"The chocolate pyramids are to die for, as are the scones and fruit tarts."
(in 4 reviews)
"Mango - Layers of light mango mousse and vanilla chiffon."
(in 8 reviews)
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- Hours:
Tue-Fri. 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Sat. 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
44 reviews for City of D'lights Specialty Cakes & Pastries
Review Highlights
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Get there early on Saturday if you want scones, because by the afternoon they're all gone. I bought cookies to make up for it: Orange Ginger shortbread and raspberry thumbprint cookies (with pistachios in) were both good. If you like ginger you'll like their icing on the cookie.
I wanted to try their lemon cake in mini form, but there weren't any left. Got a mango mouse mini cake which was good but richer than asian bakeries, so not my style.
I'll be back to hunt down those scones and the lemon cake.
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This review is dedicated to Andrew L. Thanks Andrew for your review of City of D'Lights (I went because you recommended it so highly)! City of D'Lights is truly a gem. It's a small bakery with cakes, pastries (scones, muffins), brownies and cookies (biscotti, shortbread) in glass jars on display. They also have espresso drinks. The baked goods definitely passed the "looks good" test. They looked really good (and they actually taste as good as they looked).
Scone varieties (mostly $2.50): Applewood bacon with gruyere (how good does that sound?), apricot, lemon, or cranberry orange. The scones are generously sized, about the size of the triangular scones at Peet's. The lemon scone was tender to the point of being delicate with crusty edges and a tangy, thin lemon glaze. Amazing.
Muffin varieties (mostly $2.50): Cappuccino, lemon poppyseed, blueberry almond
The chocolate biscotti was generously studded with chopped pistachios and chocolate chips. It was nice and crunchy (though it could be a touch crunchier). They topped it with granulated sugar, which didn't really do anything for me. The vanilla shortbread was thick and buttery. Nice but it could use more vanilla flavor for sure.
The décor is feminine and grandmotherly with magazines to read and a Precious Moments figurine.
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I was looking for a special cake for my Mom's 80th birthday. I checked out some of the other bakeries in the San Ramon Valley area on Yelp. I went with this one because of the photos of the cakes and the ratings. My mom loves mangoes and so I ordered the cake with mango mousse dusted with shredded coconut.
We were all amazed at the beauty of the cake - the color, the adornment, the writing...very elegant. In terms of flavor, I've never tasted a cake like this. It trully tasted of mango. The mango mousse and spongy white cake layers were sublime. When tasting the cake, everyone reacted with that combination of surprise and delight at trying something new and delicious. Thank you City !!!
I just went there for the first time this morning and have only tried the scones but . . . holy cow, I didn't realize scones could be this good. Seriously. It's like eating a cloud vs. the usual dry, sit-in-your-stomach scone you get most places. Freaking great scones.
I'm eating a cranberry orange scone now and you can see the fresh orange zest, neither flavor is overwhelming, they're so, so good.
The only possible downside is how close they are to where I live. I can see myself going there every morning and turning into a 500 lb blob.
Rigo Jancsi cake is my favorite, a bit pricey but the richness of it do it justice. The fruit tarts are delightful too. Their location is not giving them enough visibility it's good the address is punched in in my mental GPS.
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This french bakery creates the most elegant and delicious cakes I've ever enjoyed in my life! The Pave Fraise is my ultimate fave. In fact, this goes down with what I want to eat before I die (so they better not go out of business)! The Pave Fraise is only made in the spring/summer months (after Easter and before August) when strawberries are best ripened and at their peak. This baker does NOT put in strawberries just to put in strawberries. Every one they use is deep crimson red and sweet. Understandably so, since their cakes are the most beautiful I've seen. Layers of creamy vanilla custard, luscious white cake and strawberries adorn this remarkable piece with a light smooth fondant on the top. The free-hand decorations and writing on the cake are equally as impressive as the flavor itself!
They also have a Mango Mousse cake that is to die for (if you love mango)!
Cakes can be ordered in several different sizes and the prices are NOT cheap. Orders should be placed one week in advance.
They also carry smaller treats... scone, cookies, brownies, tarts, pastries, and miniature mousse cakes. At City of D'lights, I never met a goodie I didn't like!
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Disclaimer: I've never set foot in the bakery and this review is based solely on my experience of their Tiramisu. NOTE: we chose this place because of reviews on yelp.
FIVE FAT STARS for the fact that they have a 'full size' Tiramisu, mini Tiramisu AND an individual-sized Tiramisu AND it is so delectable it makes me want to use foul language to try and describe its intensity.
We kept the cake in its box, refrigerated for a few hours before we consumed it for dessert. Typically, when we've had to do this with Tiramisu, the cake gets super saturated and the lady fingers can get dry.
