This picture of beautifully-coloured tapioca pancakes posted on Instagram by @symmetrybreakfast gained a whopping 18,555 likes. It’s one of the most popular pictures on this account, which boasts 666,000 followers. The pancakes are coloured with purple dragonfruit, spinach and cucumber juices.

About 51,645 of @alphafoodie’s massive 255,000 followers on Instagram liked this image of a strawberry and cranberry smoothie bowl. The image was posted twice and attracted a total of 761 comments and counting in awe of the pastel masterpiece. 

As one of the world’s biggest YouTubers with a large Instagram following, @niomismart shares her love of a plant-based lifestyle online. The social media star has 1.8 million Instagram followers, with this image of a vegan raspberry and lemon ripple cheesecake gaining 57,603 likes.  

Food photographer, stylist and recipe artist @anettvelsberg from Cape Town attracted so many likes on this image of a white chocolate and mascarpone tart that she posted it three times.

With 163,000 followers, @foodwithmichel on Instagram has a massive reach. His images get plenty of likes including this image of pastel rolled ice cream. He posted the image at least twice and gained about 36,500 likes in total. The ice cream cups include strawberry cheesecake, dragonfruit, taro, matcha green tea and mint s'mores.

The saying goes that ‘you don’t make friends with salad’ but @rainbowplantlife proves that wrong with 76,700 followers on Instagram. The vegan backpacker and former NYC Harvard lawyer got 2,790 likes for this colourful salad. 

So-called flat lays of food, especially fruit like this one by @lauraponts on Instagram, are extremely popular. The colour and brightness attract people’s eyes and help gain followers. This image of fruit was liked a staggering 7,119 likes for the food stylist, cook and food branding specialist who has 171,000 followers. 

Who would have thought that 5,061 people could like your morning toast? Well that’s the case for Bella Karragiannidis of @ful.filled who posted a picture of her avocado toast with watermelon radish on her full.filled Instagram page. Ful.filled is followed by 52,700 people. 

This image of a massive stack of pancakes was posted by food and travel photographer Joann Pai of @sliceofpai on Instagram. She has 142,000 followers with this particular image receiving 4,059 likes.  

This bowl full of avocado, mango, and salmon roses on kokuho rose brown rice with ginger sesame is as pretty as a bunch of flowers. Posted on Instagram by @thedelicious, the image attracted 2,915 likes of the account’s 159,000 followers. 

More than half of @lindsaysfeast’s 10,600 followers on Instagram liked her image of a blackberry tart she made. The simple image received 6,239 likes and is a typical ‘foodies’ picture with vibrant colours and perfect placement. 

With a massive 92,300 followers, @greensmoothiegourmet on Instagram shares images and recipes of healthy parfaits and desserts. This image of an ace smoothie platter of fruits was posted at least twice and liked a total of 7,881 times. 

These rice cups filled with yoghurt and topped with fruit were liked by 4,952 of @frei_style’s 23,400 followers on Instagram. The mother of twins shares her love for healthy food with vibrant and creative images of recipes.

Edd Kimber, or @theboywhobakes won series one of the Great British Bake Off and shares his creations via Instagram with his 113,000 followers. His image of this classic black forest gateau with gold covered cherries gained 2,796 likes.

More than 12,700 people liked this image by @alenafoodphoto on Instagram which was posted twice to the account. The strawberry tart is one of many images food stylist and photographer Alena Haurylik posts and shares with her 101,000 followers.

This image of a pitaya cheesecake on @datesandavocados was liked 4,464 times. This Instagram account has 37,100 followers.

Chef Thomas Keller recently posted this picture of a meat platter that won the USA a silver at the 2015 Bocuse d’Or competition in Lyon. The platter was modelled after Napa Valley’s beautiful landscape by @crucialdetail.

Noodle soup never looked prettier. Anna Jones of @we_are_food on Instagram put the recipe together and took this image which attracted 1,115 likes.

Instagrammer @mangelka has a distinct style and has posted several images of food in the shape of butterflies. It’s toast with avocado, beetroot, lemon slices, sweet potatoes, blackberries and currants on homemade Nutella. The account has 41,700 followers and this image has so far gained 700 likes and counting.

Some of the most beautiful and colourful food images on Instagram are of smoothie bowls. Their popularity is driven by social media enthusiasts such as @dailybowlofhappiness who has 12,500 followers. This stunning bowl of goodness is a blue lagoon smoothy bowl and was liked almost 8,000 times after being posted twice. 

A simple image of donuts can be a thing of beauty when taken by an ace photographer such as @missfoodieproblems.

Being creative with popular healthly foods like avocados pays off for @foodbites on Instagram. This simple image the Instagram user posted for Valentine’s Day shows an avocado sliced into the shape of a heart with hemp seeds, lavender, mint and black sesame. The image got 4,607 likes.

Social media star @blogilates has built her fame on YouTube and Instagram with 1.3 million followers on the image-sharing site alone. An image of picture-perfect sandwiches she had for lunch was liked by 28,845 accounts.

This mud cake that looks too good to eat was posted by baker @rollitin._.glitter, who has 3,459 followers on Instagram. The image of the white chocolate mud cake filled with Nutella mousse and covered in edible flowers gained 2,323 likes. 

Anything pastel and colourful is a big hit on Instagram. Images like this rainbow cheesecake have drawn massive attention and likes in the last couple of years. This photograph by @bendearnley of a creation by Australian cook Katherine Sabbath of @katherine_sabbath on Instagram got 12,330 likes from her 373,000 followers. 

By posting this rainbow-inspired image of rice paper rolls twice on her Instagram page, Signe Leth of @amillionmiless managed to rack up 1,273 likes. The Danish food and lifestyle blogger has 74,800 followers on Instagram. 

If anyone could make a bowl of Greek yoghurt look as lovely as this, it’s @sarkababicka on Instagram with 141,000 followers. The image of the breakfast dish with fresh figs, nuts and coconut milk was liked 1,330 times.