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Here’s Why You Should Put a Mini Cake Stand in Your Living Room

Alyse Whitney 수지
Alyse Whitney 수지Contributor
Alyse Whitney is the author of cookbook Big Dip Energy, Cosmopolitan’s first-ever food columnist (Doing the Least with Alyse), and a TV host (Netflix’s Easy-Bake Battle, Pressure Cooker, and The Big Nailed It Baking Challenge). She has been cooking ever since she could reach the countertop, and spent most of her career as a writer and editor at magazines (including Bon Appétit and Rachael Ray Every Day) and food-focused brands (Cooking Channel, Food Network, and Chrissy Teigen’s lifestyle brand, Cravings). She is a Korean American Jewish adoptee who resides in Los Angeles with her two rescue pups, Miso and Ritz, and is always looking for a new dish to transform into a dip — and her next go-to karaoke song.
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published Sep 28, 2022
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Credit: Apartment Therapy

I have never been a candle snob. I still shop at Bath & Body Works seasonally, stock up at HomeGoods, and occasionally dip my toe into the artisanal, fancy-ish candle world. (Boy Smells x Kacey Musgraves’ Slow Burn remains my favorite scent of all time.) Aesthetically though, I hate an ugly candle label. I prefer colored glass or ceramic vessels — which are reusable! — and minimalist designs, as the rest of my apartment is already so maximalist and colorful. I usually peel off labels using Goo Gone if they’re not up to my standards, but sometimes that leaves me with just an off-white candle in transparent, basic glass… which is even more of an eyesore.

Instead of trying to buy perfect-looking candles every time or spending too much money on the fancy ones, I decided to elevate my candle game in a different way — by literally elevating it off of my coffee table on a mini cake stand! I didn’t foresee this design element in my home, that is, until I spotted this little cake stand at a flea market in San Diego earlier this year. I made a beeline for it because it had a fruit pattern on it, and I collect both vintage fruit housewares and tiny things. I thought about buying a candle shaped like a cake for it, but I realized that its circumference — about five inches across — was the perfect resting place for almost every candle I already owned. One-wicks definitely fit, two-wicks usually do, and three-wicks sometimes are a bit big, but most fit on there. The smaller the candle, the more of the cake stand’s details, like the decorative fluted edge, you can see.

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Credit: Alyse Whitney

A quick search for “mini cake stand” came up with hundreds of options across Amazon, Etsy, and eBay (for a vintage find like mine), Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, and more. Find the mini cake-turned-candle stand that speaks to you, and start elevating even the most basic-looking candles in your home. I put mine in the center of a vintage tray, surrounded by realistic food-shaped candles I won’t light (they’re too pretty!), dried flowers, coasters, and matches, and this item has literally become the most asked-about item in my home (which is chock-full of tchotchkes). It just goes to show that sometimes the simplest decor choices can be the most satisfying and surprising. So now I’m on the hunt for a full set of mix-and-match vintage cake stands to make a candle table. It’ll light up my life.

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Living Room