Chinese & Lunar New Year Cakes in Bracknell
A Lunar New Year cake is a red and gold cake with the animal of the year on it. A 6-inch starts at £100 cutting 8–12; the 8-inch at £130 cuts 14–18 and is the size most people ask for. The animal as a chocolate figure is £15, gold sparkle is £7–£15. Made to order in Bracknell and delivered across Berkshire.
The date moves with the lunar calendar, so this page does not print one — tell us the day you are keeping and the cake is worked back from it. What the page does say is how to get a deep red that does not taste of its colour.
What does a Lunar New Year cake cost?
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
6" cake For a family meal rather than a gathering 8–12 slices | £100 |
8" cake Eight inches, which is the number people ask for on purpose 14–18 slices | £130 |
Fondant Finish in red How a true deep red is done without the cake tasting of it | £0 |
Velvet effect coating Belgian chocolate, cocoa butter. | £15–£30 |
The animal of the year Elegant moulded chocolate figurine | £15 |
Edible sparkles in gold Gold or silver | £7–£15 |
Cake prices are floors for the size, with the finish agreed per order; the rest is from the add-ons list. Writing in English is included. Delivery from £30 by distance, or free collection in Bracknell.
Order a Lunar New Year cake
We reply within 24 hours with a price. No deposit is taken until you are happy with the quote.
Not ready to send it? What follows answers most of what people ask first.
How long it takes
7–10 days for a simple design, at least 14 for two tiers.
Sooner is sometimes possible: a rush adds 50% when the notice is under 7 days, if the diary is clear.
In a hurry? Bento cakes take 3–5 days.
Delivery
From £30, quoted by distance from RG12 0UY.
Collection from Bracknell is free — see the areas we cover.
Paying
50% deposit to hold your date; orders under £50 are paid in full.
Balance 3 hours before collection, or cash on the day.
The deposit is non-refundable but transferable with 4 days' notice — full terms.
Why is a red cake harder than it looks?
Because red is the colour buttercream resists. Buttercream starts out pale yellow, and yellow is the opposite of what red needs, so getting to a true deep red means working in colouring paste by the spoonful — and at that dose the paste stops being flavourless and turns faintly bitter. It is the single commonest disappointment with a dramatic cake: perfect in the photograph, odd in the mouth. There are two ways round it and they are both on the price list, which is why this page starts here rather than with the festival.
Three ways to get red, and what each costs
Red fondant over the cake — £0. A skin rather than icing, so it takes colour at a fraction of the dose.
Velvet effect coating — £15–£30. Belgian chocolate, cocoa butter. Deep colour with nothing added to the cream.
Coloured buttercream — included in the finish, and the one to avoid at full strength. See cake colours.
Gold on top of any of them — gold work at £7–£15, which carries the drama for very little.
What goes on the cake besides red and gold?
The animal, and then almost nothing. The twelve-year cycle gives the year its character and the cake its one figure, and a chocolate figure at £15 holds its shape in a warm room where a modelled fondant one softens. After that the restraint is the point: red, gold, one animal, and a character or a name printed cleanly rather than piped. What crowds this cake is adding lanterns, blossom, coins and fireworks to the same 8-inch top until none of them reads. If you want more than one element, cupcakes carry them better — one motif per cake, which is how a box of cupcakes ends up telling a longer story than a cake does.
How do you order for a festival whose date moves?
By giving the date rather than the name. This site deliberately prints no date for the festivals that follow a lunar calendar — the same choice it makes for Eid and Diwali — because a date written a year ahead is wrong as often as it is right, and a wrong date on a cake page is worse than no date. So the enquiry asks for yours. Allow 7–10 days from the day you ask, and rather more if your gathering falls in the first few days of the fortnight, when everybody else’s does too. The occasions page lists the fixed dates the kitchen does count down to.
What else do people ask?
Allergies? Our kitchen handles all 14 of the allergens UK law requires us to declare, so nothing we bake is free from any of them. What is in each cake, and our hygiene rating.