Where to Get the Best Cakes in the Seattle Area

We scoured the Seattle area to find the best bakeries, sampling every slice we could find — a truly strenuous job, but someone had to do it. You can turn any ho-hum day into a celebration with a slice from any of these bakeries. As usual this list is not ranked, but mapped north to south.

Coyle's Bakeshop

A cake lover has ample options at Coyle’s, from the chocolate layer cake with silky buttercream to the olive oil bundt cake with seasonal fruit. A summer favorite is the Victoria sponge cake, two layers of fluffy yellow sponge sandwiched with mascarpone and seasonal fruit. Preorders are the best method for those who want to get a Victoria slice — they tend to go fast.

Deru

This neighborhood spot nestled between houses in Kirkland serves perhaps the most generous slices of cake in the greater Seattle area, verging on a half-pound in weight. The heirloom carrot cake encased in tangy cream cheese frosting ties with the moist salted peanut butter chocolate cake for the best slice on the menu.

Hoffman’s Fine Cakes & Pastries

If you have a special occasion coming up, Hoffman’s in Redmond is worth checking out. This bakery features a selection of European desserts, including the viral Swedish princess cake; a yellow sponge with raspberry jam, Bavarian cream, and cloaked in pistachio-green marzipan. Patrons swear by Hoffman’s Euro-inspired sweets for birthdays, anniversaries, and other occasions, with the classic Black Forest Torte and Tiramisu cake held up as customer favorites. If you want a cake that is a bit more modern, they offer a twist on Boston cream pie that subs the chocolate for fruity mango mousse (a chocolate option is available for the traditionalists).

Tres Lecheria

Pastry chef Kevin Moulder, a frequent face on TV baking competitions, converted his Wallingford cake shop Cubes Baking Co. into Tres Lecheria, a bakery devoted to the popular Latin American dessert, in 2019. The bakery’s classic tres leches slice is soft, creamy, and not overly sweet, and the horchata slice is also stellar, topped off with cinnamon whipped cream.

Paper Cake Shop

Seattle restaurant luminary Rachel Yang and Gabby Park of Saint Bread have built a gourmet but whimsical cakery. The cakes are baked in slab-shaped sheet cakes and come in Asian-inspired flavor that rotate seasonally, with standby flavors like the Keel Bill with blackberry jam, lychee gel, and raspberry buttercream. It also keeps a vegan and gluten-free option available at all times. The delicate texture and refined flavors available at this Stone Way-based store makes it feel like grabbing a slice of the best wedding cake you ever had, any time you want.

Simply Desserts

For over 20 years this Fremont staple has nailed layer cakes, with terrific takes on classics like chocolate raspberry and red velvet. Open late, this is the perfect after-dinner spot, so those making a night of it at one of Fremont’s many great restaurants should make sure to leave room for dessert.

Byen Bakeri

Perhaps the most popular slice at this Queen Anne bakeshop is the princess cake, a traditional Swedish sponge layered with raspberry jam, vanilla custard, and whipped cream. The cake is enrobed in green marzipan and finished with a marzipan rose. The shop also offers terrific slices of carrot and chocolate cakes for those who aren’t marzipan fans.

Sugar Bakery and Cafe

While the pastry cases at both the Queen Anne and First Hill locations of this bakery are full of excellent options overall, the cakes should not be glossed over. The creme brulee cake is the standout, thanks to moist layers of burnt sugar cake filled with vanilla custard, caramel icing, and a caramel drip finish — all of which combine to form a surprisingly light and airy offering.

Raised Doughnuts and Cakes

This doughnut shop in the Central District is also serving up some of the best cake slices in Seattle. No matter the flavor — options rotate weekly — each cake has a light and tender sponge paired with creamy, not-too-sweet icing for a bite that nearly dissolves in your mouth. On a recent visit, the offerings included a white vanilla sponge with earthy orange Thai tea frosting and pops of little shortbread crunchies. Keep your fingers crossed for their banana coffee flavor with dark coffee-flavored whipped cream layered with real banana slices between white cake. Slices are only available Friday through Sunday, but whole cakes can be preordered and customized for delivery or pickup any day of the week except Wednesday, when the shop is closed.

Bakery Nouveau

Home to a wide selection of pastries and cakes (including French entremets), this bakery — with locations in West Seattle, Capitol Hill, and Burien — has a little bit of everything. Chocolate lovers should head straight for the rich, classic chocolate slice, while those in search of a lighter option may want to check out the strawberry pistachio.

Deep Sea Sugar And Salt

Georgetown’s cake specialist frequently draws long lines for its pastry case of enticing selections like the London fog, an Earl Grey–flavored cake with a bergamot mascarpone frosting. Seasonal offerings — like the strawberry shortcake, a ricotta olive oil cake stacked with fresh strawberries, strawberry jam, and cream cheese frosting — are also highly anticipated.

Cakes of Paradise

In an industrial part of Georgetown surrounded by gray buildings, the rainbow sherbet-colored awning of Cakes of Paradise is hard to miss. This Hawaiian bakery specializes in cakes with tropical fruit flavors you would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else in the city like guava, coconut haupia, and a rich chocolate cake with dobash frosting — a fudgy Hawaiian-style cooked frosting thickened with corn starch. The signature rainbow cake offers a delightful taste of everything: a three-tier cake stacked with strawberry, lime, and passionfruit cake, frosted with whipped cream and filled with bright guava, lime, and passionfruit jellies between each layer.