The cakemaker

My husband and I did not want the traditional wedding cake. Bala, the cakemaker, took the time to discuss our options- made it happen and it was delicious!!!!

Bala is great to work with. Not only did Bala make a great tasting cake and it looked beyond amazing. It was one of my favorite things of the wedding. We chose Red Velvet and Tiramisu and both were delicious. Bala made it easy and stress free once we chose him. We picked the design and flavors, 7 months before the wedding. We sent the deposit and forgot about the cake until 2 weeks before the wedding. Bala remembered us, and knew exactly what we asked for as soon as we called. He didn't have to put us on hold to look for paperwork. Trust Bala, we did!!!

Our cake was DELICIOUS! And not to mention... GORGEOUS! It wasn't easy finding a cake maker for our wedding cake because we didn't have a regular bakery we frequent. I mean, your wedding cake is pretty important right? It's one of those elements that you plan for your wedding where initially you're going by faith. You don't have to worry one bit that your cake from Chef Bala is going to be amazing.We had a tasting with him about two weeks before the wedding. He had different samplings of cake and cups of the mousse he makes. It was very fun putting different combinations of cake to mousse and seeing which ones we like. Chef Bala was very patient waiting for us to make our decision. He didn't appear rushed at all. I read in a previous review a bride chose a strawberry vanilla combination. It was delicious!He only charged a minimal amount if you want to have different flavors for each tier. Choosing the ones we wanted wasn't easy!We went through his portfolio of styles and chose one that was simple and elegant because we had a customized cake topper. All of his designs are beautiful. We weren't there when he set up, but the cake was there already set up. Most of all, it was delicious! All of our guests raved about the cake. For what we got, $5.50 per slice was well worth it!Thank you very much Bala for our wedding cake!

Chef Bala did a great job making and baking our wedding day cake. It arrived on time and looked fabulous! The vanilla bean cake with vanilla mousse was outstanding to taste and look at. We recommend Bala The Cakemaker.

Cake tasting was very good and lots to choose from. He is not pushy at all and he suggests his signature cake, do not hesitate to order it. Everyone loved the cake; it was so beautiful and delicious. Everyone was asking for more cake the next day. Luckily he let us choose both favors because it was double the value. We are still savoring his yummy cake. Chocolate chip was the best! Thanks again for a stress free and delicious cake. S&A.

Chef Bala did an amazing job on our wedding cake. From the website I knew I had wanted the signature cake. Seeing the model at his shop confirmed my decision. Being my own wedding aside, this was definitely the best wedding cake I've had. We chose chocolate cake with raspberry mousse filling and carrot cake with cream cheese. Too bad we were so scatter-brained by the time our cake was served; we didn't take the opportunity to fully enjoy the cake. I'm definitely going to the Cakemaker for my anniversary cake!The one drawback is the fact that because our cake was already paid by our wedding venue. When we went for our cake tasting, it seemed like Chef Bala did not make that extra effort to win our business, since he already has our business. He also is super busy (good for him!), which made email communication sluggish. He did apologize for his delayed responses.But cons aside, Chef Bala worked his magic and completely delivered through his amazing cake. Thank you!

Bala was an absolute sweetheart to work with! He totally worked with us on our vision for our cake and it came out BEYOND perfect. Not to mention absolutely delicious! He is truly amazing at what he does!!

Chef Bala of the Cake Maker is truly an artist. His work has been featured in "The Knot" with good reason: the cake was beyond delicious and looked beautiful. My husband wanted vanilla bean cake, with vanilla mousse and fresh strawberries, so it tasted similar to a strawberry shortcake. It was outstanding, and everyone raved about it. At the last minute I decided I did want a monogram after all, and he was very accommodating with the changes. We would like to have him make cakes in the future.

I had great communication, the Cakemaker knew exactly what I wanted and delivered. We had the cake after our ceremony (since we had 5-course dinner which includes dessert) and many of our guests had second helpings. It was that yummy.

We loved working with Bala for our wedding cake. At times he was slow to respond to my emails but in general everything worked out quite well, and our cake was beautiful and tasty which is all that matters in the end! San Francisco is expensive in general but his prices seemed reasonable compared to the rest. Our cake was unique and had edible calla lilies on it that looked real - guests were very impressed.