This bad boy was perfect through and through. The mascarpone was just right and creamy, the ladyfingers were superb and perfectly porous and soft and moist.
I'm *always* on the hunt for some good tiramisu and I was pleasantly surprised with City of D'lights. A drive to San Ramon for some luscious tiramisu is a short drive for this bay area/peninsula resident! Can't wait to try other pastries/cakes here.
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OMG.... can I say I "heart" this place.... they have done 4 cakes four me these past 2 years..... choco razz and their very best seasonal cake "STRAWBERRY"!!!! My girlfriend loved her bachelorette choco-razz and my sons Christening and birthday cakes were the hit of the parties... ya it's a little on the higher end, but guaranteed there will be no leftover cake..... the frosting is the BEST part! i only wish they were open on sundays and had the strawberry cake all year round
Did a cake tasting here and got to try four different types of cake. My one complaint across all cakes is that the cakes weren't very moist. Maybe they were sitting in the fridge too long and dried out. Least favorite was the tiramisu and my mom love tiramisu. She was not impressed. We also tried the choco razz and I thought this one was pretty good. The raspberry mousse wasn't too sweet and made really well. The pave fraise (white cake w/strawberry) was good but not great. The cake was disappointing. =( And I was really looking forward to this cake too. The Rigo Jansci (layers of white & dark chocolate mousses over devil's food cake) was good but a little rich for my taste buds.
However, Lynne is really nice and accommodating. Very easy to work with if you're looking for a cake place for your wedding.
In general, I wouldn't recommend this place, but I also wouldn't not recommend this place either. It's just ok.
I been back too many time to only give it four stars. Mmmm!
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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3/25/2008
Hmmm, I feel bad giving this place 4 stars. I found this place on yelp, went, and realized I had… Read more »
My coworkers surpised me with the most gorgeous & delectable Twilight birthday cake from City of D'lights today. Not only was the cake flawlessly beautiful & Twilight shimmery on the outside, but the actual cake itself was awesome. The flavors were white and regular chocolate. The fondant wasn't dry or crackly, it was just right. I've had their holiday patries here before and I've been meaning to yelp them since, but my today was just the icing on the cake, literaly! (photo posted above)
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This was our 3rd place for cake tasting. Our wedding venue has a preferred vendor for cakes, we tasted, I cried, then I contacted other places:
I contacted Lynne (the owner) to set up a cake tasting. We came Halloween week- well I should say my almost 12 year old who has designated herself our "wedding planner" and I did. We were sent a cake menu via email and I got to choose 3 flavors of cake to try. We arrived on a Wednesday afternoon, and though it is a very small shop, it was nicely decorated and very cute/clean.
We met with us-she was incredibly nice and very personable and refreshingly honest. We tried the Luxor, Soliel and Opera cakes. Each were yummy-fresh, moist with good ingredients. The Soliel is a lemon cake with a very, very tart mousse, the Luxor a very rich chocolate cake and the Opera, well, it was Opera cake (very good). We were very pleased with the cakes-and had we not already fallen in love with our ultimate vendors' cake, this would have been our choice (for a bit less money as well).
The kids of the owner from the shop next door came over for a treat and the other owner made them hot chocolate and sat them at one of the tables. It was so nice to see such a family oriented business,
Highly recommend this place-and I hope to have reason to use their services in the future!
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We ordered one of their signature cakes for my mom's birthday last year.. and regretfully I did not yelp this place until now.. but even though it's been a few months since I've eaten their cake, the memory still lives on... i can close my eyes and still imagine the fluffy cake, the tart raspberry mouse.. and the sinful ganache
Description of cake from website:
Choco raz
Light raspberry mousse and rich chocolate ganache are joined together in this City of D'Lights bestseller .
Pricey ? yes approx $30 ... worth it? ... Totally...
Wow! what a gem i discovered.....well to be honest i was referred by a friend and I am glad I know this place.
I ordered a Tiramisu birthday cake and was I impressed or what!!!!
it was AWESOME-Perfect.
The lady in there was also very nice and polite :)
I will go there as often as possible.
Highly Recommended!!
Went here for the first time Saturday 6/21/2009 for the first time based on reading the reviews on Yelp. We bought the small single serving size of the Tiramisu cake and the Chocolate Raspberry cake, and I thought they were pretty good. Would definitely come here again to try out other cakes, even though they are a little bit on the pricey side compared to other bakeries I have been to in the area (thus the 4 stars).
When my daughter Katie and I went here to taste wedding cake samples we knew this was the place. My mouth is watering just thinking about all the ones we tasted. Everyone at the wedding agreed that this was one of the best wedding cakes they ever tasted!
