4.9 out of 5 stars and 142 reviews
4.9
(142)512 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA
About this vendor
Gorgeous cakes made from scratch, that taste incredible & look stunning! (Consultations by appointment) -Competitors & Winners of the 'Food Network Cake Challenge' -'Martha Stewart Show' "Martha's Favorite Cupcakes" -LA's Top 20 Bakeries by Los Angeles Magazine!
Details
Cakes & Desserts
- Cake Delivery & Setup
Dietary Options
- Gluten Free
Awards and Affiliations
10-Time 'Best of Weddings'
2020.2019.2018.+7 more.
Best of Weddings
The Knot independently assesses vendors for this award—it’s never self-reported. We base it on firsthand experiences from real couples and guests, and they must have a 4.5-star average across 7+ reviews in the qualifying year.
Hall of Fame
Earned by winning 'Best of Weddings' four or more times.
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help
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4.9
out of 5.0142 reviews
Cake was good. Samples were good. The cake took forever for delivery on the wedding day though. Gave me a bit of anxiety and my florists didn’t have much time to decorate it.
My cake was so beautiful. They took my vision and made it come to life. They also delivered it on time. On top of the cake being gorgeous it tasted incredible.
This place has really gone downhill. When it came time to choose a bakery for my engagement party cake I felt confident about choosing Vanilla. But that was a huge mistake. I chose...
a design from their website that combined two very simple designs (fondant flowers and gold veiling) into a white round cake. I wrote a detailed email specifying what I requested as far as the cake specs and attached photos. You'd think choosing designs from their website is the way to go because presumably they can recreate something they've already made. Well... more on that later. I even talked to the "design and sales manager" before putting in the order to ensure they could create what I would like, as I knew this would be an important and special occasion for me and I needed the cake to look good. The sales manager is slow to reply and I had to call the shop and leave a message for her to just get back to me to process my order since it was getting close to the date of my engagement party and I still had no idea if they were going to do my cake. So that should have been a red flag. I know everywhere is busy but this is a simple request. I ended up paying $350 for a 10 inch engagement cake from them, which is the most I've ever spent on a cake. When I went to pick up the cake, it did not look like the inspiration photos/what we had discussed. It looked like a simple round cake from a grocery store that someone added a few fondant flowers to and painted on gold lines like watercolor (no marbling, and no gold in the center of the flowers as I asked for). I asked the ladies working there if they could add more fondant flowers because it looked super bare. They said they didn't have any because they are "special order," still not sure what that means. So basically I had to take the cake home as-is. The design is one thing. But the worst part was when I served the cake, which was stored exactly as I was instructed to. The cake was nearly impossible to cut through because the fondant was super thick and chalky. The fondant flowers crumbled while being served. Worst of all, the inside of the cake was actively collapsing as I was cutting it and barely made it off the cake stand and into a plate. On the plate it looked like sloppy mush. I was beyond mortified. I did not want to serve this to my guests. Thank God we had another cake otherwise I would have had NO CAKE for my engagement party. We threw the cake from Vanilla straight into the garbage. After I reached out explained what happened with the design and the total lack of quality the owner refunded me. But she did try to explain away why it happened and claimed this has never happened before. I don't believe that for a second. And it is really not important why it happened. Neither of these things matter because neither of them magically undo the horrible experience of cutting this cake in front of our guests and then being unable to serve it. Word to the wise - I would never ever recommend anyone order a special occasion or wedding cake from here. You have only ONE moment to make an impact in photos and amongst your guests, and you don't want to take a chance with a cake that is not what you envisioned, looks like it was made poorly by a novice working at a grocery store but costs a few hundred dollars. Avoid avoid avoid. I can't believe this place allows cakes to leave the bakery looking the way they do.
Vanilla Bake Shop's cakes are SO GOOD. Almost every cake we tasted before we found Vanilla Bake shop was way too sweet, we'd try like 3 flavors and feel gross. When we got our dif...
ferent flavors for the tasting with Vanilla Bake Shop we ate every single bite of every flavor! I mean, what is the point of cake if it doesn't taste good?