Bala is awesome. From the time you meet him you instantly like him. He's a very non-obtrusive person and really listens to what you are looking for. My husband and I saw a cake that we really liked, but thought it was way out of our budget, then we met Bala. We had tasted cakes with about 3 different vendors, but weren't really impressed. Then we tasted Bala's, and knew we found our cake! Not only do his cakes look amazing, they also taste great, and he has a lot of different choices. In a nutshell, Bala provides great quality cakes without the snootiness of other bakeries, that look and taste amazing, at a reasonable price. We actually saved the top tier and can't wait to dig into it. To this day, I still have people tell me that our wedding cade was delish! Thanks Bala!

Bala is sooo wonderful! and so are his cakes! very cheap!

FI and I had been to a few tastings. The other places either had not too tasty cakes or their prices were not too tasty either. Finally, I got in touch with Bala. He has a small little office where he does all the baking and designing. His cakes were delicious and his prices were even better. We're getting a 5 tiered cake with chocolate/strawberry filling and vanilla bean/mango filling!

Bala was wonderful to work with. He was very understanding about our needs and gave us various samples of cakes to try out. His wedding cake was delicious and everyone loved it. Especially me and my husband! And I wish we had more cake left. He made our wedding day even special.

OMG his cakes are the best! We ordered a capuccino cheese cake, carrot cake, and lemon poppy seed with mango filling and it was the best! My husband and I fell in love right away at the tasting appointment! I love that he has lots of options, I mean, I've never heard of a cappucino cheese cake with white chocolate frosting all over! Those two are my favorite => We had a good chunk of cake left over and I could not resist the tempation, I ate most of the left over cake myself! It really is that delicious! Its not overly sweet, yet its not dull either. The level of sweetness, elegance of design, and quality of cakes are just perfect! He's very attentive to one's needs, works well with everyone, & I would work with him again. He's also on Kabuki Hotel's list of preferred vendors and has been featured on a few wedding magazines as top cake specialist, and he's on the preferred vendor list for a few other wedding planners. Prices are excellent and I would work with him again =>

We met with Bala (the owner and chef of "Cake Maker"). He is very friendly and has a small bakery where he bakes all of his cakes. We liked the fact that we'd be working on a very personal level with someone who owns the bakery and does all of the baking and icing himself. In addition, he came highly recommended by our reception venue, the Marine Memorial Club in SF.

Bala prepared 5 different cakes/fillings of our request for the tasting and they were all delicious. His albums of his cakes are beautiful. We were very impressed with the design of his cakes. I actually fell in love with several of them. For rolled frosting with patterns, it cost $6 slice which was very reasonable compared to everywhere else we looked. In the long run, we decided to go with a more affordable cake for our budget, but I wanted to put in a review for the Cake Maker, because his cakes and the price were terrific!!!

Very nice staff and very accomodating and flexible. I was up front with them about my budget and they were absolutely willing to work with me. I didn't order an elaborate cake but they designed it so well that it look like it was this nice and expensive cake. Not only was the cake great to look at but the taste and quality was awesome. It tasted delicious and my guests all raved about it. Thanks.

He has lots of variety and very unique designs. I loved the white chocolate outer layer he uses rather than regular cake frosting! I've never tasted anything like that before! I also love the variety of cheesecakes he makes as well! It turned out perfect because I love white chocolate and cheesecake =>

To this day, my husband still raves about this wedding cake and wishes we still had more left to eat. The cake baker was very professional and worked with us closely to design a offset multi-layered square cake to meet our needs. The vanilla cake with a hint of orange was moist and provided the perfect amount of sweetness. Even a year after the wedding, when we took the cake topper out of the freezer and had a slice, the cake still tasted pretty good. I highly recommend this baker!

Balas' cake was awesome, and my husband and I loved our wedding cake. We also enjoyed the tasting and getting to meet with him in person.

We hired the Cakemaker for our wedding in 2005. We had the chocolate decadance cake, because I wanted a wedding cake that looked good and TASTED good too. He went beyond our expectations! The cake looked beautiful, it was all chocolate, and he even used the real flowers the florist provided to decorate it, (at no extra charge!)
Our friends still tell us it was the best wedding cake they ever had, even two years later!