Beautiful celebration cakes you can actually eat with confidence. Every ingredient checked with you before a single thing goes in the bowl.
Get a Free QuoteOrdering a cake should be the easy part of planning a celebration. If you keep halal it often is not. You find a baker whose work you love, then you spend the next three messages trying to work out what is actually in the vanilla, and half the time you get a vague answer and give up.
Paulina does it the other way round. Tell her you need the cake halal and she will go through the ingredients with you before she starts, brand by brand, and put it in writing. No alcohol based flavourings. No gelatine. No animal fats. If there is anything she cannot verify, she leaves it out and finds another way to get the same look.
The design does not change. Halal cakes from Bake You Happy look exactly like every other cake in the gallery, because the only thing that changes is what goes in them.
Most people know to ask. Fewer people know what to ask about, and a lot of bakers do not know either. These are the four things that genuinely matter in a celebration cake.
This is the one that catches everybody. Standard vanilla extract is made with alcohol, and it is in almost every sponge in the country. Rum essence, almond essence and most fruit flavourings are the same. Paulina swaps all of these for alcohol free versions on halal orders. You would not taste the difference in a blind test, but it is the difference between a cake you can serve and one you cannot.
Gelatine is usually pork based and it hides in places you would not expect. Mousse fillings, panna cotta layers, marshmallow decorations, mirror glazes and some ready made toppers all commonly contain it. For halal orders Paulina uses vegetarian setting agents and skips any bought in decoration she cannot trace.
Some shortenings, sprinkles and edible glitters contain animal derived fats or glycerine. It is a small detail that almost nobody checks. Paulina checks it, because a cake is not halal if the sprinkles on top are not.
Bake You Happy is a cake only kitchen. There is no meat in it at all, so there is no question of a cake sharing equipment or surfaces with anything that would compromise it. That matters more than most people realise and it is one of the quiet advantages of ordering from a small home bakery rather than a large commercial one.
No, and it is worth being straight about that. Bake You Happy is a home bakery, not a factory, and formal halal certification is built for businesses at a very different scale.
What you get instead is full visibility. Paulina will tell you exactly which brands she is using for the sponge, the filling, the flavouring and the decoration, and you are welcome to check any of them yourself before you confirm the order. Plenty of customers do, and she would rather you did than take her word for it.
For most families that is more reassuring than a logo, because it is specific to your cake rather than to a company.
Birthdays are the bulk of what Paulina makes halal, from first birthdays through to 18ths, 21sts, 30ths, 40ths and 50ths. Buttercream or fondant, number cakes, drip cakes, photo cakes, character cakes for children, elegant floral designs for the milestone ones. All of it works halal without compromise.
Children's cakes are where the halal detail matters most, because they carry the most decoration and decoration is where the problems hide. Bought in toppers, jelly sweets, marshmallow, some sprinkles and most edible glitters can all contain gelatine or animal fats. Paulina either makes the decoration herself or traces the brand, and anything she cannot verify gets left off and replaced with something she can.
The practical effect is that a halal children's cake looks exactly like any other. Modelled figures, character themes, drip finishes, bright colours, all of it is achievable without a single questionable ingredient.
For the 18ths, 21sts, 30ths, 40ths, 50ths and beyond, the usual request is something that photographs well and feeds a room. Number cakes, tiered designs, gold leaf, fresh flowers and hand piped detail all work halal. The only common item that needs swapping is alcohol based flavouring in the sponge, and the alcohol free version tastes the same.
Alongside birthdays, Paulina regularly makes halal cakes for Eid, aqiqahs, nikkahs and family gatherings. The Eid cakes page covers those designs specifically. Larger gatherings often work better as cupcakes or a dessert table than a single cake.
If you are not sure what size you need, the portion guide walks through it properly, and the birthday cake cost guide gives you real London prices before you enquire. Halal orders are priced the same as any other, there is no premium for it.
A halal wedding cake is one of the most common requests Paulina gets, and one of the most stressful things to source when you are already juggling everything else. Tiered designs, buttercream or fondant finishes, fresh flowers, gold leaf, hand piped detail. None of it depends on alcohol or gelatine.
The one thing worth knowing is that the classic fruit cake tier is traditionally soaked in brandy. Paulina makes a soaked fruit tier without it, using fruit juice and alcohol free flavouring, so you can keep the tradition without the problem.
Wedding orders are best placed three to six months ahead. The wedding cake cost guide covers pricing by tier.
For engagements, aqiqahs, Eid gatherings, baby showers and corporate events, cupcakes and dessert tables are often easier to serve than a single large cake. Everything on a halal dessert table follows the same rules: alcohol free flavourings, gelatine free fillings, and no bought in decoration that cannot be traced.
Paulina delivers roughly a 25 mile radius, with the charge based on distance. That covers Waltham Cross, Cheshunt, Enfield, Chingford, Walthamstow, Tottenham, Loughton, Woodford and most of north and east London, reaching into Essex and Hertfordshire. Collection is always welcome if you would rather.
Every cake can be made halal on request. No alcohol based flavourings, no gelatine, no animal fats, and every ingredient confirmed with you in writing before baking starts. Bake You Happy is not certified by a certification body, so you are trusting the baker rather than a certificate. Paulina names every brand she uses so you can check for yourself.
Standard vanilla extract is made with alcohol, which is why it matters. Paulina uses alcohol free vanilla flavouring in all halal orders, and the same for anything else that would normally carry alcohol.
Not in halal orders. Gelatine appears in mousse fillings, marshmallow toppers and some glazes, and it is usually pork based. Paulina uses vegetarian setting agents instead and skips any decoration she cannot verify.
Yes, and it is one of the most common requests. Tiered designs, buttercream or fondant, fresh flowers and gold leaf all work exactly the same way. Nothing about the look changes.
Two to four weeks for a birthday cake, three to six months for a wedding. Halal orders sometimes need a little longer because specific ingredients have to be sourced. If your date is close, message anyway, as there is often room.
Yes, across north and east London and into Essex and Hertfordshire, roughly a 25 mile radius, with a delivery charge based on distance. Collection is also welcome.
Yes, and children's cakes are where the halal detail matters most because they carry the most decoration. Bought in toppers, jelly sweets, marshmallow and some sprinkles and glitters contain gelatine or animal fats. Paulina either makes the decoration herself or traces the brand, and anything she cannot verify is replaced with something she can. The finished cake looks exactly like any other.
No. Halal orders are priced the same as any other cake. The alcohol free flavourings and vegetarian setting agents cost no more than the standard versions, so the price is driven by size and design as it would be normally.
Message her with your date and your requirements. She will come back with the ingredients in writing and a price, before you commit to anything.
Get a Free QuoteEvery cake is designed from scratch, so there is no price list to pick from. Send a few details and Paulina will reply personally with ideas and a quote. It costs nothing and there is no obligation.
She reads every enquiry herself and will reply to you personally, usually within a day. Her reply will come from paulina@bakeyouhappy.co, so do add that to your contacts.
If your date is close, or you would rather just talk it through, message her on WhatsApp on 07514 660 451 and she will come back to you faster.