sides completely. Instantly, any cake looks professional — even if you're still trying to get the hang of evenly frosting one.
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