Most people in the 21st century are visual learners, and in the food industry, the most appealing way for you to capture people’s attention online is pictures.
Well shot pictures of your desserts are what makes or breaks how and how much people want to look at the content you post up. But once you’ve captured the attention of your audience, you have to carry through and deliver a good reason for why you wanted their attention in the first place!
Even if your caption is just #foodporn, your message tells people “Hi, not much to say. Just wanted to show off this delicious looking treat!”. After all, there are plenty of easy desserts that always look great.
So try using some of these words to spice up the descriptions of the dessert that you’ve slaved away for.
- Smooth – Used to describe the texture of your dessert. It should be used when you want to describe creamy desserts like cheesecakes, egg tarts or custards.
- Tangy – Used to describe the flavour of your dessert. It is usually used when describing citrus flavours like lime and lemon or desserts with strong tart or sour flavours. After all, there are many ways fruits can be added into desserts.
- Crumbly – This word is used for desserts like cookies, biscuits or macarons. You can also use it when referring to cookie bases of your cheesecakes. People like this word because it indicates that the cookie or biscuit still has a freshly baked texture but is soft enough that it will go well together with cakes.
- Decadent – This is another word used to indicate that your dessert is fancy and of high quality. Because it also sounds similar to the word “delicate”, people can mentally associate your dessert as being precious.
- Rich – The word is also associated with thoughts of expensiveness and high quality. It’s usually for desserts that are heavy in one particular flavour like the several chocolate cake recipes that just seems to have even more chocolate toppings like chocolate icing and chocolate shavings.
- Luxurious – Similar to “rich”. It is used when you have a dessert with an intense flavour or pleasant texture. The word is also associated with thoughts of expensiveness and high quality.
- Fluffy – Best used for breads, puffy pastries or light desserts like angel cakes. You can also use it when describing whipped cream. This word gives off a fun and playful vibe, so the dessert you are describing should ideally be brightly coloured as well.
- Heavy – Should only be used when describing flavour. That’s because if you use it to describe density, it will seem unappealing to people as “light” cakes are more preferred.
- Delicate – This word can be used to describe both texture and flavour. When it is referring to texture, it usually means that it is a soft dessert that’s easy to cut through like a mille crepe. When it is referring to flavour, it usually means that the flavour is light and not very strong or it is complex.
- Homely – Used to describe flavour. A very subjective word in how you use it. Try top stick using it for traditional desserts or classics like brownies. The best way to use it though is when you are referring to comfort food, which tends to have either lots of chocolate or cinnamon flavoured desserts.
- Refreshing – Perfect for fruit-based desserts. You can also use it when describing cold desserts like froyo or sorbets.
- Wholesome – Use this word for baked goods that are served hot and fresh from the oven. This word implies a filling meal and is healthy. Nowadays, there are plenty of natural ways you can flavour your baked goods without using factory processed essences.
- Indulgent – You can use this word for creamy desserts or high amounts of chocolate. It’s also perfect for being used to describe comfort foods that people love to eat when relaxing or wanting to treat themselves after a long day.
- Sinful – Use this word if you want a sophisticated and cheeky or coy feel when presenting your baked goods. It would also be perfect if your dessert were to have more flavours that adults love like coffee or alcohol.
- Scrumptious – Another word for delicious. It conveys a high energy feeling so you can use this word in two scenarios. A) it is a high energy type of food like energy bars or more likely, B) the dessert you are presenting is something to be excited about.
Of course, this simply a loose guide to reveal to you more urban understandings of words that people subconsciously agree on. So don’t let it stop you from using them in other ways!
Experiment with some literary mix and match to create the most enticing message you can.
There are many more words out there but you must remember to balance out between words that are common enough for people to know but rare enough to pique their interest.
If any of these words have inspired you to take on a new dessert, maybe you can find them in our list of baking classes!