11 shops where you can get delicious vegan cakes in Berlin

I have a day off and want to do something nice for my family, so I'm looking online for recommendations for vegan cakes and tarts. After all, my sister already knows my creations very well, so I wanted something new, and there must be something in Berlin. There's almost an overabundance of options here, so blogs and other posts are certainly the most helpful in the search.

Just skimming through a post from a well-known food blog that introduces and recommends providers (of vegan baked goods), I'm surprised by the mention of an online pastry shop where you have to order entire cakes, and whose vegan offerings consist of whipped cream with thick cake layers and some kind of fruit with jelly. The NY Style Cheesecake is also an insult to the original, because it's baked and doesn't consist of foul-tasting vegan mascarpone. I know this because I researched and experimented for a long time until I came up with the best vegan cheesecake. So I'm wondering why this vendor ended up in the blog post about vegan cakes when there are so many cafés in Berlin that also offer vegan cakes. Well, maybe there was still a shop missing, and someone on the team knew about the online bakery.

So I read on, skip the mentions of the cafes I know to be mediocre, and pick a place in Mitte. I wander there and am disappointed. I pay €18 for three slices, and they don't even taste good. They're small pieces (it's no different at my vegan cafe, but a slice of cake there costs a maximum of €3.90), and the cheesecake is inedible. Someone doesn't know their stuff—to be precise, the maker of the vegan baked goods and the author of the article. Neither of them has actually tried the vegan cake.

A sense of horror spreads through me. The reliability of recommendations from so-called foodies and influencers must be questioned. I then do this by pitching my own café to a few well-known people on YouTube and Instagram. Either there was no feedback, which led me to conclude that the influencers were content with their lists of the same old places, or they responded that a post costs money. I'm fed up with that. The scene doesn't seem to be truly and honestly engaging with the wide range of cafés offering vegan food. Instead, they rely on hype and what's already known/established.

That's why a small café like Mansfield Park naturally isn't visible. I don't have the time to create hype, nor do I have the financial resources to pay for advertising. And yet, I'm convinced that my purely plant-based cakes will impress everyone, both in terms of price and taste. To avoid further disappointment, I'll stick to consuming my own cakes, continue working on my offerings, and hope that eventually enough people will become aware and realize that there are really good vegan cakes in Berlin! You simply cannot trust pages like "tipBerlin" or "Mit Vergnügen" when it comes to researching good vegan spots.

So here are my recommendations when you're craving something sweet: If you like ice cream, go to Duo Sicilian, they have great nut flavours and the chocolate & fig combo called Shalai. If you're up for donuts, check out Sammy's, they are not too sweet nor too greasy. And finally, there's Sanctuary, a solid vegan bakery with baked goods from puff pastry.