We absolutely loved our wedding cake from Vanilla Bake Shop! Our guests raved about the taste for days after and we were blown away by how beautiful it came out! Thank you so much ...
Kim for all of your help and for the team for making us so a delicious and gorgeous wedding cake!
The desserts from here were AMAZING. We did a full dessert bar and a small cake for cutting, and it was perfect - almost all of the desserts were eaten by our guests. Loved the var...
iety they offer, particularly with the mini cupcake flavors. I would absolutely recommend them to anyone.
They were awesome! We worked with Yuko and she was awesome with assisting us to choose a flavor! We went with a naked cake in two flavors and it came out amazing! The flavors were ...
amazing and cake was the perfect texture!
Vanilla Bake Shop has some of the kindest, most helpful employees you will ever meet, and they provided a multitude of mini-cupcakes for our wedding day, along with our actual, sma...
ll single tier wedding cake. They were very responsive via email, and it was easy to schedule a cake tasting. There were so many delicious options, it was really hard to choose. On our wedding day everything was delivered in a timely fashion and the hand over was not an issue. The only downside of our order was the design. We asked if an image we provided could be painted onto the side of the cake, and were assured it would be no problem, the execution of this by the cake artist left a bit to be desired, to the point we asked our wedding photographer to attempt to remove the artwork from all of our photos. We wished the artist explained what we were asking was outside of their wheelhouse, or at the very least called and said on the day of that it was not coming together as pictured and if we would like it as is or just to be frosted over in white instead. All in all, it did not ruin our event and still tasted amazing!
Vanilla Bake Shop in Santa Monica was completely awesome. We chose them for our wedding and we have no regrets whatsoever! Firstly, their tasting experience was delightful. We init...
ially went to a competitor that was disappointing. Vanilla Bake Shop was just the opposite – Yuko was super personable and nice, she thoroughly went through all our options, the tasting was complimentary, and their cakes were OMG delicious! We chose them right on the spot to do our wedding cake! Our choice was the Black & White Raspberry with Cream Cheese and Dark Chocolate… so freakin’ good! On the day of the wedding, their delivery was on point and the cake turned out exactly as promised – it was both beautiful and delicious! Our guests could not stop commenting on how delicious the cake was! We are so happy we selected Vanilla Bake Shop to do our wedding cake and would totally recommend them!
Delicious cakes – we used Vanilla Bake Shop for our wedding cake and received so many compliments! People said this was the best wedding cake they’ve had. Vanilla Bake Shop even pu...
t a gluten free cake as the top tier of our 3 tier cake as I am gluten free so we could do the cake cutting on the actual day of the wedding. Definitely recommend this bakery!
Excellent wedding cake shop! 5 stars!
Super high marks for Vanilla Bake Shop in Santa Monica. We couldn’t have been happier with our wedding cake.
First of all, we really enjo...
yed our tasting session with Yuko, who prepared our custom wedding cake design for review and approval. Yuko’s attention to detail was on point! She explained all of our options and answered all of our questions.
We also loved trying all the different cakes – so we were sure our guests were getting exactly what we envisioned.
On our wedding night the cake arrived beautifully decorated and exactly as advertised. It was just what we wanted. And of course the guests loved it and kept eating more!
If you want your guests to rave about your wedding cake for days after the wedding, order your cake from Vanilla Bake Shop in Santa Monica.
Personally, we recommend the Fleur de Sel chocolate. Really, really unbelievable!
Thank you Yuko, and Vanilla Bake Shop for the excellent product and service!
Delicious and beautiful wedding cake. Would totally recommend to other couples.
I highly recommend Vanilla Bake Shop. It was one of our best wedding decisions. We had a simple one tier cake - and the cake was AMAZING- delicious, beautiful, simply incredible. I...
t truly helped to make our day perfect. Without question, we will be using Vanilla bake shop for any future events.
By far one of the best cakes (not just wedding cake) I have ever had. Vanilla Bake Shop provided us with a complimentary tasting where each flavor was better than the next. Ultimat...
ely we went with the Red Velvet Swirl and Fleur De Sel which were both huge hits with our guests. The only downside was the cake was delivered on a cake board that was larger than what had been communicated to us which did not allow us to use the cake stand we had purchased separately. However, the cake was so good we couldn't not give 5 stars.
