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A cake frosted with pink and gold icing on a pink round plate.
A special-order cake from Dahlia.
Dahlia

Where to Get a Lovely Whole Cake in the Twin Cities

Cakes for birthdays, celebrations, and holidays

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A special-order cake from Dahlia.
| Dahlia

Every special occasion requires an equally special cake. With all due respect to cake slices — an immaculate dessert in their own right — there’s something irresistibly festive about ordering a whole cake in all its frosted glory. These Twin Cities bakeries offer cakes in all styles: layered with pastry creams, dripping with chocolate ganache, or painted with bright frosting flowers. Here are 20 places to get a lovely whole cake in the Twin Cities.

Note that these bakeries are listed geographically.

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Moua Pop-Up

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Pastry chef Diane Moua, keeping herself busy as she readies to open a new restaurant, whips up cakes with simple but striking contemporary style for Moua Pop-Up. Note that this pop-up is specifically timed with holidays, so cakes aren’t always available to order, but those dreamy layers of coconut cream are well worth the wait. Keep an eye out for an upcoming Mother’s Day pop-up. Cakes clock in around $65.

A layered coconut cream cake topped with white cream on a round cake stand.
A coconut cream cake by pastry chef Diane Moua.
Gemma Watson

Cafe Ceres

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Pastry chef Shawn McKenzie — recently nominated for a James Beard Award — offers a tahini carrot cake at Café Cerés. The tahini is a lovely, nutty complement to the carrot’s natural earthiness. The cake is $32; pick up at the Linden Hills or Armatage locations.

Patisserie 46

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Patisserie 46’s chef and owner John Kraus is a maestro of chocolate. Highlights from this menu include a gluten-free chocolate mousse and hazelnut cake, a flourless raspberry chocolate cake, and a New Orleans cake made with vanilla mousse, caramelized bananas, and salted caramel.

Black Walnut Bakery

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Black Walnut Bakery’s cakes are beautiful in their simplicity — the pineapple coconut meringue cake, for example, is adorned with golden-brown peaks of meringue and toasted coconut flakes; the flower-topped cake layers a chiffon sponge with vanilla Bavarian cream and cassis preserves. Chocolate aficionados should opt for the chocolate lux or carmella cakes. Cakes range from $40 to $70.

A three tiered cake with bare sides topped with whipped cream
An ethereal cake from Black Walnut.
Joy Summers

The Lynhall No. 2640 LynLake

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A plethora of sprinkles, subdued watercolor-style buttercream, precisely-arranged flower petals: Each cake on the Lynhall’s menu has a distinct personality. The lemon vanilla funfetti cake with prickly pear panna cotta and raspberry filling is a customer favorite, but the minimal cookies-and-cream cake and sophisticated pistachio passion fruit cake are also exquisite. Cakes range from $110 to $130.

A white cake with purple and red flowers on a round black cake stand.
A floral cake from the Lynhall.
Heartbeet Kitchen

Vegan East

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Vegan eaters shouldn’t have to settle, especially on special occasions. Thanks to Vegan East, which offers flavorful layer cakes festooned with buttercream rosettes, fresh raspberries, and cookies, they don’t have to. Pick from nearly a dozen options, from carrot cake with vegan cream cheese frosting to a chocolate cookie dough cake. Several flavors are available gluten-free. Cakes range from $45 to $52.

A cake with pink icing topped with strawberryes and whorls of cream on a circular plate.
A summery cake from Vegan East.
Vegan East

The Copper Hen Cakery & Kitchen

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Ordering a cake from the Copper Hen is the dessert version of a choose-your-own-adventure novel. Start by selecting the cake design (options include a crisp minimalist icing, an arrangement of fresh berries, or lavish drips of caramel with a rose petal garnish). Next pick a serving size, from four-inch to 12-inch. Finally, pick out a flavor — maybe carrot, vanilla raspberry, or champagne — and voila. (A gluten-free cake is available, too.)

Pasteleria Gama

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This Lake Street bakery specializes in moist tres leches cakes decorated with colorful frosting and bold flourishes. Pick one of the pre-made cakes dressed with ganache and fresh strawberries from the bakery case, or commission a custom creation, whether it’s for a multi-tiered cake blanketed with fondant or a single-layer cake heaped with sliced fresh fruit.

Aunt Mona’s

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Aunt Mona’s takes the traditional flourishes of cake decorating — delicate piping, floral adornments, drippy glazes — and gives them a light surrealist touch. Flowers seem to literally grow out of a shimmering vegan chocolate cake; a hibiscus buttercream gives a tiered cake a kaleidoscopic tea party vibe. There’s no physical location for this bakery; email itschefcheli@gmail.com for inquiries.

