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Are Cake Sheds a thing in your town?

118 replies

ChickpeasOnEarth · 21/10/2025 09:11

In the last few months there have been 9 cake sheds pop up in my small town - where people are selling homemade cakes from their front garden with an honesty box. According to their social media pages they are really popular, which is great as I love to support small businesses.
Trends like this fascinate me, and I wonder how long they will last once the novelty wears off.
Is it a current thing across the whole country?

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TheGoddessAthena · 21/10/2025 13:18

What do the ewwww hygiene people do when they go to a friend's house and are offered a slice of cake? Decline because they haven't done a food hygiene certificate?

The images posted of mouldy cake and weird bread are not from cake sheds, home bakers or similar. The large one is not even in the UK - it's South African. The other two are from a bakery and a dimsum place. Presumably bakery and dim sum place both have hygiene certificates. Isn't google lens wonderful.

JDM625 · 21/10/2025 13:22

@TheGoddessAthena - No one said that pics were from a cake shed!
@thisishowloween Of course contamination can and does occur in commercial premises!

ChickpeasOnEarth · 21/10/2025 13:42

JDM625 · 21/10/2025 13:11

I'm sure that most have had hygiene inspections etc but I'd still be cautious 😬

What have these photos got to do with cake sheds?

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TheGoddessAthena · 21/10/2025 13:57

ChickpeasOnEarth · 21/10/2025 13:42

What have these photos got to do with cake sheds?

Absolutely nothing.

BunnyLake · 21/10/2025 14:41

TheGoddessAthena · 21/10/2025 13:18

What do the ewwww hygiene people do when they go to a friend's house and are offered a slice of cake? Decline because they haven't done a food hygiene certificate?

The images posted of mouldy cake and weird bread are not from cake sheds, home bakers or similar. The large one is not even in the UK - it's South African. The other two are from a bakery and a dimsum place. Presumably bakery and dim sum place both have hygiene certificates. Isn't google lens wonderful.

I have to be honest I do shudder a little inside but still accept a piece if it seems rude not to . Sometimes it’s fine, sometimes it’s an I make them better thought in my head. I was recently shocked by my sil’s lack of hand washing when were out, she petted an animal outside a cafe then didn’t wash her hands before eating cake (despite me saying I was going to wash my hands).

I find I eat out less and less now. Not just the price but I often get stomach problems after, which I’m sure is the oils they use, I prefer to eat at home with food I’ve made (clean hands and olive oil/butter).

ginasevern · 21/10/2025 15:29

Tiredofwhataboutery · 21/10/2025 09:40

I drive past one. I’ve never bought there though. I do buy jam and honey, veg and eggs though. Cakes seem like dodgier ground.

I would've thought jam/honey was dodgier - assuming you mean from a hygiene point of view. You can get botulism (which will kill you stone dead) from jam, pickles and jarred stuff if not sterlised properly. At least cakes are cooked.

BitOutOfPractice · 21/10/2025 15:57

AnAlpacaForChristmasPleaseSanta · 21/10/2025 10:47

This. In spades!

I’ve found one 5 minutes walk from me! Maybe you’ll be lucky too. Give it a google!

buffyreboot · 21/10/2025 16:00

TenGreatFatSquirrels · 21/10/2025 12:32

I’d love to set one up. I’m always baking and our freezer is full of cakes and cookies because of it. I want to get rid of it all too because quite frankly it’s not good for us and DH and I are getting chubby.

But I live in an urban cul-de-sac so it would be a bit weird

The one I go to is urban, she posts on her FB page when it’s open and what’s available
always sells out

BauhausOfEliott · 21/10/2025 16:22

Indicateyourintentions · 21/10/2025 09:32

You can do the training and get your 5 star hygiene rating but no one knows if you are actually being hygienic.
You could get a dose of d&v from a door handle.
If home made cakes and biscuits give you the heebie jeebies best stick to hermetically sealed upfs.

Homemade cakes and biscuits don't 'give me the heebie-jeebies' and I eat plenty of them, just generally ones that have been made by people I know, and who at least appear to be normal, vaguely clean human beings.

