Only 5% of kids’ cakes gluten or egg-free, study reveals

Just 5% of children’s birthday cakes are gluten or egg-free, according to research by food intolerance specialist YorkTest.

However, more than a quarter (28%) of cakes available online via UK supermarket websites were found to be free of at least one allergen.

Nuts were the most common allergen to avoid with 40% of the cakes analysed deemed to be nut-free. Bakeries are increasingly taking a hard-line stance on this allergen. For example, Finsbury Food Group, which manufactures a range celebration cakes among other goods, made its Hamilton Celebration Cake factory in Scotland 100% nut-free a couple of years ago, with all nut-free celebration cakes highlighted by a logo on packaging.

Gluten-free products, meanwhile, were in the minority with only 4% of cakes under the ‘birthday and celebration’ tab found to fit this criteria. Shoppers looking to buy an egg-free cake may also struggle, according to YorkTest, with just 5% of cakes made without egg.

As part of its research, YorkTest collated data from five of the UK’s biggest supermarkets in March. 

It found that Tesco has the most allergen-free cakes (40) on offer, of which 17 were birthday or character themed, although the majority of these were nut-free (16). Sainsbury’s had the widest selection of dairy- (eight) and egg- (seven) free cakes, but only one was birthday or character themed. Ocado, meanwhile, had the best filter options for allergies, but had the least selection of allergen-free cakes (two).

Full results of the study are below:

A BBC report in 2019 stated that roughly 7% of children in the UK suffer from a food allergy, most commonly dairy, eggs and nuts. Many more suffer from gluten intolerance or coeliac disease – almost one in 10 children at every birthday party.

More recent research by the University of East Anglia revealed that 80% of parents face ‘significant worry’ about their child’s allergies.