We created a new product in order to solve a client’s business problem.

When it comes to food, for the most part, Australians are a pretty “no-nonsense” down to earth bunch. The meat pie is an iconic national favourite, as is the sausage roll and the vegemite sandwich. And one thing these downunder delicacies all traditionally have in common is gluten; so you can imagine the reaction you get from your average Aussie if you mention the words “gluten-free”. That’s right, it’s not positive! And there just aren’t enough good-tasting gluten-free food options available on mainstream Australian supermarket shelves to convince the general public that a gluten-free meat pie, sausage roll or vegimite sandwich can actually taste pretty good. As far as most Aussies are concerned, the very idea of gluten-free is verging on being un-Australian. Their mind is made up: “Gluten-free food? Tastes like cardboard mate!”.

For a long time there’s been a perception in Australia that “gluten-free food tastes like cardboard”, which is bad news when you’re one of a growing number of Australians diagnosed with Coeliac Disease. It’s also bad news when you’re Wholegreen Bakery - a company that specialises in making gluten-free baked goods. Our brief was to shift the “bland taste” perception of gluten-free food and help drive sales for Wholegreen. We didn’t have much of a production budget - less than AUD $10K, and no media budget whatsoever. What we did have however was access to a talented gluten-free pastry chef; so what did we do? We invented a new kind of cake.

Publically bust the “Tastes like Cardboard” myth by creating and launching a cake that looks like cardboard but tastes delicious.

July 2023 - Creative concept approval

July 2023 - Baking Tray R&D

Sept 2023 - Industrial Design / CAD Design

October 2023 - Prototypes

November 2023 - Baking R&D

January 2024 - Flavour profiling

February 2024 - Launch (Coeliac Awareness Week)

The Cardboard Cake is a delicious-tasting cake that closely resembles a block of corrugated cardboard sheets stacked on top of each other. This is a culinary world-first that is the result of a thorough R&D process. We started by creating a CAD drawing that we rendered as a cardboard mockup made from layers of corrugated cardboard. Then we commissioned a steel fabricator to create a bespoke baking tray that enabled us to make sheets of pastry that resembled our cardboard mockup. We then worked closely with Wholegreen Bakery’s head pastry chef through an iterative process to balance appealing taste profile and texture with cardboard appearance. We launched the Cardboard Cake during 2024 Australia’s Coeliac Awareness week and it is now available for sale at Wholegreen Bakery’s flagship store.

The Cardboard Cake is edible, irrefutable proof that you can be restricted to a gluten-free diet and eat food that you enjoy. With a production budget of AUD$8400 and AUD$O media budget, the launch of this humble cake drove close to AUD $2 Million in earned media. The day after launch, Wholegreen Bakery’s flagship store sold out - not just of cardboard cake, but of everything. And, at the time of writing (3 weeks after launch), overall sales are up 24% across all 3 stores. Consequently, the Cardboard Cake has so far delivered an ROI of 238%.