Cake Week: ‘Romance is the icing, but love is the cake’

28-Aug-2020 - Last updated on 28-Aug-2020 at 10:24 GMT

Whether baking it at home, ordering online or buying it at a bakery, it's definitely the week to indulge in cake. Pic: Nudge PR

Renowned TV chef Julia Child couldn’t have penned the world’s passion for the soft, sweet, indulgent treat more aptly. BakeryandSnacks celebrates Cake Week (August 31-September 6) by examining what consumers really want when it comes to their favourite slice.

Cake Week is sponsored by Carr’s Flour, Guittard Chocolate (made specifically for baking), FAB Flour (the consumer arm of NABIM, the national association of British and Irish millers) and The Easy Peasy Baking Campaign, FAB Flour’s consumer campaign to encourage non-bakers to get baking.

The week is choc-o-block full of cake-related activities – including live bake-a-longs, new product launches, promotions and masterclasses – from bakers including Lily Vanilli Bakery, bake off winner Edd Kimber, chocolatier Paul a Young, top cake designer Rosalind Miller and newly launched Black Box Cakes.

Cake Week is now curated by Nudge PR, which launched the highly successful Chocolate Week a decade ago. The event has become a nationwide occasion, with more than 200 events taking place across the UK generating on average over 300 pieces of coverage in the media.

Master Chocolatier, Paul A. Young is launching a truffle with a cake twist. The Victoria Sponge truffle is made from a Victoria sponge mixed with Paul’s signature white chocolate ganache, layered with raspberry jam and given a classic decorative sugar top as the ‘icing on the cake’. The truffle will be available to order online and to buy in the Paul A Young store in Camden Passage, Islington.

Social enterprise bakery - and favourite of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex - Luminary Bakery is sharing a cake recipe from its recently published cookbook 'Rising Hope: Recipes and Stories from Luminary Bakery'.

London-based artisan bakery Lily Vanilli is serving up pastel-coloured cakes, along with a huge display of signature cakes and bakes, including Vanilla Peach, Gluten Free Banana with Buckwheat Chia and Salt Caramel, Vanilla Cherry and Double Chocolate Pretzel.

Test your star-baker potential by joining the Cake Week quiz, hosted by journalist and food writer Sudi Pigott, taking place on September 1 at 7pm GMT.

Rosalind Miller Cakes – which creates luxury celebration cakes available on concession in Harrods – is hosting a competition to win two of its new online classes: Baking Fundamentals and All About Buttercream. The classes cover everything from baking the perfect sponge to the essential buttercream skills you need to ice and decorate like a professional.

"There’s nothing better than cake but more cake." - Harry S. Truman

Black Box Cakes is launching its series of Black Box Cake Masterclasses. Bakers who purchase the full set of tutorials during Cake Week will also get a free Cake Troubleshooting Guide. Throughout the week, the Cornwall-based bakery – which runs a direct-to-doorstep delivery of gourmet cakes nationwide – is releasing videos with expert tips and suggestions for home bakers.

Shropshire-based Lindy’s Cakes – operated by cake designer, sugar craft expert and cookbook author Lindy Smith – will be hosting a demonstration of a hyper-realistic cake, as well as running a live demonstration of a technique from Smith’s new book One Tier Party Cakes.

Gloucestershire-based Vanilla Pod Bakery is running a competition for one lucky winner win a 6” round Indulgent Belgian Chocolate Buttercream Celebration Cake.

The world’s favourite cakes

Online shopping portal PlayLikeMum rooted out data, trends and Instagram posts between January and April 2020 to discover the all-time favourite cakes across the globe.

Cupcakes come out on top with the highest score, largely due to the huge number of Instagram posts – more than 22 million. This is followed by Tiramisu, with an average of 1.2 million monthly searches.

Cupcakes are the most Instagrammed, whereas Tiramisu is the most searched and Devil’s Food Cake has seen the biggest increase in popularity with a search increase of 3,700%.

The most searched cakes in the UK during lockdown

Searches for all kind of different baked treats skyrocketed in the UK since March 23 – the date the nation was ordered into lockdown – but the one that saw the biggest increase was a bit of a throwback, the classic upside-down cake, with an increase of 230% in searches. Coming a close second was carrot cake (225%), followed by coffee cake (214%).