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best gender reveal cake shop near me - Wollongong

Baby Shower & Gender Reveal Cakes Wollongong: Ideas, Flavours & How to Order

Baby Shower & Gender Reveal Cakes Wollongong Few moments get a room cheering like the first slice of a gender reveal cake. Whether you're planning a reveal party, a baby shower or both, the cake is usually the centrepiece. At Coniston Bakery, our decorators make reveal and baby shower cakes for families across Wollongong and the Illawarra. Here are the most popular styles, how to keep the secret, and how to order. What is a gender reveal cake? A gender reveal cake looks neutral on the outside — white, gold, pastel or themed — and hides pink or blue on the inside. Usually only the baker, or one trusted friend, knows the answer before the knife goes in, so the parents-to-be find out at the same moment as their guests. Popular gender reveal cake styles Classic colour reveal. The sponge layers or the filling are coloured pink or blue. Simple, and it photographs beautifully when the first slice comes out. Lolly-filled reveal. The centre of the cake is packed with pink or blue lollies or sprinkles that spill out when it's cut. Drip cake with a hidden centre. A neutral drip design on the outside with a coloured centre. Cupcake pull-apart. Cupcakes arranged into a cake shape. Guests each pull one away to find coloured icing or filling inside. Themed designs. "He or She?", "What Will Baby Bee?" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" are all favourites. Browse our Inspirations gallery for more ideas. The golden rule: keep the outside neutral, so nothing gives the answer away before the cut. Baby shower cakes A baby shower cake doesn't need a surprise inside — it just needs to look and taste wonderful. Popular choices include soft pastel buttercream with the baby's name, nursery themes (teddy bears, clouds, safari animals), printed cakes with a scan photo or custom artwork, and tiered designs for bigger showers. If you're hosting a shower, pair the cake with a high tea spread — our high tea and grazing guide shows you how. Choosing a flavour The reveal is the highlight, but the cake still needs to taste great. Our standard flavours are chocolate mud, vanilla butter, marble, banana, white mud chocolate, red velvet and carrot. For bigger or tiered cakes you can mix flavours between layers. Gluten-free and vegan versions are available on request — see our gluten-free bakery guide. How to keep the secret Most gender reveals happen after the mid-pregnancy scan, usually around 18–20 weeks. A simple way to keep it a surprise: ask a trusted friend or family member to place the cake order and pass on the result, so the parents-to-be never see the order details. Just let us know who we're dealing with when you enquire. How far ahead to order Our decorators can often turn a reveal or baby shower cake around in as little as two days. That said, weekends fill quickly, so get in touch as soon as you have a date — especially for tiered or highly detailed designs. If your party is sooner than two days away, contact us anyway and we'll tell you honestly what's possible. Need something today? Our off-the-shelf cakes are ready to go — a vanilla sponge or 100's and 1000's marble cake makes a lovely last-minute shower cake. How to order Enquire. Send us your event date, guest numbers, reveal style or theme, and any inspiration photos. Design and quote. We'll confirm size, style, colours and flavour, and give you a clear price. Our custom cakes guide explains what affects the cost. We bake it fresh. Your cake is made in the days leading up to your event. Pickup or delivery. Collect free from Coniston (134 Gladstone Ave) or Unanderra (7 Farmborough Rd), or have it delivered within about 50 km for a distance-based fee. Coniston Bakery has been owned by Jason and Robyn Caldwell since 2012, and our decorators have been making celebration cakes for Illawarra families for more than ten years. Get in touch or call (02) 4226 4252 to start planning your reveal.