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I love this place! Lynne is so sweet...
We got our wedding cake there, and it was amazing! Our service was incredible, from our first visit to now. We loved our tasting day, everything was so delicious...Everyone is still raving about our cake- YUMMY!!!
Hands down a lovely little place, with awesome customer service!!!
Eveything about City of D'lights is D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S!
My family still comes here often since they live in the area.It was a treat for me to come by yesterday since I'm back home visiting.My sister orderd her cake here for my niece's 5yrs old party.It was beautifully presented and everyone of our guests had rave reviews for their cake.
City of D have the freshses and tastiest cakes and pastries...hands down the best in the area!
After all these years of not coming here..service is still nice and friendly.
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Got my Hubby's B-Day cake here and he said it was the best present he received..... Well, the best he could share with his friends ;) I nibbled on it until it was gone then blamed the dog. For my review they are great. A little pricey, but the calories you buy are well worth it.
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Guess who's addicted to cakes? Not me.
I do not want the Rigo Jancsi or the Lemon Mousse mini cakes.
The Lemon Mousse cake has a thin layer of domed white chocolate protecting the mousse, lemon curd, and cake inside. Good but tarty.
The Rigo Jancsi has layers of white and dark chocolate mousse over chocolate cake. I would get this one again.
Mini cakes are $5. And I believe the regular cakes start at $28. If I could get the Mango mini cake, I would be in heaven.
Great place to also pick up breakfast for oatmeal cookies, scones, muffins, and coffee. I think there may have been only one table outside.
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I ordered my wedding cake from City of D'Lights. I was impressed with the service ever since the cake tasting. I visited two other pretencious cake shops in the area, and ultimately I chose City of D'Lights because Lynne was so down to earth and the cake was good. I went cake tasting with my mom so long before the wedding, that I kind of forgot what the cake was supposed to look like. When I walked into my wedding reception, I was like, "Wow, that's a beautiful cake!" I know it sounds funny, but it's true! Anyway, Lynne did not insist on fondant. She was able to do a beautiful design with buttercream, which tastes MUCH better than fondant. Lots of our guests raved about the cake, and the small bite I had when my husband and I fed each other cake during the cake cutting was delicious. I would defintely recommend this place for wedding cakes!
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European bakeries are the best and City of D'lights is one of them!
I had their lemon meringue tart which was pure heaven. It's the perfect amount of tartness. The apricot tart was ok but not bad.
I can't wait to order a cake from here!
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Not terribly impressed.
Bought one of every pastry/small cake on display for an afternoon tea party. Maybe it was an off day, but they tasted cheap - esp the chocolate cakes tasted like it was from a box and the pistachios were not fresh, like mushy. :( I also thought some of the flavors and textures were not quite coordinated.
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I really want to give this place more stars but cant based on my last purchase. I ordered a buttercream frosted soleil cake. The cake and decorations were beautiful and tasty but the frosting was down right gross. I left it out of the refrigerator for 1.5hrs before serving to soften the buttercream but it was hard as a stick of butter and broke when serving. Most people eating the cake completley avoided the frosting. I will definitley try this place again based on the reviews but im sorry to say my moms bday cake wasnt that great.
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This is a great European bakery! I bought a Pear Tart, Vanilla Eclair and a Pistachio Raspberry cookie and all were delicious. Unfortunately, they had sold out of scones. Darn! Oh well, I'll just need to make my way over there again... this time right when they open at 9am.
Update: I finally got here at 9am , had their scones and OMG they are absolutely delicious! My fave is the Lemon scone, crunchy on the outside, moist inside and sooo flavorful. I was never a fan of scones until I've had City of D'lights scones.
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Thanks to Yelp I was in my own little city of delight after one bite! This place is awesome and I am definitely coming back again for their cakes. I order a sampler of the the following and they are absolutely wonderful.
1. Mango - Layers of light mango mousse and vanilla chiffon
*** Each bite tasted like I was actually eating slices of mango!
2. ChocoRazz - Light raspberry mousse and rich chocolate granache
***The raspberry was a perfect pair to the chocolate!
Tons of different cakes to choose from for any occasion. Place orders at least 3 days in advance. The only bad thing about this place is the location since it's hidden in side a small plaza. It's hard to find and I drove past it the first two times. They are closed on Sunday and Mondays. Love, love this place, every bite is worth it!
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After an intense meeting with the tax man...my sweet mother called me to remind me that it was my brother's 35th birthday. Whoaaa?? I felt like a horrible sister...Can't believe I had almost forgot...okay..I did forget.
