Sage French Cake

This bakery is located in the same center as Sunrise Buffet & Nijiya Market, so you know that parking will be a pain. I stopped by on a Sunday afternoon, and there wasn’t anyone else in there. There were only a few options in the bakery case, which struck me as odd since it is a bakery.
I decided to go with a slice of the Elby for about $ 5 – 6 (can’t remember the exact number), which is reasonable for a bakery. If you like chocolate, then you should definitely get this because it’s very indulgent with three layers of chocolate. I couldn’t finish the whole slice, and I have a sweet tooth. The flavor is good, but it didn’t wow me. The cake could’ve used some nuts or something to give it some contrast since the entire slice is pretty much just mousse.
I don’t know that I would go back since options were very limited, parking is a pain, and the overall flavor didn’t knock my socks off.

We purchased a slice of elby, caramel cake, and tirimasu. The flavor in all three was delicate, clean and not too sweet. It tasted like cake we would get in Japan more than the overly sugary, sweet cakes found in the U.S. In other words, we thought the cakes at sage cakes were delicious and worth getting on occasion.

The cakes are delicate and not overly sweet. I have tried the Elby, Tiramisu, the Mistro, they were all delicious. The Elby is chocolate mousse cake and the Mistro is raspberry and vanilla mousse cake. The prices were not cheap though, it was about $ 4.50 per slice/​piece.

Tried 3 types. The strawberry shortcake was really good. I think it’s a bit expensive. Fresh and light.

I used to get the cake from here by my mum on my birthday or just when its a special day and being Japanese, I’m very picky of what i eat especially when its in America. and the cakes from Sage is definitely an A+. I used to the get strawberry short cake but i came back here today to try out the mouse chocolat and it was the best I’ve ever had. it had the perfect amount of tart and sweet. If your wanting to try out what pastries taste like in Japan, come here. Its one of the best.

Get the Elby. I have had a few bites of some of the other offerings and while they are good I wouldn’t say they’re anything spectacular. The Elby however, is spectacular. I have had an Elby birthday cake for the last few years and I was quite disappointed this year because I had to be in SLO. I missed the cake more than I missed my friends and family. This is really good cake.

The cake is so awesome! I’ve eaten Sage’s cake since three years ago. I think they have created the best flavor cake in SD so far. :) I always buy Elby and would like to try other cake.

I love their Elby cake. It’s my most favorite! I ordered the whole cake for my friend’s birthday and we ate all of it at once: P

I love this bakery! They don’t have a lot of selection, but all of their cakes are amazing. I especially love the cake called «Mistral». It tastes like a white chocolate and raspberry mousse cake. These cakes are light, and not too sweet so you don’t feel like you’ve just consumed something really unhealthy. When you get the cakes to go, the owner/​baker puts a little piece of dry ice in the box to keep the cakes cool until you get home. The cakes are a little bit pricey, at around $ 5 or so, but I think they’re worth it!

This place is awesome! The elby cake is just so good and addicting! So far all the cakes that I’ve tried from this place did not disappoint!

The Elby birthday cake is perfect! Not too sweet and not too creamy.

I was underwhelmed by the taste of the cake I ordered from here. After reading all of the positive reviews here, I ordered a 8 inch Strawberry cake for my husband’s birthday.
When I arrived to pick up my order, I noticed that my husband’s name was spelled incorrectly on the cake. I mentioned it to the owner and he was nice enough to redo it since it was his mistake. The cake was expensive for the size and quality I received.
The cake was not particularly pretty, either and the taste was dry. I could tell the ingredients were of high quality but it didn’t change the fact that we were not impressed by the cake, at all.

My FAVORITE cake place in SD.
I had A LOT of Asian style cakes growing up in LA and was super disappointed with the cake scene upon moving to SD. Thank God we have Sage!
Sage is a Japanese-​French style bakery. You have the lightness and mild sweetness of Asian style cakes but concepts/​artistry of french cakes. In general, I find Japanese-​French bakeries to be the best type of Asian cakes. Even in Japan, the cakes were AMAZING. This place came as close as it could get to the wonderful cakes in Japan.
His cakes are LIGHT and they definitely are a deLIGHT! But it gets dangerous if you are used to American, sugar-​laden cakes… you can eat so many and not feel nauseated from the sugar!
Highly recommend the Elby (three layer chocolate mousse). His other cakes are very good as well. If you like cheesecake, he does the American cheesecake (which is very different from Japanese cheesecake which tastes like a denser soufflé).
He usually makes the cakes pretty late though so I don’t recommend coming here before 1pm!
BTW, a lot of people think the owner’s personality is kinda rude… but recently I found out the owner doesn’t speak/​understand TOO much English! If you notice, he usually mumbles out only short phrases or sentences… but his longer sentences he hesitates and struggles a bit.
He had asked us to help him make a customer service call once and struggled talking to the agent on the other line. He offered us a free item for the inconvenience!