Best Vanilla Slice in Wollongong? Here's the Case for Coniston's

School & Sports Club Fundraising with a Coniston Pie Drive Chocolate drives are hard work and raffle tickets only go so far. A pie drive is different: families are buying something they'd buy anyway — dinner — and your school, club or community group keeps the profit. Coniston Bakery has been running pie drives with schools, sporting clubs and charities across the Illawarra for years. Here's how it works and how to make yours a success. Why pie drives work so well Everyone eats. A family meat pie or a box of sausage rolls is an easy sell to parents, grandparents, neighbours and workmates. It's a repeat purchase. Families who enjoy their order come back for the next drive. Low effort for volunteers. We handle the baking, wrapping and delivery. You handle the order forms and collection day. All your profit stays with you. Every dollar of profit goes to your organisation. It stacks with other fundraisers. Plenty of groups run a pie drive alongside a raffle or a chocolate drive for a bigger total. What you can sell Our pie drives aren't just pies. You can build an order form from: Family-size pies — classic meat, beef and pepper, curry beef, beef and mushroom, cheese and bacon, chicken and vegetable, vegetable and more Family quiches, such as quiche Lorraine and spinach and fetta Sausage rolls Sweet treats: apple pie, custard tart, lamingtons, caramel slice and other slices Scones and cakes Gluten-free and vegan options, so no one on your list misses out We'll send your group our current Pie & Cake Drive information pack with the full range and pricing. How it works, step by step Register your interest. Fill in the short form on our Pie Drive page, telling us which products you're interested in and roughly when you'd like to run your drive. Get your information pack. We'll send you the order form, product list and pricing, and walk you through setting it up for your members. Collect orders. Your families and supporters order and pay through your group, by a set closing date. Send us the totals. Once orders close, send through your combined order. We bake and deliver. Everything is baked fresh to order, individually wrapped and delivered to your school or club on your chosen day. Hand out the orders. Your volunteers sort and hand out orders at collection time, and the profit goes straight into your fundraising kitty. Tips for a successful pie drive Pick the right season. Pie drives are popular all year, but they really take off in the cooler months, when families stock the freezer with easy dinners. Keep the order window short. Two weeks is usually enough to build momentum without people forgetting. Set a clear goal. "Help us raise $2,000 for new team jerseys" sells better than a general appeal. Make collection easy. Choose an afternoon pickup time that suits school pick-up or training nights, and remind everyone the day before. Tell buyers to freeze what they won't eat straight away. Family pies and sausage rolls freeze well, which makes larger orders an easy yes. Share the results. Thank your supporters and tell them what the money bought. It makes next year's drive easier. Who can run a pie drive? Any group that raises money: primary and high schools and their P&Fs, junior and senior sports clubs (football, netball, cricket, surf lifesaving), dance and gymnastics schools, Scouts and Guides, churches, and local charities across Wollongong, Shellharbour and the wider Illawarra. If you're not sure it suits your group, ask us. Start your pie drive Register on our Pie Drive page for the information pack and pricing, or contact Robyn directly at robyn@conistonbakery.com.au or (02) 4226 4252 (Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm). Want to know more about what goes into the pies? Read The Ultimate Illawarra Pie Guide, or see last season's Pie Drive Season post.

