Dekoback

A Niece, a Cake, an Idea – and an Industry Is Born

There are founding stories that sound made up. The story of Dekoback is one of them – and it is true all the same. In 2009, a co-founder searches for a Winnie the Pooh decoration for his niece's birthday cake. He finds nothing suitable. What follows is not a complaint about the market but a conclusion: if we can't find it, others can't either – and that can be changed.

Sascha Hohl, Ceyhan Serbest and Rüdiger Settelmeier found Dekoback in 2009 near Sinsheim in Baden-Württemberg, initially as an online retailer under the name Online-Ideen. The goal is concrete: make cake decoration accessible – not just for professional confectioners, but for everyone who wants to bake and decorate at home. This focus on the private bakery, on the home baker constructing a birthday cake for their own family on a Saturday evening, is the company's distinguishing feature from the very start. Dekoback targets the end consumer rather than the specialist trade – and therefore brings products into supermarket shelves that had not been found there before.

Licences, Firsts and the Path to the Supermarket

What set Dekoback apart from other baking accessory suppliers from the outset was the decision to develop licensed products. Film characters on birthday cakes are not a new phenomenon – but licensed, produced and commercially available candles, toppers and sugar decorations featuring official characters from well-known film studios were barely obtainable in Germany. Dekoback secured licence agreements with Mattel, Lucasfilm, Marvel and Pixar early on – a step that meant both legal protection and immediate brand recognition.

A second defining step was the introduction of sugar paste into German supermarkets. Dekoback was the first food company to bring fondant for end consumers into German food retail. Until then, fondant was a specialist trade product – available in confectionery supply shops, barely accessible to private individuals. With its introduction into supermarkets, a new phase of home baking began in Germany: suddenly people without professional training could cover their cakes the way professionals did. This step shaped not only Dekoback's turnover but helped found an entire movement – creative baking as a leisure practice.

Growth, Structure and the Decocino Brand

The three-person startup of 2009 became, within just a few years, a company recording the highest growth rates in the baking decoration industry in Germany. In 2018, Dekoback moved to a new warehouse in Helmstadt-Bargen near Sinsheim, doubling storage capacity to 4,800 pallet spaces. By 2022, the company was exporting to a total of 20 countries in Europe and beyond. Today Dekoback employs around 140 people and is present in over 30,000 sales outlets worldwide.

The three founders Sascha Hohl, Ceyhan Serbest and Rüdiger Settelmeier continue to lead the company together to this day – a sign of the structural stability and personal accountability that has characterised the company from the beginning. Dekoback sees itself as a family business; some family members of the founders work in the company. The introduction of the sub-brand Decocino in 2022 marked a further strategic step. Under this name, all of the company's baking decoration products are brought together – a name easier to pronounce and remember internationally. Decocino won the 'Top Marke' prize in the area of baking decorations and baking ingredients in 2021, awarded by Lebensmittelzeitung and GfK – one of the most prestigious awards in the German food industry.

The Range – from the Licensed Candle to Sugar Writing

The Dekoback range covers an area that in practice connects two worlds: the world of licensed popular culture on one side and the world of craft cake decorating on the other. Both under one brand, both accessible to the same customer base. Cake toppers – decoration elements inserted directly into the cake – are the most visible product in the range. Licensed toppers featuring characters from Disney productions such as Frozen, Pixar films, Marvel universes or the Star Wars franchise make it possible to adapt a birthday cake to a child's favourite film character in just a few steps. Alongside these, Dekoback offers universally applicable toppers without licence ties – for weddings, anniversaries and general celebrations.

Dekoback candles combine function with design: number candles in various versions, character candles with licensed motifs and standard candles in various colours and shapes cover all requirements of the birthday ritual. Fountains – pyrotechnic cake decorations that ignite on the cake and produce a shower of sparks – are a product category particularly popular for festive occasions. Cupcake cases in various colours, motifs and materials allow the individual design of small baked goods. Sugar writing – pre-made, edible lettering and numbers in sugar icing – makes personalising cakes possible without craft skills: stick on, done.

Product Range at a Glance

Cake toppers · Cupcake cases · Candles · Fountains · Sugar writing · Sugar decorations · Licensed products

Dekoback at miniSchoggi

miniSchoggi carries Dekoback because the range covers an area that is frequently underestimated in practice: the finishing. A cake can be technically perfect – and yet at the decisive moment what is missing is what makes it an experience. The topper with the right character. The candle in the right number. The fountain that ignites the moment. The sugar writing that carries a personal message.

The Dekoback range available at miniSchoggi includes cake toppers, cupcake cases, candles, fountains, sugar writing and further decoration accessories. It is aimed at all those who bake and do not want to leave the finishing to chance – with products available in a quality and variety of motifs that miniSchoggi customers expect.

2009. A niece. A wish. From that came Dekoback.