WOW!!! The best Tiramisu ever! I ordered a whole Tiramisu cake for my son’s birthday. I ordered it a day ahead and was ready when I got there to pick it up. The gentleman who helped me, I assume he was the owner and baker?, was very nice. He did an excellent job on the cake and wrote HBD on a small piece of cookie. The cake was excellent! It was light and with just enough amount of sweetness. I can eat the whole cake by myself but I’m not the birthday boy! I will definitely come back another time to try other cakes. I got there around 4 on a Sunday afternoon and there were only 5 pieces of cakes left.

5 Stars for the flavor! My favorite cake is the unique one! I forget the name. It’s both bitter and sweet. There is coco powder and strawberry on the top of the cake and sugar at the bottom. While eating, use a fort to grab a whole piece from the top to the bottom that you could enjoy the special splendid bitter and sweet taste and the cake would smelt on your mouth. Each time I eat the cake I feel my life becomes brighter and sweeter!
The owner/​chef/​waiter/​cashier of this dessert store is a good-​looking Japaneses uncle, he’s polite, smart, manly and confident. When I firstly asked him which cake was the most popular one in his store, he answered me with a gentle smile: «Every one». Wasn’t that COOL?!
To say what is not good enough… that is we have to wait for him since the owner has no other staff… but drinking something while waiting is not a bad choice.
I once hoped the owner could take me as his apprentice lol and still have this hope. Whatever, it’s a five stars worthy cake store for everyone!

Don’t really like sweets, but my GF has really got me into trying all sorts of desserts and pastries! A friend of mine told me about this place, and I trust her foodie judgment so I came here on a crazy rainy Saturday.
I tried the elby and cheesecake, and man I’m sure glad I did. As I continue to grow my taste profile for desserts, I really like his style of making it not too heavy. They are lighter with good texture, nothing very overpowering about the frosting, and both desserts were well balanced. The cheesecake had a tangy tart taste to it, yum!
Naturally, I’ll be back to try the rest of his stuff. Till next time

Tip: Don’t go at the very beginning or near the end of the day. Much less selection.
The «Elby» was WONDERFUL! The owner/​baker was careful to give me detailed instructions to keep it fresh before our group ate it (I bought seven pieces for my women’s group, and it was so rich, we only ate ½ piece each and each left happily with another portion for another time)!
Prices are reasonable, and the selections look beautiful. Can’t wait for the next good excuse to go there!

Just a reminder for all those that want your cake fix early. YOU SHOULD GO 1 – 2 HOURS AFTER HE OPENS. If you go right when he opens he usually won’t have many options as he is making cakes on the spot and might have only a few completed. Give him time to make his cakes and you won’t be disappointed.
I would say my favorite cake from him was a chestnut cake as the chestnut flavor was really bold, but choose flavors you like. The slices are good sizes and at a good price. The owner is also very friendly and willing to answer any question you may have.
Happy Eating my friends!

The only place I go to for cake. Not a fan of sweets, but this bakery makes me a believer in sweets. I have been a long time fan of this place for many years now. The owner is also the baker. He bakes a certain amount a day, and will run out by the end of the day. If you want to order a cake, you have to call a couple of days in advance.
If you’re not a fan of sweets like me, this bakery may change your opinion of sweets. The cake is not overwhelmingly sweet, and at the same time, has incredible texture. This cake is similar to the cakes I have had in Japan.
My go-​to favorite cake of all time here is the strawberry shortcake. If I’m lucky and able to save the cake until morning, I’ll eat it for breakfast!
Well, my secret is out! Go to my favorite bakery and try his cakes, before he runs out! =)

Qualified bakery specialized in Japanese-​style French desserts. if you don’t like things too sweet, it is the right place for you!
I personally recommend the Orange chocolate and strawberry cheesecake, which are both delicately beautiful and perfect to be enjoyed in summer. Light but flavorful, an extricate indulgence!

