Palace Cakes

Perfect place to sip on coffee and have an excellent slice of cake. The chocolate Joe and the vanilla bean cheesecake are amazing! The icing is just perfect in sweetness, and it melts in your mouth. Would love to come back for another!

Everytime I go into Portland the Max drives by Palace Cakes and the day I got a chance to try it, I was hooked! The Chocolate Joe cake is to die for! Even if there is a tiny piece left on my plate will ask for a box to bring it home! It’s that good! I been back a few times now and I can’t stop ordering the same cake.
Best part about this shop are the people there too. They are so nice! If you have any questions or concerns they really try to help you. Give this place a try and you won’t be disappointed!

I finally stopped by to get a slice for my birthday and it was the best cake I’ve ever had. It was probably the pear upside down cake but who knows and who cares, there’s no way the others aren’t amazing. The friendliest staff as well. We had a good ol’ chat. Can’t wait to go back.

Everything is Delicious and absolutely beautiful! Charming atmosphere and friendly people. A lovely place to go.

I am extremely disappointed by the unprofessionalism of the owner, Elizabeth Beekley. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone and will be certain to let others know that they should not entrust them with any special event. I did a wedding cake tasting with Elizabeth earlier this year and left enthused by my selection and what she said would be done. She took notes with specific instructions on what I was looking for and ensured me that she had all that she needed to make my vision come to fruition. I was told to call later with payment and my final decision on cupcakes (she was certainly creating my 6 inch cutting cake). Once I removed cupcakes from my order, I was told I could pay at pick up, but the responsiveness to emails dwindled. I came to get my cake the day before my wedding and it looked awful. It was nothing like we had discussed (it was supposed to be completely naked with thick, whipped looking frosting between the layers. This had a layer of frosting on the sides, and looked stiff and hard. I tried talking to the girl there, who shrugged her shoulders, asked me if I wanted it or not, and said «I didn’t make it.» When my friends, who were waiting in the car, saw tears falling down my face they rushed in to assist. She told my friend she would have Elizabeth call and later when asked, my friend told me that I don’t want to know the awful things Elizabeth had said on the phone and that it was pretty horrible. I called thinking we could have a productive conversation and sort it out since the two of us had met, but she was rude from the get go. She offered no apologies, said that it wasn’t in email form so it didn’t matter regardless of the conversation in our tasting, and then had the audacity to say that while she’s sure I’m marrying a nice guy, I am clearly overwhelmed and placing everything into this cake. She went on to say that it is ONLY A SIX INCH CAKE, that it didn’t matter, and that it would be poor business for her to rectify her mistake. My bridesmaid, who planned to be a part of pre-​wedding festivities, spent the evening running all over the place (it was late after the rehearsal dinner) and stayed up until midnight making a cake in her airbnb. I showed to my rehearsal completely in tears shocked that someone could be so terrible to another individual.
I am sickened by how poorly she handled the situation and do not want any other bride to endure what I went through. Save yourself the time and heartache and choose someone in this community that has a heart and some semblance of good business ethic. I would give less than one star if I could.

The search for perfect cake ends here. Palace Cakes made my wedding cake, and it was so tasty it was gone in 5 minutes flat.
From start to finish, Palace provided excellent service. They were on time, delicious, and easy to work with. I customized my flavors (bottom: yellow cake with malted chocolate buttercream; middle: chocolate cake with espresso buttercream; top: yellow cake with seasonal berry buttercream) and had it all frosted in vanilla bean buttercream with swiss dots. It looked gorgeous and tasted even better.
In fact I didn’t even get to enjoy a whole piece of the chocolate, so I went back a few days later and bought a slice.

About $ 5/​slice. I am sad there is no more nectarine upside down cake, but the other ones are good too

It’s hard to walk by this place and not want to stop in. It’s a small space with a nice/“cute” design/​decorations. The cakes are gorgeous and it is hard to pick just 1 (or 3) to try. I’ve had the coconut cake (a slice can feed 3 – 5 people), the basque cake, and the nectarine upside down cake (maybe i have the name a bit wrong).
I’m writing this review based on the latter 2 cakes. These 2 cakes were not as big as some of the other cakes, but the flavor more than makes up for it. They were some of the best cakes i’ve ever had. The nectarine cake was like a pound cake, perfectly moist through out with a yummy nectarine topping. You can’t go wrong with these 2 cakes.
Oh and this bakery is also Two Tarts. If you order in advance, you can pickup their small tarts at this location.

I’ve driven and walked by Palace Cakes more times than I can count, and finally decided to go out of my way to try it today!
I couldn’t decide what to get – everything looked so good! It finally came down to the Flourless Chocolate Cake and the Enriched Uranium cake – a rich yellow cake flecked with vanilla and layered with malted milk-​chocolate buttercream.“
I’ve been on a dessert fast for the month of June, and am the type of person to eat dessert twice a day, so needless to say, I was excited about this cake. To be honest, I’ve had better. I LOVE desserts and usually eat my weight in cakes, but this one left much to be desired. The cake is EXTREMELY dense and dry. The buttercream frosting helps, but it doesn’t taste like chocolate or malt to me. I love chocolate AND malt, and the kind gentleman behind the counter indicated it would be like a milkshake flavor. Mmm… milkshake. The cake is edible. While it may be dry, the frosting kind of balances it out a little bit.
It looks like this is their signature cake, and unfortunately, I was left feeling underwhelmed. Maybe this would be better if I added a scoop of chocolate ice cream topped with malt. It’ll give me the flavor that was promised to me, along with the moisture that can really save this $ 7 piece of cake.
What’s a girl gotta do to get a nice, moist, delicious piece of cake? Oh yeah, go to Konditorei in Salem. Guh.

