This is my go-to bakery, because the cake is the absolute best you will ever taste. For my wedding 10 years ago, I tasted several cakes in town, and this was the best by far. My guests agreed, because I got rave reviews on the cake. The buttercream is so light and not overly sugary, it almost tastes like whipped cream. The fillings are also all fresh and yummy. Now, I'm a big fan of dropping in to pick up a 7" cake or some individually wrapped cupcakes, or ordering ahead of I want to be sure to get a certain flavor combination. Their cookies - shortbread and chocolate chip are also to die for. Make this your next stop for a cake or just a fun impromptu treat. You won't regret it! read more

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Six years later, and I am thrilled The Cake Artist's Studio is still thriving and rocking it in the cake world! Things I thought to myself on THIS visit: - "Stuffed cupcakes! Those are new. I want one!" (The $5.50 stuffed cupcakes are jumbo, about twice the size of a standard one, and have fillings injected into the cake!) - "Brown sugar oatmeal is still available! Love the torched, burnt flavor of the coconut topping!" - "Petit fours!!!" - "Pretty packaging." (My 3 selections - in their individual plastic cupcake holders - were placed inside a colorful, floral printed plastic bag. Nice touch.) Standard gourmet cupcakes are $3 now, and more flavors are available than I recalled. I've recently also tried lemon lime, salted caramel, and peanut butter mousse. Generally, I'm not a huge buttercream fan, as it usually is too heavy on the butter for me, so the lemon lime and salted caramel were not my absolute faves. If I lived in this area, I would definitely want Ashlee to make my wedding or any special occasion cake! read more

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I can vote for the chocolate chip cookies, they are out of this world delicious. And the cupcakes I made with fun ingredients the frostings are interesting and innovative. Not too sweet but absolutely delicious. So glad we stopped here! By the way this is a tiny little shop located in Champaign Illinois, but you wouldn't want to miss it. And the staff are kind and courteous and personable! read more

I was introduced to this place by my boss, who has a big sweet tooth and has bought cookies from this place more times than he probably knows. Just the cookies alone are done expertly and are so pretty. Because of that, I ordered a custom cake for my fiance's birthday last year, and it was so incredibly delicious (and pretty!) that I ordered another one for a party. What I thought would be a simple layer cake with white buttercream turned out to be one of the best tasting desserts I've ever had. When I went in to order the latest cake, I took a couple of cupcakes home so we could try different flavors of buttercream and so far, there hasn't been a single thing we don't like. The staff is friendly and professional and the custom cakes are reasonably priced for what you get. A+++ read more

The Cake Artist's Studio - What I thought would be a "simple" layer cake turned into this miniature work of art. It was insanely delicious, too! - Bakeries Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

My husband (woo) and I were recently married in a small backyard Hawaiian-luau-themed wedding. There were lots of compliments on various elements, but the one thing I heard throughout the evening was, "The cake is FANTASTIC!" "This is the best cake I've ever eaten!" "Who made this cake? It's excellent!" And so on, and so forth. I ordered a 10" round to feed 25 or so guests. The amount was spot-on - everyone had more than enough, but we weren't drowning in leftover cake. I ordered brown sugar oatmeal cake with cream cheese and brown sugar coconut fillings... Delish! The woman who took my order was very patient and helpful. She helped me find a beautiful beachy shell design that fit right in with our Hawaiian theme. The shells were AMAZING! So many people asked us if they were edible or if they were real shells! I'll definitely be back for all my delicious, cakey needs. read more

The Cake Artist's Studio - Gorgeous cake for a small wedding. The shells were so real, it was almost unreal! :) - Bakeries Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

My husband and I decided on cupcakes for our wedding (2 years ago), and I choose to stop by the cake artist studio, simply because I drove by there every day on my way to school and was curious. I'm not sure that they do this anymore, but they sent us home with a box of cake samples, and they were sooo good we decided to go with them instead of trying anywhere else first. The buttercream icing is amazing. We choose vanilla cupcakes with strawberry, chocolate and vanilla(?) buttercream. Some with strawberries, some not, just in case people didn't like them. I won't go into too much detail because I am going to post some pictures. They were amazing, people still talk about them. read more