So happy with the way that our cake turned out! We ended up doing a vanilla bean and berry cake for our tiered wedding cake- while our backup cake was the chocolate/mocha. Both wer...
e delicious!! We were totally in love with the way our cake looked and tasted, as were our guests. Thank you VBS!
My husband and I were so happy with our wedding cake!! Because wedding cakes are so expensive, my husband and I were debating to even get a cake. Still, we scheduled a tasting wit...
h Yuko Ebina at the store and were floored by the taste and price of the cakes!!
On our wedding day, they delivered our cake and it was beautiful. We were able to get a beautiful cake for a fraction of what we thought we would pay. We couldn't have been happier about going with Vanilla Bake Shop for our wedding cake!
We could not have been happier with Vanilla Bake Shop! We had a very specific theme and vision for the cake, and Yuko and her colleagues executed it perfectly. The cake and dessert...
bar tasted incredible and looked fantastic. The delivery and execution was a breeze and we have nothing but positive things to say about Vanilla Bake Shop. We can't wait to go visit them in Santa Monica to get a taste of our wedding again.
My husband and I were married 2 months ago and we're still getting compliments our VBS wedding cake! Many guests said it was the best cake they'd ever had at a wedding. Macaroons w...
ere delicious as well. Yuko was wonderful and worked with us on our customization and had great suggestions. The gold brushing on the side was gorgeous. Delicious cake that went beyond my expectations - worth every penny!
We had Vanilla Bake Shop create our dream wedding cake for our wedding in January 2018. VBS was super easy to work with from the very first email. Prices were sent up front and wer...
e easy to understand. It was easy to schedule a meeting with Yuko, who was a pleasure to work with in person. In order to stay within our budget, Yuko helped us figure out a beautiful three tiered cake with a combination of sheet cakes to cut for guests. On top of everything, the cake was delicious! We wouldn't hesitate to order another cake from VBS!
We ordered our wedding cake from Vanilla Bake shop bake in 2011. The service was excellent and the cake was exceptional. The decor of our cake was stunning. It complimented and fit...
the rest of the wedding seamlessly. The taste was out of this world. Seven years later it is still my husband and my favorite cake so much so that we order it every year for our anniversary and have it shipped to Chicago (every year since we were married in 2011!)!
My husband and I had tried two different bakeries prior to Vanilla Bake Shop in search of a cake vendor for our wedding. We wanted something that tasted great, but didn't break our...
budget. Vanilla Bake Shop was absolutely perfect for us! We chose three flavors for our cake: chocolate truffle, strawberries and cream, and carrot cake. Each of them was amazing for our three tier cake. The cost was reasonable and the cake turned out beautifully. You can't go wrong with Vanilla Bake Shop!
Vanilla Bake Shop was wonderful. Yuko, sketched the exact cake I described as I was sitting across from her at our first consultation. The cake wasn’t just beautiful but the cake w...
as delicious too, lots of flavor options to select from and since we did multi layer we were able to mix it up so that we got some of everything. Cake was delivered beautifully. They made it the perfect sweet ending to our beautiful beginning.
Yuko and her team did an incredible job with our cake and dessert bar! I didn't have to even think or worry about set up, I really just showed up to my reception and was blown away...
by how amazing everything looked! My cake was exactly what I wanted, and the dessert bar was a hit. So many people approached me and said it was the best wedding cake they had ever tasted (strawberries and cream!) Vanilla Bake Shop is the best So Cal dessert vendor in my book!
It was great being able to meet one-on-one with Yuko. She was very friendly and knowledgeable. The cake was AMAZING. My husband isn't even a big dessert guy, and he couldn't get ov...
er how good every cake we tasted was. We ended up going with the Confetti cake. The presentation was beautiful and the quality was perfect. It was a big hit at the wedding with all my guests!
