To celebrate the kickoff of SEC football season, we’ve gathered a roundup of jaw-dropping cake designs from confectioners around the South. From groom’s cakes to graduation cakes, these designs pay tribute to each of the 14 schools in the conference. If you have a design of your own to share, we’d love to see it — just tag us on Instagram! And be sure to check out our SEC Guide for tips on where to eat, sleep, and tailgate in every host city.
14 SEC-Inspired Cake Designs for College Football Season
AUBURN UNIVERSITY
A go-to source for elaborate celebration cakes, Barb’s Cakes of Birmingham, AL, is responsible for this Auburn University-inspired groom’s cake. Aubie the Tiger stands guard at Auburn’s iconic Toomer’s Corner, where students have been decking oak trees with toilet paper since the 1960s!
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LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY
The crawfish boil is a time-honored tradition at LSU tailgates, and we were delighted to find that crawfish boil cakes are nearly as popular! This variation from Rose Bakes in Southern Mississippi is complete with carefully crafted crawfish, corn cobs, potatoes, and a newspaper base — plus the LSU insignia on the pot itself!
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MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY
This mouthwatering layered groom’s cake just oozes decadence — literally. Laced with chocolate and more chocolate, this design is finished with a generous pile of chocolate-covered strawberries for good measure. If not for the Mississippi State logo, you’d never guess this cake is a tribute, and that’s kind of what we love about it. We’re all about adding our team colors to anything we can get our hands on!
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TEXAS A&M
This intricate design from the Texas-based Bakermama pays tribute to the ‘Aggie Ring,’ which symbolizes unity for Texas A&M alums. Ring cakes like this one are popular for celebrations of all kinds, but we can’t get over the attention to detail in this particular cake. Would you even guess that this work of art was edible?
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UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA
This University of Alabama-inspired cake by MyMonicakes in Memphis, TN, checks all of the boxes for a Bama celebration — team colors, houndstooth, Big Al the elephant featured front and center, and of course, edible “Roll Tide” lettering along the cake’s base.
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UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
Nashville’s beloved Dessert Designs is responsible for this stunningly realistic Arkansas Razorback cake. The sculpted topper is striking, to say the least, but it didn’t take long for our eyes to wander toward the caramel base layer. (The caramel cake from Dessert Designs is legendary.)
Image: Dessert Designs
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
The cakes from Watts Cake Design in Gainesville, FL, are well-known for their artistry. Get a load of the detail involved in this Florida Gators cake design, with careful attention paid to every single scale and feather. Sorry, Gamecocks!
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UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
Uga the bulldog is adorably depicted in this ultra-realistic groom’s cake design from Wicked Cakes of Savannah, complete with frosting turf grass. Take a closer look at those papers that Uga is chewing on … they’re tax forms! Perfectly fitting for the groom, who was an accountant.
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UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY
This groom’s cake marries two time-honored Kentucky traditions: bourbon and UK football. While this cake by Elizabeth Lowry Cakes in Lexington may register as simple compared to other designs on this list, the concept is too clever not to acknowledge. The bourbon bottle seems to infuse the cake with boozy goodness, but instead of oozing bourbon, the cake bleeds blue – just like the groom.
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UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI
Laura Jackson of The Flour Garden Memphis did Ole Miss proud with this detailed recreation of The Grove, the preferred tailgating spot on the University of Mississippi campus. Zoom in if you can! You’ll see tiny coolers, cornhole equipment, folding lawn chairs, and more.
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UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
The Mizzou Tigers are beautifully represented in this double-layer, tiger-striped, and polka-dotted cake finished with a bundle of lifelike fondant ribbon. This makes a striking game-day cake but would just as easily fit into any celebration for a Mizzou fan.
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
You didn’t think we’d get through a list of football-inspired desserts without at least a couple of stadium cakes, did you? This work of art was crafted by For Goodness Cakes in Charlotte, NC. According to the baker’s caption, the University of South Carolina’s Williams-Brice Stadium is the most-requested stadium cake — but she rarely takes them on. (This was one lucky groom!)
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UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE
Capturing the famous sea of orange and white at Knoxville’s Neyland Stadium is an impressive feat, but Nashville-based Katelin Hayes Desserts was more than up to the task. If you look closely, you’ll see that the tiny speckles that make up the crowd were created with sprinkles! How cute is that?!
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VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
Something about the laser-like precision of this Vanderbilt graduation cake design feels fitting — after all, Vandy is known for its medical and engineering programs. Hats off to Baked in Nashville for this sleek design! (Meanwhile, some of us can hardly manage to draw a straight line … not naming any names.)
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What do you think? Too pretty to eat?
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