London’s relationship with cake is older than most of its skylines. Long before cupcakes and laminated pastry became the norm, the capital’s bakers were already shaping the city’s tastes, from the elegant tea rooms of the 19th century, where sponge, tarts and éclairs came with a silver spoon to the post-war boom of corner bakeries that fed neighbourhoods on iced buns and custard slices. As sugar became more widely available, classic treats like Chelsea buns and Tottenham cake quickly followed.
Today, cake shops and patisseries are enjoying a particularly golden era. Some are rooted in tradition whilst others lean into high design and the kind of display cases that feel made for the camera roll. However, the appeal is the same: one might visit for a treat, a coffee, a mid-afternoon reset or simply for the pleasure of watching a city move around you while something sweet sits within reach.
Our guide reveals five of the best London cake shops in 2026.
Maison Bertaux, Soho
Maison Bertaux has had a place on Greek Street since 1871, the same year the Paris Commune was established, after Monsieur Bertaux, a Communard fleeing the city, arrived in Soho with an armful of recipes and opened a tiny pâtisserie and tearoom. More than 150 years later, it remains one of London’s most iconic addresses for cake and conversation, having drawn everyone from Virginia Woolf and Karl Marx to Alexander McQueen and Derek Jarman, alongside generations of Soho’s artists, writers and late-night regulars.
Much of its appeal lies in how little it tries to modernise. Upstairs, baking still happens daily, while downstairs the space retains its old-world, 19th-century French tearoom feel, complete with marble-topped tables. Outside, the blue-and-white striped awning is as much a part of the neighbourhood’s visual shorthand as Bar Italia’s neon or Algerian Coffee Stores’ bright façade. The menu is reassuringly classic, offering artisan scones, cheesecakes, glassy fruit tarts, frilled cream cakes and marzipan-heavy favourites, all delivered with the sense that Soho’s sweet tooth has always been catered for here and likely always will be.
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Cutter & Squidge, Soho
Cutter & Squidge is Soho at its most playful, a bakery built on colour and curiosity. Founded by sisters Annabel and Emily Lui, it began with the same kitchen instincts they grew up with in their parents’ restaurant, before growing into a much-loved London fixture with nationwide delivery, all while keeping its focus firmly on flavour and a sense of fun.
Their signature is the “Biskie”, a clever hybrid somewhere between biscuit and cake, sandwiched with creams, handmade jams and buttery fillings, now something of a calling card for the brand. Their first big moment came via a Chelsea Farmers Market stall, which quickly led to wider recognition and, in 2015, a permanent home in the heart of Soho as a cosy café and tea room found on Brewer Street.
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Cédric Grolet at The Berkeley, Knightsbridge
For a certain kind of sweet tooth, Cédric Grolet at The Berkeley has become something of a pilgrimage. The French pastry chef, crowned World’s Best Pastry Chef in 2018, is celebrated for his immaculate trompe-l’œil creations, which are ultra-realistic fruit and flower desserts so precise they border on surreal and change with the seasons.
Grolet’s Knightsbridge patisserie, set within The Berkeley on Wilton Place, is his first venture outside Paris and sits just moments away from Hyde Park. Alongside a parade of viennoiseries, think flaky croissants, pain suisse and a silky vanilla flan, the counter doubles as a gallery of showpieces, from delicate waffle flowers topped with chantilly to cakes that look more like art objects than something destined for a fork.
Still, the headline act is the fruit trompe-l’œil. Mango, red apple, lemon and seasonal favourites sit beneath glass cloches like jewellery, each one designed to deliver that inevitable moment: the slice through the flawless exterior, revealing immaculate layers within. Grolet’s version of afternoon tea, Goûtea combines the French tradition of sweet snacking and the British ritual, while the Chef’s Counter brings front-row seats to the theatre of the pâtisserie, with the team assembling sweet masterpieces in real time.
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Miel Bakery, Fitzrovia
Miel is one of Fitzrovia’s best independent bakeries. Everything is made from scratch on the premises by a small and highly trained team, with baking continuing throughout the day so that pastries, viennoiseries and breads regularly arrive warm from the oven. It’s part bakery, part workshop space and entirely rooted in the idea of good ingredients, good technique and a community that is built around the pleasure of excellent pastry.
At the centre of it all is founder Shaheen Peerbhai, a classically trained pastry chef whose career spans Mumbai, Paris and London, with training at Le Cordon Bleu and Ecole Ducasse in France. Her background moves easily between bistros and three-Michelin-starred kitchens, alongside years of teaching, pop-ups and large-scale catering, including desserts for one of India’s biggest weddings. She is also the author of Paris Picnic Club and has held editorial roles in food publishing before opening Miel in March 2019 as her first standalone bakery. The ingredient list reads like a love letter to French patisserie standards, flour from Foricher mills, Valrhona chocolate and Isigny Ste. Mère butter, balanced with exceptional British produce, from Cacklebean eggs to local dairy, with a seasonal menu that keeps the counter evolving while still returning to its signature favourites.
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Claridge's Bakery, Mayfair
Claridge’s Bakery opened in January 2026, bringing a fresh sense of occasion to British baking in Mayfair. Led by internationally acclaimed chef and baker Richard Hart as Executive and Creative Director, alongside Head Baker Frederic Doncel-Latorre, it offers a distinctly British line-up with the polish one would expect from Claridge’s.
Baked fresh each morning and served throughout the day, the menu was created by Hart and shaped by his London upbringing, his affection for traditional bakeries and Claridge’s own storied past. House breads range from classic loaves and rolls to rye, malt and country-style staples, while the savoury offering runs from cheese straws and scotch eggs to swirls, sausage rolls, quiche and daily signature sandwiches. On the sweeter side, expect an unapologetically nostalgic spread: malted milk tarts, fruit turnovers, iced fingers, French fancies, Bakewell tarts and old-school favourites that feel both familiar and elevated, in a way that Claridge’s does best.
Ultimately, these bakeries reflect what London does extremely well, honouring the classics while making room for the new and innovative. The city’s cake scene remains one of its most reliable pleasures, a small indulgence with a surprisingly long history behind it.