We used this vendor for our wedding in Beverly hills June 2018! Our cake was really gorgeous and ornate, it also tasted absolutely delicious. We had a 3 layered coconut and chocola...
te cake with lavender and magenta fondue, gold lace airbrushed detail, and little hand made flowers. It was absolutely exquisite
Our planning timeline was super crunched so we ended up doing the ordering for our cake super last minute. I had purchased a cake topper off Etsy and had a vague notion that the ca...
ke should not clash with the cake topper. Yuko made some great design suggestions, sent sample pictures, and we ended up with a beautiful cake that incorporated some special elements! We loved the end product -- both in looks and taste!! They made the sampling easy (we picked up samples and tried them at home since). We were pleased with the whole experience.
Thank you VBS! Our cake (all 5 flavors) was not only absolutely delicious, but absolutely beautiful as well! Yuka was so helpful! We brought a few inspiration photos and helped us ...
make the cake “our cake.” I would definitely go to VBS again!
Our cake was not the run of the mill wedding cake design. We had a henna design we wanted to be created to go with the Indian theme of our reception. We received a sketch prior to ...
the cake being delivered and the final product exceeded our expectations. We even decided to put a photo of the cake on our Thank you cards because it was so beautiful.
We visited A LOT of bake shops when trying to choose the perfect one for our wedding cake but none came close to Vanilla Bake Shop. Yuko, our cake designer, was a godsend. She was ...
the only person we spoke with who was open to letting us bounce ideas off her offering her honest opinion in the process. Literally everywhere else we went, we met bakers who just wanted a picture from Pinterest to replicate. She made this entire process fun and easy and we are so thankful for her. Our actual wedding cake exceeded expectations. It looked and tasted amazing. We had Coconut, Red Velvet, and Dulce de Leche layers and they all tasted out of this world.
Highly recommend!
Cake was PERFECT (so perfect it almost looked fake!). Flavors were PERFECT (so perfect, guests who normally don't eat cake ate TWO slices and took a 3rd slice home!). Delivery was ...
PERFECT (they actually got there early, which in L.A. is feat in and of itself. And dealing with Yuko was PERFECT. We couldn't be happier with our wedding cake. In case I haven't mentioned it yet, it was P-E-R-F-E-C-T! 🙏🏼
Vanilla Bake Shop was incredible! Between their gluten-free options, ease to work with and overall delivery they had spectacular service. We did our tasting with Kaitlyn, but due...
to maternity leave finished our day-of services with Annie. Both were quick to respond and completely willing to work with us. We initially wanted to do several smaller cakes to have guests choose, but winded up with 1 small semi-naked red velvet cake and 1 larger vanilla buttercream wedding cake. They were both gorgeous! And guests were raving about the cakes! Our gluten-free guests appreciated the mini cupcakes that were gluten-free and our non-gluten-free guests appreciated the mini lemon bars, brownies, chocolate chip cookies and macaroons! We had a full-fledged dessert bar and they totally delivered. I knew nothing about how much would serve our size wedding and they educated us along the way which was wonderful.
The reason for 4/5 stars is because with the package we got, we had to provide the cake stands and decor which was an added cost we didn't anticipate, however, now we get to keep those items for future baking!
We will absolutely be bake for an anniversary cake and just a date in general. Not your standard wedding cake - these will make your drool and want more!!!
You know you had something special when your friends and family are still talking about your wedding cake ONE year later! The entire process of working with Vanilla-from the initi...
al meeting/tasting/designing/planning, to approving sketches via email to having our jaws drop to the floor when we first saw the final masterpiece on our wedding day, every single step along the way beyond exceeded all expectations. My husband and I knew we had found the perfect match with Vanilla, when about halfway through our first meeting where we were rambling and trying to describe what type of cake we wanted, Yoku had magically sketched up a drawing of EXACTLY what we envisioned. It was like she could read our minds! And when organizing a 350+ person destination wedding, working with Amy and Yoku was not only easy and FUN, it was the absolute highlight of our entire wedding planning process! Not only did they create a delicious and stunning cake, they drove it a few hours up the coast, delivered it to a "not so easy to get to" venue, and assembled it without a hitch. I wish there was someway to attach a photo in this review, because my words just cannot due their gorgeous cakes any justice. We will be forever grateful to the amazing team at the Santa Monica Vanilla Bake Shop location. We LOVE you!
