"Custom cake" means very different things depending on who you ask. Some places mean a photograph printed onto icing. Some mean a three-tier fondant sculpture of your dog. If you are searching for custom cakes in Christchurch, it helps to know what a given cake maker actually does before you get your hopes up.
Here is how it works at our end.
Everything is already made to order
We do not batch-bake and hold stock. Every celebration cake in our range is assembled for your collection date in our central city studio, which means the starting point is already fresher than a cabinet cake. That is the part people tend not to realise: you are not choosing from what is left, you are commissioning a bake.
What you choose
Flavour. This is the real decision. Thunder for deep chocolate and Brazilian brigadeiro; Nutella for maximum drama; Tres Leches for the one everybody likes; Lemonade when the room wants something sharp; Prestige when it needs to feel expensive. Our vanilla range is the safe landing spot for a mixed crowd.
Size. Four-layer cakes come in 15cm, 20cm and 25cm — cutting 12 to 15, 20 to 25 and 30 to 35 slices respectively, which is more than most people expect. Mini cakes are a single serving each. Bundts and loaves come in two formats — a 20cm loaf for 8 slices or a 25cm bundt for 16.
Format. A whole cake is not always right. Individual slices, mini desserts and petit fours all solve the "everyone gets their own" problem better than cutting a cake at a party does.
Cakes built around an occasion
We keep separate collections for the occasions people ask about most — birthdays, baby showers, christenings, engagements and retirements. They are curated views of the same menu, filtered for what tends to suit each room.
Lead times, honestly
Two days for most whole cakes. Three for the larger desserts — the Black & White Chocolate Mousse and Romeo & Juliet cheesecake among them. Seven for petit fours, which are the most labour-intensive thing we make.
You do not need to work any of this out yourself: the date picker at checkout only offers collection dates we can actually meet for what is in your cart. Ordering early still gets you the widest choice of flavour.
Collection, not delivery
We are pickup only. Everything is collected from our patisserie inside The Welder on Welles Street, open 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 3pm on Saturday — so pick a collection slot that works around your day.
What we do not do
We do not make off-menu cakes. If you have arrived with a photograph of something and want it recreated to a brief, we are the wrong patisserie — and we would rather say that here than three emails into your planning.
That is a deliberate limit rather than a shortcoming. Every cake on the menu is there because it has been refined until it is worth putting our name on. A one-off built to a sketch cannot be held to that standard, and the cakes that get made hundreds of times are the ones that come out right every time.
When to get in touch
For volume rather than bespoke design — an event, a function, regular trade supply — our wholesale page and event catering page are the right starting points. Our FAQ answers most of the rest, including how to transport and store what you collect.
