I once heard that all music has all been written. Anything recent is just a copy or twist of something someone else has written 
.
I SOOOO feel that way about cake. I have been looking for a unique design to try and everytime I think of something, I can google and see it already done--somewhere else.
In the words of Shakespeare, "There is nothing new under the sun." And it's a funny thing that people's minds tend to work the same way. A copy editor told me once that she would think of a clever headline for some current event, and then find out that 4 other newspapers had used the same headline that day.
WITH THAT BEING SAID...
I DO think there is "something new" under the sun for cake decorating. New techniques, new designs, new concepts... sure it's rare, but it does still happen - it just takes some out-of-the-box thinking. Remember, once upon a time the topsy-turvy cake did not exist 
Once upon a time, the cherry blossom wedding cake did not exist. Sure, now they're ubiquitous, but it took somebody to create the idea in the first place. The world will never run out of ideas.
In the 1880âs a US senator had proposed legislation to eliminate the patent office because he believed that everything that could possibly be invented had been. It didnât pass....
(Just goes to show you that our gov't has NEVER been able to figure things right!) 
I found 2 funny quotes:
"The Internet? We are not interested in it"
-- Bill Gates, 1993
"Sometimes we do get taken by surprise. For example, when the Internet came along, we had it as a fifth or sixth priority."
-- Bill Gates, July, 1998
In Hamlet, William Shakepeare wrote,"There are more things in heaven and earth, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
You can't stop progress. People will always have inquiring, inventive minds. Every interest will have new methods and new ways to think about things. We just need to be open to them.
Yes, my husband has made it a mission to come up with some cake that hasn't been done yet....everytime so far, I have either already seen it or we go on this site and there it is! He keeps trying though! 
I know what you mean, even when you think you are original you are not. The Frog Prince cake in my gallery is one of those, I thought I had come up with something really different just to find several similar on CC. It has been a long while since I have seen something really unusual which blew me away.
Having said all of that, of course it has not all been done. We are only limited by our imaginations, just because nobody has though of something yet does not mean it is not going to happen.
There's nothing wrong or bad about putting your own flair into an existing idea. For example look at a cake that you really like and see what you could do differently. If you see a gorgeous pink and brown cake with roses try to envision it in black and white with gerbera daisies instead and change the shape from round to square. Add a different border. Play, experiment, be creative!! Don't worry if it's "been done before", focus on how you can make it yours!
I know what you mean, even when you think you are original you are not.
My hubby does stand up comedy. Once in awhile, he comes into where I'm sitting and tries out a new bit he's just written. Most of the time, I have to tell him, "Yeah ... it was funnier when Foxworthy (or Seinfeld) did it." He says, "Foxworthy already did this??? No way! I just now wrote it!"
I think the beauty of this business is that even though someone else has already done it somewhere out there, the people that I am making these cakes for have NOT seen it yet. So yeah, I take the brilliant ideas I find here, put my own spin on them and I have something new, at least to the people I am creating it for.
alidpayne, you are so right about that. I think we often forget that most people are not cake nerds like ourselves and have no idea what you can do in cake. I recently did a steak cake and you would think by the reactions I got that it was the most brilliant and original idea ever to have been created. Of course I nodded and smiled and took the compliments, there is no way I was going to own up to the cake muggles that 1, the idea was not mine and 2, there are far better examples here.
I can relate to all that everyone has said and agree. I say oh someone has done that but it's true when you can take an idea already but personalize it with your touch your clients thinks you did some fabulous or it's so different. Because my clients will say oh she does unusual cakes or I never seen that and I'm like what it's everywhere. But everybody are not like us who try and find all different designs in other words they are not cake junkies.
No it has not all been done because then there would have to be an end and there is no end to cake decorating even though it could be the end to me somedays and I am only starting out!
We just got Ace of Cakes on our TV's here (backwards country) and I was dying to see it having heard so much about it on CC.
Well ....... nothing I ain't alreay seen here on CC just that they got interest that's all. Having said that I like watching the show and they seem like a good bunch of people!
Any one of use bakers and decorators and creative people could stumble onto something new that will generate great interest, who knows?
Keep on caking
It is never-ending... I'm most astounded by the huge boom in cupcakes over the last few years.
Things that I've learned about since finding this community:
~ Using Rice Krispy treats as part of the structure.
~ Creating stable cakes by using woodshop methods to make cake boards and PVC pipe for a central supoort.
~ Sugar Veil.
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