“Personally, I’m not paying $6 for a cupcake,” says Bria Taylor, the owner of Killa Cakes. Taylor, a Herndon native, then rails against the lack of balance between the cake and the frosting; she calls herself a cake artist, after all.
With cupcakes, pies, DIY brownie bars and fried treats from food trucks taking their turn as wedding dessert alternatives, Taylor says “the wedding cake is making a comeback.”
The graphic design major says after graduating she “wanted a more hands on artistic medium,” and her cakes are clearly an expression of taste and culture—and catnip for Instagrammers with their outrageous color schemes, like Unicorn Vomit (a confetti cake with cotton candy Pop Rock crystals) and throw-back references, like NOTORIOUS BMB (a blueberry browned butter cake with smoked maple buttercream and candied bacon). Decorations for birthday cakes often include wording in a graffiti font with toppers ranging from a skull to the cast of Rugrats. They are also gorgeous with bright swirls and pastel ombre and geometric touches.
Taylor, 25, started filling wedding cake orders last month, working with couples to create a statement cake (starting at $300 and costing upward of $2,000), plus a supplemental sheet cake to feed all of the guests. Cakes, she says, are “a blank slate, and the best part about it is you can eat it, too.” // killacakes.com