We were extremely pleased with VBS. They exceeded our expectations. We ordered a dessert bar with a small cake. Yuko delivers nothing less than pure excellence. She is kind, profes...
sional, helpful and responsive~ making the planning process easy and fun. She responded to all our needs and questions and, assisted us with offering suggestions in cake design, decor, and dessert selection. We ordered 13 different desserts of mini-cupcakes, tarts, ice-boxed desserts, macaroons, bars, and cookies; and, each were decadently delicious, fresh and clean tasting (baking with only natural ingredients). Presentation was classy, clean, and artistic. Thank you, VBS!!! We will be hiring you for my baby-shower!
I cannot praise and suggest Vanilla Bake Shop enough! Not only are their creations stunningly beautiful; they're delicious!
Yuko makes the entire process so simple and fun. She rea...
lly listened to my husband and I. And we ended up with a cake that was EXACTLY what we wanted. We will be forever thankful!
Bottom line: The end product was both stunning and delicious and I can't recommend Vanilla Bakeshop enough. Yuko and the team were so helpful, responsive and talented! We ordered a...
three-tiered 7-layer milk and dark chocolate cake with buttercream frosting that they happily worked with our florist to decorate. The team kindly accommodated my last minute request to add a red velvet sheet cake to our order - so tasty and a huge crowd pleaser. My go-to LA bakery going forward!
Our wedding cake was absolutely beautiful! Yuko is a true artist. Everyone at our wedding also loved the cake and wanted seconds. So glad to have worked with Yuko and the team ...
at Vanilla Bake Shop.
We walked into Vanilla Bake Shop with very little expectation of what we wanted for dessert on our wedding day. We knew that we wanted a more modest cake and some macaroons and pas...
tries, but that was about it.
Within a couple of hours of working with Yuko, we picked a design that we liked, customized that design to the color scheme and theme of our wedding, and picked out a few flavors of macaroons and pastries, and we were done! Yuko had a fantastic ability to bring our design imagination to life.
The cake and desserts ended up exactly as we had imagined, and our guests finished all of the dessert almost immediately. No complaints here! Highly recommended.
We loved working with the Vanilla bake shop they made us the most beautiful wedding cake which was as wonderful as it looked. They were very accomodating with our requests and budg...
et. Thank You Yuko!
We can not say enough about how much we love Yuko and her team. They worked so hard to make our dreams come true. Our cake was beautiful and was made just how we asked. Yuko took t...
he time to really get to know us and make the cake we asked for. Her team came and set up our cake and even a dessert table that everyone loved. They even gave us the boxes at the end incase there was any left over (there wasn't much). We highly recommend Vanilla and their excellent team to give you the wedding cake of your dreams!
My husband and I could not have been happier at how our 'woodland' themed dessert table and wedding cake turned out. To this day, we receive compliments on how delicious and truly ...
beautiful everything was. Our desserts pretty much "stole the show" at our reception! Yuko is extremely talented and it's amazing how she can conceptualize the ideas that you have into actual desserts. She was very professional and friendly and made my husband and I feel like 'old friends' by the time the tasting was over. I highly recommend Yuko and the VBS Team for your wedding and dessert needs! 5 stars!
Such delicious cakes!!! We were so impressed with Yuko and her whole team. The customer service was wonderful, and we have literally had friends and family tell us that our cake wa...
s the best they've had at any wedding and that they still crave the ones we had--even seven months after our wedding. To top it all off (the icing on the cake, if you will), I have a gluten allergy, and they were so accommodating and kind to prepare gluten-free options for me as well so I could enjoy the cake on my wedding day. Truly, we would recommend Vanilla Bake Shop to anyone!!! They made our special day even more amazing.
Our wedding cake was absolutely beautiful and delicious!!! Everyone at our wedding loved our cake!! Yuko was so awesome to work with! She made it so simple and easy for us when cho...
osing our cake and design! Everyone at the party couldn't get enough of it! Thank you so much!