To redeem myself..I went searching for a yummy cake. I am not familiar with bakeries in the 925, but I managed to find this place on Yelp. They had a decent selection of fresh cakes. I had ordered the Chocolate Rasberry Mousse cake...and it did not disappoint. The chocolate was rich and decadent..but the rest of the cake was light and fluffy--a perfect combination.
Most importantly..my brother enjoyed the cake from his thoughtful and caring sister :-)
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I giggle a little inside every time I think about the name.
I noticed this place while buying samosas (before transfats were discovered) from the Indian market a couple stores down, but they were always closed. I thought the name was really clever, and was determined to catch them at an opening hour.
YES! They're finally open! OMG cake! OMG scones! OMG cookies! I didn't know what to get so I got them all. It was so worth the 10 pounds.
Scones- several flavors, all buttery and delicious. I love the pumpkin (might be seasonal), my family loved the bacon and gruyere.
Mini cakes- Tiramisu is so very good, the chocolate pyramid is *drool*, and the fruit tarts are fresh and tasty.
Cookies- I've only tried the Russian tea cookie. It was good, but I'd rather go for the scones or cakes.
The owner/chef ladies who own this place are very nice.
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I ordered my bff's baby shower cake from here based on YELP reviews. I'm glad I did. Its her second child so I wanted something different than the typical carriage/rattle shaped doily fru fru baby shower cake. The cake was decorated beautifully yet understated with very little instruction. The baker knew exactly what I wanted. . I received many compliments. I ordered the Rigo Jancsi. I have been jonesing for it ever since! Yummmm!
The location is not so great, but the desserts are simply amazing. The chocolate pyramids are to die for, as are the scones and fruit tarts. Everything I have tried has been excellent, and the owners are really nice people.
This place is hardly ever open (it's somewhat of a specialty place), so before dropping by call to find out their hours.
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Oh, man....City of Delights.....this place is amazing.
While not French, their whole selection is delectable.
Starting from their morning scones, you MUST purchase one (either Apricot or Cranberry....) and eat along with a nice cup of Cappuccino.
Their cakes are amazing, and so soft, and perfectly balanced texture-wise and taste-wise.
Also, their personal sizes are wonderful...I ADORE both the Tiramisu and their Rare Tart with about 5 fruits on it =)
What is great here is that it doesn't get worse...as time goes on (about 3 years now...) it's still just as good every time.
Great Place, totally recommended, but if you want a scone, make sure you get there at the opening time sharp or you'll miss it.
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I've been coming here since it was owned by Francois and Margerie (before they moved back to Paris)...10 years or so. Even though I miss his accent the pastries are just as great! The current owners have kept up the taste and quality and added their own flair. Raspberry pistachio cookies, mini tiramisu...bacon and gruyere scones, crunchy goodness on the outside, tender and flaky on the inside with CRISP bacon...to die for! A cute little place to escape and treat yourself.
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OMG! What's NOT good, here?! D'lightfully sinful.
I used to come here with my parents a lot a few years ago. I love her muffins, lemon poppyseed especially. It's all good here.
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A-OK.
Thanks Yelpers for recommending this place.
I was in San Ramon for the first time in my life a few weeks ago & didn't know anything about the city. Needed something to do for a few hours because I was going to be there for two days so looked up food and saw this listing.
First time I tried coming on a Monday, drove around the block several times to find the place-- only to find it closed. :( Came back the next day.
After reading all the great reviews, I was ready to try several things, so I was a little sad to see a more limited selection than I expected- but hey I'd rather they concentrate on a few things and get them right.
I LOVE bakeries. I used to love getting fresh bread or cookies at my local bakery. However, my inherent cheapness keeps me from frequenting them too often these days. I just can't bring myself to pay $2 for a danish. And I still think cookies should be about 25 cents AT MOST.
But I forced myself to shell out my $1.25 for a SINGLE COOKIE and got the raspberry pistachio based on others recommendations.
The woman in front of me got the last apricot scone, so I was forced to get a lemon one.
Both were quite good (and I'm not usually a scone fan).
If I lived nearby, I would probably return for an occasional splurge/treat.
I've been here quite a few times and I always leave happy. I have to say that I ADORE their orange ginger shortbread cookies. ADORE As in I have to stay away. Fortunately they go quick (I guess lots of people are fans) so they run out and I have try other things. LIke I said, I always leave happy.
I had cakes from here a while back; man, were they good! I had one several different little cakes and each one was a flavor experience. I definitely plan on going back. This place is great.
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Purchased my wedding cake from here in 11/08 and I still get compliments on it from my friends and family. I highly them! Great cakes and very reasonable rates!
This place surely is a city of D'lights! Their cakes are absolutely delicious.
