Designer Desserts — Restaurant in Valparaiso

We ordered the monster-sized cake version of the Strawberries & Cream cupcake for our small wedding. The cake was 12" in diameter and had 3 full layers of cake. This beautiful beastie was better than anything I imagined. Absolutely superb! Our guests raved about this cake. So so good!

We looked at countless bakeries in the Region to find something we liked. We sampled cupcakes or slices of cake from each bakery to figure out what we liked/didn't like. I am relentlessly picky about cakes, and I wanted to evaluate the "every day" quality of each bakery to determine the best option for us. I hate that godawful shortening & sugar-based icing as well as fondant (who eats this anyways?!?! gross), and I was on a mission to avoid those at all costs.

We attempted to try out a highly-rated catering company in Valpo, but it was jam-packed full of close-talking anti-maskers, which was a big ol' NOPE for me. I was so happy to find Designer Desserts. They take safety AND quality of their products seriously. I swear I heard the angels sing as I took one bite of their Strawberries & Cream cupcake. Absolute bliss, I tell ya. Furthermore, their prices are very reasonable! So if you're tired of "meh" cake quality, go check out Designer Desserts. You will not be disappointed.

Images: cake was protected from icing thievery by a buffer of their cookies (also excellent). "Marriage" on top of the cake is an inside joke, but check out how pretty that writing is!!! Obligatory slice image included to show the superior internal structure of this cake. Imagine having one of these for your birthday, anniversary, baby shower, a random Tuesday, etc.

Update May 2024: Ordered a 6" cake for our anniversary. Still a helluva delicious yet beautiful monster of a cake. It had "Anniversary " written on the top this time. We drove nearly 4 hours round trip for this cake. Worth it! I included a picture. Some slight transportation damage occurred. Doesn't matter. Still had cake!

My mother still raves about this cake whenever the topic of our...

Cupcakes are very pretty and party worthy. This morning I was behind the 8 ball as my granddaughter’s birthday party had to be changed from Sunday to Saturday. I am a long standing customer of this shop. I asked for cupcakes with unicorn or mermaid sprinkles to pick up on Saturday afternoon, a 48 hour timeframe. I was vehemently denied by both people working in the store, one of the ladies was downright mean to me. I was very disappointed in the customer service. I just wanted 6 cupcakes with unicorn or mermaid sprinkles and I know that they make unicorn cake slices and unicorn poop cookies so I didn’t feel that my request was so out of the ordinary. It mattered nothing to them. I have never written a negative review of a business in my life. Sadly, I will not be back. Fortunately for me and my granddaughter, I called a bakery in Chicago where I have no history but came highly recommended and they were pleasant and happy to accommodate my order.

In response to the owner’s reply to my review, please keep in mind that I wasn’t asking for a wedding cake to be custom made in 48 hours. I was asking for 6 sprinkle cupcakes. You do cupcakes very well. It didn’t seem like it would be that hard. I had as much of a problem with the condescending clerk. When your policies regarding an order of 6 cupcakes become more important than your customer base, you will probably lose some customers....

I bragged up this place for years!! then a while back I took some Newbees in for a taste and everything CHANGED? The cream cheese frosting did NOT taste like real cream cheese...Dont get me wrong, the cupcakes still looked absolutely BEAUTIFUL BUT.... the taste was OFF...So I gave them the benefit of the doubt...I came back...Same experience..sucked again...then I hear from others...maybe a new owner, cheaper ingredients?? who knows, it just tasted like a WALMART bakery experience....I am so serious. I gave them one more chance at POPCORN FEST...which is a huge day for them...and again was let down with the flavors??? I had a chance to ask the staff/ owner...I heard you guys have a lot of business on popcorn fest...this was a much larger fest than lately..funny they told me that their sales were DOWN.... so ...maybe now they will figure out that they screwed up by changing recipes?...go back to the oldies but goodies? just saying....overly generous portions of nasty cheap frosting will not compensate for the flavor of fresh, homemade ingredients! It shows, and it is all OVER VALPO!!! I am not the only one, I heard it all over..the whole popcorn fest. This is constructive criticism...hopefully you will take it and go back to your roots..then ANNOUNCE IT...to get back...