Best online cake delivery

We've tested the best online cake delivery services for celebration cakes including Cutter & Squidge, Lola's Cupcakes and Waitrose. Prices varied from around £15 to £45 and up, and while the majority offer nationwide delivery, we also tested London-only cake delivery. Read on for our top recommendations.

For more like this, check out our reviews section for lots more ideas, including the best afternoon tea deliveries, best cake stands for displaying your delivery in style and the best letterbox gift delivery for foodies. And if you do want to bake your own, check out our best ever layer cake recipes for all the showstopping inspiration you need.

Best online cake delivery at a glance

• Best overall online cake delivery: Cutter & Squidge, from £23.50
• Best for red velvet cake: Lola's Cupcakes, from £37.50
• Best for planning ahead: Patisserie Valerie, from £35.95
• Best cake delivery for a gift: The Gift of Cake, from £19.95
• Best for traditionalists: Meg Rivers, from £24
• Best supermarket online cake delivery: Waitrose, from £13.50
• Best for colourful cakes: The Hummingbird Bakery, from £40

Best online cake delivery to buy 2023

Cutter & Squidge

• Available from Cutter & Squidge, from £23.50

Best overall online cake delivery

Cutter & Squidge is a family-run bakery known for its afternoon tea deliveries, hampers, bakes and cakes.

There is a wide range of cakes for delivery to choose from (some are available London only, with a smaller range nationwide) and six size options for each cake, from a small six inch to a whopping three-tier cake for a wedding. Cakes include naked styles and fully iced, with unique flavours to choose from such as blueberry cheesecake or passion fruit and pistachio. When ordering, you can also add a tin and a hand-piped message to personalise your delivery. You can also order by 4pm for next day delivery, perfect for last-minute celebrations and surprises.

We opted for the Strawberry Eat-on Mess cake – combining vanilla sponge, strawberry buttercream, strawberry jam, vanilla custard and meringue pieces. It was a naked-style cake with pretty meringue decoration and each of the three fillings clearly displayed round the edge.

Our cake (a London delivery) arrived in some of the simplest packaging we’ve seen. Delivered in a bright orange cardboard box, the cake was securely packed inside and didn’t budge even when carried on the tube, with all decoration remaining intact. The icing was super soft and creamy and we loved the variety of the different fillings inside, although perhaps would have enjoyed a touch more of the jam alongside the creamy fillings. The cake was one of the softest and fluffiest we tried, with good vanilla flavour.

Available from:
Cutter & Squidge, from £23.50

Lola's Cupcakes

• Available from Lola's Cupcakes, from £37.50

Best for red velvet

The clue is in the name – Lola's are best known for their cupcakes, with their signature blue shops found across London. They've recently launched nationwide delivery including cupcakes and brownies as well as whole celebration cakes.

There was a compact range of eight different cakes for delivery when we ordered, including a vegan caramel biscuit option. All are seven-inch, two tier cakes with naked edges in classic flavours – vanilla, chocolate, cookies and cream. You can add a hand-iced message to most designs, and cakes arrive presented on a silver cake board. We opted for the signature red velvet cake, filled with cream cheese icing and chocolate ganache, topped with white chocolate truffles and mini red velvet brownies.

Our cake arrived chilled from ice packs surrounding it in the packaging. It was very secure – wrapped in compostable wool, in a box with foldout sides to easily remove your cake and a cake ring keeping the layers secure. The cake was lovely and soft but the icing and particularly the chocolate ganache needed a bit of time to warm up and soften to its best texture – this chilled delivery would be handy if you’re travelling with your cake to its destination.

Available from:
Lola's Cupcakes, from £37.50

Patisserie Valerie

• Available from Patisserie Valerie, from £35.95

Best for planning ahead

Around for nearly 100 years, Patisserie Valerie is a familiar face on the high street for intricate French patisserie. They have a wide range of cakes and patisserie available for delivery, from black forest gateau to modern Lotus Biscoff, red velvet and plenty of unique designs including a chocolate waterfall cake and lemon and blueberry naked cake. You can order by 4pm online for next-day delivery and there is the option to add a hand-iced message to all cakes, as well as buy candles and cake toppers.

We chose the distinctive pink candy stripe gateau to try, alternating layers of pink sponge, fresh cream and raspberry jam and coated with swiss buttercream. Cakes are baked and then frozen and packed with dry ice for delivery. The cake is delivered completely frozen in a very large cardboard box and needs 8-10 hours in the fridge to defrost – make sure you remember to factor in this time (and fridge space) when ordering.

Our cake arrived in near perfect condition, icing all intact with just a few crushed macarons on top. The cake had very impressive height with five layers for a serious statement and centrepiece at a special occasion and felt good value for money for the generous size of the cake. We were impressed at how well the cake defrosted with a light and fluffy sponge. The super-shiny icing was incredibly smooth and airy, almost like marshmallow, definitely one for those with a sweet tooth.

