Cupcakes don’t just look pretty and taste good - they are also a barometer of political opinion judging by an unexpected twist in the Scottish independence referendum.

Edinburgh’s Cuckoo’s bakery has been selling Opinion Poll cupcakes adorned with either a Union Jack, Scottish flag or a question mark since March and has monitored sales to get a steer on the outcome of today’s highly anticipated Scottish referendum.

As it stands the ‘no’ cakes have outsold the cakes striving for independence, though not by much. Of thousands of cakes bought and eaten 47.7% were ‘no’, 43.5% were ‘yes’ and the remaining 8.8% were question marks as people failed to commit - or just wanted a cake. The cakes are raspberry and white chocolate-flavoured and cost £2.50 to take away or £3 to eat in.

Co-founder Graham Savage told Edinburgh Evening News: “We have seen an increase in sales generally and some big orders have come in from both sides.

“Our poll has been conducted professionally throughout the campaign and we are delighted that the results have shown to be so similar to the official results.

“We have calculated that since the campaign was launched, we have sold 80,000 cupcakes from our full range, including the Opinion Poll cupcake.”

Today’s referendum, bang in the middle of National Cupcake Week, will reveal whether the cupcakes were right.