Tucked in a plaza near Café Hue and Nijiya off Convoy, Sage French Cake was impressively delicious.
I stopped by with friends to purchase a few small cakes to bring back to my brother for his birthday (he was leaving for bootcamp the next day so we wanted him to enjoy something good before he eats non-​Yelpable food at bootcamp, lol).
We ordered the following slices:
* TIRAMISU — Sage French Cake perfectly blends the taste of rum and coffee in this dessert. It was still very rich and the cake was moist.
* ELBY — Very rich and heavy chocolate. One bite was enough since it was extremely indulgent but, you fancy desserts like this, you would enjoy it. I would compare this to the Tuxedo Cake sold at Costco but much much heavier. Still very good and I liked that the cake itself was moist.
* CARAMEL MOUSSE — A heated sugar (caramel) was a slightly bitter for me but the presentation was superb! Very rich!
* CHOCOLATE MOUSSE — Very rich but definitely lighter than Elby.
It’s hard to compare this place to Extraordinary Desserts because E.D.‘s presentation is top notch and is a sit-​down café, where as S.F.C is a smaller bake shop with a small table outside. Flavor-​wise, just as good. A slice at E.D. can range double to triple the amount of one slice of cake at S.F.C. but both deliver the right amount of sweetness and richness.
Service was straight to point. Nothing personable so it was quick and easy.
Overall, wonderful presentation on the cakes; however, not so much when boxed up. In my opinion, it would look best in a clear box instead of a white cardboard box. The desserts are good, extremely rich, and perfect to take to as a gift to someone.
You’ll have to try it out for yourself and let me know what you think.
Enjoy! :-)

this review is only for The Elby cake. I bought a slice and it was divine! The cake was moist and chocolatey. If you have a sweet tooth, you should definitely try this cake. Now I don’t want to hype up this cake, but i think it is pretty darn good for a chocolate cake. I did, however, find that it is a bit pricey. $ 4.50 for one individual slice.
the cake shop on its own was rather «dead» not many cakes were on the display and not many customers were going in and out of the bakery. I wish I had more option to choose from when I was there.
if this chocolate cake can be this good, i cannot wait to try other cakes, i just wish they would lower the price a bit and have more cakes so i can buy a few.

The Elby is all people say it is. Its chocolaty enough, dark, milk chocolates, and you can tell it’s high quality cocoa powder, it’s fluffy and light. Its everything you want in a dessert. Oh and the thin layer of luscious pastry cream. …ties it all together. *GET THIS*
The caramel mousse is superb. It had a lot of flavor, different flavors. Caramel, chocolate, caramelized sugar on top. YUM. I liked it almost as much as the Elby. Close call though!
Strawberry shortcake. I personally think this isn’t his best. But then again I had a bite of the Elby first… so this seemed flavorless in comparison. It was a little dry, but it’s fresh and light with the right amount of fluffy cream, and perfect for those crazy enough to not like chocolate desserts:)
They have cappuccinos, lattes, hot cocoa, many different flavors of teas (mango, peach, lavender) but nothing decaffeinated (not even any of the teas– so I’m left with nothing sense I don’t drink caffeine, sad face), no soy or almond milk, no water besides little cups you pour yourself out of a pitcher he places on a small counter. He’d make so much money if he’d sell bottles of figi or a fancy water to go along with his fancy desserts!
The décor is lacking, it’s really just a bakery with a couple of tables, and a counter space filled with amazing desserts. Or it can be an empty counter, get here early! he sells out fast and doesn’t make anymore. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. I suggest coming before 2 or 3 p.m. even earlier if you want the best selection!
Bottom line, you should know before going, it’s not a place to take a first date or for a romantic date night out, or to go with a bunch of friends and hang. it’s not like that.
it’s a simple place with desserts that are some of the best you’ll ever have. I would suggest getting it to go and bringing it home, or grabbing a quick dessert & coffee alone or w/​a friend. Don’t pass this place up, it’s worth a trip here, you’ll be happy you did!

Fancy french pastries that are delicious, beautiful and not cloyingly sweet. That is why I love this place. I usually stop by after a trip to Nijiya market in the same plaza.
I swear there is only one man running the place. Every time I come here, it’s always the same man. He’s usually baking in the back, but once he sees customers then he’ll come to the front right away. He not only does everything by himself, he does it well. And I think that’s pretty darn impressive!
You can buy whole cakes or cakes by the slice. Enjoy a cup of coffee or an Italian soda as you sit in this café enjoying a nice pastry.