Eat Me Bakery

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Whimsical mermaid tails, vibrant flowers, cheeky phrases — Eat Me Bakery offers a wide range of cake styles, all frosted with a skillful flourish. Flavors include classic chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet, as well as more unusual fruit and botanical-inspired options like grapefruit, peach, and chai. Add buttercream, jam, or toasted marshmallow filling. Cakes start at $60.

A cake with cream-colored frosting with large blue, yellow, and orange flowers on it.
A floral cake from Eat Me Bakery.
Eat Me Bakery

Quiet Cat Bakery

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Quiet Cat Bakery specializes in neat layer cakes with exquisite layers of piping and fresh fruit adornment. Place a custom order — maybe an Italian meringue buttercream topped with figs and berries, or a gluten-free vanilla cake with a strawberry filling and chamomile mousse. To order, send a DM on Instagram or email quietcatbakery@gmail@com.

Thirsty Whale Bakery

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From sugary three-dimensional dinosaurs to tiered cakes blooming with frosting flowers, this beloved North Minneapolis bakery specializes in whimsical desserts. These cakes taste just as imaginative as they look — choose from nearly 20 flavors, including amaretto, honeywine moscato, and chocolate orange, and banana. Then select a jam, mousse, custard, or buttercream as a filling. The bakery will even create custom flavors by request. Get a quote online.

A cake in the shape of a green T-Rex dinosaur against a black background.
A dino cake from Thirsty Whale.
Thirsty Whale

Dahlia’s cakes are dreamy and romantic — they look a little more like Monet’s Water Lilies than dessert. Made with either two or four layers, they’re frosted with buttercream in a simple color scheme, though pastry chef Alex Althoff accepts requests for design, color, and flavor. Cakes range from $50 to $120 depending on size.

A cake frosted with white and beige icing and topped with pink flowers with grass in the background.
A special-order cake from Dahlia.
Dahlia

Durango Bakery

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At Durango Bakery in Northeast, find cakes frosted with cloud-like swirls of whipped cream, topped with glazed strawberries and peach slices, or crowned with huge icing roses.

Nadia Cakes

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Makers of the famous “geode cake,” Nadia Cakes offers imaginative sculpted and tiered cakes. Order a recreation of a character from an animated movie, a pastel-hued cake garnished with fondant flowers, or a replica of an everyday object, like a teapot or box of cigars. Two to four months notice is advised; request a quote online.

B’Beri Desserts

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These cakes have the precise contours and rich, creamy layers of Paris’s fine pastries. The buttery Paris Brest cake is studded with hazelnuts; the opera cake is built on an irresistible coffee buttercream. B’Beri Desserts is online only, but delivers around the metro. Cakes range from $42 to $57.

Fruit & Grain

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Need a nut allergy-friendly cake? Fruit and Grain offers elegant layer cakes made in a dedicated peanut-free and tree nut-free bakery. Owner Emily Lauer’s favorites include a tahini cake topped with chocolate ganache and sesame brittle, and a tart lemon cake frosted with matcha vanilla buttercream piped flowers. Cakes can also be topped with caramel, fresh flowers, and herbs.  

Amour Patisserie

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Pastry chef Jai Xiong was recently featured on Food Network’s Spring Baking Championship, where she whipped up a lemon and strawberry mousse cake and a passionfruit-topped coconut tart, among other treats. Back home in St. Paul, her cakes and pastries are as delectable as ever. Put in a request online and choose from dozens of flavors, fillings, and frostings.

Marc Heu Patisserie Paris

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Marc Heu’s cakes evoke the romance of Paris with ganache, pastry cream, and gold leaf. French classics are well-represented, including a fraisier cake made with a vanilla sponge and ringed with strawberries, and a striking opera cake made with coffee buttercream and dark chocolate ganache. In the mood for something exceptionally fancy? Order a towering croquembouche decorated with fresh flowers.

A A red berry Saint Honoré ake topped with halved strawberries.
A red berry Saint Honoré from Marc Heu.
Marc Heu

Cafe Latte

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This Grand Avenue icon has been frosting cakes since 1984. The pecan and caramel-topped three-layer turtle chocolate cake is a customer favorite. In addition to rich chocolate cakes (Michael’s fudge cake is an excellent gluten-free option), Cafe Latte offers fruit-flavored layer cakes and tres leches cakes.

The Buttered Tin - St. Paul (Lowertown)

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The layer cakes at the Buttered Tin are the platonic ideal of a birthday cake — the moist layers are held together with generous frosting. The hot fudge sundae cake is an exuberant confection topped with dark chocolate ganache, whipped cream, sprinkles, and cherries, and the TBT Ho Ho is a massive, gourmet version of the childhood treat. For a more subdued dessert, try the delicately-flavored lemon drop cake garnished with edible flowers. 

