Karaka Kitchen is a made-to-order cake studio based in Karaka on the rural edge of South Auckland, specialising in buttercream cakes, cupcakes and event cakes. Everything is baked in small batches using quality ingredients, with the cakes, curds, sauces and ganaches all made from scratch — no shortcuts taken.
Founded in 2017 by owner Melissa a few months after the birth of her fourth child, the studio grew from friends paying for her cakes into a go-to for the local area. It has since moved to a small lifestyle block on Batty Road and continues servicing the entire Auckland region, with work featured in Treasures and Eye Magazine.
The name honours both place and flavour: karaka is the Māori word for orange, reflecting the family's Māori heritage and the house signature — a naturally gluten free orange and almond cake. Orders can be collected from the kitchen or delivered around Auckland, with simple classic cakes available at 24 hours' notice through sister company The Flying Cakery.
Karaka Kitchen is a small-batch cake studio based in Karaka, on the rural fringe of South Auckland, specialising in buttercream cakes, cupcakes and event cakes. Everything is made to order using quality ingredients, and the approach is simple: real food, made from scratch, with no shortcuts taken. The cakes, curds, sauces and ganaches that go into every order are all made in-house, which is a big part of why the flavour has built the business such a loyal following.
The studio was born in 2017, just a few months after owner Melissa welcomed her fourth child. Passionate about made-from-scratch food and social media marketing, she was encouraged by family and friends to turn those skills into a business. Friends began paying for cakes, the feedback was amazing, and in a then-newly developing area there was a real need for local businesses. Flavour was a genuine focus from day one, and the products — as the story goes — sold themselves.
Nearly seven years on, the Karaka Kitchen family has moved fifteen minutes down the road to a small lifestyle block on Batty Road, but they continue servicing the entire Auckland region. The business has expanded steadily since 2018, and as of 2024 Auckland-wide cake delivery runs through The Flying Cakery, the studio's sister company. Karaka Kitchen's work has also caught media attention, with features in Treasures and Eye Magazine.
The name carries a double meaning. Karaka is the Māori word for orange — a nod both to the place where the business was born and to its signature flavour, the orange and almond cake. That cake is naturally gluten free, and the name reflects the family's Māori heritage. It is a rare thing for a bakery's flagship flavour to be its namesake, but here it makes perfect sense: the Orange & Passionfruit, layering orange and almond cake with passionfruit buttercream, is the one regulars point to first.
The flavour menu reads like a tour of classic combinations. Lemon cake is brushed with lemon syrup and filled with vanilla bean buttercream and lemon curd. Double Chocolate pairs chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and chocolate ganache, and Chocolate & Raspberry adds a raspberry compote to that line-up. White chocolate mudcake comes two ways — with vanilla bean buttercream and lemon curd, or with caramel sauce.
Beyond the chocolate, there's Carrot Cake with cream cheese icing, Coconut & Raspberry stuffed with raspberries, Banana & Caramel with vanilla bean buttercream and caramel sauce, and Pear & Caramel — caramel cake layered with sliced pears, vanilla bean buttercream and spiced caramel sauce. The Orange & Passionfruit rounds out the list as the house signature.
The online shop is organised into a handful of ranges: Signature Cakes, Vintage Cakes, Number Cakes, Slab Cakes, the Signature Chocolate Cake and Cupcakes. Number, vintage and signature cakes — along with cupcakes — are available Monday to Saturday with three days' notice, while all other custom orders require five days' notice. For corporate enquiries and larger tiered cakes such as wedding cakes, the team asks that you email first to talk through the details.
Getting your cake is straightforward. You can collect your order from the kitchen in rural South Auckland, or select your delivery area from the drop-down menu when ordering. Need something sooner? The Flying Cakery delivers simple, delicious, classic cakes to most of Auckland with just 24 hours' notice — and for genuinely urgent orders, emailing the team is the best move; they will try their best to help. New Zealand-wide shipping is also on the roadmap.
Whether it's a vintage-style buttercream cake for a birthday, a number cake for a milestone, a batch of cupcakes for a school fair, or the gluten-free orange and almond cake that gave the business its name, Karaka Kitchen offers the kind of personalised, from-scratch baking that's increasingly hard to find. Orders go through the website; questions via the contact form, [email protected] or 021 402 402.