I'm actually not especially hygiene-conscious. I couldn't give a flying fuck about touching door-handles etc and have been told many times (on Mumsnet, in fact) that I'm 'grim' and 'rank' for being more than happy to shag someone who hasn't showered for two days. I'll happily eat stuff from my own fridge that's out of date and

However, I've had a couple of jobs in which I regularly had to go into strangers' homes, and believe me, there are plenty of people, and homes, which are so utterly disgusting that I probably wouldn't want to accept a glass of water from them, let alone a homemade cake or a jar of jam. I've seen someone making themselves a sandwich on a worktop that had half a dozen dirty nappies piled up on it, and I've also seen someone scrape flies' eggs off a slice of pork pie with their knife before eating it. So I'd rather buy cakes from an actual bakery than a box at the end of someone's drive.

Fruit and veg or whatever is totally different of course; you're going to wash them and/or peel those anyway.

If people want to buy cakes that way, that's absolutely fine - people can do what they like, of course. I wouldn't fancy it myself, though, and I doubt the cake shed industry will collapse without my patronage.

loobywench · 21/10/2025 16:24

I have my own cake shed in a village. I'm registered with the local council, have a 5 star hygiene rating and have allergy training. I open 2/3 times a week.

BauhausOfEliott · 21/10/2025 16:34

TheGoddessAthena · 21/10/2025 13:18

What do the ewwww hygiene people do when they go to a friend's house and are offered a slice of cake? Decline because they haven't done a food hygiene certificate?

The images posted of mouldy cake and weird bread are not from cake sheds, home bakers or similar. The large one is not even in the UK - it's South African. The other two are from a bakery and a dimsum place. Presumably bakery and dim sum place both have hygiene certificates. Isn't google lens wonderful.

What do the ewwww hygiene people do when they go to a friend's house and are offered a slice of cake? Decline because they haven't done a food hygiene certificate?

I think the key difference is 'a friend'. My friends are generally normal people who don't live and cook in the sort of festering filth I've sometimes witnessed in the homes of strangers.

I'm perfectly happy to eat something made in a normal home kitchen by someone who might drop a bit of pastry on the floor and think 'Five second rule, it'll be fine' - that kind of thing doesn't bother me in the slightest. If a mate served me a meal and I found a hair in it, I wouldn't care. It doesn't bother me if a friend drinks from the same straw as me or anything.

However, I'm not perfectly happy to eat something that could, for all I know, have been made in a home, or by a person, like some of the ones I've encountered through jobs I've had that have involved going into the houses of random strangers.

BauhausOfEliott · 21/10/2025 16:40

loobywench · 21/10/2025 16:24

I have my own cake shed in a village. I'm registered with the local council, have a 5 star hygiene rating and have allergy training. I open 2/3 times a week.

See, I would just think of that as no different from buying from a cake shop really. It's a business.

Very different from someone selling cakes in the same way that they have a pile of surplus courgettes and eggs on a table now and again on the off-chance that someone might give them a quid every few weeks.

SeagullSam2027 · 21/10/2025 16:45

We have them in the local villages selling (or giving away free) jam, eggs, honey, cake, fruit and veg, flowers and crafts

PatheticDistraction · 21/10/2025 18:12

We have a fantastic one near us - and they are subject to the standard H&S inspections, I think any establishment selling food/ drink needs to register with the council & be inspected by an EHO

Naileditboom · 21/10/2025 18:25

Not around here
About 10 miles from me is a farm
that has a vending machine shed. Selling eggs, seasonal produce and homemade chutney, jam, cakes etc (there is a list of ingredients). The items are in lockers, in a similar way to Amazon lockers. Enter the door number to buy, pay with cash or card and open the door. Just in case anyone thought vending machine was like the ones you get crisps and sweets from

FeyreandRhysand · 21/10/2025 20:01

Vending machine here too!

Selling brownies, tray bakes etc but also clotted cream and farm shop type bits. There’s also a milkshake machine next to it, great for bribing the kids into a long dog walk as it’s on the way home.

ClarafromHR · 22/10/2025 22:23

There’s one near our son’s house and we always check it out when we look after our DGDs. Often it’s sold out which is so disappointing because the cakes are lush. Reasonably priced, well packaged and so good.
Sometimes in life you’ve just got to trust that people’s intentions are honourable, they wash their hands and use great ingredients to get repeat business.

PizzaPowder · 23/10/2025 12:59

One is opening in my street. It’s a terrible situation as I’ll probably be there most days 😀

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