High Tea & Grazing Platters Wollongong: Build Your Spread with Coniston Bakery

High Tea & Grazing Platters Wollongong A high tea or grazing table is one of the easiest ways to feed a crowd at a baby shower, bridal shower, birthday, Mother's Day lunch or office celebration. Guests help themselves, there's something for everyone, and it looks generous on the table. You don't need a specialist grazing company to pull it off — almost everything on a classic high tea stand comes out of a bakery kitchen. Here's how to build yours with Coniston Bakery. What goes on a bakery high tea A good high tea or grazing spread mixes three things: small savouries, sweet bites, and something fresh. Savoury bites from our catering menu: Mini quiche Lorraine and spinach and feta quiche Spinach and feta triangles Arancini balls Party pies and party sausage rolls Mixed sandwiches and wraps Frittatas Ham and cheese croissants Sweet bites: Slices: caramel, vanilla, cheesecake, hedgehog, angel cake, brownie and cookie and cream cheese Cabinet favourites that suit a high tea stand: custard tarts, Portuguese tarts, lemon meringue tarts, neenish tarts, lamingtons, chocolate eclairs, butterfly cakes, fruit flans, cannoli and meringues Something fresh: A fresh fruit platter, which serves 10–15 people Salads such as Moroccan pumpkin, potato or chicken Caesar for a more substantial lunch Cabinet items aren't all on the online catering menu, so if you'd like tarts, eclairs or lamingtons in event quantities, contact us and we'll confirm what's available for your date. Three ready-made spread ideas Event Savoury Sweet Fresh Classic high tea (baby or bridal shower) Sandwiches, mini quiches, spinach and feta triangles Custard tarts, lemon meringue tarts, lamingtons, butterfly cakes Fruit platter Party grazing table (birthday or engagement) Party pies, sausage rolls, arancini, mini quiches Assorted slices, brownies, eclairs Fruit platter Office celebration or long lunch Wraps, sandwiches, frittatas, a salad Vanilla and caramel slices, cheesecake slice Fruit platter How much to order As a rough guide, allow four to six savoury pieces and two to three sweet pieces per guest for an afternoon high tea. If the spread is replacing a full lunch, lean towards the higher end and add a salad. Tell us your guest numbers and the time of your event and we'll help you get the quantities right. Add a cake as the centrepiece Nothing finishes a grazing table like a cake. Pick one ready-made from our off-the-shelf range — chocolate mud drip, red velvet drip, caramel mud or a classic vanilla sponge — or order a custom design to match your theme. Our custom cakes guide explains the options and pricing. Planning a baby shower or gender reveal? See our baby shower and gender reveal cakes guide. Dietary needs Gluten-free wraps are available, our catering menu can be filtered for gluten-free items, and there are vegetarian savouries throughout. Read our gluten-free bakery guide for more. For coeliac disease or severe allergies, please talk to us about our kitchen before ordering. Delivery, pickup and ordering Local delivery: $30 Delivery more than 10 km away: $50 Pickup: free from Coniston (134 Gladstone Ave) or Unanderra (7 Farmborough Rd) Order savouries, slices and fruit platters directly from our catering menu, or send us your guest numbers, date and ideas through our contact page. You can also call us on (02) 4226 4252, Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm. Give us as much notice as you can, especially for weekend events, and we'll confirm everything before your day.

The Ultimate Illawarra Pie Guide: Meat Pies, Sausage Rolls & Party Catering

The Ultimate Illawarra Pie Guide Ask anyone in the Illawarra where to get a decent pie and you'll get a strong opinion. Ours is simple: we've been baking pies on the corner in Coniston, opposite the pub, for more than 30 years, and our plain mince pie picked up awards at the 2022 Australia's Best Pie competition. This guide covers every pie in our cabinet, what to order for a crowd, and how to get them delivered. The classic: our plain meat pie If you only try one, make it the plain pie: golden, flaky pastry around a rich minced-beef filling in gravy. It's the pie tradies grab at 5am, the one kids ask for after school, and the one that earned us recognition at the national pie awards. For the story behind it, read The Aussie Meat Pie: So Good It's Practically a National Treasure. The full pie line-up Beyond the plain pie, our cabinets at Coniston and Unanderra carry: Pie What's in it Chunky steak and pepper Hearty steak pieces in a peppery sauce Beef and mushroom Slow-cooked beef with mushrooms Beef, bacon and cheese Beef, crispy bacon and melted cheese Beef and potato Beef and potato in a rich gravy Curry beef Beef simmered in an aromatic curry sauce Chilli beef Beef with a spicy chilli kick Smoky BBQ beef Beef in a smoky barbecue sauce Chicken and vegetable Chicken and vegetables in a creamy sauce Chicken and curry Chicken in a mild, aromatic curry Vegetable Seasonal vegetables in a savoury gravy — our vegetarian option Brekkie pie Egg, cheese and bacon — breakfast in pastry Gluten-free potato top pie Our classic filling under a potato topping, made gluten-free The range in the cabinet changes through the day, so if you're after a particular flavour, call ahead on (02) 4226 4252 (Coniston) or (02) 4272 6032 (Unanderra). Sausage rolls, pasties and other pastries A pie run isn't complete without a sausage roll. Ours is a seasoned sausage filling wrapped in flaky pastry, best with sauce. We also bake meat and vegetable pasties and spinach and fetta triangles for anyone who wants something different from a pie. Find all of these on our cafe menu. Family pies for dinner (and drop-offs) Our family meat pie is a sharing-size version of the classic — an easy dinner, a meal to drop off to friends with a new baby, or the centrepiece of a casual get-together. Family-size quiches and other family pies are available too; ask in store about what's on today. Party pies and sausage rolls for catering For birthdays, work events, footy presentations or a backyard get-together, our bite-sized party pies and party sausage rolls are the first thing to disappear. Order them hot or cold, and add spinach and feta triangles, mini quiches or arancini for variety. Everything is on our pies and pastries catering menu. As a rough guide, allow three or four party pieces per guest if they're part of a bigger spread, or six or more if they're the main event. Catering delivery: $30 locally, $50 for addresses more than 10 km away. Pickup is free from Coniston or Unanderra. Pies for a good cause Schools, sports clubs and community groups across the Illawarra raise money every year with a Coniston Bakery pie drive. We bake to order, wrap everything individually and deliver on your chosen day. See how our pie drive fundraiser works or register your interest. Where to get your pie Coniston: 134 Gladstone Ave, Coniston NSW 2500 — (02) 4226 4252 Unanderra: 7 Farmborough Rd, Unanderra NSW 2526 — (02) 4272 6032 Hours (both bakeries): Monday–Tuesday 5am–4pm, Wednesday–Friday 5am–5pm, Saturday 6am–2pm, closed Sunday Come in early for the full range, or order catering online for your next event.

