The 12 Best Bakeries in the World for a Luxurious Cake

What are the best bakeries in the world for a luxurious cake? Whether for a wedding, special birthday, or just an everyday luxury, a gorgeous delicious cake is an instant mood booster. Our correspondent Jillian Tangen has rounded up a list of the best cakes, bakers and famous cake bakeries in the world, including New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong and more. Forks in the air! It’s time to eat cake like a boss.

where can you find a truly special luxury cake?

We don’t know about you, but to us, a party just isn’t a party without a cake. Not that we’ve ever really needed a special occasion to take Marie Antoinette’s famous advice.

Today, at everything from baby showers to weddings to birthdays to graduations, cake is one of the ultimate symbols of a luxurious celebration. And the more photogenic, the better.

The modern cake as we know it was invented in Europe during the 19th century and quickly became a symbol of luxury thanks to components like eggs, milk, butter and sugar.  As we know, these ingredients were expensive, so it was a privilege to be honored with a cake.

And while today a basic cake isn’t all that expensive, it is the message of cake that remains constant. It’s a powerful way of showing a recipient that they are both important and loved.

So what better way to show those you love just how much you care about them? Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be a $75 million one to get your point across. Instagramability is really important for lots of people. However, that being said, it’s key to the effort that the cake actually tastes good, too. We all know that what’s underneath the frosting is just as important as the hand-made sugar flowers placed on top.

To help you treat your loved ones to one of the best cakes ever, we’ve rounded up 12 of the best (and most famous) cakes, bakers and cake bakeries in the world, with personal favorites from New York and London. These designers are bringing their creative talent and incredible artistic skills to the edible world of desserts. And not only are their pastries stunning –  they’re delicious, too.

Ready, dear reader? Let’s dig in.

the best cake bakeries in the world

1. madison lee’s cakes

You could say that baking is in Madison Lee’s DNA.  She grew up taking inspiration from her mother, who would bake and decorate cakes for her and her brother as a hobby. And from her father, who worked at a local bakery.

Today, Madison Lee’s Cakes are considered one of the world’s foremost cake artists and sugar flower experts. She’s creating cakes that range from the darkly beautiful to the classically pretty, all while never doing the same thing twice. Be sure to plan ahead though. A cake from Madison takes anywhere from 6 months to a year for the planning, design and execution. It’s definitely worth the wait.

2. lael cakes

If you are in need of a vegan, dairy free or gluten free cake, then look no further than Brooklyn’s Lael Cakes.

Owner Emily Aumiller has created her own unique blend of non-gluten flours to make the perfect pastry flour. She employs alternative ingredients as substitutes for refined sugar, saturated fat and dairy to ensure each cake is deliciously moist. Her work takes cues from not only traditional cake decorating methods, but also the natural world, fine art, and even flea market finds.

3. ron ben-israel cakes

Dubbed “the Manolo Blahnik of wedding cakes” by the New York Times, Ron Ben-Israel creates cakes that are not only sculptural works of art, but delicious too.

Ron launched Ron Ben-Israel Cakes after a 15-year career as a professional modern dancer. In addition to an extensive list of private clients that includes Marc Jacobs, many of New York’s premiere hotels are also devotees. Including The Pierre, The St. Regis, The New York Palace, The Ritz-Carlton, The Four Seasons and the Mandarin Oriental.

4. bcakeny

Before opening her Brooklyn based bakery BCakeNY, Miriam Milord worked as a designer for a prominent art gallery, but it wasn’t until the creative cakes she was baking for friends and family in her spare time began to attract attention, that she decided to go into the custom cake business full-time.

And it’s a good thing she did.  Today her cakes are enjoyed throughout NYC and by the like of JLo, DJ Khalid and Michael B. Jordan to name a few big names.

5. the cake bake shop

Pastry guru Gwendolyn Rogers of Cake Bake Shop is all about top-notch ingredients with luxurious touches, earning the shop exclusive partnerships with the likes of Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn and Tiffany & Co.

We recommend Gwendolyn’s Famous Earl’s Court Chocolate Cake, made with valrhona, callebaut, plus fudge and malted cream and a sprinkling of fleur de sel from France or the Mint Chocolate Chip cake that’s akin to a grown-up Girl Scout cookie in cake form.

6. maggie austin cakes

A trained classical dancer, Maggie Austin’s cakes are almost as elegant as the ballet career she left behind when she opened her cake shop, Maggie Austin Cakes.

With cakes that feature the look of multi-tiered feathers from Black Swan and ones that look like stained glass, it’s no wonder her cakes have been in high demand. Everyone from former First Lady Michelle Obama (who commissioned a Christmas cake) to Hollywood celebrities to the planners of runway shows for Paris Fashion Week have been her clients.

7. fiona cairns

Fiona Cairns was tasked with making the elegant, extravagant cake for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s 2011 Royal Wedding and she did not disappoint.

Her success at crafting the eight-tiered, three-foot-tall, 224-lb fruit cake covered in lace-like detailing solidified her place as one of the most famous and sought-after wedding cake bakers in the UK.  Be warned though. The most basic custom cake from Fiona starts at around $660.

8. peggy porschen cakes

Few places are as pink, as frilly or as social media-friendly as the Peggy Porschen cake shop in London.  And fortunately, everything tastes just as good as it looks. 

Her cake shop fans include Madonna, Elton John and Kate Moss, as well as British Vogue and Vanity Fair.

9. rosalind miller cakes

For very, very special occasions, the glamorous, luxurious and decadent cakes of Rosalind Miller Cakes are hard to beat.  From tiered wedding cakes adorned with sugar flowers to dainty cupcakes topped with buttercream, Rosalind and her daughter Yasmine put love and care into every bite.

Inspired after a 2005 visit to New York’s famous Magnolia Bakery, the duo have since been awarded wedding cake maker of the year for two years running and have had their cakes been featured in Brides and Vogue.

10. bastien blanc-tailleur

Known for his decorative sugar-work sculptures, Bastien Blanc-Tailleur creates extravagant cake creations known to practically scrape the ceiling.

Bastien’s larger-than-life cakes aren’t just large, either. They also feature detailed and intricate lifelike flowers, each crafted by hand. These little works of art adorn nearly the entire cake. We hate to say it but, these cakes are almost too pretty to eat. Almost.

11. jasmine rae cakes

Take one look at her work and you can see why Jasmine Rae calls herself a texture junkie. Anything but the typical tiered cake, Jasmine’s cakes are complex. They often reflect items like marble, feather, stone, bark or coral.

Unusual designs include a tiered creation of grey marble slabs that almost appear like modern skyscrapers. Other cakes feature a series of ruffles so romantic they could be a miniature version of a bride’s dress. In addition to unique styling, Jasmine’s cakes use unusual ingredients like honey, hibiscus and earl grey tea.

12. complete deelite

Jacinta Yu is considered a pioneer of Hong Kong’s cake decorating world. It’s even said that her impressive and inventive creations have led to brides bursting into tears of joy when they first set eyes on her completed cakes.

Her bakery, Complete Deelite has created fantastical masterpieces for everyone from Tiffany’s to Christie’s to Manolo Blahnik.

the most famous cake bakers and bakeries in the world

That’s it – our top picks for the best cakes, bakers and cake bakeries in the world, including our favorites in New York and London.

We don’t know about you, but all this cake talk has us feeling hungry. Fortunately for us, a few of these delectable spots deliver. 

What’s your favorite cake stop, dear reader? We’d love to check it out.