What Are the UK's Favourite Cakes?
What Are the UK's Favourite Cakes?
Slice of Cake Anyone? We Reveal The Nation’s Winning Flavours and Bakers
- We polled 2,000 people in the UK in July this year to find out what their No1 cake flavour is, as well as looking at the most common recipes we look up online
- We’ve also delved into the most popular GBBO winners to date
- Plus, we’ve settled an old debate – is a Jaffa cake a cake or a biscuit?
There is no denying that across the UK we love our cake. Whether we’re tucking into a slice of classic Victoria Sponge at a summer BBQ or celebrating a big birthday with a piece of chocolate sponge heaven, everyone has their favourite.
This autumn we’re preparing for our 20th birthday, and cake has been a hot topic of conversation while making our party plans. With this in mind, we wanted to find out which cake flavours the nation loves the most, as well as what we’re most likely to bake for ourselves at home.
There is also a new series of the Great British Bake Off due to hit TV screens later this year, so we wanted to find out which of the 12 winners so far is the nation’s No1.
Choccie cake is our winner
In our latest poll, chocolate cake came out as the nation’s favourite flavour, with 28% of votes - winning by a country mile! In silver was lemon drizzle (13%), and carrot cake (10%) took the bronze.
The nation's most popular cake flavours:
1. Chocolate (23% of votes)
2. Lemon Drizzle (13%)
3. Carrot (10%)
4. Cheesecake (10%)
5. Coffee (9%)
The Victoria Sponge didn’t make it into the top five favourites with 7% of votes. It’s more popular than Orange Sponge though, which only one in every 100 people would name as their favourite. Joining orange at the bottom of the pile was Banana Bread (2%), followed by Ginger Cake (3%) and Vanilla (5%). And it may be a festive tradition, but Fruitcake is only a top choice among one in twenty (5%) people.
Finally, it seems the bonfire night treat - Parkin Cake - may have fallen out of favour in its home region of Yorkshire, with no York residents voting it their favourite, and just 3% of those in Leeds putting it in the top spot. The sticky cake was revealed to be more popular in Bradford though with 9% of votes here.
Of course, opinions on cake flavours do vary by region. While chocolate was the most popular flavour in many places, residents of Dundee and Aberdeen prefer a cheesecake above any other variety.
A Vicky Sponge is the UK's top cake recipe
It’s clear that across the UK we love baking cakes nearly as much as we enjoy eating them, as there are nearly 1.4 million UK searches (1,382,470) on Google each month for cake recipes, flavour ideas or baking methods. And while chocolate may be our No1 flavour choice, when it comes to home baking, we’re more likely to take a gamble on a different cake variety.
While classic Victoria Sponge didn’t make the nation’s top five favourites, it’s the recipe we’re most likely to whip up home, alongside a zesty Lemon Drizzle.
The nation’s most searched for cake recipes online
1. Victoria Sponge or Lemon Drizzle (90.5k per month)
2. Chocolate, Cupcakes or Banana Bread (74k per month)
3. Red Velvet, Cheesecake or Carrot Cake (49.5k per month)
4. Rainbow (27.1k per month)
5. Brownies or Christmas Cake (22.2k per month)
Much of Scotland may still be in the Banana Bread craze that was sparked by lockdown too, as it’s still one of the most searched for recipe across the country’s major cities of Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Glasgow. In April 2020, searches for Banana Bread spiked by 525%.
Hot bakes fresh from the oven!
Certain flavours are proving particularly popular right now, with online searches for Fruitcake recipes up 83% in recent months. We’ve been scratching our head about this one, because it’s been months since Christmas – when this type of cake is usually eaten. Demand for Victoria Sponge recipes is also up 82%.
‘Hot Bakes’ according to recent Google search trends:)
- Fruitcake (up 83%)
- Victoria Sponge (up 82%)
- Cherry Cake (up 50%)
- Battenburg (up 26%)
- Cupcakes (up 22%)
- Crepe Cake (up 24%)
- Rainbow Cake (up 22%)
- Ice Cream Cake (up 22%)
- Rock Cakes (up 22%)
The rise in searches for Rainbow Cake in the last three months may have something to do with Pride Month in June, which is followed by Pride Parades across the nation in July and August. There’s also been a 22% rise in searches for gluten free cakes over the recent months.
‘Going Stale’ recipes we’ve fallen out of love with according to recent Google search trends:
- Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (-33%)
- Pound Cake (-33%)
- Chocolate Orange Cake (-33%)
- Vanilla Cake (-19%)
- Almond Cake (-19%)
However, some more retro recipes - like Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, Pound Cake and Chocolate Orange Cake – are sadly ‘going stale’, with fewer people (-33%) interested in baking these at home according to Google search figures. Maybe we should all give them a go, as we may discover they’re winning flavours!
The nation's GBBO champion of champions!
GBBO - otherwise known as The Great British Bake Off - is a show cherished by many people across the nation, baker or otherwise. And with nearly 65,000 UK people searching for information about the new contestants already, it’s clear that series 13 is hotly anticipated!
When we quizzed people on their favourite Great British Bake Off (GBBO) winners to date, it was the 2015 champion Nadiya Hussain who came out as the nation’s champion of champions or ‘Star Baker’.
Four in ten of those we polled (41%) named her their top GBBO winner from the 12 UK series shown on screens so far. She also had the biggest social media following at the time the data was collated – 1.1 million across Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube.
Our recipe for 2022's winner
We looked into the finalists and winners so far, to see if we could spot any patterns in their age, job, or gender. Based on the winners from the initial 12 series, we’re guessing that this year’s winner could….
- Be aged 35 years
- Work in finance or technology
- Live in the south of England
- Have a first name that starts with a letter in the first half of the alphabet.
Only time will tell if we’re right! You could say that the proof will be in the pudding.
The great Jaffa Cake debate - where do you stand?
And you can’t talk about cake without hitting a question that always sparks a lot of debate – is a Jaffa Cake a cake or a biscuit?
We know this is a very fruity topic, and our poll showed that the nation is very much split when it comes to this all-important question. But ‘cake’ won very narrowly with 51% of votes.
Don’t expect to agree with your partner or parents on this one though. Most men (55%) think it’s a cake, while most women (53%) think it’s a biscuit. And, to only add to the confusion, under 24s are also more likely to claim it’s a cake, while over 45s will declare it’s a biscuit.
It if helps to settle things, there was a tweet from the official ‘Jaffa Cakes’ account that confirms that, in their eyes at least, it’s a cake…
Conclusion
Well, we feel we’ve covered off pretty much everything there is to say about cake… is anyone else feeling peckish? Whatever your winning flavour combination is, we hope you’ll join us in celebrating 20 years of Jackpotjoy!
Over the next few months, we’ll be celebrating in style with a range of new features, and we’re inviting you to join in the celebrations. We’ll be launching a series of fantastic new bingo games, exclusive offers and promotions, and of course, chances for you to win!
Our sources
- Survey of 2,000 UK adults (split by gender, age, and nearest city) conducted in July 2022
- Search volume data from Google Ads Keyword Planner, conducted in July 2022
- Social media follower / subscriber data taken from platforms directly – TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, conducted in July 2022