A queue of customers snaking down a quiet suburban street in Birmingham – all waiting for a slice of Danielle Edgington’s cake. Her Lavender Cake Shed, a small cupboard-like structure packed with home-baked goods and run on an honesty box, now brings in between £500 and £1,000 a week. Eight months after setting it up in Kings Heath, the 41-year-old former catering manager quit her job to bake full-time. “It’s taken over my life,” she said. “I’ve just not been able to keep up with the demand.”
The phenomenon of cake sheds has become something of a Great British tradition, spreading from the countryside into urban areas. Packed with cookies, brownies, and lemon drizzle, they are usually found in front gardens or on driveways. For some they are a side hustle; for others, a booming business. “They are definitely becoming a feature in our landscape,” said Bronya Seifert of Daisy Cake Company. “It’s wonderful.”
“Cake sheds can earn bakers up to £1,000 a week, but councils may enforce tighter licensing rules.”
But the sweet trend could be under threat. Some councils are considering tighter licensing rules, and dedicated cake shedders say that could force them to close. One online community for cake sheds is gaining up to 400 new Facebook members a week. “Over the past few months the group has grown exponentially,” said Susanne Niess, of That’s Cake by Susanne.
Danielle’s shed is now open seven days a week from 09:00 to 21:00 BST, and she credits much of the interest to her TikTok account. “I’ll get messages off customers saying, ‘what have you got in the shed today? Because we are travelling from a bit further out’,” she said. Customers flock from neighbouring towns like Redditch and Solihull. “To see a queue out there is just unbelievable. It’s quite humbling really to see.”
Before the shed, Danielle had been selling baked goods at markets, having launched a business delivering afternoon teas and birthday cakes during the Covid pandemic. She set up the shed to sell spares – but demand exploded. “I’d get up, I’d go to work in the morning and then I’d come home. I’d be baking all evening. So it just became too much,” she said. Now, with the shed earning up to £1,000 a week, she has no regrets. “It’s a lot of cake,” she laughed.
Yet as the movement grows, councils are taking a harder look. For how long will the honesty-box sheds be allowed to operate without formal food hygiene and planning checks? For now, the cakes keep selling – but the dream could soon be over.