A bakery website for today's bakes and next month's birthday cake

Today's range, kept honest

The bakery counter changes by the day and the hour, and a website can't track it live. What it can do is set expectations. Publish the core range, the things you bake every day, and the weekly rhythm: "Cardamom buns Friday and Saturday, rye on Tuesdays, croissants until they're gone, usually by 11." That's more useful than a static list pretending everything is always available.

In Anticode, keep the range in a CMS collection with fields for item, category (bread, pastries, cakes, savoury), days baked, price and allergens. Edit it from the dashboard when a seasonal bake comes in. Each item can have its own page with a proper photo, which also gives search engines a page to match when someone looks for "hot cross buns near me".

Allergens, ingredients and cross-contact

Bakeries handle flour, nuts, eggs, milk and sesame all day, so allergen information carries more weight here than almost anywhere. List the main allergens for each item. If gluten-free or nut-free bakes share a kitchen with everything else, say so plainly, and don't call them "free from" unless your process truly supports it. Tell customers how to ask about a specific allergy. Labelling and allergen rules vary by country, and the bakery is responsible for its own wording.

Celebration cakes: an enquiry, not a cart

Custom cakes are quoted, not picked off a shelf, so an enquiry form fits better than a checkout anyway. Ask for what you'd ask across the counter:

1. Date and collection or delivery (and the postcode if you deliver).
2. Occasion and number of servings.
3. Flavour and filling, from your list or "surprise me".
4. Design ideas: a description and any colours or themes. Ask people to reply to your email with reference photos.
5. Dietary needs for the cake itself.
6. Budget, if they have one in mind.

Those can be prompts above the contact form's message box, or separate fields in a custom form (up to 30) tied to a site function. Show a gallery of past cakes with "from" prices by size, your notice period ("at least two weeks for tiered cakes") and how the deposit works. Anticode saves each enquiry sealed in your dashboard and can email it to you or add it to Google Sheets or Notion as an order list. Once you've agreed the design and price, send the customer a payment link from your provider for the deposit or full amount.

Fixed-price items through payment links

For set items, such as a Christmas box, a gift voucher or a bread subscription, a buy button can point to a checkout from Stripe Payment Links, PayPal, Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Shopify or Whop. There's one payment link per account and every buy button opens it, so for several items, point it at a product list or multi-item checkout at your provider, such as a small Shopify store. Write the collection details on the page and in the checkout: which days, which hours, where.

None of this is a basket on your site: there's no stock count, and nothing stops you selling more Christmas boxes than you can bake. Set the quantity limits in your payment provider if it supports them, or watch the orders yourself. The pre-order workflow covers running a limited batch this way.

A look that smells of the oven

Generic generated bakery sites lean on stock croissants and pastel script fonts. Your own photos of the morning bake, the counter and the people behind it will do more. Organic (Figtree) suits a sourdough bakery with a natural feel; Playful (Fredoka) works for a cake shop; Editorial (Geist) suits a bakery-cafe that writes about grain and process. Put opening hours and the address in the first screen, as for any shop.

What a bakery will need elsewhere

• No cart or online shop. One payment link for the whole account, no basket on the site.
• No collection slots. There's no system for choosing a pick-up time with limited capacity; write collection hours on the page.
• No stock or sell-out tracking. The range is content you update, not live inventory.
• No delivery zones or fees. Handle delivery by enquiry, or use a delivery platform.

Questions people ask

Can customers order a celebration cake on my bakery website?

They can send a detailed enquiry through a form. After you agree the design and price, send a payment link for the deposit or full amount.

Can I take pre-orders for bread or holiday bakes?

Yes, through the account's single payment link, pointed at one product or a product list at your provider. There's no basket or collection-slot booking, so keep the range small and state collection times.

How do I keep the range up to date?

Store it in a CMS collection and edit items from the dashboard, including from a phone.