Custom cake, menu cake, bento or cupcakes?
Order a custom cake when the design matters, a signature menu cake when the flavour matters more than the look, a bento when it is for one or two people or the date is close, and cupcakes when everyone needs their own. Prices start at £100, £70 and £6 each.
What is the difference between the four?
They differ in one thing above all: how much of the cake you decide. A custom cake is designed around your brief, where a menu cake is a recipe we already bake and finish simply.
A bento is a small cake for one or two people rather than a table, and cupcakes split the same quantity of cake into individual portions. The table below sets the four against each other on price, notice and how much say you have.
| Option | From | Notice |
|---|---|---|
| Custom cakeAny design, colour, theme or wording | £100 | 7–10 days |
| Signature menu cakeA set recipe, finished simply | £100 | 7–10 days |
| Bento cakeOne small cake with a message on top | £70 | 3–5 days |
| CupcakesToppers, printed logos, several flavours at once | £36 | 7–10 days |
When is a custom cake the right choice?
When the look of the cake is part of the occasion: a theme, a character, a colour scheme, a modelled figure, a logo. Nothing else on this list gives you that.
It starts at £100, which is more than a menu cake of the same size, and the difference buys the design rather than more cake. Allow 7–10 days, or at least 14 for two tiers, and longer if the date is a summer Saturday.
When should I order from the signature menu instead?
When the flavour matters more than the appearance. These are recipes we bake regularly — medovik, Napoleon, tiramisu and the rest — at a set price for a set size.
Unlike a custom cake, the decoration is simple by design, and the saving is real rather than nominal. You still choose the size, the date and anything written on top.
When is a bento cake enough?
When it is a gift for one person, or when the date is too close for anything else. A bento needs 3–5 days against 7–10 days, or at least 14 for two tiers for everything else, which is usually the deciding factor.
It serves about 4, so it is the wrong answer for a party and the right one for a desk, a hospital visit or a quiet birthday. It costs £70, and the box is part of the gift; the table below gives both bento sizes.
| What you get | Serves | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 4" Bento CakePalm-sized cake with big wow factor | about 4 | £70 |
| Bento Box4" bento cake plus 5 matching cupcakes | about 9 | £100 |
When do cupcakes beat a cake?
When nobody wants to cut anything. Cupcakes suit an office, a classroom or a party where the cake is handed round rather than served, and they are the only option here that carries several flavours in one order.
They are £6 each in boxes, so the arithmetic is per person rather than per cake. Unlike a cake, they travel and keep individually, which is why they are the usual answer for a workplace. The box prices are in the table below.
| Box | Price | Each |
|---|---|---|
| 6 cupcakes | £36 | £6.00 |
| 12 cupcakes | £72 | £6.00 |
| 24 cupcakes | £138 | £5.75 |