I may be the last one in the world to go to Cake Bake Shop, because everyone has been mentioning it to me, and I mean everyone, so after a dinner with the kids at The Sushi Bar, I thought, hey, we need some cake. My kids, never ones to turn down any type of sweets were totally game.
This place might just be the cutest little place ever. It’s in an old house on Carrollton Street in Broad Ripple, a little off the restaurant beaten path, but easy to find. You walk in and there are fluffy pink flowers everywhere, mirrors, white marble, twinkle lights, and cutesy French items like an Eiffel Tower and a Ferris wheel. Maybe I am jaded, but I was thinking wow, this place must have cost a fortune, and I bet the cake does too. And I wasn’t wrong. The first time we just had the cake (and I had a glass of bubbly). Two pieces of cake and a glass of sparkling wine—I think it was like $36 before tip. 
How does it taste you ask? The cake was delicious. My daughter had the s’mores cake and my son the Earl’s Court chocolate ($10.50). And they are enormous slices. Between the three of us, we didn’t begin to finish them. I loved the extra touches—the crunchy layer of graham cracker in the s’mores cake that tasted like it might have a bit of salt in it to cut through all that decadence. The roasted marshmallow icing was soft and delicious. A really good take on a s’mores theme. My son’s cake was a little more straightforward but had a nice variation in chocolates, one of the fillings with a malt flavor and again, a sprinkle of salt on the top, making it stand out above many cakes. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
My daughter and I decided to return to have lunch (she is really enamored with the décor and the almost magical feel of the place). I was interested to see how they do with savory items. Each day they offer one soup, one sandwich, and one quiche. We had one of each. The quiche ($10.50) was superb—really tender and not at all dry, which is the downfall of bad quiche for me. On the day we were there, the quiche of the day was mushroom and feta. The crust was nice and flaky, and the nice hunks of feta melted into the light moist egg filling was perfect. A really good quiche. I liked it with a bite of the lightly dressed arugula salad that comes on the side if you don’t get the soup combination as I did. (Our sandwich came with the salad though).
The soup was a tomato basil soup and was strange. It had a weird consistency to it that made me think it was blended with some sort of root vegetable or something—almost a mealy, thick texture. The flavor of it wasn’t bad, but I couldn’t really get past the texture. I asked what was in it and was just told it was a cream based soup and that was it, so not sure what made for the strange texture. I also was not a fan of the chicken salad sandwich, but this is probably purely a matter of taste. It had grapes in it, and if you know me at all, you know I can’t stand fruit in my chicken salad. It also had a ton of celery in it, which also isn’t my favorite either, especially when the celery almost outnumbers the bits of chicken (which was nice and tender). It was a mayo base, but very light, and was flavored with tarragon. The croissant it was on was something they also sell, and was delicious. We ended up mainly just eating the croissant and the quiche, but were happy with those. I would happily eat the quiche for lunch again—and some of the other sandwiches that have been offered sound promising. I also had hot tea ($6), which is from London and was really quite good—it was their version of English breakfast—very smooth. My daughter had a hot chocolate topped with fresh whipped cream ($5.50) and she seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. (Side note, the cute little marble tables are sweet, but almost not big enough to hold two lunches and two drinks). 
On that second visit we also had a peanut butter/chocolate cupcake that was disappointing because it was pretty dry—I think sticking with cake is a better bet. The large lemon bar we got to go was very good. The perfect combination of tart and sweet, just how it should be. Oh, and my son wants to make sure I mention they have the “good ice.” Those soft little tubular pellets of ice—you know the ones I mean. He is ready to go back just to get more ice.
All in all, the Cake Bake Shop is all about the experience for sure. The place is truly adorable and makes you feel like you’ve been transported to some French scene from a movie. But with all that cuteness, there is a price. Luckily, most of the desserts are good enough (and large enough) to be worth the occasional splurge.
Cake Bake Shop
6515 Carrollton Avenue
Indy 46220
317/257-2253
I dined at the Cake Bake Shop on Monday for the first time and I would agree, the decor is very "girly" and magical. The slices of cake are HUGE, so I had a healthy lunch of cake instead of ordering traditional lunch (the options that day were tomato soup and a caprese sandwich). It was between the cherry chip and the Southern caramel. The server said the Southern caramel was their most popular (it's offered at St. Elmo's and other restaurants around town), so I went for it. It was very moist and tasty, but the slice was so large that I was over the sweetness and flavor by the end. Kind of wished I would have chosen the cherry chip, as it's a childhood favorite. I had coffee as well (good!) and my bill came to $13. Not complaining, just agreeing that you could split a slice with someone and be satisfied portion- and wallet-wise. There will be a repeat visit for me to snag a slice of cherry chip!
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