Cuckoo's Bakery

Let's be honest, I love a good cupcake. I am a sucker for ones with quirky designs too and Cuckoo's Bakery do quirky cupcakes very well! I popped along to the Bruntsfield branch one afternoon for a cake and a catch up with a friend. It is really lovely inside. From the bunting everywhere to the striking blue art work on the walls. It has a lovely quirky but cosy feel inside. After pondering for ages on what to have, I finally settled on the Cherry Cola Pop cupcake and the Blue Lady Tea. I could really go on and on about how amazing the cake was but all I can say is that you need to go in, order a cupcake and feel like you are in cake heaven. 

I know I will be back very soon. I think I will make it my mission to try every cupcake they do.

It was one of the sunniest days of the year (so far) and I am chatting to Graham Savage co-owner of Cuckoo’s Bakery with Vidya Sarjoo. “It’s been an amazing 4 years.” he explains “Imagine, 4 years ago it was just Vidya and myself and one baker. Now, we have a payroll of 17, we’ve won awards and we’re stocked in Harvey Nichols!” To that I should add that the bakery is award winning too and are up for another accolade at the Scotch Bakers awards.

I’ve been invited to celebrate the opening of their second shop. It’s a welcome newcomer to Bruntsfield – which surely must be one of the most interesting shopping streets in Edinburgh with its eclectic range of small shops. The new shop is located opposite Dig In Bruntsfield and has a hint of a vintage look to it. There’s a sparkly chandelier, the cupcakes are displayed in what was a haberdasher’s cabinet and there are accessories dotted around including old fashioned scales. I am also rather taken by the very shiny Italian coffee machine – they always look as if they are from the 1950s don’t they? There’s room from 8 to sit and sample cakes and drink coffee or tea,. The bakery had people queuing out of the door on their opening day and included some familiar faces who usually treck across town to visit the original shop in Dundas Street.

Two of their lovely bakers are on hand to answer questions, despite having started baking at 1 am – Cuckoos pride themselves on the freshness of their cakes. On some days they make as many as 1000. Some of the new staff are also present and very well briefed too! We are encourage to tuck in to mini versions of their cupcakes, a hazelnut chocolate brownie and scones with either strawberry or raspberry jam. So hard to pick a favourite, but I think the sticky pudding cupcakes might just have the edge. 

Fascinating facts

- Cuckoo’s use local Scottish produce where possible including flour, milk, eggs and butter
- Each year, Cuckoo’s bakers crack over 60,000 free-range eggs from a farm in Dalkeith, just eight miles from the bakery.
- The flour used is milled in Fife and 4,000kg used every year.
- Edinburgh’s Pekoe Tea supplies Cuckoo’s Bakery with its range of teas. 
- Stockbridge coffee roaster Mr Eion created their bespoke coffee blend ‘Cuckoo’. 
- Any cakes that aren’t sold are sent to an Edinburgh charity that distributes them to the homeless, hostels and women’s refuges in the city.

Ive always wanted to try a cuckoos cupcake but never found time to go down to leith, so when I heard they were opening a store at bruntsfield I was so excited! The store is very nicely set up inside and had a wide range of cupcakes and other treats! I decided to try a red velvet cupcake, I thought at 2.30 the cupcake was at the higher end of the pricing scale although I expected as much! It didn't disappoint, the cupcake was creamy and delicious and would definitely go back!

Peaceful, airy cafe, lovely neighbourhood, great cakes, decent coffee, the strawberry cheesecake cupcake was deliciously soft &flavoursome, wanted to try them all!

Been going here for all our cupcake and celebration cake needs since 2019. Excellent service all round!

I have gone to his bakery on many occasions because their cakes and brownies are the best in Edinburgh (in my humble opinion). The flavours are creative, thoughtful and unique. There is always something for everyone - cake flavours, cookies, brownies and scones. You get a lot for your money in terms of portion size, flavour and decoration. The staff are always very friendly, appear happy at work and authentically engage with customers. We hired Cuckoos to do our wedding cakes in June 2019 and the whole experience was fun (and delicious!). The wedding coordinator, Sophie, was so enthusiastic and actively helped us hone our flavours and designs. We had full creative control and Sophie let us get very creative. So much so, we went for 3 cakes, 2 sets of traybakes and 6 gluten free cupcakes (and 6 cupcakes for ourselves incase we were dancing too much to eat!). At the tasting they mocked up 6 cupcakes (some with flavours we'd chosen and some inspired by our flavour choices). The tasting was fun and we had undivided attention in the store. We could feel Sophie's excitement when they came out and it was infectious! The cakes were STUNNING. People still bring them up and talk about how delicious they were. I'm no Mary Berry so I won't describe the taste/consistency but I will say that everyone at the wedding tucked in and I was getting messages days, weeks and months after about them. Cuckoo's did all the delivery, set up and provided stands, etc. They did such an amazing job, I can't sing their praises high enough. Plus the value for money in terms of wedding cakes was better than anywhere else we had seen - and that was based on ALL our cakes versus one tiered cake form elsewhere. Five stars as a customer. Five stars as a Bride.

Absolutely delicious bakery! The food was amazing and the place is very charming. It is small so be prepared to wait but it is worth it. We celebrated a birthday with a delicious cake here.

Amazing and delicious cupcakes, great variety. Just be careful to be there on time because they might finish early. The service is also great and very friendly.