Party Like It’s Your Birthday with Dunn’s

It only comes around once a year, so be sure to celebrate your birthday the right way, with a delicious and festive birthday cake from Dunn’s! All cakes are made on site in our North London bakery with the freshest ingredients possible, so we can ensure high quality every time. Since all cakes are homemade we are able to personalise based on flavours, themes, shapes, sizes and many other specifications. Whether you are celebrating a first birthday, twenty first birthday or one hundred and first birthday, Dunn’s Bakery is the premier bakery for the most beautiful, tasty, special cakes to enjoy for a birthday.

Dunns’ expert bakers can craft cakes for both children and adults, depending on your situation. Check out our website to see the gallery of some of Dunns’ past creations. Whether it’s a cute Mickey Mouse cake, a silly Cat in the Hat cake, a beautiful Cinderella inspired cake or a basketball cake, Dunn’s is prepared to wow you with our amazing children’s cake creations. No challenge is too daunting for our master bakers, and we know how important a child’s birthday cake is, so we strive to make your imagination come to life with our cakes.

The possibilities of fantastic adult cakes are endless and our bakers are here to fulfil your birthday wishes and create the cake of your dreams. From cars and Guinness pints to handbags and shoes, our cakes won’t cease to amaze you! Another popular cake is our number cakes which can be made for single, double or even triple digit celebrations. Photo cakes can be fun option, we use the newest technology to transfer your photo onto a cake with deliciously edible icing. Top off any of our cakes with a personalised message and your cake will be the centrepiece of the party.

We take birthdays seriously here at Dunn’s, therefore, each cake is designed by our expert cake designer and decorator at our  Crouch End family owned bakery. Take your pick from a range of delicious flavours including vanilla sponge, chocolate sponge, fruitcake and even indulgent chocolate fudge! Made with only the finest ingredients, all locally sourced, to ensure you enjoy every last bite. All of our cakes are made with our family-secret recipe passed down through generations, so come find out why Dunn’s Bakery is one of the longest-running bakeries in London.

Pop into our shop to inquire about our one-of-a-kind birthday cakes or visit our online shop to buy online quick and easy!

Read Full Post »

AND IT’S NOT EVEN MY BIRTHDAY!

History of the birthday cake

It is known that many people celebrate their birthday with a birthday cake, but it has been said that Germany was the pioneer of this practice. Cakes represent wealth; only wealthy people could afford to buy one. The cakes were expensive because of the elaborate designs and decorations on the cakes. After the industrial revolution, ordinary people could finally have a chance to take a bite of the cakes as the resources such as cooking utensils and ingredients became cheaper.

In the past, the texture of cakes was similar as bread, as compared to the cakes that we have today. Later on sweeter versions were made, which they called Geburtstagorten.

Traditional birthday cakes

Every country has their own tradition, as birthday cakes become more and more popular; everyone has managed to come up with their own versions of the birthday cake.

Date back to Ancient Greek Civilizations, the individual gaining one more year would bring a circle shaped pastry to the temple of Artemis, the goddess of nature, the moon and fertility in order to ensure her favor for another year. The circle cakes were meant to resemble the moon and candles were placed on top so as to resemble heavenly body. Today, many cakes around the world are still served in the same circular, fiery way.

France

Birthdays in France tend to be celebrated without the frosted flair of the US. Commonly, cakes and tarts are served with chocolate and fresh whipped cream.

India

Rather than a traditional cake, birthdays in India are often celebrated with milk or yogurt dumplings either served with nuts or flavored syrup.

New Zealand & Australia

Birthday celebrations in these two countries are often marked with a fruit and cream filled, layered meringue Pavlova. They can be quite decedent and colorful, using local favorites such as the kiwi to decorate.

Indonesia

Savory rice and vegetable cakes are formed to celebrate a variety of holidays in Indonesian culture. Served with vegetables, meat, and side dishes, yellow rice is usually used to form the beautiful layers. The color is to signify wishes of wealth and prosperity for the birthday individual.

China

Often times, each guest at a Chinese birthday party will receive a peach-shaped pastry filled with lotus paste. This tradition is especially acted out as a person becomes older. In Chinese literature, a peach signifies long life and immortality, what the person wishes for themselves as they age.

England

Cakes in British culture are often baked with symbolic objects mixed in. Items like a thimble or a coin are incorporated into the batter. The person that receives the piece with a coin is said to become wealthy and the person with the thimble is predicted never to marry.

Denmark

Danish birthday cakes for adults consist of three layers alternating with cream, berries, custard, and any other mix-ins of your choosing. However, for children a kagemand or kagekone, a rolled out pastry, is decorated to look like a cake woman or cake man. Using chocolate, candy, and icing, the cake child is cut into pieces to enjoy while the children scream in mock fear and the birthday child nibbles on the head.

Ghana

The African country does not have a specific birthday sweet that is generally served at birthday gatherings. However, kelewele is almost always served at the birthday celebration or for breakfast. The cooked, ripe plantains are spiced with ginger and pepper and is fried to a delicious golden brown.

Chile

Tortas consisting of fruit fillings and dried meringue layers are often served on birthdays in Chile. Lucuma, a tropical fruit that tastes of sweet custard, is a popular flavor for the fruit cream. At many Latin American birthdays, the child will bite into the cake without utensils after blowing out the candles and the friends around push their face into the frosting.

Serbia

Given its history and location, Serbian cuisine harbors characteristics from Asian culture as well as Mediterranean countries such as Greece. One of their traditional cakes served often on birthdays is a good indicator of such influences. Vasa’s torte base is a rich, nutty orange cake that is then topped with a decadent walnut-chocolate mousse. The cake is covered in fluffy meringue cream and sprinkled with zested orange and chopped nuts.

Dunn’s Bakery bring you birthday cakes

Dunn’s Bakery would like to continue the traditions. As much as we may no longer place a coin or a thimble into our cakes, we still believe birthday cakes are necessity to enjoy any birthday celebrations properly. We bake all of our goods to the highest quality to ensure all of our birthday cakes meet our customer’s tastes.

Dunn’s bakery offers a wide range of birthday cakes to suit any of our customers’ desires. Our birthday cakes range from cartoon characters, footballs, numbers, to the traditional round cake or the more modern, photo cakes.

We promise to provide fresh birthday cakes, as we make everything on site daily. There is also the choice of two flavours, chocolate and vanilla, along with so many other options to customise our cakes.

The North London bakery not only allows you to buy the cakes in store, but we also give our customers the option of buying birthday cakes online, through our online cake shop.

Read Full Post »