The cake basket, otherwise known as a bread basket or fruit basket, was a particularly popular item of tableware in the 18th century. One Sheffield plating firm, Watson & Bradbury, in their pattern book for 1788-1815, listed 148 different patterns for this type of object alone. These baskets were usually circular, boat shaped or oval, like this late 18th-century example, which has a rim in the form of a wavy ribbon. The loop handle is decorated with reeded borders and the openwork sides are filled in with scrolls.

Sheffield plate originated, with the discovery in 1742, that bars of silver and copper, in unequal proportions, fused by heating under pressure, could be rolled into sheets of laminated metal and worked like silver. The industry this material created flourished for about 100 years until superseded by electroplating in the 1840s.