Why every Cake Trays cake is buttercream, and never fondant

Every cake we bake at Cake Trays is coated, filled and piped in buttercream, and we will never cover one in fondant. Buttercream tastes like part of the cake, it lets us pipe the soft Lambeth shells, ruffles and bows our heart cakes are known for, and to our eyes it is simply prettier.

Search "buttercream vs fondant" and you will find page after page of pros and cons that end with "it depends on your event". This is not one of those. We are a family-run bakery in Dagenham, East London, we picked a side, and here is why, along with what it means for the cake that turns up at your door.

The short answer: buttercream only, always

From the first layer of filling to the last piped shell, our cakes are buttercream. The swirls around the edge, the name across the top, the scallops and swags down the sides: all of it is buttercream, piped by hand. Satin ribbons and pearl details go on at the end as finishing touches, but the cake underneath is buttercream all the way through.

That is a choice, not a limitation. We think a celebration cake should be something people want to finish, and buttercream is the only finish we have found that looks this soft and tastes this good at the same time. Everything below comes back to that one idea.

Shop buttercream heart cakes → Our classic Heart Cake is £39.99, with £4.99 delivery across East London and Essex. Pick your date at checkout.

Taste: frosting you eat, not a sugar sheet you peel off

Fondant is rolled icing. It is mostly sugar, kneaded into a smooth paste and rolled thin enough to drape over a cake like a blanket. It gives a very clean, flat surface, and that is its job. What it does not do is taste of much beyond sweetness, and the texture is closer to a chewy sweet than to anything you would want with sponge.

That is why so many fondant cakes come back from the table with a little pile of icing on the side of each plate. People eat the cake and leave the covering. To us, that says the covering was never really part of the cake.

Buttercream is the opposite. It is soft and creamy, it melts on the tongue, and it sits naturally with the sponge rather than on top of it. Fondant is just icing that does not complement the cake. Buttercream is part of the cake. Every slice you cut from one of ours gets filling in the middle and frosting on the outside, so the edge piece, with all its piped shells, is the one people fight over rather than the one they push away.

The look fondant cannot do: Lambeth shells, ruffles and piped bows

The vintage heart cakes you see on our pages are piped in what bakers call the Lambeth style. It takes its name from Joseph Lambeth, who wrote about the method in the 1930s, and the idea is overpiping: shells, scallops, swags and ruffles piped in layers, one on top of another, until the cake has real depth and texture.

You can only get that look with a soft medium that holds a shape as it leaves the nozzle. Fondant is rolled, cut and smoothed. It is brilliant at flat and sharp, but it cannot give you a ruffle that catches the light, or a shell border that looks like it was piped a minute ago. In the photo at the top of this post, every ridge on those swags is a line of buttercream.

Our Pink Lambeth Heart Bow Cake (£64.99) is a good example. Look closely and you can see three or four different piped textures on one cake: fat shells around the top edge, fine ruffles down the side, small swags in between and a name piped across the middle. Each one is a different nozzle and a different hand movement. None of that is possible on a fondant cake without the fondant underneath showing through as a flat, shiny wall.

Why it takes longer, and why that is the point

A buttercream cake has nowhere to hide. With fondant, a sheet of icing covers the cake and smooths over whatever is underneath. With buttercream, the coat itself has to be smooth, which means building it up, chilling it and scraping it back until the sides are clean enough to pipe on. Then every shell, every ruffle and every bow is piped one at a time. If one goes wrong, it comes off and gets piped again.

It takes more time and more care, and we would not want it any other way. That time is what you are paying for when a vintage heart cake costs more than a supermarket sponge. It also explains the spread in our own prices. A simpler design like our Heart Cake is £39.99, while a fuller Lambeth design with layered borders, pearls and bows sits higher, because there is simply more piping on it. Same sponge, same buttercream, more hours at the piping bag.

We also bake to order, so nothing is iced days ahead and left sitting. The buttercream on your cake was piped for your cake.

What fondant is good for, honestly

We are not going to pretend fondant has no strengths. It gives razor sharp edges. It can be sculpted into figures, cars, handbags and cartoon characters. It copes better in heat, so it is useful for an outdoor summer event where a cake will sit out for hours. Bakers who make tall sculpted show cakes rely on it, and they do beautiful work with it.

It still is not for us. The people who order from us want a soft, romantic, vintage cake that tastes as good as it looks, and fondant takes you further away from both of those things. If you need a cake sculpted into a 3D character, a fondant specialist is the right call, and we would rather tell you that than make you something we do not believe in.

How to look after a buttercream cake on the day

Buttercream is soft, which is exactly why it tastes good. It just needs a little thought on the day, especially in warm weather.

Keep it cool. Find a cool spot away from sunny windows, radiators and the oven. On a hot day, the fridge is the safest place until you need it.

Let it come round before serving. Buttercream tastes best when it is soft, not fridge cold. If the cake has been chilled, take it out a while before you cut it.

Travel flat. If you are taking it somewhere, carry the box level and put it in the boot or on a flat floor rather than on a seat, with the car cool rather than warm.

Take the ribbons off first. Satin bows and ribbons are for show. Slide them off before you cut.

Use a warm knife. Dip a long knife in hot water, wipe it dry and cut. Wipe it again between slices and every piece will keep its piping.

Our weekday deliveries arrive in the evening, between 6:30pm and 10:30pm, so if your party is the following day, the cake will spend a night at home. Keep it boxed in a cool place and it will be ready for the morning.

Choosing your buttercream cake

Because every cake we make is buttercream, you do not have to choose a finish. You just choose a design. Our heart cakes collection has 36 designs, from soft pastels to deep red, and most can carry a name or a short message piped on top. For something with cherries and scalloped borders, the Cherry Heart Anniversary Cake is £59.99. If you want a round cake rather than a heart, our birthday cakes are piped the same way.

Whatever you choose, pick your delivery date and slot in the cart. The calendar shows what is open, and collection from Dagenham is available by appointment.

Frequently asked questions

Written by the Cake Trays Team, a family-run bakery in Dagenham, East London, baking celebration cakes to order at caketrays.co.uk.