I was somewhat dreading the planning (what, I can't just show up to the party?!) but Nicole made it SO much fun and easy throughout the process. We did the 1/2 planning plus weddin...
g design package. She always had great vendor and general suggestions and answers to even the tiniest of questions. Perfect balance of having detail to attention, but kept us at ease when it came down to the final weeks and days. She is a busy woman (rightfully so!) but was always on top of things and responsive.
We first met Yuko when we asked her to design our wedding cake. She created the most beautiful cake that incorporated the details of my Catholic wedding dress and my Indian weddin...
g saree. The details on the cake looked just like the fabric itself and it was topped with beautiful roses as well. Not only that, all the flavors were so delicious! Even one year later when we defrosted the top red velvet layer, it still looked and tasted amazing!! We also had Yuko create birthday cakes for our dads when they celebrated their 70th and 60th birthdays the day before our wedding. She managed to capture their life experiences and memories on those cakes in the most beautiful and fun way possible! Most recently, we had Yuko make a baby shower cake for us. She made the most adorable teddy bear figures, that even had intricate stitching details on them! Every detail on every cake has been phenomenal! We cannot say enough to adequately praise Vanilla Bake Shop and Yuko! They really have been such a huge part of the special milestones and events in our lives!
Yuko and the team at Vanilla Bake shop did a great job preparing our wedding cake. Florist decorated the cake with flowers and it looked exactly like in the picture. And tasted gre...
at which is as important.
It was easy to communicate with Yuko by email, Yuko suggested making the cake half&half: three tier cake with two different flavors to accommodate gluten free option. She also recommended the best flavor out of the ones I picked (yes, they have lots of great flavors to choose from!).
Our wedding cake looked very festive and tasted amazing too! Very happy and satisfied with the result.
Love my cake and flavors! This bakery did exactly what I wanted for a reasonable price. They work with you with your idea and budget, and delivered with not problem. Very professio...
nal.
Impressive and beautiful cakes!
I got multiple single-tiered cakes, all with different flavors and frosting textures, which turned out to be a great value! I thought the 9" cakes...
might look small, but these cakes were tall and very impressive!! Definitely a wedding-worthy presentation!
When I met with Yuko, she listened carefully, helped suggest ideas, and put together a perfect sketch of the cakes. She was extremely professional and a pleasure to work with. VBS was definitely one of the most responsive, on-top-of-it vendors I worked with.
I should also mention the obvious: the cake flavors were to die for. I got all fruit flavors, and the fruit was extremely fresh. I never got to taste the lemon cake, but the passion fruit-raspberry, triple berry cream and choc.-raspberry were all top notch. The ganache on the choc. raspberry was an extra decadent surprise!
You will be 110% satisfied if you order a cake from VBS. I will definitely be ordering these single-layer cakes ($75, serves 25) for future parties, showers, etc.
Beautiful and very yummy. Yuko was so helpful with decisions and made ordering so easy. Happy as could be with our wedding cake. Year old frozen top tier was so good almost unbeli...
evable.
Yuko was amazing! We went to visit her from Texas and she was EXTREMELY helpful.. we told her our vision of our wedding cake and while we were talking she drew everything up in tha...
t moment and the cake drawing was exactly what we wanted. She is an amazing artist and the cake was fantastic. Thank you so much for helping us the whole way through. We will always use VBS in the future!
My husband and I were first introduced to Vanilla Bake Shop through our wedding venue, Terranea. However, before we even had a chance to try the flavors for our wedding, my maid of...
honor (unbeknownst to her), picked up a cake for our engagement party. She chose the banana chocolate chip cake and it was to die for! We ended up going with part banana chocolate chip and part toasted coconut for our wedding day and our guests loved it, and not to mention, the cake was beautiful. About a month ago we bought another cake from Vanilla Bake Shop, the vanilla bean with confetti and it was equally amazing. Overall, we have had wonderful experiences with Vanilla Bake Shop and could not speak more highly of them.
Contact
512 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA
Vanilla Bake Shop