Whether you’re looking for a birthday cake to bring on a big celebration or macaroons and fresh bakeries for a small gathering, Daan Go Cake Lab is the place to go! They specialize in making custom cakes for all occasions and I must say that I am in love with their adorable designs and tasty treats.
What makes them unique is their focus on creating cute cartoon characters on their cakes. Many would say their cakes and baked goods are too cute to eat!
Based on my experience, they have one of the tastiest cakes and are always made to custom order. They also offer a wide range of flavors to choose from including pistachio, mango, tiramisu, and more.
So if you’re looking for a bakery that can provide you with the perfect cake for your special occasion, look no further than Daan Go Cake Lab!
They also sell amazing and unique ice cream flavours here, which I’m in love with, but I’m going to leave that in a separate review for next time.
Daan Go Cake Lab Review
In this Daan Go Cake Lab review, I’m going to go through some of their cakes and macaroons. My family is a huge fan of this bakery shop in Toronto and this is usually their go-to place whenever we’re celebrating a special occasion like birthdays, Mother’s Day, Christmas, etc.
I remember the first time I visited their cake lab, I was absolutely amazed by the array of cakes on display. From colorful and playful macaroons to towering wedding cakes, they had it all! And if you can’t find what you’re looking for, they’ll be more than happy to create a custom cake for you.
One of my favourite things about Daan Go Cake Lab is that they always use fresh and high-quality ingredients in all their baked goods. This is evident in their cakes, which are moist and fluffy with the perfect balance of sweetness. Trust me, once you try one of their cakes and macaroons, you’ll be hooked!
I have to admit there were a couple of cakes that we didn’t like from them, so we will include those ones here too.
Here is the list of things we tried from them.
1. Vietnamese Coffee Tiramisu
This is the Christmas version we ordered for my Dad’s birthday. They changed the design of the macaroon a bit for the winter holidays.
This is one of their best-selling cakes and it’s no surprise why many people love to order this.
I remember falling in love the first time having this cake years ago. I thought it was one of the best Asian tiramisu cakes out there. Of course, there are many delicious tiramisu cakes, but something about this was slightly different. It felt like a fusion of the original Italian tiramisu cake but with a hint of some Asian coffee flavour.
What I adore most about this, and most of Dan Go’s cakes is the fact that they’re not as sweet as Western-style cakes.
They have this cake available all year-round and the design comes with a cute puppy macaroon poured out of a chocolate-made coffee cup design.
2. Gold Thorn
If you’re a durian lover like my family, then the Gold Thron by Dan Go may become one of your top picks after indulging in your first bite!
My mom is a sucker for durian, so we ordered this cake for one of her birthdays. I remember that was my first time trying it and this cake instantly became one of my favorites. I usually love those traditional durian birthday sponge cakes, but after experiencing the creamy and mouse texture in this cake, I never looked back.
It was so good that we ended up ordering this for my birthday and sister’s graduation too!
The design of this cake looks like a real-life durian and that is what makes this cake so special and unique. Even the leaves and thorns on top are made with edible gold!
3. Mont Blanc
Chestnut fans, this Mont Blanc cake was made for you!
I love nuts myself and this cake did not disappoint when we ordered it for my sister’s birthday.
From what I remember, it had a slight hint of coffee taste, but not nearly as strong as the Vietnamese tiramisu cake from them. Similar to the tiramisu cake, it also includes a nice little crunch at the bottom of the cake. I believe this was a graham cracker crust that give this cake a nice blend of creaminess with a subtle crunch.
4. PanDaan
In addition to durian, another one of my favourite Asian-flavour cakes is pandan!
This cake is inspired by a Southeast Asian plant called “pandan”. In Chinese, it is also known as the “Fragrant Tree” due to its delightful and natural scent.
Pandan leaves are used in many Southeast Asian cuisines and it is known to have a subtle aroma of pandan. The cake itself is very moist and has a beautiful green color from the pandan-inspired flavour.
The design of this cake is very adorable with a panda macaron, which comes in a roasted milk tea flavour, perfect for any special occasion.
We also ordered this for one of my birthdays many years ago. All I remember is I instantly fell in love with this cake because it’s so different from the Western-style cakes we’re accustomed to in North America.
Just like all their other cakes, the flavour isn’t overly sweet, so you won’t get sugar-high after devouring it.
5. Matcha Crepe Cake
We ordered this cake for one of my sister’s birthdays a few years ago. I remember this cake had many layers of thin crepe. I honestly didn’t even notice until my aunt told me it’s called the “Matcha Crepe Cake” and that’s when I saw the crepe inside.
It was a pricier cake due to its portion and size.
I wasn’t a huge fan of this cake since it tastes just like your typical matcha cakes. Maybe we’re just spoiled and we have too many matcha cakes to choose from in Toronto, but it wasn’t ah-mazing like their Tiramisu, Durian, or PanDaan.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a good cake to have during a celebration, but I’ve had better.
