Buying from a cake shop

A cake bought for an occasion has to be right on the day. This page covers hygiene ratings, allergens, ordering a cake to your own design, and buying from a home baker.

Food hygiene ratings

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, food businesses get a hygiene rating from 0 to 5. A 5 means hygiene standards are very good. A 0 means urgent improvement is required.

The rating shows what the council's food safety officer found at the last inspection. It says nothing about how the cakes taste or look.

Shops in Wales and Northern Ireland must display their rating. In England, displaying it is voluntary. You can look up any rating on the Food Standards Agency's ratings site.

Scotland has its own scheme. A shop either passes or is told improvement is required, and Food Standards Scotland publishes every result online.

Allergens

Food law names 14 allergens. They include milk, eggs, cereals containing gluten, peanuts, tree nuts, soybeans and sesame. A bakery must tell you if any of them is in what you buy.

For a cake on open display, staff can tell you in person. If they do, the shop must also say where the information can be found.

Since 1 October 2021, a cake boxed in the shop before you choose it needs a full label. The label lists every ingredient, with the allergens picked out.

If you order online or by phone, the allergen information must be given before you pay. It must be given again when the cake is delivered.

The Food Standards Agency suggests asking whether there has been a last-minute recipe change.

Ordering a cake to your own design

The 14-day right to cancel an online order does not cover goods made to your own specification. It does not cover food that goes off quickly either. So a celebration cake ordered online usually cannot be cancelled that way.

Whatever you order, the cake must match the description you agreed.

If you do cancel, GOV.UK's guide to cancelling says a business can generally keep only enough to cover its actual losses. It says a non-refundable deposit should only be a small percentage of the total price.

Buying from a home baker

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, people who sell food regularly from home are a food business under food law. They must register with their council at least 28 days before they start trading. Registration is free.

The council then arranges a hygiene inspection, and the home baker gets a rating like any shop. On the ratings site, a home business is listed by its name and the first half of its postcode.

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