Is a birthday really a birthday without a slice of stellar celebratory cake?
It’s time to step up your confectionery game and look beyond the grocery store sheet cake. Vancouver is home to many talented pastry chefs, each bringing their own flair to create the ultimate birthday treat.
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Go classic with a layered vanilla funfetti or relive your childhood birthday with an ice cream cake. If you’re feeling decadent, pop into a patisserie to sample one of their handcrafted multi-layered desserts or keep it casual with some special birthday doughnuts.
Whatever you end up going with – just don’t forget the candles! Here are 16 places in Vancouver to get awesome birthday cakes.
Trafiq
Trafiq’s multi-layered cakes are loved by Vancouverites and they come in a variety of flavours.
Try their signature salted caramel, drizzled with homemade caramel sauc,e or the carrot cake, which is iced with a decadent cream cheese frosting.
They are so popular that Trafiq always has a few extras in their cake cooler; so do not fret if you forget to place your birthday order ahead of time.
Address: 4216 Main Street, Vancouver
Phone: 604-648-2244
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Cadeaux Bakery
Cadeaux makes some of the most elegant cakes in Vancouver. They look simple from the outside, but the flavours inside are complex and are impeccable. Their most popular dish is the London Fog, which is layers of white vanilla bean cake, white chocolate mousse, milk chocolate earl grey ganache, earl grey tea syrup and chantilly cream.
Address: 172 Powell Street, Vancouver
Phone: 604-608-8889
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Butter Baked Goods
For the ultimate birthday cake hit up Butter Baked Goods’ gorgeous storefront for their nostalgic Funfetti Cake. This treat is three layers of vanilla sponge, buttercream and lots of rainbow sprinkles.
Other classic flavours include chocolate, carrot, and coconut.
Address: 4907 MacKenzie Street, Vancouver
Phone: 604-221-4333
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Thierry
Everything Thierry makes is nothing short of perfection, so when it comes to birthday cakes you can expect the best from this luxurious French patisserie.
The passion fruit cake has delicate layers of fruit mousse, white genoise, passion fruit gelee, and French macarons. If you’re into something a little boozier, opt for the stunning black forest cake.
Address: 1059 Alberni Street, Vancouver
Phone: 604-608-6870
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Small Victory Bakery
Small Victory is best known for their house-made pastries, but they also make a to-die-for coconut cake, made from moist layers of coconut sponge blanketed with the velvety coconut pudding cream. In the middle of this treat is a surprise layer of crunchy goodness.
Address: 1088 Homer Street, Vancouver
Phone: 604-899-8892
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Krause Berry Farms
Krause Berry Farms grows some of the juiciest berries in the Lower Mainland. It’s only fitting that they make a vanilla whipped cream cake that is layered with a medley of their fresh berries.
Address: 6179 248 Street, Langley
Phone: 604-856-5757
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Cupcakes & Other Good Stuff
Cupcakes nails the classics like chocolate, red velvet, and vanilla cake – all of which are available in a variety of Insta-worthy styles. In addition to this, their iconic cupcakes are just as pretty as the big cakes and they don’t need to be ordered in advance.
Pick up a box for the birthday boy or girl in your life.
Address: 2887 West Broadway Street, Vancouver
Phone: 604-974-1300
Address: 797 Thurlow Street, Vancouver
Phone: 604-694-2052
Address: 1168 Denman Street, Vancouver
Phone: 604-558-4986
Address: 650 West 41st Avenue, Unit 421 Oakridge Centre, Vancouver
Phone: 604-263-3053
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L’otus Cake Boutique
L’otus Cake Boutiques makes the most delicate 15-layer mille crêpe cakes. All are assembled by hand at their Richmond boutique. Between each layer of crêpe is a silky pastry cream and fillings like fresh mango, matcha powder, or sliced strawberries.
Address: 103 – 8580 Cambie Street, Richmond
Phone: 604-285-9925
Purebread
Purebread’s pastry display is legendary and so are their rustic birthday cakes. Each comes in their numerous classic flavours like the hummingbird, coconut, chocolate, lemon, and carrot.
Address: 159 West Hastings Street, Vancouver
Phone: 604-563-8060
Address: 122-4338 Main Street, Whistler
Phone: 604-962-1182
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Cartems Donuts
Description: The only thing better than birthday cakes are Cartems Donuts. Place a special order at the West Pender location for letter shaped donuts that spell out ‘Happy Birthday’ in your favourite flavours, which include gluten-free and vegan varieties.
Address: 534 West Pender Street, Vancouver
Phone: 778-708-0996
Address: 3040 West Broadway, Vancouver
Phone: 604-428-6372
Address: 2190 Main Street, Vancouver
Phone: 778-707-1114
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Fratelli Bakery
Since 1997 Fratelli has been making the best Italian pastries in Vancouver including their cream puff and Bavarian cream ladened Saint Honore cakes.
Address: 1795 Commercial Drive, Vancouver
Phone: 604-255-8926
Thomas Haas
The handcrafted chocolates and pastries at Thomas Haas are works of art and their cakes are no exception.
Choose from a variety of flavours like the exotic milk chocolate passion fruit cake that comes with a layer of refreshing passion fruit cream. For something even more unique pick up a lovely pear almond tart that has poached Anjou pears and silky almond cream.
Address: 2539 West Broadway Street, Vancouver
Phone: 604-736-1848
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L’Atelier Patisserie
Talented pastry chef Franck Buiron used to lead the team at Au Comptoir, but has since left and opened his own patisserie where you can find some of his divine creations like the hazelnut cream filled choux pastry, Paris-brest, or the orange matcha cake which contains layers of white chocolate matcha mousse, financier sponge, and passion fruit orange cream.
Address: 120 – 260 East 5th Avenue, Vancouver
Phone: 778-689-0264
True Confections
There is no other cake in Vancouver that can rival True Confections in height. Their towering cake creations come in endless flavours including chocolate raspberry, diplomat, coconut cream, and mocha.
If you can’t decide which one you want, all of their scrumptious cakes are available by the slice.
Address: 866 Denman Street, Vancouver
Phone: 604-682-1292
Address: 3701 West Broadway, Vancouver
Phone: 604-222-8489
Chez Christophe
For something a little more refined and complex in flavour, check out Chez Christophe in Burnaby Heights. All of their cakes are made with a minimum of three different flavours and textures. Sunny’s Matcha begins with a base of white chocolate sesame crunch followed by matcha chiffon, matcha namelaka, and a delightful lemon yuzu mousse.
Address: 4717 Hastings Street, Burnaby
Phone: 604-428-4208
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Rain or Shine Ice Cream
You are never too old for ice cream cake and Rain or Shine agrees. You can create your own frozen masterpiece by choosing two of their classic ice cream flavours and a base of either waffle cone crust or chocolate brownies.
Address: 1926 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver
Phone: 604-428-7246
Address: 3382 Cambie Street, Vancouver
Phone: 604-876-9986
Address: 6001 University Boulevard
Phone: 604-620-2004