Available from:
Patisserie Valerie, from £35.95

The Gift of Cake

• Available from The Gift of Cake, from £19.95

Best for sending as a gift

The Gift of Cake specialises in exactly what the name suggests: online cake delivery designed to be special postal gifts. Rather than towering iced showstoppers, these are simple two-tier cakes that have a homemade feel. The compact range of nine cakes focuses on the classics: carrot cake, victoria sponge, lemon drizzle, coffee and walnut etc, all available in just one size (six and a half inch). It's ideal for the traditionalists who don't want a towering cake covered in icing and appreciate the classics.

When ordering, you can opt to send the cake in a smart tin (a handy keepsake) and add cake toppers, candles, a card or chocolates to the delivery.

We tried their award-winning champagne and strawberry cake. Again, this lives up to the name: comprising a prosecco sponge, champagne drizzle, champagne buttercream and strawberry jam. It was a pleasingly compact delivery in a small cardboard box with polystyrene stuffing and the cake securely inside the bronze tin (an additional extra cost). The tin was wrapped in paper and tied with a ribbon so would definitely feel special when opening if sending as a gift. The cake was decorated with a floral icing wreath which was pretty much completely intact, only the odd softening here or there. You can smell the champagne as soon as you open the cake and taste it lightly in the icing: a classic victoria sponge given a decadent makeover.

The smaller cake size would be great for smaller households and couples and would be a very welcome gift delivery.

Available from:
The Gift of Cake, from £19.95

Meg Rivers

• Available from Meg Rivers, from £24

Best for traditionalists

Meg Rivers is a Cotswolds-based, B-corp certified bakery that has been baking for more than 30 years. Cakes, hampers and traybakes are available for online delivery, including a monthly cake subscription for the true enthusiast.

The range of classic cakes available for delivery includes several varieties of fruit cake, a sticky ginger cake and coffee and walnut. Look out for seasonal flavours too using fresh berries, such as gooseberry and elderflower or blackberry. Cakes are available in just one size, although there are also individual mini cake bundles, too.

We opted to try the classic cherry cake. We loved how generously studded with sweet glacé cherries the cake was, with smart shiny cherries on top, too.

This style of cake (with no icing) is sturdy so doesn’t need lots of protection and our cake wasn’t damaged in any way when delivered. There was quite a lot of plastic round it once delivered and the cake was ever so slightly chilled – we'd recommend leaving to soften slightly and enjoy at room temperature. Cakes like this keep well too (nine shelf days from dispatch), so no rush to eat it all straightaway (if you can resist).

Available from:
Meg Rivers, from £24

Waitrose

• Available from Waitrose, from £13.50

Best supermarket online cake delivery

Next time you're doing your online shop, you can add a special celebration cake to your delivery. Waitrose has a large range of birthday and celebration cakes at varying price points, from familiar cakes you'll spot in store to more premium themed fondant icing-coated cakes for children's birthday parties (including space, dinosaur and football cakes) that require longer notice when ordering.

We tested out the Neapolitan and Caramelised Biscuit cakes. These can be added to the trolley as normal when doing a Waitrose online delivery. They are a good middle ground for a celebration – falling under £20 but more impressive than a basic supermarket cake and serving 16. They're presented on a small silver cake board and arrived intact in their clear cake boxes. They'd be ideal for smaller celebrations or for taking on picnics and both looked tempting, with pretty decoration and drip detailing.

The Neapolitan had surprising distinct flavour in each layer: the sweet strawberry layer tasted just like strawberry ice cream whilst the intense dark chocolate layer pleasantly balanced out the sweetness. In the caramelised biscuit cake (aka one for the Lotus Biscoff fans), the sponge has mild flavour with a strong hit of caramelised biscuit coming through well in the icing. We would buy again and explore the rest of the range.

Available from:
Waitrose, from £13.50

The Hummingbird Bakery

• Available from Hummingbird Bakery, from £40

Best for colourful cakes

London bakery group The Hummingbird Bakery has five stores across London specialising in American-inspired cakes and bakes. Online you can order a range of celebration cakes, pies, cheesecakes, cupcakes and more. Cake delivery is currently available for London postcodes only, with cupcake decorating kits available nationwide.

Hummingbird Bakery has lots of colourful cakes to choose from with designs for special occasions and kids, in largely classic flavours. We tried the rainbow piñata cake, a combination of two of their signature cake styles in one. This is available in four sizes (six, eight, nine or 10 inch) with helpful guidance on how many this would serve. You can personalise the icing colour with six shades available, plus add a message, decorations, candles or cards to your order.

Our cake was delivered in a large Hummingbird Bakery paper bag. The cake was secure inside a box on a cake board taped to the base so it can’t budge, and was in perfect condition on delivery (although don’t carry the heavy cake long distances in the paper bag!). The rainbow piñata makes serious impact, with simple vanilla icing hiding the vibrant insides and would be great for a kids party. The sponge was a bit more dense than others we’ve tried (perhaps due to the quantities of rainbow food colouring), but the icing had great flavour

Available from:
Hummingbird Bakery, from £45

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