The Most Viral Birthday Cake in Miami Is a Work of Art

In the early 2000s, you couldn't attend a birthday party in Miami without seeing a Cuban rum cake on the center of a dining table made by Sweet Art Cakes by Lucila, the maker of delicious Cuban rum cakes covered in white fondant, topped with a Precious Moments figurine (they were huge hits at baptisms, communion parties, your tio's 40th, you name it). They now do fancy creations for any occasion and still rank supreme in Miami's cake scene.

Then, in the late 2010s, layered cookie cakes shaped as numbers or letters filled with cream blew up in popularity, especially thanks to social media. One of the most popular makers of this style of cake is Frudeco, which creates some of the most viral specialty cakes in Miami. By 2017, if you didn't have gold or silver giant helium-filled numbered balloons *and* a matching number cake to let everyone know you just turned 28, did you even celebrate your birthday?
Years later, around 2020, Miami residents were craving simplicity. It was the dawn of the pavlova cake — a gorgeous, strawberry-covered thin cake made of walnut meringue filling with dulce de leche, whipped cream, and strawberries. The most popular bakery making these cakes is Piononos Bakery, a Latin American bakery owned by Maria Luisa Benavides in Key Biscayne.

Just two years later, as the '90s came back in terms of style, so did its cakes. Suddenly, vintage heart-shaped cakes, also called "Lambeth" cakes, retro cakes, or Marie Antoinette cakes, seemed to pop up overnight. One of the most well-known local bake shops making these beauties is DBakers. Think pastel and bright colors with garlands of buttercream swirls and frills. Unashamedly feminine and almost too pretty to cut, these cakes use a royal icing, over-piping technique to create swirls of icing all over, and they're usually about eight inches tall.
As you can see, we've come a long way, Miami.

But in 2024, there's a new cake in town. Thanks to Instagram and TikTok, there is now a cake so artistic, so zen-like, so very modern, and oh-so feminine that it is completely taking over every baby shower, bridal shower, and birthday party in Miami-Dade County: meet Lura Cakes.

Founded by Laura "Lauri" Caceres, the 28-year-old's unique and eye-catching cake designs have gotten her orders from some of Miami's biggest socialites, especially influencers, who can't wait to post about her creations on social media. Miami-based food blogger with over one million followers, Nico Morena of @succulentbite, recently shared a photo of his wife at her 30th birthday next to a two-tiered, white cake by Lura Cakes.

The most impressive part? She bakes each artistic cake in her own home kitchen in Miami.
"I began several years ago in high school as a hobby with recipe books. Then, I took a pastry course and started baking for family and friends. Soon after, I began selling a couple of small cakes in my neighborhood," she explains.

Soon, her cakes took off. It's now common to find one of her cakes at any celebration in 2024, only a year after she started her company.

"I’ve been running my own cake business for just over a year. I started in January 2023," adds Caceres. "After months of practice and taste testing trials, I was encouraged by my family and friends to start selling cakes, and the rest is history!"

The shapes, colors, floral elements, and expressive decorations are what truly set her cakes apart. She's doing so well, that she even does wedding cakes, two-tiered cakes, and larger, more elaborate edible works of art.
"I get the inspiration from many sources like nature, art, cultures, and shapes," she says. This is why you'll find flowers of all shapes and sizes in her cakes, including long stems, some completely irregular or seemingly out of place. But on these cakes, it works, giving an almost surrealist appeal. Salvador Dalí would be proud.

The flavors her cakes come from are just as tasty as they appear from the outside. Flavors range from "Lemon Curd & Torched Meringue" and "Tres leches & Dulce de Leche" to a strawberry shortcake and tiramisu-layered cake.

Lura Cakes vary in price, starting at $135 for six-inch round or dome-shaped cakes and at $185 for eight-inch round or dome-shaped cakes. Prices vary for larger cakes.

Those interested in placing an order can fill out a form on her website or submit a request via Instagram by sending Lura Cakes a direct message.

To order from Lura Cakes, visit bio.site/luracakes or instagram.com/lura_cakes.