Delight in Heather Rios’s Delectable Cakes Made from Polymer Clay and Embroidery

While Heather Rios’s slices of layer cake look ready to stick a fork into, you may want to think twice. Formed of polymer clay and finished with embroidery, the artist pairs the sweets with a vintage plate—and sometimes a fork—in playful trompe l’oeils.

Enveloped in realistic frosting and decorated with berries, blossoms, and sprinkles, each work evokes pieces you’d be ready to dig into at a birthday or wedding. Rios meticulously embroiders each sponge element, fashioning patterned layers in thread on a hoop before transferring the finished panel to the sculpture.

a small sculpture of a slice of a Swiss roll on an ornate plate, with realistic frosting and fruit details and embroidery that looks like the texture of fluffy sponge

In addition to freestanding forms, Rios embellishes small paintings with shallow reliefs of cakes on canvas, emphasizing vibrant color and the fluffy texture of the exposed interiors.

Many of Rios’s cakes would be exceedingly difficult to achieve in reality, like detailed floral designs or motifs from blue-and-white porcelain. Lucky for us, we can have our cake and keep it, too. Find more on the artist’s Instagram, and purchase a slice from her Etsy shop.

a small sculpture of a slice of layer cake sitting on a blue-and-white porcelain plate, with realistic frosting details and embroidery that looks like the texture of fluffy sponge in the pattern of a Delftware plate

a polymer clay sculpture of a piece of layer cake with embroidered panels for the sponge and a pink plastic fork with a bite of cake on the end, sitting on a retro plate

a small sculpture of a layer cake, with realistic frosting details, sprinkles, and embroidery on that looks like the texture of fluffy sponge where a slice has been removed

a relief of a slice of layer cake on a square canvas, with embroidery details that resemble the texture of confetti sponge

a small sculpture of a slice of layer cake, with realistic frosting details and embroidery on that looks like the texture of fluffy sponge

a small sculpture of a slice of layer cake on an ornate pink plate, with realistic frosting details and embroidery on that looks like the texture of fluffy sponge

a relief of a slice of layer cake on a square canvas, with embroidery details that resemble the texture of multicolored sponge

am embroidery hoop with three cream-colored compartments with floral details, emulating the side of a sliced piece of layer cake — A sponge embroidery in progress

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