Although whole cakes have traditionally dominated cake consumption, some shops are now beginning to recognize the demand for single-serving cakes – offering New York City consumers unparalleled options and revolutionizing the scene!
Reward your loved ones with an aesthetic TikTok-inspired cake, perfect for birthdays, Valentine’s Day celebrations, or baby showers, with shell tip borders in any color (though black frosting may stain teeth). Add custom text inscription for an additional fee.
Lady Wong
Lady Wong Bakery in East Village offers up an exquisite display of pastries when you enter. Mogan Anthony and Celeste Tan, former members of Wylie Dufresne’s avant-garde tasting menu spot WD-50, have dedicated themselves to introducing New Yorkers to Southeast Asian desserts known as kueh (pronounced KOO-AH).
Kueh is difficult to classify; it varies from being steamed or baked, primarily sweet but sometimes savory, and using traditional ingredients like pandan leaves. Anthony and Tan from Malaysia are an unparalleled force when it comes to spreading awareness of this small food, which they make themselves from scratch using ingredients directly sourced from farmers in their region.
They recently embarked on their latest endeavor – designing petit gateaux inspired by red tortoise-shaped cakes known as angku kuih. Traditionally eaten to mark birthdays or elder’s celebrations, since this animal represents longevity. To achieve perfect shapes for their petite sweets, they enlisted the services of a custom toy maker who provided molds so they could mass produce these miniature sweets.
Ladybird Bakery
Park Slope Bakery specializes in old-fashioned, home-style baked goods, such as cakes, cupcakes, and cookies, for which they are renowned. Visit their website to browse their regular products; for special events, they also create custom cakes! Furthermore, nationwide delivery service ensures their delicious desserts reach any location!
Lady Bird Bakery offers fresh ingredients in each cake they create, with plenty of flavors for everyone in their selection – even those with food allergies will find something at Lady Bird Bakery!
Milk Bar is a beloved NYC bakery known for its delectable treats, particularly its three-layer cakes with exposed sides – ideal for special events and personalized with custom messages! You’ll also find other goodies at this bakery, such as cookies and ice cream!
Baked
Baking is an art that transforms ordinary ingredients into edible masterpieces of culinary artistry – and that’s precisely the premise behind Baked, now in its second season at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre.
TikTok users will recognize this heart-shaped cake. Perfect for birthdays, Valentine’s Day, and baby shower celebrations alike, with shell tip borders in any color of your choosing (black may stain teeth). Add custom messages including zodiac signs (Aries Baby), Taurus Baby (Cancer Baby), Leo Baby, Virgo Baby, Libra Baby, Capricorn Baby, or Aquarius Baby at $5 each for personalized touches that include zodiac sign horoscope information like Aries, Taurus, Cancer or Libra Baby as well.).
Flour Shop
Amirah Kassem’s Flour Shop in SoHo is known for its vibrant rainbow cakes that combine colors, sparkle, imagination, and Saturday morning cartoons into whimsical cakes that delight customers of all ages. Their rainbow cakes have even been showcased at fashion parties and the Whitney Museum. Situated at 177 Lafayette Street, Amirah Kassem’s Flour Shop provides the ideal place for anyone seeking an enjoyable way to satisfy their sweet tooth craving.
Kassem began her career in fashion design before making the switch to baking. Her viral exploding cakes catapulted her to fame, prompting her to open her first brick-and-mortar in SoHo with walls painted a colorful rainbow hue and packed full of cake kits, sprinkles, frosting, and everything else you might need for baking in her store.
Milk Bar Bakery is best known for its famous cookies – crunchy on the outside yet gooey in the center – which come in multiple flavors and can be customized with polka dots, sprinkles, or two-tone personalized messages. Milk Bar’s iconic birthday cake – complete with its festive confetti topping – is known by all New Yorkers, whether for themselves or someone else’s celebrations.
Eileen’s
Eileen’s Special Cheesecake offers heart-shaped cheesecakes in various mouthwatering flavors that will surely satisfy any sweet tooth. Their cakes are meticulously handmade daily and feature vibrant colors, and chocolate swirls with fresh fruit offerings for an added splash of flavor in every bite. In addition, you’ll find traditional NY-style cheesecake and unique options like strawberry or salted caramel here.
Cheesecake is revered in New York, and many stores claim they make the perfect version. Eileen’s stands out among them with its light yet intensely flavored versions of this delectable treat, garnering praise from food writers at The New York Times for its cheesecake offerings.
Eileen’s may be hard to come by in New York, but their bakery does provide delivery through Uber Eats. To see if this option is available near you, enter your address on either their website or app, and it should update.
Soma Cakes
New York City’s dessert scene is flourishing, making this an exciting time to be a cake enthusiast. From delicious ice cream to handmade breads, there’s plenty to choose from, including specialty desserts from all around the globe, such as Kuih, an umbrella term covering Southeast Asian steamed cakes like Onde Onde and Cassava Cake made by Seleste Tan and Mogan Anthony using ingredients sourced directly from farmers in their region.
Milk Bar is home to the famous “naked cake,” an increasingly trendy confection created by sweet master Christina Tosi. While numerous imitations exist today, Christina was the first to popularize her creation here at Milk Bar and also made cereal milk ice cream and cracked pie birthday cake!
Gracie Baked is known for its nostalgic 90s-themed treats and kids’ cake, one popular option being funfetti with cookie dough filling. Custom cakes can also be created upon request with your choice of frosting and fillings available to create something truly unforgettable!
Ovenly
Erin Patinkin and Agatha Kulaga met while attending a food-focused book club and quickly hit it off, eventually founding Ovenly. Now located in Greenpoint with four locations – including a 13-seat cafe featuring herringbone tile flooring and green-and-white wallpaper – Ovenly offers more than traditional sweet treats, with Black Olive Shortbread, Blue Cheese-Pecan Scones, Coconut Date Pistachio Cake as well as Brooklyn Blackout cake being among their offerings – making for satisfying afternoon treats!
This bakery also provides sandwiches, salads, and soups in addition to its baked goods. Their staff is committed to sustainable practices and fair hiring practices by posting open job listings for people of varying skill sets; additionally, they work in partnership with organizations like Ansob Refugee Center, Seedco, and Drive Change that employ workers with marginalized backgrounds.
Wandering into Ovenly’s new Bushwick production space is like entering a bakery dreamscape: croissants cool on racks while ovens tower above most people and mesmerizing cookie scooping machines swirl about, mesmerized cookie scoopers scoop out cookies by hand while stack cakes get decorated in mid-frost. Ovenly has room to experiment with new creations as well, such as their campfire-inspired stuffed cookies featuring both graham cracker and hot chocolate combinations – it all looks genuinely magical.
Rob Ben-Israel Cakes
Ron Ben-Israel is a renowned cake maker and an expert in decorative sugarwork. After traveling the globe as a professional modern dancer, Ron decided to pursue his passion for baking, starting by crafting one-of-a-kind cakes for special events; his cakes have since been featured in publications like Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey TV programs; in fact, they’re frequently chosen as centerpieces at New York City hotels!
Ben-Israel not only creates exquisite edible works of art but is also an active supporter of charities, including LGBT rights and local food drives. Furthermore, he serves as a master pastry instructor at the International Culinary Center in NYC.
Ben-Israel first established his flagship design studio and bakery in Manhattan’s trendy SoHo neighborhood in 1999. By 2014, he had expanded into an expansive location that enabled him to broaden his creative endeavors further. This space was designed by architect Peter Fahey and equipped with custom equipment closets that seamlessly transform into decorative walls as needed.
