Cake

"Cake" is an informal term that gained prominence in the United Kingdom in the early 2010s as a colloquial descriptor for a shifting range of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) — particularly synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic cathinones (bath salts), and other research chemicals — sold legally in headshops and online as "legal highs." The term was applied loosely to white or off-white powder preparations and later to pressed tablets, often without clear disclosure of the actual contents. The marketing of "Cake" as a quasi-brand name was part of a broader pattern in which NPS vendors used playful, innocuous names to circumvent drug analog legislation.

The substances sold as Cake varied widely over time and by region. Products analyzed by harm reduction organizations were found to contain synthetic cannabinoids (such as JWH-018, AM-2201, and later UR-144 and 5F-ADB), cathinone derivatives (mephedrone, methylone, MDPV), or combinations thereof. Some "Cake" products contained no identifiable scheduled analogues whatsoever. This unpredictability made Cake products inherently hazardous — users could not know what they were actually consuming, at what potency, or what combination of substances.

The UK passed the Psychoactive Substances Act in 2016, which effectively banned the sale of all psychoactive substances not explicitly exempted (alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, medicines), putting most legal high vendors out of business and eliminating the Cake brand from retail. However, the underlying substances — particularly synthetic cannabinoids and cathinones — continued to circulate on grey and black markets under various names.