A cake frosted with white frosting with chocolate ganache on top, plus whorls of cream topped with maraschino cherries and sprinkles.
The Buttered Tin’s hot fudge sundae cake.
The Buttered Tin

Moua Pop-Up

Pastry chef Diane Moua, keeping herself busy as she readies to open a new restaurant, whips up cakes with simple but striking contemporary style for Moua Pop-Up. Note that this pop-up is specifically timed with holidays, so cakes aren’t always available to order, but those dreamy layers of coconut cream are well worth the wait. Keep an eye out for an upcoming Mother’s Day pop-up. Cakes clock in around $65.

A layered coconut cream cake topped with white cream on a round cake stand.
A coconut cream cake by pastry chef Diane Moua.
Gemma Watson

Cafe Ceres

Pastry chef Shawn McKenzie — recently nominated for a James Beard Award — offers a tahini carrot cake at Café Cerés. The tahini is a lovely, nutty complement to the carrot’s natural earthiness. The cake is $32; pick up at the Linden Hills or Armatage locations.

Patisserie 46

Patisserie 46’s chef and owner John Kraus is a maestro of chocolate. Highlights from this menu include a gluten-free chocolate mousse and hazelnut cake, a flourless raspberry chocolate cake, and a New Orleans cake made with vanilla mousse, caramelized bananas, and salted caramel.

Black Walnut Bakery

Black Walnut Bakery’s cakes are beautiful in their simplicity — the pineapple coconut meringue cake, for example, is adorned with golden-brown peaks of meringue and toasted coconut flakes; the flower-topped cake layers a chiffon sponge with vanilla Bavarian cream and cassis preserves. Chocolate aficionados should opt for the chocolate lux or carmella cakes. Cakes range from $40 to $70.

A three tiered cake with bare sides topped with whipped cream
An ethereal cake from Black Walnut.
Joy Summers

The Lynhall No. 2640 LynLake

A plethora of sprinkles, subdued watercolor-style buttercream, precisely-arranged flower petals: Each cake on the Lynhall’s menu has a distinct personality. The lemon vanilla funfetti cake with prickly pear panna cotta and raspberry filling is a customer favorite, but the minimal cookies-and-cream cake and sophisticated pistachio passion fruit cake are also exquisite. Cakes range from $110 to $130.

A white cake with purple and red flowers on a round black cake stand.
A floral cake from the Lynhall.
Heartbeet Kitchen

Vegan East

Vegan eaters shouldn’t have to settle, especially on special occasions. Thanks to Vegan East, which offers flavorful layer cakes festooned with buttercream rosettes, fresh raspberries, and cookies, they don’t have to. Pick from nearly a dozen options, from carrot cake with vegan cream cheese frosting to a chocolate cookie dough cake. Several flavors are available gluten-free. Cakes range from $45 to $52.

A cake with pink icing topped with strawberryes and whorls of cream on a circular plate.
A summery cake from Vegan East.
Vegan East

The Copper Hen Cakery & Kitchen

Ordering a cake from the Copper Hen is the dessert version of a choose-your-own-adventure novel. Start by selecting the cake design (options include a crisp minimalist icing, an arrangement of fresh berries, or lavish drips of caramel with a rose petal garnish). Next pick a serving size, from four-inch to 12-inch. Finally, pick out a flavor — maybe carrot, vanilla raspberry, or champagne — and voila. (A gluten-free cake is available, too.)

Pasteleria Gama

This Lake Street bakery specializes in moist tres leches cakes decorated with colorful frosting and bold flourishes. Pick one of the pre-made cakes dressed with ganache and fresh strawberries from the bakery case, or commission a custom creation, whether it’s for a multi-tiered cake blanketed with fondant or a single-layer cake heaped with sliced fresh fruit.

Aunt Mona’s

Aunt Mona’s takes the traditional flourishes of cake decorating — delicate piping, floral adornments, drippy glazes — and gives them a light surrealist touch. Flowers seem to literally grow out of a shimmering vegan chocolate cake; a hibiscus buttercream gives a tiered cake a kaleidoscopic tea party vibe. There’s no physical location for this bakery; email itschefcheli@gmail.com for inquiries.

Eat Me Bakery

Whimsical mermaid tails, vibrant flowers, cheeky phrases — Eat Me Bakery offers a wide range of cake styles, all frosted with a skillful flourish. Flavors include classic chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet, as well as more unusual fruit and botanical-inspired options like grapefruit, peach, and chai. Add buttercream, jam, or toasted marshmallow filling. Cakes start at $60.

