The Wild Story Behind That Time Henry Cavill Got Tom Cruise's Famous Christmas Cake And Had To Be Begged By His Friends To Eat It

Henry Cavill and Tom Cruise standing in a club in Mission: Impossible - Fallout.
(Image credit: Paramount/Skydance)

It’s December which means for a lot of us it’s the season of holiday traditions. If you’re a celebrity who is friends with Tom Cruise or has worked with him in the past, that means it’s time for the annual and legendary Tom Cruise Christmas cake. It seems like everybody who gets this cake loves it, but one of the actor's former co-stars, Henry Cavil, apparently almost didn’t eat it when he first got it.

Many have told the story of the Tom Cruise Christmas cake. It's a particular coconut cake that he has apparently been sending to colleagues for years. Many of those who get it, like Glen Powell, make an event of eating it. However, when Henry Cavill first got it, that he originally ignored it because he assumed, coming from Tom Cruise, that it would be some sort of healthy cake. He explained on Jimmy Kimmel Live:

The famous Christmas thing which happens every year, Tom sends a Christmas cake. I heard about this coconut cake and then one day I received said coconut cake, which said ‘Happy Christmas Henry, from Tom Cruise.’ Which is pretty cool by the way. And I thought, ‘There’s no way I’m eating that, it’s going to be made of healthy stuff, be paleo or whatever. This is Christmas. I don’t do healthy at Christmas.

It’s maybe not that big a surprise that Henry Cavill would think his Mission: Impossible co-star would send some sort of healthy cake. It’s not like Tom Cruise looks like he eats a lot of sugar. Of course, The Witcher actor doesn’t look like he overdoes the sweets either, but apparently, during the holidays, he lets himself indulge.

While Cavill knew the story of the Tom Cruise cake, it seems that he didn't really realize what it was. The cake has become famous in its own right. Tom Hanks gets the cake and sings its praises. Michael Bay got very upset a couple of years ago when his cake got destroyed in shipping. And the stories from various celebs go on and on.

It wasn’t until a friend of Cavill’s came over and asked about the cake that he actually made a point to open the box and actually see what was inside it. Once that happened, however, the actor was all over it. He continued…

A friend came by my house, saw the cake sitting there and said, ‘What’s that?’ I said ‘Oh, that a cake from Tom Cruise.’ And they said, ‘I’m sorry, say that again?’ I said, ‘That’s a cake from Tom Cruise.’ And they went ‘Well why aren’t you eating it?’ And I said ‘Because it’s probably healthy.’ And they went, ‘Cut it open.’ Cut it open, it is the most luxurious, unhealthy coconut cake. And so I then ate the whole thing.

It’s been years since Cavill and Cruise were in Mission: Impossible - Fallout together, so the actor has surely received his Tom Cruise cake every year, as it appears that once you’re on the list, you don’t come off.

Thankfully, he now knows that it's not some healthy cake, but actually a glorious coconut cake that is becoming a legend just like the actor who gifts it.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.