I love dessert, I decided a few back to go without dessert for 2 weeks. I made it 7 days before I ran up to Palace Cakes and purchased their flour less chocolate cake with chocolate ganache. It was by far and above one of the best things I have ever tasted. I asked for them to cut the cake so I could share with my co-​workers. It was so amazing, I was asked to purchase another cake for a birthday!
If you dream of the perfect piece of chocolate cake, you simply must try Palace Cakes!

Yum simply yum… The triple ginger was great but the star was the Lemon Curd perfectly balanced sweet tart!

You guys. This place is my favorite. You know how after a while between visits, you wonder if it’s still the same? If those bad reviews are becoming the norm? So glad it’s still dreamy.
Went in for a selection of cakes in lieu of one birthday cake. Why should I have to choose just one flavor?! By the time we got there at 330, there were about 7 to choose from. I got 3 and believe me, that was a rough decision limited only by my lack of ability to carry any more boxes back across a hot downtown.
These cakes, holy moly. The coconut was a wee bit dry, but I would take that any day against a sugary, too little cake with grainy frosting deal. Still so flavorful. Flavored with quality ingredients, I can taste the rich butter. Magic.
That chocolate cake w mocha frosting was dense perfection and the gâteau basque. Oh! I am a sucker for cinnamon. Seemed more like a coffee pastry than a cake, but I had to try it. Fantastic.
The gentleman that helped us was very helpful and seemed just as excited by cake as we were.

I was a regular customer of Two Tarts when the store was open and I still buy cookies every weekend at the Farmers Market. I love Two Tarts. I do NOT love Palace Cakes. I’ve visited four times, as well as ordering a birthday cake, and every single experience left me completely underwhelmed. That cakes are DRY and the heavy frosting is bland (carrot cake, chocolate cake, and a ginger cake). I tried three flavors of Bucky cupcakes (Joe, one with coconut, and enriched uranium) and two out of the three ended up in the garbage — not good.
I have a gift card for a dozen buckies, but I can’t bring myself to use it, nor do I want to inflict the disappointment on someone else.
St. Cupcake is two blocks away and I’m going to stick with them from now on. Very, very disappointed with Palace Cakes.

I had HIGH expectations for Palace Cakes. I was a huge fan of Two Tarts (same owner). I’ve gotten and tried a number of cakes and cake slices from here and am usually disappointed. The cakes are usually dry and the frosting is lacking anything exceptional and wanes more on the side of ordinary.
I spoke with an employee about it and she seemed perplexed. I’ve spoken to many people who have gotten cakes from Palace and it has been hit and miss for them, and they too have noted the dryness to the cake.
However, I have had better luck with the slices for some odd reason. They in general, have been moister.
The décor of the places is adorable, so I say — if your in the area and want a sweet — stop by. I’m just not sure I would recommend going out of your way or ordering a cake for a special occasion from here.
They seem to be doing great business, so I guess not everyone is that concerned with a moist cake.

This place is the cutest thing ever! Hands down some of the best cake I have tasted in Portland. Palace Cakes wont let you down and the enriched uranium cake is to die for!

It was cozy little dessert place. They have nice people working there. My date and I went at closing time and they didn’t rush us at all! They were still polite and kind. The only reason why I gave it a 4 is due to the fact there was no selections by closing time. So, we only had two choices.
By the way, they have good house coffee!

Gâteau Basque.
Gâteau Basque.
Gâteau Basque.
One of the very best things I have ever tasted. I am a baker. I owned a wholesale bakery, using all butter and good things. I like to think that I know baked goods. The Gâteau Basque is one of the absolute best things I have ever purchased and consumed. I want that recipe!
Love the display cases and the cake stands.
Really nice people.

The Gâteau Basque is insanely good. Beautiful just setting on the plate. A delicious creamy inside awaits your mouth. I will be back.

Okay, I went back because I was *convinced* that I had tried the wrong thing or had gone on an off day or something. But I’m sorry to report that I had the same not-​great experience with their vanilla cake. Bland, flavorless buttercream on a heavy, dense-​as-​a-​BRICK cake. It’s almost as if they overbeat their batter (resulting in the dense, heavy texture) and tried to infuse moistness back into it by using a cake soak, which just makes the entire thing heavy, heavy, heavy and incredibly one-​dimensional.
Also, I’m not convinced that their «bucky» cakes have less frosting than their regular cakes — seems like a silly marketing gimmick to me, which makes me question the legitimacy of this place. I really, really, REALLY wanted to like Palace Cakes, but I can’t endorse this place at all. Portland deserves a better cake.

Stopped by to grab two slices of cake and I am so glad that I did! Went with one mocha chocolate slice and one lemon cranberry slice and I actually (surprisingly for me) loved the lemon slice more! Both had an amazing amount of flavor and the cake was perfectly moist (seriously, no other word to use here!).
The price felt a little high but I can also understand that you pay for the quality. Worth it.