For her son’s 16th birthday, Neeru Bhalla wanted to do something novel. Rohan had already outgrown his Superman and WWE phase, and Bhalla was trying desperately to think of something suitably hip when an image of her son plugged into his iPod popped into her head. She knew at once that she had the answer. She popped into her neighbourhood bakery and got a two-kilo chocolate cake that looked like the 160GB iPod Classic, right down to a reproduction of the album cover of her son’s favourite band. It cost her a small fortune, Rs 3, 500, but the ecstatic smile on her son’s face was worth every rupee. Birthday cakes have always been markers of social trends, and cakes shaped like gadgets, though not new, have suddenly seen a surge in popularity. Cake makers like Ipshita Chakladar and cake studios like Angels in My Kitchen and Home Chef/ The Cake Studio in Mumbai get at least one order for a camera - or laptop-shaped cake every week. “Gadgets are very, very popular, ” says Aditi Kamat, who co-owns Home Chef with friend Niketa Rampal. “We make a minimum of two such cakes each week. Ipods, Iphones, laptops, you name it and we’ve baked it. We even had a man order a printer cake. He was very particular about every detail. He wanted it to be just like the one he had in his office. A little weird, yes, but we do whatever we’re asked to do. “