Corporate & Office Catering Wollongong: Platters, Meetings & Events

Corporate & Office Catering Wollongong Feeding a room full of colleagues should be the easy part of the day. Whether it's a Monday team meeting, a client workshop, a training day or a Friday farewell, Coniston Bakery puts together office catering for businesses across Wollongong and the Illawarra — baked in our own kitchen and delivered to your door. Here's what's on the menu, how to match it to your event, and how ordering works. What's on our corporate catering menu Everything on our catering menu is priced per piece or per platter, so you can order exactly what your headcount needs. Savoury Mixed sandwiches on white, wholegrain and specialty breads, with ham, chicken, cheese, egg and fresh vegetable fillings (vegetarian options included) Mixed wraps with chicken, ham, falafel, roasted vegetable and salad fillings — available in a gluten-free option Party pies and party sausage rolls, supplied hot or cold Spinach and feta triangles, mini quiche Lorraine and spinach and feta quiche Arancini balls, frittatas and ham and cheese croissants Salads in foil: Moroccan pumpkin, potato, and chicken Caesar Deep-dish quiche Lorraine for a sharing centrepiece Sweet Slices: caramel, vanilla, angel cake, brownie, cookie and cream cheese, cheesecake and hedgehog A fresh fruit platter of seasonal fruit that serves 10–15 people Matching the menu to the meeting Occasion What works well Early breakfast meeting Ham and cheese croissants, frittatas, fruit platter Working lunch Mixed sandwiches and wraps, a salad or two, fruit platter Morning or afternoon tea Assorted slices, fruit platter All-day training or workshop Croissants in the morning, sandwiches, wraps and salads at lunch, slices for the afternoon slump Staff celebration or farewell Party pies, sausage rolls, arancini and triangles, slices — plus a cake from our off-the-shelf range Client event or open day A mix of hot savouries, quiches and slices that guests can eat standing up How much should you order? As a rough guide, plan on three to four savoury pieces per person for a light lunch, and one or two sweet pieces each for morning or afternoon tea. A full meal or a hungry crowd (think site crews or sports teams) will want more. If you're not sure, tell us your headcount and the time of day and we'll suggest quantities — it's quicker than guessing and saves you from either running short or throwing food away. Dietary requirements in the office Most workplaces have at least one vegetarian, gluten-free or dairy-free guest. Our sandwiches and wraps include vegetarian fillings, our wraps come in a gluten-free option, and the catering menu can be filtered for gluten-free items. Read our gluten-free bakery guide for more. If someone has coeliac disease or a severe allergy, please ask us about our kitchen before you order — we bake with wheat flour and dairy every day, and we'd rather give you a straight answer than an assumption. Delivery and pickup Local delivery: $30 Delivery more than 10 km away: $50 Pickup: free from our Coniston bakery (134 Gladstone Ave) or Unanderra bakery (7 Farmborough Rd) We deliver across the Wollongong area and wider Illawarra — from the CBD and Fairy Meadow to Dapto, Port Kembla and Shellharbour. Both bakeries open from 5am on weekdays, so early-start meetings are no problem. How to order office catering Choose your items. Browse the catering menu and add what you need, or send us your headcount and budget and we'll put a package together. Tell us the details. Date, delivery time, address and any dietary needs. The more notice you can give, the better — we'll confirm what's achievable for your date. We bake it fresh. Your order is made in our kitchen for your day, not pulled from a freezer. Delivered or collected. We bring it to your office, or you pick it up on the way in. Planning a regular weekly meeting or a big end-of-year function? Get in touch or call us on (02) 4226 4252 (Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm) and we'll help you plan it. You can also read more about our wider catering in Wollongong.

