I’ve lost count of how many times someone has walked into the shop, stood in front of our flavor board, and said “just surprise me,”  only to change their mind three times before settling on the one they probably wanted all along. Red velvet, usually. It’s almost always red velvet.After years of doing this, you start to notice patterns. Not trends exactly; those come and go, but the quiet, steady preferences that show up birthday after birthday, family after family.

Red velvet is still king.

I genuinely can’t remember the last week we didn’t get at least one order for it. There’s something about that deep red crumb that just makes a party feel like a party. People gasp a little when we cut into it, even after all these years of it being everywhere. It’s not complicated, either. No filling, no cream cheese layer, nothing fussy. Just the cake itself, doing all the work.

Chocolate is the one nobody argues about.

Every family has that one person who “doesn’t really like cake,”  and chocolate is usually what wins them over anyway. We keep ours deliberately moist, almost fudgy, and we finish it with buttercream. Not ganache, not ice cream frosting buttercream, because it lets the cake taste like chocolate instead of tasting like decoration. It’s the safest order you can make, and there’s no shame in that. Sometimes safe is exactly what a birthday needs.

Vanilla gets underestimated.

People assume vanilla is the “boring” choice, but the ones who order it know better. We do ours plain, no fillings, nothing hidden inside, just a moist vanilla sponge finished with butter icing or fondant, depending on how elaborate the design needs to be. It’s a favorite with older clients especially, the ones who’ve had enough overly sweet cakes in their lives and just want something that tastes like cake.

Marble cake is the one that makes people go quiet for a second. 

Usually it’s someone ordering for a parent or a grandparent, and you can tell from how they talk about it that this cake means something beyond the party. It’s not trendy. Nobody’s posting a marble cake for the aesthetic. But that swirl of vanilla and chocolate has been showing up at Nigerian birthdays for decades, and some things don’t need reinventing.

And then there’s the newer crowd, like lemon, carrot, strawberry, and nuts. 

These are the ones I’ve watched grow the most in the last couple of years, especially for outdoor parties or daytime celebrations where a heavy cake just doesn’t sit right in the heat. Lemon and strawberry tend to come from people wanting something bright, a little less sweet, a little more refreshing. Carrot and nut flavors are usually requested by people who want the cake to feel a bit more “grown,” less like a kid’s party staple.

If I’m honest, I don’t think there’s one flavor that’s objectively “best.” What I’ve learned after years of doing this is that people order what matches the mood of the day: bright colors and red velvet for a big celebration, chocolate when you want zero arguments at the table, marble when the day is really about someone who’s been around long enough to deserve it.

So if you’re stuck choosing, don’t overthink it. Think about who’s actually going to eat the cake, and what kind of day you’re trying to have. That’s usually all the answer you need.

Come find us at any of our outlets in Lagos ( Lekki, Ikeja, VI, Yaba, Surulere ) if you want to talk it through honestly, or visit our Instagram page and send us a DM @nustaboutcakes_offical.  This is one of our favorite conversations to have. We will be expecting you.