Without a doubt, this was a superb cake paired with excellent service. The only hiccup was with the delivery company, DPD—which I’ll explain below—but that’s entirely separate from Patisserie Valerie and not their fault.

As a first-time customer, I ordered well in advance and was understandably sceptical about trying a new company. I sent an email with a few queries and received a polite, reassuring response, which gave me confidence to proceed.

We ordered the Luxury Nutella Crunch Dome cake

From the photos, I expected it might be overly sweet, but we where pleasantly surprised. The flavour was beautifully balanced—rich chocolate, Ferrero Rocher notes, and frosting that complemented rather than overwhelmed. It avoided the common trap of being just another sugar-heavy chocolate sponge. Honestly, it was a genuinely lovely cake.

My wife adored it and immediately wanted more. She even shared a slice with our neighbour—reluctantly, I suspect, because she loved it so much—and now they’re asking where to get one too. The cake didn’t last long… less than a day, in fact. It was fresh, fluffy, light, and seriously enjoyable.

Now, about DPD. When the driver arrived, I noticed the cake box was being held sideways—and at one point, even upside down—despite clear markings stating “this way up.” I pointed it out, and only then did he adjust it, though he didn’t seem particularly concerned. Thankfully, the cake was undamaged, but had there been any issues, it would’ve been entirely down to DPD’s careless handling. Again, this is no reflection on the seller.

The cake arrived on the date I selected which was great and overall a really good quality product. 100% I will be using again in the future for all my cakes!