Cake Shop Fairy Meadow & Corrimal: Coniston Bakery's Delivery Guide

If you're in Fairy Meadow or Corrimal and searching for a nearby cake shop, you're closer than you might think — Coniston Bakery sits just south of both suburbs, and we deliver and take orders from customers across this stretch of the Illawarra every week. Here's what you need to know about ordering from us if you're calling Fairy Meadow, Corrimal, Towradgi or the surrounding streets home. Yes, we deliver to Fairy Meadow and Corrimal Our bakery is based in Coniston, with additional locations at Unanderra and Gerringong, and we deliver within roughly 50km of those bakeries — which comfortably covers Fairy Meadow, Corrimal and Towradgi, along with the rest of the Wollongong local area. Delivery cost depends on distance, and we'll always confirm the fee before you pay, so there are no surprises at checkout. Delivery or pickup — which suits you? If you're happy to collect, pickup is free from any of our three bakery locations and is often the fastest way to get a same-day or next-day cake. If getting to us isn't practical, delivery to your Fairy Meadow or Corrimal address means one less thing to organise on a busy event day — just factor in a little extra lead time so we can plan the run. What you can order Need something today or tomorrow? Our cabinets are stocked daily with ready-to-buy cakes — no advance notice required, just pick up or ask about delivery availability. Planning ahead for a birthday, party or celebration? Browse our Inspirations gallery for design ideas and see our birthday cakes near me guide for sizing and flavour options, then get in touch with your event details. Our everyday flavour range covers chocolate mud, vanilla butter, marble, banana, white mud chocolate, red velvet and carrot cake, with gluten-free and vegan versions available on request. How far ahead to book if you're further out Because Fairy Meadow and Corrimal sit a little further from our bakeries than our closest suburbs, it's worth building in a touch more lead time for custom orders: Standard cakes: 2 days' notice. Small custom designs: 2 days' notice. Larger or detailed designs: 2 days is enough for our decorators to do the work justice and lock in a delivery slot. If your event is sooner than 2 days, contact us anyway — we'll tell you honestly whether it's achievable and what your options are. How to order from Fairy Meadow or Corrimal Browse or enquire. Choose a ready-made cake for click-and-collect, or send us your custom cake brief with the event date and guest count. Confirm pickup or delivery. Let us know your Fairy Meadow or Corrimal address if you'd like it delivered, and we'll quote the delivery fee. We bake it fresh. Your cake is made in the days leading up to your event, never sitting in storage. Collect or receive delivery. Pick up from Coniston, Unanderra or Gerringong, or have it brought straight to your door. Whether it's a quick grab from the cabinet or a custom design booked in for a Fairy Meadow birthday or a Corrimal celebration, Coniston Bakery is set up to serve you without the long drive south. Get in touch or browse our cakes to get started.

