The Acland Cake Shop — Local services in Melbourne

The Acland Street shopping strip, a Melbourne institution, has changed a lot over the years but The Acland Cake Shop has resisted the change and has retained it's original look. The original window signwriting, colours and decor is a pleasant touch! This shop has been serving cakes since 1969, that's 50 years! Over the years I've walked past it with various family members and friends and I've always thought that the cakes in the window display look delicious, and I'm not alone!

This evening I went for a walk with a good friend. Acland Street was busy as usual and we passed a few cafes but the temptation at The Acland Cake Shop was the most irresistible. We decided to just start with a coffee at Cafe Aurora, the cafe within The Acland Cake Shop. Sadly the coffee wasn't good. While having the coffee at one of their pavement tables I decided to check out the place's reviews by others. It was no surprise to see that this place had lost its touch and after the bad coffee we decided to take a pass on the cakes.

The Acland Cake Shop is always busy, perhaps with first time visitors and tourists and you'd often see people queued and huddled gazing at the cakes in the window. However, it's clear from the reviews of others that there have been many disappointments with the cakes, a disappointment shared by another friend of mine! It seems that the cakes look a lot nicer than...

I've been coming to Acland Cakes for over 15 years now, and there are many things that make me keep coming back to it. In my humble opinion, out of all the many cake/coffee shops on Acland St (and I have been to all the cake/coffee shops on this street), it is, for a number of reasons, the best one. For one thing, I find that it has the best selection of cakes (for a vegan like me, it is great that they have so many options of vegan desserts - not many cake shops offer that) and they make the best soy cappuccinos, which, as an added bonus, always have a beautiful pattern on them (photos attached). The service is always great too - the staff are very friendly and welcoming, and oblige any special requests that I may have. What particularly attracts me to this place is its very cosy and comfortable atmosphere. It is a safe haven from the noise, the rush and the concerns of the outside world, and that makes me linger in this place for hours, drinking coffee, talking to friends and doing crosswords. Last but not least, a very important feature distinguishes this cake shop from all the other cake shops on Acland St: it is the only cake shop on Acland St to have a bathroom for customers, which is a vital thing to have when you are drinking coffee. So, I recommend for everyone to come and experience the great desserts and coffee and the intimate atmosphere of...

This cake shop has been around as long or maybe longer than myself (moved to St. Kilda in 1983 here so I've seen alot here!) and they always seem to be well stocked with cakes (maybe not so much in 2020 for obvious reasons) even more than Monarch Cakes but to be fair around 40 years ago, they were all relatively well stocked from what I remember here. Since there are afew cake stores around here, I always and still sometimes get them mixed up which one I frequented the most and their weren't many for me here. But seeing the the strawberry & Kiwi tarts and remembering on how much as a kid that I wanted to try those green frog-like cakes in the 1980's, I'm now sure that this is the place that I went 3 times as a kid here! Atleast I had their apricot turnovers as a child which were insanely good (not sure if they're there now in 2020?!) last time in 1988 I think?!...Monarch gets all the kudos points here and that's fine but since I came here as a child in the 80's, I'll back this place unlike others because of memories! And besides in 2020 where business is bad and my strip is dying, they actually had Covid19 face shields for sale which I found very useful here in these dark times here so don't believe in all the hype here that Monarch's is the best and the only place you should go and try here! Give this place a...