My family prefers mouse cakes over crepes and sponges, so this was just an okay cake in their opinion.
6. 24K Mango Cheesecake
The mango cheesecake is another one of their popular cakes that’s perfect for those with a sweet tooth.
As you can tell from the name, this cake is packed with fresh mangoes in every bite! This mango cake is slightly sweeter than their other cakes, but it’s not excessively sweet. The cake is still less sweet compared to other cakes from Western bakery shops, so you may want to try this particular version for your next celebration.
It also comes with mango-flavoured macaroons, but if think there’s too much mango madness going on with this cake, you can always ask them to swap the macaroons to a different flavour.
7. Mother’s Day Deer Mom Cake (2021)
They usually say that people save the best for last, but not in this case.
I have to be brutally honest about their Deer Mom Cake made for Mother’s Day. Daan Go still remains one of my favorite bakery shops for cake gifting and celebrations, but this was by far the worst cake I’ve ever had!
My entire family agreed too.
We were really looking forward to this special occasion cake because well, it’s special, right?
It had some rosy and floral flavour that was super strong. We had no clue what we were eating but the taste was very artificial. Yes, all cakes are usually artificial flavour, but this one was artificial to the next level. Not to mention, this one was VERY sweet too, which caught all of us by surprise!
This was a no for me, and I would never order this cake or any floral/rosy cake from them, or any place again.
That’s just our opinion but you may think differently, so don’t avoid it just because of this review. You should always try it yourself to see whether you like it or not.
8. Mother’s Day I “Appeachiate” You Cake (2022)
Here’s another special edition Daan Go cake for Mother’s Day, called “I Appeaciate You Mom” with two adorable peach macaroons. This cake contained almond flan, raspberry peach mousse, and Moscato peach gel with a crispy almond base.
We tried this cake in 2022 and it was another miss. It was extremely sweet with a sour taste. We all couldn’t make out what this cake taste like – it certainly wasn’t peachy. Unfortunately, we may not want to order their Mother’s Day celebration cakes again in the future. Despite how adorable the design is, we will stick to the classics or their best-sellers.
9. Christmas Holiday Tree Cake (2020)
Since my dad’s birthday is in the month of December, we ordered their Holiday Tree cake to try. It came with a box of edible ornaments for you to decorate the holiday tree, which was fun and festive! This cake contained red bean gel and matcha flavour with a crunchy base at the bottom. Not as good-tasting as their classic flavours, but we still enjoyed this cake and would purchase it again just for fun!
10. Lucky Cat Daan Go
My sister really wanted this Lucky Cat Daan Go for her birthday, so we ended up ordering one of these for her. I honestly was not expecting anything from this because it does not look very appetizing. It just looks like a beautiful and cute decor for your home.
The appearance is quite stunning. You can see that the outer surface is a bit glossy just like the lucky cat piggy banks you have sitting at home.
This cake was quite interesting though. When my mom cut open the cake, we realized there was blueberry cream and filling inside.
If you’re curious, this is what it looks like when you cut open The Lucky Cat cake. There is a line at the centre of its head for you to cut accordingly so it doesn’t turn out messy:
To our surprise, it tastes better than expected and it wasn’t a bad cake although it was considered sweeter than normal. The white chocolate shell was definitely overloaded with sugar.
We do like their other original classics better but this was a nice change.
We only recommend ordering this if you’ve already tried all of their cakes and you’re looking for something new to bring home.
Food: 4.5/5
Their cakes and macaroons are one of the best in town. There are many amazing bakeries and cakes in Toronto, but Daan Go Cake Lab remains on of my favourites.
Given their unique flavour and taste, along with the variety of cartoon characters to choose from, Daan Go gets at 4.5/5 for their baked goodies. The design honestly doesn’t get cuter than this, which is why it makes the perfect flattering gift for anyone on any occasion!
Service: 5/5
Their service is good overall. I give them a 5/5 here because of my experience on two memorable occasions. The guy serving us at the Spadina location was super friendly, warm, and kind. He was a talkative man who had superior customer service skills, and we honestly need more of that!
There was also a time when I made the last-minute decision to grab a Christmas gift for someone on the fly. The store in the Scarborough location was already closed, but when I made a quick phone call, the person was willing to wait 20 minutes for me to drive there and pick up a box of macaroons. He was a really patient and kind gentleman, and more places need to hire people like him!
Ambiance: 3.5/5
The Scarborough location is small and there are no seats for you to enjoy your drinks and sweets. But the Spadina location is more modern and has a seating area for you to enjoy yourself with friends. It’s like a cafe style where you can just hang out and relax when you want to enjoy a cup of coffee, bubble, or dessert.
Price: $$$
Most of their baked goods here are delicious and worth the higher price tag! The great thing is you don’t always have to grab sweets every single day, which would be bad your waistline. You can treat yourself once in a while when you deserve a break. Or, when someone’s birthday is coming up, you can indulge a little and splurge a bit on in their specialty cakes for that special person.
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