Gluten-Free Bakery Wollongong: What We Bake Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free

Looking for a gluten-free or dairy-free option from a Wollongong bakery? Coniston Bakery bakes gluten-free and vegan versions of much of our cake range on request, so a dietary need doesn't have to mean missing out on the celebration. Here's what's available and what's worth knowing before you order. What we offer gluten-free We can prepare gluten-free versions of our everyday cake flavours — including chocolate mud, vanilla butter, marble, banana, and red velvet — as a made-to-order option. Because these are baked on request rather than kept in the everyday cabinet, it's best to flag your requirement when you enquire so we can plan your order in. Dairy-free and vegan options too Alongside gluten-free, we also bake vegan versions of our cake range for customers avoiding dairy and eggs. If you need both gluten-free and vegan in the same cake, let us know — we're used to combining dietary requirements and will confirm what's achievable for your specific brief. A note for coeliacs and severe allergies If you're baking-avoidant for preference or mild intolerance, our gluten-free and dairy-free cakes are made to leave those ingredients out of the recipe. If you have coeliac disease or a severe allergy, it's important to ask us directly about our kitchen setup and cross-contamination procedures before you order — a shared bakery kitchen handling wheat flour and dairy every day is a different risk profile to a dedicated allergen-free facility, and you deserve a clear, specific answer rather than an assumption either way. We'd always rather you ask than guess. How to order Get in touch with your requirement. Tell us whether you need gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, or a combination, along with your event date and guest numbers. Ask about our kitchen process. If coeliac safety or a severe allergy is involved, this is the point to ask specifically — we want you to feel confident in the answer, not just told what you want to hear. Confirm your cake. Once we've matched flavour, size and dietary needs, we'll confirm pricing and your pickup or delivery details. Collect or receive delivery. Available from our Coniston, Unanderra and Gerringong locations, or delivered across the Illawarra. Dietary requirements shouldn't mean sitting out the celebration. Get in touch with what you need and we'll talk you through what's possible, or browse our cake range to get started.

Custom Cakes Wollongong: Designs, Pricing & How to Order

A custom cake means something different to everyone — for some it's a colour and a name written in icing, for others it's a fully sculpted number, a printed photo, or a three-tier wedding design. Whatever you're picturing, this guide walks through the design options, what actually drives the price, how far ahead to book, and exactly how ordering works at Coniston Bakery. Choosing your cake style Buttercream gives a smooth or textured finish and suits most birthday and rustic-style designs — it's usually the quickest and most cost-effective option. Fondant is a clean, sculpted finish, better suited to detailed shapes, sharp edges and wedding cakes where a polished look matters most. Printed cakes use an edible image printed directly onto the icing — a photo, a logo, a favourite character — and are one of our most requested custom options. Sculpted cakes are fully hand-shaped designs: numbers, cars, animals, novelty forms. These take the most skill and the most lead time, so they're worth discussing with us early. Flavours you can choose from Our standard range covers chocolate mud, vanilla butter, marble, banana, white mud chocolate, red velvet and carrot cake, with gluten-free and vegan versions available on request. For a bigger or tiered cake, you can mix flavours between layers — a popular choice when your guest list doesn't all agree on chocolate versus vanilla. What affects the price of a custom cake There's no single price list for custom cakes, because so much depends on the brief — but these are the main factors that move the cost up or down: Size and number of tiers — more cake and more structural work both add to the cost. Buttercream versus fondant — fondant work generally takes longer to execute cleanly. Level of hand-decoration — piped detail, sugar flowers and sculpted elements all add time. Printed images — a straightforward addition, but it does add to the base price. Delivery — pickup from any of our three locations is free; delivery is priced by distance. Because of all those variables, we quote every custom cake individually once we know the brief — get in touch with your idea and we'll give you a clear price before you commit to anything. How far ahead should you order? Lead times vary by how involved the design is: Birthday cakes: You would think we need 3–7 days' notice, especially for a specific colour or theme, but we can turn your custom birthday cake around in two days! Baby showers and gender reveals: You would think we would need around 1–2 weeks, but once again, our team can do this in a couple of days. Wedding cakes: Most people order this 4–12 weeks in advance— even earlier if your date falls in peak wedding season. We could turn around your wedding cake in a couple of days with a good collaboration in the breif Complex or fully sculpted designs: Again, you might be thinking 2–4 weeks to give our decorators time to get it right, but no, we can do this in two days. We have the skill, the resources, and the passion to get it done for you when you need it. If your event is closer than two days, contact us anyway — we'll always tell you honestly what's achievable rather than let you assume it isn't. The ordering process, step by step Enquiry. Tell us the event type, date, guest numbers and any design inspiration — photos and Pinterest links are genuinely useful here. Design consultation. We'll talk through size, style, colours and flavours until the brief is locked in. Quote and confirmation. You'll get a price based on the finished brief, and we confirm your date once you're happy to proceed. Production. Your cake is baked and decorated fresh, typically in the 1–3 days before pickup or delivery. Pickup or delivery. Collect free from our Coniston, Unanderra or Gerringong bakeries, or arrange delivery across the Illawarra for a distance-based fee. Ready to start? Browse our Inspirations gallery for design ideas, or get in touch with your event details and we'll take it from there. However simple or ambitious the brief, we'll tell you plainly what it costs and when it can be ready — no surprises either way.

