Cake. Any day that has cake is a better day. And if cake drops through your letterbox, well then it’s a perfect day!
When someone offers you free cake (in this case the lovely Andrea from Baker Days), you’re not going to pass the offer up, are you? And I was very curious to experience their petite and personalised letterbox cake (how does a cake get dropped through your letterbox thudding to the floor below and remain in one piece?!).
Not having a specific occasion to celebrate, it took me a while to decide on my cake. There are so many different options to choose from on the Baker Days site, from the obvious birthday designs to engagements, from bon voyage to get well soon and, my favourite, ‘just to say’ cakes (who needs a reason to send someone a cake?). But, in the end, I couldn’t resist trying a photo upload cake.
The Baker Days site is very easy to use with clear steps to follow. After choosing your cake design, you select the size of your cake (from the petite letterbox size up to a large party cake), then the flavour (a plain madeira cake is standard with other options including gluten and wheat-free costing a little extra). You then have the option of personalising the cake with your own choice of text (you can’t change the font, colour or size of the text though which is a pity), before seeing a preview of your cake.
If you want to upload a photo to be put on a cake, there are many design options to choose from. You can simply have your photo draped over the cake or combine it with other designs; you can also add text. Because of the many choices, you can spend quite a while deciding your preferred design.
I ordered my letterbox cake on Friday and heard it thud to the floor on Saturday morning. If someone had sent this to me, I would have been very excited to discover the box’s contents.
Inside the box there isn’t any bubble wrap or any other cushioning hiding the contents (which is nice). Instead you immediately see a cute round tin, a blank gift card (if you were giving this in person to someone) and a cute party pack (2 candles, a party blower and 3 balloons). While the party pack may not always be relevant to the cake, having unexpected extras in the box is always a plus. There’s also a flyer advertising the other cakes you can order (I would have liked to read some more about the company’s background and where they’re based, although the photo of the Baker Days team is a nice addition).
The tin was in perfect shape, as was its contents. I was impressed! The letterbox cake is 5 inches/12.5 cm in diameter and about 1 inch/2.5 cm high. It’s advertised as a 3-4 portion cake; the portion size is small but big enough for a small sweet treat. The plain madeira sponge I chose was surprisingly moist and light with a lovely vanilla flavour. I’m not a big fan of bought cakes, but this was a pleasant surprise – definitely better than I was expecting and a cake I would happily send to someone.
Like any store-bought cake there is a list of ingredients, clearly displayed inside the box, along with the cake’s best before date. Baker Days say their cakes stay fresh for 2-3 weeks. The letterbox cake is wrapped in a clear plastic bag and the tin seems airtight. We ate the second half of the cake two days after opening and it still tasted fresh.
So what did I have put on my cake? Well as hubby was returning from one of his many business trips the day after I ordered it, I thought it would be nice to give it to him 🙂
I loved that Baker Days matched the text colour to Nicholas’ t-shirt. The cake brought a tear to hubby’s eye so it was definitely a great gift to give him (and something I may need to repeat in the future!). And I was very happy with the results of the photo on the icing.
Starting from £14.99 a Baker Days’ letterbox cake is a great alternative to sending flowers, chocolates or a card to someone, and you don’t have to be worried about them being in to get it. Baker Days even deliver to other countries. There’s always an occasion to send cake! I’m off to order another for a friend’s new baby and thinking that one of Nicholas’ drawings on a cake would be a great grandparent gift.
If you’re on Twitter, Baker Days are giving away a letterbox cake. Just RT their 1D cake pic before 24 April 2013.
Disclosure: We were sent a personalised letterbox cake from Baker Days to review. My opinions are honest and my own.
thegingerbreadmum 