A chocolatier and cake shop in Britain put out a call for cake tasters on social media, and they got their cake and ate it, too, after thousands of people responded.

Choccywoccydoodah, a boutique confectionery in south-east city Brighton, made a Facebook post on Monday (Jan 15) saying it was running trials in deliveries of its 20-30 serving cakes and was looking for cake testers.

The well-known cake store, which was featured in its own eponymous TV series from 2011 to 2014, said those interested must like its post and use the hashtag: "#freecake".

Within a day, the post had drawn more than 62,000 likes, 44,000 shares and 81,000 comments, many of which merely mentioned the required hashtag.

The contest, which runs daily from Monday for an unspecified number of days, is open only to those in the United Kingdom.

On Tuesday, it announced a winner to the first run of its daily contest: A woman named Claire Webb.

She would be required to give feedback on the cake and send in photographs of the delivered package.

The store put up another post for the second edition of its contest soon after, eliciting thousands of reactions within hours.

Among the responses were people who said free cake would be "amazing for my birthday" and that it "would go down well at our choir for people experiencing homelessness, addiction and mental issues".

Sara Davies simply put: "#Freecake would be a dream come true".