New
New
Year 5

Sketching and designing a celebration cake

I can sketch and design a celebration cake, using shading techniques and incorporating cultural elements.

New
New
Year 5

Sketching and designing a celebration cake

I can sketch and design a celebration cake, using shading techniques and incorporating cultural elements.

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These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Cakes have cultural significance and unique design elements in different traditions.
  2. Sketching involves using basic shapes to plan a more detailed design.
  3. Shading techniques like hatching and stippling create depth and texture.

Keywords

  • Sketch - a rough drawing used to plan a design before creating a final piece

  • Composition - the arrangement of elements within an artwork to create balance and interest

  • Texture - the visual or physical feel of a surface, created through shading or materials

  • Proportion - the size relationship between different parts of a drawing

Common misconception

A cake design must be realistic to be good.

While realism can help in some design projects, creative and exaggerated designs can make cakes visually exciting and unique.


To help you plan your year 5 art and design lesson on: Sketching and designing a celebration cake, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Encourage pupils to sketch lightly first so they can easily adjust their designs. Remind them that imperfection is part of the creative process - ideas evolve! Use real cake images for inspiration and discuss how culture influences design.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Pictures of cakes. Pencils, rubbers, fine liners. Colouring pencils. Sketchbooks/paper.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Fill in the missing gap: Light and add depth to make cakes look realistic.
Correct Answer: shadow, shade, shading, dark
Q2.
What should you do first when drawing a cake from observation?
Correct answer: draw a rough outline using light strokes
press hard with charcoal to make bold lines
add fine details before sketching the basic shape
Q3.
True or false? Charcoal is too messy to control and mistakes can’t be fixed.
An image in a quiz
True
Correct answer: False
Q4.
Complete the following statement: Texture means the visual or physical of a surface.
Correct Answer: feel, feeling, touch
Q5.
Which of the following is not a texture?
rough
bumpy
Correct answer: colourful
spiky
Q6.
A __________ is a rough drawing that involves using basic shapes to plan a more detailed design.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: sketch, sketching

4 Questions

Q1.
Complete the statement: Different cultures make cakes to express a variety of things including __________.
Correct answer: traditions
Correct answer: symbols
medicine
Correct answer: celebrations
Correct answer: creativity
Q2.
Match the keywords to their definitions:
Correct Answer:sketch,a rough drawing used to plan a design before creating a final piece

a rough drawing used to plan a design before creating a final piece

Correct Answer:composition,the arrangement of elements within an artwork to create balance

the arrangement of elements within an artwork to create balance

Correct Answer:proportion,the size relationship between different parts of a drawing

the size relationship between different parts of a drawing

Correct Answer:texture,the visual or physical feel of a surface

the visual or physical feel of a surface

Q3.
Why do different cultures have unique cake designs?
Because cakes are only used for decoration
Correct answer: To reflect traditions, symbols and celebrations
Because cakes need to be as simple as possible
Q4.
Why might Wayne Thiebaud’s artworks be useful for cake design inspiration?
He only paints realistic objects
Correct answer: He paints cakes with bold colours and texture
He sculpts cakes out of real sugar to eat