A cake with cream-colored frosting with large blue, yellow, and orange flowers on it.
A floral cake from Eat Me Bakery.
Eat Me Bakery

Quiet Cat Bakery

Quiet Cat Bakery specializes in neat layer cakes with exquisite layers of piping and fresh fruit adornment. Place a custom order — maybe an Italian meringue buttercream topped with figs and berries, or a gluten-free vanilla cake with a strawberry filling and chamomile mousse. To order, send a DM on Instagram or email quietcatbakery@gmail@com.

Thirsty Whale Bakery

From sugary three-dimensional dinosaurs to tiered cakes blooming with frosting flowers, this beloved North Minneapolis bakery specializes in whimsical desserts. These cakes taste just as imaginative as they look — choose from nearly 20 flavors, including amaretto, honeywine moscato, and chocolate orange, and banana. Then select a jam, mousse, custard, or buttercream as a filling. The bakery will even create custom flavors by request. Get a quote online.

A cake in the shape of a green T-Rex dinosaur against a black background.
A dino cake from Thirsty Whale.
Thirsty Whale

Dahlia

Dahlia’s cakes are dreamy and romantic — they look a little more like Monet’s Water Lilies than dessert. Made with either two or four layers, they’re frosted with buttercream in a simple color scheme, though pastry chef Alex Althoff accepts requests for design, color, and flavor. Cakes range from $50 to $120 depending on size.

A cake frosted with white and beige icing and topped with pink flowers with grass in the background.
A special-order cake from Dahlia.
Dahlia

Durango Bakery

At Durango Bakery in Northeast, find cakes frosted with cloud-like swirls of whipped cream, topped with glazed strawberries and peach slices, or crowned with huge icing roses.

Nadia Cakes

Makers of the famous “geode cake,” Nadia Cakes offers imaginative sculpted and tiered cakes. Order a recreation of a character from an animated movie, a pastel-hued cake garnished with fondant flowers, or a replica of an everyday object, like a teapot or box of cigars. Two to four months notice is advised; request a quote online.

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B’Beri Desserts

These cakes have the precise contours and rich, creamy layers of Paris’s fine pastries. The buttery Paris Brest cake is studded with hazelnuts; the opera cake is built on an irresistible coffee buttercream. B’Beri Desserts is online only, but delivers around the metro. Cakes range from $42 to $57.

Fruit & Grain

Need a nut allergy-friendly cake? Fruit and Grain offers elegant layer cakes made in a dedicated peanut-free and tree nut-free bakery. Owner Emily Lauer’s favorites include a tahini cake topped with chocolate ganache and sesame brittle, and a tart lemon cake frosted with matcha vanilla buttercream piped flowers. Cakes can also be topped with caramel, fresh flowers, and herbs.  

Amour Patisserie

Pastry chef Jai Xiong was recently featured on Food Network’s Spring Baking Championship, where she whipped up a lemon and strawberry mousse cake and a passionfruit-topped coconut tart, among other treats. Back home in St. Paul, her cakes and pastries are as delectable as ever. Put in a request online and choose from dozens of flavors, fillings, and frostings.

Marc Heu Patisserie Paris

Marc Heu’s cakes evoke the romance of Paris with ganache, pastry cream, and gold leaf. French classics are well-represented, including a fraisier cake made with a vanilla sponge and ringed with strawberries, and a striking opera cake made with coffee buttercream and dark chocolate ganache. In the mood for something exceptionally fancy? Order a towering croquembouche decorated with fresh flowers.

A A red berry Saint Honoré ake topped with halved strawberries.
A red berry Saint Honoré from Marc Heu.
Marc Heu

Cafe Latte

This Grand Avenue icon has been frosting cakes since 1984. The pecan and caramel-topped three-layer turtle chocolate cake is a customer favorite. In addition to rich chocolate cakes (Michael’s fudge cake is an excellent gluten-free option), Cafe Latte offers fruit-flavored layer cakes and tres leches cakes.

The Buttered Tin - St. Paul (Lowertown)

The layer cakes at the Buttered Tin are the platonic ideal of a birthday cake — the moist layers are held together with generous frosting. The hot fudge sundae cake is an exuberant confection topped with dark chocolate ganache, whipped cream, sprinkles, and cherries, and the TBT Ho Ho is a massive, gourmet version of the childhood treat. For a more subdued dessert, try the delicately-flavored lemon drop cake garnished with edible flowers. 

A cake frosted with white frosting with chocolate ganache on top, plus whorls of cream topped with maraschino cherries and sprinkles.
The Buttered Tin’s hot fudge sundae cake.
The Buttered Tin

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