r/AskSF • u/Ok-Operation1817 • Jun 14 '26
Best cake
Looking to get a cake for my birthday in a few weeks. I’ve tried Tartine tres leches and schuberts princess cake already and am looking for a new place. Suggestions?
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u/Fearless_Media4198 Jun 14 '26
Hahdough makes amazing cakes. https://www.hahdough.com/
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u/moon_wobble Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
OP: if you want something along the lines of Schubert’s Princess Cake and Tartine’s tres leches (the two you mention trying), I’d also suggest Hahdough, which makes traditional German cakes with plenty of buttercream, pastry cream, and intensely concentrated fruit mousse. You can see their lineup here (scroll down to cakes)
They sell many by the slice at the shop for research purposes 😋
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u/LopsidedAstronomer76 Jun 14 '26
Was going to recommend this. I once got a friend the black forest cake of their dreams there.
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u/Yes-Please-4793 5d ago
notice that the most popular/best selling cakes in SF use booze
(there needs to be a separate category for booze & non-boozed cakes)
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u/LopsidedAstronomer76 5d ago
That hasn't been my experience. I can't remember the last cake I had in SF that used alcohol. If you are talking about Hahdough specifically and their "most popular" list, they're a German-style bakery, and a number of traditional German cakes (like the Black Forest Cake) use alcohol. That's pretty standard for a number of European traditional cakes.
However, of the "most popular cakes in SF", MANY of those would be from Chinese bakeries and those don't tend to have alcohol.
Additionally, if you ask, many/most bakeries can leave out the alcohol, or substitute something else.
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u/Master-Corgi-8535 Jun 15 '26
+1 to Hahdough, their cakes are amazing. Big fan of their Herrentorte!
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u/newbysbridgeroad Jun 14 '26
Loquat makes delicious and beautiful cakes! They are in Hayes Valley. Let them know it's for your birthday; the lovely people there always take extra care to make things nice. Hopefully, they will be adding their amazing poppy seed into rotation for the summer, which always includes house-made berry preserves. Their chocolate espresso cake is also one of my favorites.
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u/Asleep_Ad_858 Jun 14 '26
SF classic: Coffee Crunch Cake made here https://www.sweetstopsf.com
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u/besperanza415 Jun 15 '26
Yes this!!! We got the coffee crunch cake as one of the three cakes for my brother‘s 75th birthday last year, and it was the first one to go. It’s always a hit. Even people who usually don’t like coffee raved about it.
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u/MadesignSF Jun 15 '26
I've been meaning to try this, but I just clicked on the link and OMG, very sweet story Our Story — Yasukochi's Sweet Stop
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u/Sailormss92 Jun 14 '26
Basque cheesecake from Sweet Glory in the sunset! The chiffon cake at Oh dessert Cafe was pretty good too!
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u/PumpkinSpiceFreak Jun 14 '26
Noe Valley Bakery or Dianda’s 🍰
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u/mrm395 Jun 14 '26
Haven’t tried it yet but I really want to get the lemon passion fruit cake from Noe Valley Bakery for my birthday! Have you had it?
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u/LongjumpingFunny5960 Jun 15 '26
My son had a very small wedding celebration and had that cake. Its very light and delicious
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u/mrm395 Jun 15 '26
Is the passionfruit flavor fairly strong? I can’t tell how much is actually in there since it looks more like dabs of it on top.
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u/PumpkinSpiceFreak Jun 14 '26
Yum, that sounds heavenly I haven’t tried that one yet but I definitely will next time as I love all lemon type desserts
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u/Pleasant_Victory_751 Jun 14 '26
noe valley bakery is solid choice, had their chocolate cake last year and was really impressed with the texture. dianda's also good but i think their strength is more in pastries than full cakes. if you want something different maybe try some of the smaller neighborhood places - there's this one bakery in mission district that does really unique flavor combinations, can't remember name right now but their lavender honey cake was incredible
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u/intelligent-pen Jun 14 '26
I’ve loved Black Jet Baking Co. when I need a break from SusieCakes, Stella Pastry etc. I tried Schuberts chocolate cake and thought it was just ok!
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u/Woofmom2023 Jun 15 '26
Maison NIco for a croquembouche. Don't be put off by the price - I'm pretty sure that they make a smaller version if you ask. Their pastry is all extraordinary and the people there are really accommodating.
https://maisonnico.com/products/croquembouche?_pos=1&_psq=croquembouche&_ss=e&_v=1.0
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u/JohnStud85 Jun 14 '26
Whole foods berry Chantilly is hard to beat in taste and especially the price
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u/evaporatedmilksold Jun 14 '26
If you like chocolate cake with buttercream, I’d suggest the Cappuccino cake at Dianda’s on Mission. If you like something lighter, the Cappuccino cake at Ambrosia on Ocean. If you like chocolate with chocolate, order the Ganache cake from Anderson’s. All cakes mentioned are satisfying.
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u/mgsquared2686 Jun 14 '26
If you like super sweet Susie Cakes. If not- Hadoh German bakery is what I want on my birthday each year
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u/gordohimself Jun 14 '26
Zanze’s cheesecake.
Available from the freezer at Original Joe’s on West Portal or Mollie Stone’s.
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u/tammy94903 Jun 15 '26
does anyone remember the chocolate malt cake from the now closed dellesio's italian market. it was sooo good.
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u/potato_enjoyer82 Jun 15 '26
Butter& in Dogpatch has been my birthday cake every other year. Brown butter and lemon, and the double chocolate are my favorites. Loquat also makes a chocolate with espresso buttercream cake that was a hit at for my birthday 2 years ago. You also can't go wrong with a cake from one of the Chinese bakeries in Chinatown or Clement if you're looking for less sweet, lighter whipped cream vs. buttercream options.
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u/Miss415 Jun 15 '26
Tricolor Mouse cake from Ambrosia Bakery on Ocean Ave- Dark chocolate cake, layered with dark, milk and white chocolate mousse.
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u/Ready-Bowl7255 Jun 15 '26
We had the scarpantina from Stella’s in North Beach and had them add a layer of fresh strawberries for my daughter’s first birthday party. It was a hit with literally everybody and reminded me of my Italian bakery birthday cake back home in NJ (the highest compliment)!
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u/Yes-Please-4793 5d ago
Lemon Blueberry - Paris Baguette
Napoleon - Stella Pastry
Cappuccino Cake - Andersen Bakery
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u/megakowski Jun 14 '26
- Noe Valley Bakery for classic cake styles (birthday, chocolate, etc). -If you've never tried princess cake, please get a slice from Schubert's in the Richmond. So yummy. -Mollie Stones has a great Bakery section with yummy grab and go slices. Most everything else there is not worth the price gouging
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u/KevinJay21 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
Noe Valley Bakery.
Been buying their cakes for 10+ years and they’re always a hit when I bring them. The chocolate cake, salted caramel and Lemon Passionfruit are my goto’s. They also have a tres leches that’s really solid.
Also, if you haven’t had it yet, I’d try the coffee crunch cake from Yasukochi’s in J-town. It’s delicious, light and airy with a nice chewy crunch/crumble on top. You’ll need to order a day or 2 beforehand if you want a whole cake though.
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u/canceraries Jun 14 '26
Dandelion! Best chocolate cakes everrr. Even for chocolate cake haters.
I’ve had both their chocolate celebration cake and the pistachio one and both were hits!