Birthday cakes are easy to shop for. Anniversary and engagement cakes are harder, because the brief is different: fewer candles, fewer novelty decorations, and a room of adults who will actually notice whether the thing tastes good.
If you are looking for anniversary or engagement cakes in Christchurch, here is how we think about the milestones between a birthday and a wedding.
Elegant rather than loud
Our anniversary cake range and engagement cake range lean towards clean finishes and grown-up flavours rather than bright colours. The Snow White, built on white chocolate, is the one people choose when they want the cake to look understated on the table. The Prestige goes the other way — dark chocolate ganache, coconut milk caramel and Raffaello — for a room that wants to be impressed.
The crowd-pleasers
Our Tres Leches is the safest cake on the menu in the best sense: almost nobody dislikes it, and its three-milk soak keeps it good for longer than a buttercream cake would be. The Black Forest is alcohol-free, which quietly solves a problem at a lot of family gatherings. The Tropical Coconut Cake is the one for a warm evening outdoors.
Sizes and what they feed
Most of our four-layer celebration cakes come in 15cm, 20cm and 25cm. A 15cm cuts 12 to 15 slices, a 20cm cuts 20 to 25, and a 25cm cuts 30 to 35. Those numbers surprise people, so count heads before you size up.
For a smaller marking of the day, our mini cakes are one serving each — available as trays of six or twelve, which is a neat way to give a table of friends one apiece. Petit fours work when you want one perfect bite per guest rather than a centrepiece.
If dessert matters more than cake
Not every anniversary wants a cake cut in front of everyone. The Romeo & Juliet cheesecake works as a shared dessert and a 20cm serves 10 to 12, and our made-to-order dessert menu — lava cakes, crème brûlée, a chocolate fondue for two — is a good way to end a dinner in the patisserie itself. The fondue in particular is built for two people and an hour.
Planning something bigger
If the engagement is heading towards a wedding, our wedding cakes and desserts page covers how we approach larger events. For a party rather than a dinner, dessert catering boxes feed a crowd without anyone having to slice anything.
How to order
Everything is made to order, so allow two days as standard — a few of the larger desserts need three, and the date picker at checkout will only offer dates we can meet. Collection is from The Welder on Welles Street, 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 3pm on Saturday. Browse the full celebration cake collection, or get in touch if you want to talk it through.
