Mmm, cake. Cake, cake, cake. Everyone loves cake. There’s nothing better than a fudgy brownie, a massive slab of Victoria Sponge, a freshly baked cookie or a comforting scone. What’s that? Are we making you hungry? Sorry!
Anyway, we Londoners love a sweet treat every now and then (and sometimes a little too often). So we’ve rounded up the crème de la crème of places to get the best-baked goods in the capital – you can thank us later, especially if you decide to try an afternoon tea experience in London.
What are London’s best cake shops? Our recommendations:
- Violet Cakes
- Peggy Porschen
- Comptoir Bakery (formerly Comptoir Gourmand)
- E5 Bakehouse
- Fabrique Bakery
- Bread Ahead
- Crumbs & Doilies
- The Hummingbird Bakery
- Butter Believe It
- Forno & Pophams Bakery
Violet Cakes
📍 Wilton Way, Dalston & Alaïa Café, New Bond Street
Claire Ptak, who famously created the royal wedding cake for Harry and Meghan, continues to delight Londoners with her beautifully simple, seasonal bakes.
Her Dalston bakery is a cosy East London haven where sponge cakes are adorned with silky buttercream and local fruit. In 2025, she also launched a chic café inside the Alaïa fashion store on New Bond Street, offering West End shoppers a refined retreat for elderflower-infused cake, lavender shortbread, or banana bread paired with an oat flat white.
Peggy Porschen
📍 116 Ebury Street, Belgravia
Peggy Porschen’s pastel-pink cakes feel like a fairytale. Known for cupcakes so gorgeous they could double as wedding centrepieces, this Belgravia institution also offers an Afternoon Tea Experience with tiered trays of mini layer cakes, Parisian macarons, and edible flowers that are as photogenic as they are delicious.
Comptoir Bakery (formerly Comptoir Gourmand)
📍 98 Druid Street, Bermondsey & Maltby Street Market
Tucked along Bermondsey’s Druid Street, Comptoir Bakery brings the best of a traditional French boulangerie to London. Each croissant, clafoutis and cake is baked from scratch daily, with flour-dusted tables and the scent of real butter in the air, exactly like in Emily in Paris!
E5 Bakehouse
📍 Mentmore Terrace, Hackney, Poplar Union, V&A East
What began under the arches of London Fields has grown into a mini-bakery empire that’s as much about ethics as it is about crumb structure. Their organic cakes and plant-based pastries (try the blood orange almond cake) have a cult following, and their new café inside the V&A East is already a creative community hub.
Fabrique Bakery
📍 Earlham Street, Covent Garden & 5 other locations
This Stockholm transplant has cemented its place in the London baking scene thanks to its buttery cinnamon and cardamom buns. Fabrique doesn’t cut corners, each bake takes time, fermented slowly and baked on stone shelves in traditional stone ovens. The Covent Garden location is perfect for a cosy morning stop, where the smell of spice-laced dough wafts out onto the street.
Bread Ahead
📍 Borough Market, Chelsea, Wembley, & more
Bread Ahead remains the spiritual heart of Borough Market’s food scene. While it’s known for its crusty sourdoughs and custard-filled doughnuts, the cake game is strong too: towering carrot cakes, sticky toffee sponge, and chocolate Guinness cake that’s gained TikTok fame. Don’t miss their Baking School, whether you want to master macarons or make babka from scratch, classes sell out fast. With outposts in Chelsea and Wembley, it’s never been easier to get your fix!
Crumbs & Doilies
📍 Kingly Court, Soho
Started by YouTube’s “Cupcake Jemma,” this Soho gem is the definition of creative baking. Their cupcake designs are always changing – favourites include pistachio rose, birthday cake cookie sandwiches, and lemon curd swirl brownies. They also champion sustainability, sourcing local ingredients and using compostable packaging.
The Hummingbird Bakery
📍 Notting Hill, South Kensington, Spitalfields & more
Serving up Americana in every bite, Hummingbird Bakery is your go-to for rich Red Velvet cupcakes, towering New York cheesecakes, and fudge brownies. With a loyal fan base and sleek new interiors across their locations, they’ve kept their menu classic but added a few modern updates, including gluten-free brownies and vegan banana toffee loaf. It’s like stepping into a Brooklyn bake shop – only with better tea!
Butter Believe It
📍 Shoreditch
One of London’s most exciting newcomers, Butter Believe It, offers seasonal cake collections that are social media sensations – think ube cheesecake, miso caramel sponge, and unicorn cupcakes that glitter under café lights. The café itself is adorned with neon signs, terrazzo tables, and latte art so perfect that you’ll hesitate to sip!
Forno & Pophams Bakery
📍 Hackney & London Fields
These sister bakeries blend artisan breadmaking with patisserie finesse. While Pophams is better known for its weekend queues and laminated pastry masterpieces, Forno leans deeper into rustic Italian cakes – olive oil lemon cake, almond & apricot torta, and their famed hazelnut crema choux. Yummy!
London is a city that bakes with heart. Whether you’re wandering Borough Market or exploring Soho’s sweetest corners, there’s a perfect slice out there waiting for you! Love food? Enjoy the cake, chocolate, bread and cheese stalls at Borough Market whilst sightseeing around London.