Birthday Cakes Near Me: Coniston Bakery's Wollongong Delivery Guide

If you've just typed "birthday cakes near me" into Google, chances are the birthday is closer than you'd like and you need answers fast: can you get a cake today, how far ahead do you need to order, and does anyone deliver? We've been baking on the corner in Coniston for more than 30 years, so here's the honest, practical version of what "near me" means when it's our bakery you've found. Ready right now, or made to order? There are two very different ways to get a birthday cake from us, and which one suits you depends on how much time you've got. Off-the-shelf cakes are baked fresh in-store and ready to buy the same day — ideal if the birthday is tomorrow, or you've simply forgotten. Walk into any of our locations and pick one up, no advance notice required. Custom cakes — a specific flavour, colour scheme, printed photo, or a design copied from our Inspirations gallery — need a little more lead time, because each one is made to order rather than pulled from the cabinet. See the timing guide below before you commit to a design. How much notice do you actually need? As a general guide: Standard cakes (a size and flavour swap on one of our existing designs): 2 days! Small custom cakes for an intimate gathering: 2 days is the safe minimum. Larger or more detailed designs — multiple tiers, hand-piped decoration, a printed image: again, 2 days gives our amazing decorators the time to do it justice. If you're inside two days, call or message us before you order online — we'd rather tell you what's realistically achievable than have you disappointed on the day. Suburbs we cover Our bakeries sit at Coniston, Unanderra and Gerringong, and we deliver within roughly 50km of those locations — which covers most of the Illawarra, including Wollongong CBD, Fairy Meadow, Towradgi, Corrimal, Bulli, Woonona, Thirroul, Figtree, Mount Kembla, Dapto, Albion Park, Shellharbour, Berkeley, Port Kembla, Warrawong, Kiama and Berry. If you're near the edge of that radius, ask us when you order — delivery cost depends on distance, and we'll always confirm it before you pay. Prefer to skip delivery altogether? Click-and-collect is available online for all three pickup locations, or you're welcome to walk in and choose from what's in the cabinet. Picking the right size If you're not sure how big a cake you need, a rough rule of thumb is: a smaller cake suits a close family celebration or a work morning tea, while a larger cake is built for a full party or a shared family gathering. Feeding a bigger crowd, or want cake to spare for the next day? Let us know your guest count when you order and we'll recommend a size — it's a five-second question that saves you either running short or throwing out half a cake. Flavours and dietary needs Our everyday range includes chocolate mud, vanilla butter, marble, banana, white mud chocolate, red velvet and carrot cake, and we bake gluten-free and vegan versions on request — just flag it when you order so we can plan around it. If you want to mix flavours across tiers or layers for a bigger cake, that's easy to arrange too. How to order Need it today or tomorrow? Head to a bakery location and choose from the ready-made cabinet, or use click-and-collect online for the fastest turnaround. Want something custom? Browse our Inspirations gallery for design ideas, then get in touch with your event date, guest count and any photos or references — the sooner, the better. Choose pickup or delivery. Pickup is free from any of our three locations; delivery is available across the Illawarra for a fee based on distance. Confirm and celebrate. We'll lock in the details with you and have your cake ready exactly when you need it. Whether it's a same-day dash to the cabinet or a custom design booked in for the weekend, Coniston Bakery is the "near me" bakery Wollongong locals have been coming back to for over 30 years. Get in touch or browse our cakes to get started.