First, I have to admit that this isn't the cake I was going to photograph. The cake I wanted to photograph is Great Dane Baking Company's Blue Velvet Cake. It is a luscious cake with swirls of perfectly white buttercream. It's beautiful. But...the day I went to get one all the cakes in the case had slight imperfections in the icing. The sides had bumped into something. And that just wouldn't do. So I grabbed this beauty, the Mocha Cake.

See my "helper" peeking in behind the cake.

This cake is layers of chocolate cake with a light and fluffy mocha mousse. The top is drizzled with melting chocolate and the edges are lined with chocolate pieces.

As with many food shots I had a vision in my mind of what I wanted to show the viewer. I waned to show off my new cake stand, but I also wanted a deep moody feel to the image.

This capture shows the details of the cake decoration, but wasn't the mood or angle I was looking for.

A cut shot of the cake. I realized too late that I would have preferred for the cake to be positioned on the plate the other way (frosting toward camera right).

Final shot: the keeper. This image shows the mood and detail that I wanted. While the cake is not shown in whole, I think the light falloff in the shadows adds depth and dimension to the shot.

What do you think? Which is your favorite?

This post is part of the On Our Plate series. Please check out Aerie Photography's Teriyaki Salmon!