Kassie Mendieta, a Los Angeles-based baker and recipe developer has gained attention on social media for her innovative approach of blending fragrance with flavour in her cakes.

Inspired by popular perfume scents, Kassie’s cakes attempt to convert smell into taste, with some delicious results. An example is one cake she displays in a TikTok that was inspired by the perfume Lira by Casamorati.

“So, I’ve been making cakes that taste like perfume to prove my theory that […] what smells good together tastes good together,” Kassie said in the Lira-inspired-cake video.

“The way I’m doing that is by taking all of the edible scent notes of a perfume and infusing them into the components of my cakes,” she continued, before noting that Lira contains notes of “blood orange, lavender, rose, jasmine, cinnamon, bergamot, licorice, vanilla and caramel.

“From here, I just let my brain start running through flavour scenarios and start to decide where each flavour might fit in best. Like should I do a bergamot oil chiffon or make a bergamot curd? Should the cake be filled with rose and jasmine pastry cream or just soaked in a floral milk tea?” she said.

In her videos, Kassie emphasises the importance of how perfume works, where top, middle, and base notes come together to form a cohesive experience.

“You don’t actually want them all to shine,” Kassie said.

“One or two may stand out more than the rest, but those other flavours are there to support and uplift the key notes.”

This delicate balance is what allows her cakes to taste like the perfume itself—without overwhelming the palate. Besides the cake inspired by the Lira perfume, she has also created cakes with scents: Replica Jazz Club, Annabel’s Birthday Cake Marissa Zappas, and Malin + Goetz fragrance.

According to Kassie baking is more than just about following recipes; it’s about exploring how personal memories, art, and even perfume can influence flavour.

“My work taps into the nostalgia of my own childhood paired with the flavours I’ve come to love during my journey,” she wrote on her website.

“There is a boundless eternity of inspiration out there though, from music, art, fashion, invigorating conversation, the feelings I express and even suppress. Everything about being alive inspires the food I bake.”