A Cake for a Russian or Ukrainian Birthday in London

A good number of our orders come from people who did not grow up with any of this, buying for somebody who did. A British husband ordering for a Ukrainian wife. A London office buying for a Russian colleague. A friend who has been told, at length, about a cake and wants to get the right one.

It is a harder brief than it looks, because these cakes carry associations that are not written on them. This is an attempt to set out what each one means to the person receiving it.

The safe answer is medovik

If you know nothing else, order the honey cake.

It is the most widely loved cake across the whole region, it crosses every national line, and it is the one almost everybody has a version of at home. Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles, Lithuanians and Georgians all make it and all believe theirs is the right one.

Ordering it says you paid attention. It does not claim any specific knowledge, it will not be the wrong nationality, and nobody has ever been disappointed to be given one.

Honey CakeRussian honey cake, medovik, 18 cm. Thin honey layers, light sour cream frosting, rested overnight.from £72Order this

Napoleon is the family cake

Napoleon is the one people's mothers and grandmothers made for occasions, at home, over two days, in enormous rectangular trays.

It carries more domestic weight than any other cake on this list. If somebody has told you about a cake their grandmother made, there is a decent chance this is it, and there is also a decent chance they will tell you ours is not quite like hers, which is the highest compliment available in this category.

Order it when you know the person is specifically nostalgic rather than generally fond of cake.

Napoleon Cake (18cm)Napoleon cake, 18 cm. Crisp puff pastry layers with vanilla custard cream, rested so the layers soften.£86Order this

Kyiv cake is a statement

For a Ukrainian recipient, Kyivskyi tort means something the other cakes do not. It is the cake of a specific city, it was a famous and difficult thing to obtain, and for the last decade it has carried an additional weight that does not need explaining.

Order it for a Ukrainian birthday and it will land. Order it for a Russian birthday and it is simply an excellent cake with nuts in it, which is also fine, but the significance is not the same.

Check on nuts before you commit. Hazelnut is in the structure, not on the outside.

Kyiv Cake (18 cm)Kyiv cake, also spelled Kiev cake. Hazelnut meringue layers, buttercream and chocolate, 18 cm.£84Order this

Bird’s Milk is the childhood cake

Ptichye moloko is what people remember from being small. It is soft, mild, not very sweet, and it was rare enough in the Soviet era to have been a genuine treat rather than a default.

It is the right choice for somebody older, for a table with children, or for anybody who says they do not like rich cake. It is also the easiest of these for a British palate that finds buttercream heavy.

Bird's Milk CakeBird’s Milk cake, ptichye moloko, 18 cm. Airy soufflé over sponge under dark Belgian chocolate.from £78Order this

What to add beside the cake

This is where most people under order, and it is the thing that separates a considered order from a correct one.

A Russian or Ukrainian birthday table is not one cake. It is a cake with several small things around it, and the small things are what people actually pick at all evening. Oreshki, trubochki, kurabye, kartoshka. Any two of those beside the cake changes the whole look of the table.

If the birthday is in the afternoon rather than the evening, pirozhki belong on it too, and a savoury element is normal rather than odd.

Napoleon Cake (18cm)£86Sold outBear in the North Cake£68

The practical part

Forty eight hours notice, minimum, and more if the date matters, which it does. Order as soon as you know the date rather than two days before it.

Candles and a piped message are added at the checkout as extras rather than arranged separately. A message in Russian or Ukrainian is fine and worth doing: seeing it written in your own alphabet on a cake in London is a small thing that lands hard.

Delivery is £12 across central London postcodes and £15 across the rest of London and Surrey, with a £50 minimum order. Choose the delivery date at the checkout and the cake is baked for it.

Buying from a Russian grocery instead

This is a real option and we would rather set it out honestly than pretend it is not.

London has several Eastern European grocers that carry cakes, and for some purposes they are the right answer. If you want a cake today, they can help and we cannot. If the budget is the constraint, a grocery cake costs a fraction of a baked to order one. And if what you want is specifically the experience of walking into a Russian shop and choosing, that is a pleasure in itself and no website provides it.

What you are usually buying there is a cake made in a production kitchen, frozen, and thawed for display. For a medovik that is less damaging than you might expect, because the cake is designed to soften anyway. For a Napoleon it is worse, because the pastry takes on water. For anything with meringue in it, it is fatal.

So the honest split is this. For today, for cheap, or for the shop itself, go to the grocer. For a birthday that matters, for a cake that has never been frozen, and for a date you chose yourself, order ahead.

Common questions

Which cake should I order if I have no idea?

The honey cake. It is the most widely loved across the whole region and the least likely to be the wrong choice.

Can you write a message in Russian or Ukrainian?

Yes. Add it at the checkout with the wording exactly as you want it.

Which of these have nuts in them?

Kyiv cake has hazelnut in the meringue layers and Esterházy has almond. The honey cake, Napoleon, Bird’s Milk, Prague and Charodeyka do not.

How far ahead should I order for a birthday?

At least 48 hours, and as soon as you know the date if it is a date you cannot move.

Can I add candles?

Yes, at the checkout, along with a card and a piped message.

What should I order alongside the cake?

Two boxes of the smaller pastries changes a cake into a table. Oreshki and trubochki are the two most recognised.