The cake we call the Lemonade Cake is listed on the site as the Lemon Custard Cake, and both names are accurate. It is four layers of vanilla sponge soaked in lemon syrup, filled with lemon custard, and wrapped in white chocolate ganache. It is the alternative for anyone who wants a cake that reads as celebratory without being another chocolate cake.
If you are buying for someone’s milestone, that distinction matters. A chocolate cake is a safe answer. A lemon cake with a white ganache finish is a chosen one, and the person opening the box can tell the difference.
What is actually in it
The sponge is light rather than dense, and the lemon syrup runs right through the crumb rather than sitting on the surface. The custard between the layers is the sharp part — properly citrusy, not sweetened into submission. The white chocolate ganache around the outside does the balancing: creamy, silky, and just sweet enough to round off the acidity. What you taste is tart and rich in the same mouthful, which is why it holds up at the end of a large meal when a heavier cake would not.
It sits alongside nine other flavours in the specialty layer cake range, including the Snow White Chocolate Cake, the Tres Leches Cake and the Tropical Coconut Cake. All ten sit on the same price ladder, from $95.
Choosing the size
- 15cm, serves 12 to 15
- 20cm, serves 20 to 25
- 25cm, serves 30 to 35
Those serving counts are larger than most people assume, because a four-layer cake gives you tall, narrow slices rather than wedges. Count heads before you choose. For twenty guests the 20cm is the honest answer, and the 15cm is generous for a family dinner.
Why every cake looks the way it does
We do not work with fondant and we do not use added colourings. The finishes are ganache and chocolate elements, which means you choose from designs we already make rather than briefing a bespoke one. That is a real constraint and worth knowing before you order. It is also why a cake here costs what it costs and arrives in two days rather than after weeks of back-and-forth. More on that in our piece on custom cakes.
Taste it before you commit, with someone
The most useful thing you can do before committing to a large cake is to come in and buy slices from the cabinet and eat them at a table with the person helping you decide. The slice range rotates through layer cake flavours — the Thunder Chocolate slice is the benchmark for the chocolate end — and two people with two forks settle an argument faster than any photograph. If it is lemon you are chasing, the mini lemon tart, the Pink Lemonade mini cake and the Lemon Blueberry loaf all tell you how we handle citrus.
Getting it home and serving it
Cakes are handed over already assembled in a box. Carry the box from the bottom, keep the car cool, and store it at room temperature away from sun and heat, or in the fridge overnight and whenever the day is hot. Bring it out one to two hours before serving so the ganache softens. Dip the knife in hot water and dry it between slices and you will get clean layers every time. Collecting the day before is completely fine — it keeps in a fridge in our packaging overnight with no change to taste or texture.
Ordering and collection
Layer cakes need two days' notice, and the date picker at checkout only offers dates the kitchen can meet. We are pickup only from our patisserie inside The Welder on Welles Street — we do not deliver or courier, for any order. Hours are 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 3pm Saturday. Afterpay is accepted, and a gift card works when you would rather the recipient chose the flavour themselves. For smaller celebrations, mini cakes and petit fours cover the same ground in single servings, and ordering a cake in Christchurch walks through the rest.
