Pitches wanted (forbidden fruit, temptation, transgression) | $125 to $300 per piece

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: CAKE ZINE

Deadline: 24 March 2025

Cake Zine’s seventh issue, Forbidden Fruit, explores temptation and transgression in the context of fruit. We are looking for pitches about secrets, contraband, vice, and indulgence—if it’s irresistible, illicit, or intoxicating, we want to hear about it. Successful submissions will have a clear but creative connection to fruit, whether literal (fresh from the vine, smuggled across borders, transformed in a dessert) or more metaphorical (the fruits of labor, knowledge, queerness, or desire). Ideally, even figurative connections will include some actual fruit—but if your idea is compelling enough, we’ll consider it.

Think: Unholy marriages of vice and sweetness, like apple moonshine or mango-flavored vapes. Contemporary retellings of fruit’s sensual and sinister symbolism: Eve’s apple, Persephone’s pomegranate, Elio’s peach. The teenage yearning to wear Juicy Couture or Apple Bottom jeans. Petty and less-petty crimes, like stealing vast quantities of strawberry milkshakes from your job at Dairy Queen or pilfering a prized family recipe to share with our readers. Confessions of amateur (or professional) fruit smugglers, from clandestine mango imports to the U.S. in the 19th-century or sneaking durian home on public transportation in Singapore. The fantasies and cravings of the allergy-prone (does oat milk ice cream taste as sweet?). A tell-all of working at Apple’s Genius bar. An oral history of the dessert rotation at the Lavender Hill commune.

We are also looking for imaginative dessert recipes that incorporate fruit and are directly in conversation with the “forbidden” theme.

We are a small print publication with very limited space and a very high pitch volume. We prioritize adherence to and subversion of theme—ie, an unexpected but clearly connected take on “Forbidden Fruit.” We delight in the esoteric, the historical, and the contemporary, especially when woven together.

ESSENTIAL DETAILS

• Written pitches are due by 9AM EST on March 24th.

• Visual contributor submissions are due by 9AM EST on April 1st.

• All pieces will be assigned by early May.

• We have a rigorous editorial process with multiple rounds of revision over several weeks.

• Forbidden Fruit will be released in September 2025.

TYPES OF WRITING WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

Cake Zine has published everything from critiques of phallic desserts across history to investigations into pie as a metaphor for rejection on Love Island and condemnations of “deepcakes” in the age of “is it cake?” We've printed taxonomies, fables, fan fiction, interviews with directors and sex workers, visual art, and much more.

You can pitch us variations on the suggested topics above or something entirely different. We welcome broad interpretations of “Forbidden Fruit.” Just be clear about how your pitch relates to the theme. Pitch us:

• Historical deep dives that pair solid research/reporting with a critical eye

• Recipes including bread as an ingredient accompanied by a short thematic intro

• Flash fiction or short stories

• Poetry

• Unexpected interviews

• Personal essays

• Lyric essays

• Cultural criticism (literature, film, art, and pop culture)

• Profiles

• Humor pieces

• Underrepresented magazine storytelling formats such as comics, listicles, and historical taxonomies. If it doesn’t fit in another publication, we want to hear about it.

RATES

We pay creators. We’re a small, self-funded publication with flat rates based on length. All commissioned contributors will receive a copy of Forbidden Fruit.

• Shorter pieces (350 words or less), poems, and recipes: $125-$175

• Mid-length (500 to 1K words): $200

• Longform (2K words - plus or minus): $300

• Visual art: $200

• Misc content: Based on conversations with editors.

INSTRUCTIONS & WHAT TO INCLUDE

Send pitch emails to hellocakezine@gmail.com with “WRITING PITCH — Last Name” or “VISUALS PITCH — Last Name” in the subject line.

Written pitches for Forbidden Fruit are due by 9AM EST on March 24th.

Visual contributor submissions are due by 9AM EST on April 1st.

For all types of content: please tell us about yourself and provide a few links to relevant work that demonstrates your style, voice, and tone, whether in a major publication or personal blog. We are committed to publishing burgeoning voices and care more about your talent and ideas than your resume. We also prioritize work by and centering BIPOC, women, and queer people.
Please include the entire pitch in the body of your email. If you are pitching multiple pieces please include them in the same email.

For Non-Fiction

• Include a sample headline (to demonstrate the angle) and estimated word count.

• Provide a few sentences about your story idea. It’s not enough to share a topic—what is your take on the topic? How does it advance, complicate, or expand what we know or how we think about the subject of your piece?

• Feel like you have the silhouette of a piece, but don’t feel like you’ve fully nailed the crux of it yet? Feel free to include some reference links to articles/media/content that capture the approach you’re hoping to take and an explanation of how you’ll make it your own.

• For reported pieces, provide a few sample sources.

For Recipes

• Include a sample recipe title, a few sentences about the confection and how it adheres to the Forbidden Fruit theme, plus a brief info about the major flavors/techniques.

• We are largely interested in recipes that are doable for the home cook.

For Fiction and Poetry

• Fully written rough drafts are strongly preferred. We will also accept robustly outlined pitches if you provide other examples of your fiction or poetry work.

• Maximum 2000 words. Shorter forms are welcome!

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CONTACT INFORMATION (please do not share the email address publicly):

• Questions/submissions: hellocakezine@gmail.com

• Website: https://cakezine.com/

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: Cake Zine is a literary print magazine that explores art, history, and pop culture through the lens of desserts. Each issue delves into themes such as sensuality, darkness, resilience, and nostalgia, all connected to sweets. The magazine aims to offer readers a hedonistic and interdisciplinary perspective on contemporary culture. More information here.

• Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook and at SuccessfulPitches.com.

• Do not forget to end your pitch with (1) a short introduction about yourself; (2) a few lines highlighting your writing experience, relevant credentials and publication credits; and (3) links to your strongest work or portfolio, and online profile.

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