If you’re on social media and you have any interest in food, you’ve probably seen the photos from a viral event called a Cake Picnic — it’s where a group of strangers come together with a cake of their own making and sit down to share their delicious and decorous creations. Certainly, it’s “a feast for the eyes”.
The sweet-tooth’s affair began in early 2024 as a small, humble event when a self-described home baker, Elisa Sunga, sent out an invitation to the public for a picnic; the only prerequisite that guests bring a homemade cake. Expecting about a dozen people to show up, Sunga, 35, was surprised when almost 200 people arrived.
Since then, Cake Picnics have been held around the world, in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Dubai, London, Mexico City and Sunga’s home city of San Francisco. Events have drawn thousands of people, and tickets (roughly $50 per person) are often sold out within seconds.
“It feels unreal,” Sunga told the BBC. “I had no idea that thousands of people all over the world would be as excited as I am.”
“I had no idea that I could ever go on tour for cake. People go on tour for music and whatnot, but for cake? It just seems so whimsical and delightful to be able to do that.”
The San Francisco resident has called the Bay Area home since the age of 12, where her parents emigrated to the US from the Philippines. Since 2014, she has worked at Google as a program manager, though it appears her baking endeavours have quickly taken over her life. In 2020, she founded a recipe blog and food initiative calledsaltedrye, hosting workshops and events and creating pastry boxes to raise money for social justice organisations.
On her website, Sunga describes baking as “an expression of creativity, an outlet for various emotions and feelings, a vehicle for art and style, a form of guided meditation, an outpouring of love and sweetness, a means for me to get my hands dirty, an artist’s blank and ever-changing canvas and palette.”
Earlier this month, the first cake picnic to hit Aussie shores took place in Melbourne, as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, where guests had up to 1,600 cakes to choose from. Last weekend, Sydneysiders got a taste for themselves, with over 500 people attending the picnic in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden. After arriving with their homemade cake, guests are given a large pizza-box and allowed five minutes to peruse the cakes and take a slice out of however many they please.
“AI every day can do an increasingly terrifying amount of things, but to this day it can’t bake a cake – yet,” Sunga explained. “It’s almost meditative doing something creative with my hands.”
She praised the communal nature of the picnics, saying it “forces people to not only come outside, but spend a day on the grass.”
“When you go to a concert, it’s pretty much the same age group, [but] at cake picnic, it’s so varied,” she said. “It’s just fun to see everyone coming together.”
Sunga’s debut cookbook, Cake Picnic, which contains 50 of her own recipes, is forthcoming in May.
“Part how-to guide, part recipe collection, the Cake Picnic cookbook provides everything you need to host your own delightfully decadent cake picnic,” she writes on her website. “Never apologise for trying ten slices in one sitting―happiness often comes frosted, sprinkled, and cut into generous servings.”