Noticed a blanket of shaggy rug cakes on your #baking feed of late? You can thank Alana Jones-Mann for that, a Los Angeles-based artist and baker famed for her textured icing work which resembles a psychedelic shag rug.

Each shag rug cake takes Alana around two hours to decorate. Cakes are frosted then piped with up to a dozen coloured buttercreams.

Using a number 2 round piping tip, Alana applies individual strands at tightly spaced intervals to create a richly patterned tapestry. She prefers to work with a single tip over a grass tip.

Her free-form piping technique allows the cake to develop a sense of undulating movement, much like a soft, wavy carpet.

While the cakes may look professional, Alana only uses basic cake decorating tools to create them, including a number 2 round piping tip (found in most standard sets), a serrated knife, bench scraper and spatula.

Alana creates a vibrant palette for her cakes by mixing her own custom colours, drawing on the optimistic shades of the 60’s and 70’s. She also likes to pair the colours with ingredients in the cake.

Check out Alana’s shag rug cakes at @alanajonesmann. Alongside her signature shag, you’ll also find tile, wallpaper and embroidered cake designs. You can also head to her website for decorating tips.