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Hands down the best cake I have had in my life! The brown sugar oatmeal/coconut cake. I went to this bakery while I was staying in champaign for a few months because I'm always on the search for sweets. To my surprise I tasted a sample of this cake and was in LOVE! I ordered a cake for my friends surprise birthday party and it was absolutely beautiful! And affordable for the quality of work that was put into the cake. It was so delicious that I had to bring a sample home to NJ for my best friend. She lives in NYC and has tasted some treats from top bakeries in the area...but she was shocked and as in love as I was. I am going to see if this bakery will ship a cake but if not I may be willing to pick it up....It was that good! A must visit if in Champaign..... read more

The Cake Artist's Studio - A birthday cake for a special friend...beautiful! - Bakeries Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

I walked into the Cake Artist's Studio exactly 18 days before my wedding and needed a cake . . for 120 guests. My elaborate plan of trying to get cake transported from a favorite bakery in Kansas City . . . . had FAILED. We called a week before that and they made up a "tasting box" for us: little condiment cups with 16 different kinds of cake for us to taste right there in the store! That alone was heaven! We chose their Champagne White (I am not a fan of typical white wedding cake, but this one is buttery and not as sickeningly sweet - DEELISH!) and their Blackout (chocolate) cake. I also want to go back and get a Brown Sugar Oatmeal cake just for myself :) Then Ashlee met with us - we picked out a design we liked from the photo albums of her past work and incorporated our monogram into the design. The cake looked EXACTLY like the drawing she showed me - I was SO PLEASED when I walked into our reception and saw it! Also I liked that Ashlee was totally chill and never once gave me any attitude about the fact that it was 18 DAYS BEFORE THE WEDDING. Some wedding vendors would've rolled their eyes and charged me double. Ashlee's mom Sue who also works there is super nice too. :) We did 3 separate layered cakes (I think 7", 10" &14") and rented one of their stands that created the illusion of a stacked cake but without the cost and time requirements. IT LOOKED AND, more importantly, TASTED WONDERFUL. We opted to have a friend pick everything up, so I can't comment on their delivery services, but the cake and stand were ready for pick-up when promised. THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT, MY FRIENDS! That's how you get a FABULOUS wedding cake 18 days before your wedding in central IL! It's 3 days after my wedding and we're still eating left-over cake! :) Delish! read more

The Cake Artist's Studio - The monogram on the top cake was the header on our invitations. Super cute!! - Bakeries Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

We used The Cake Artist's Studio for our wedding cake. In retrospect, I wish that I had paid more attention to what it looked like before they whisked it off because the photos of it were AMAZING. I came in with a quirky, abstract idea and they turned it into something absolutely gorgeous. If you are ever nervous about the execution of what you have in mind, don't be...this bakery can pull it off. Additionally, the cake was delicious. The cake was moist, the icing wasn't too overpowering, and the cost was appropriate. Thank you guys SO MUCH for your work., and especially to Ashlee for taking a few basic concepts and turning it into such a wonderful end product! read more

The Cake Artist's Studio - 5/20/12 - I Hotel - Bakeries Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

Order from Cake Artist Studio with caution. Ordered a cake for graduation. It looked beautiful, but over half of the guests reported the bottom tier cake tasted like latex paint (I also had two pieces to check, and the icing on both tasted like latex paint). Contacted CAS to ask if they wanted to try the cake, as it definitely tasted off. Was told no, that they had extra icing and would try it. After two weeks of trying to get an answer about what happened, we were told "it was probably in your head that it was bad" and that "nothing was wrong in the batches we tried". Obviously, because that wasn't our cake! Not only did we have a negative experience with the cake itself, the response we received from CAS was demeaning and absolutely horrible customer service. The cake was beautifully decorated, but we ended up throwing almost all of it away because the icing tasted like latex paint. read more

Ashlee made the most wonderful wedding cake for my daughter and son-in-law last fall. They decided to go to city hall and get married after Covid cancelled their wedding plans. I live in Canada and was told about this 3 days before the wedding. And I had no way to be there as the borders were closed. I so wanted their day to be special in some small way. I quickly got on the internet and found a treasure there in Ashley and The Cake Artist's Studio. She and I spoke over the phone about what kind of cake they might like and she made some wonderful suggestions and together we ordered a bespoke wedding cake. It was ready on the day and was gorgeous as well as heavenly tasting (according to the bride and groom). I was impressed with Ashlee's credentials (CIA), her professionalism, understanding, and willingness to go out of her way to have this ready in such a short time. It was perfect. read more

Wow. This place was great. We needed a 60th bday cake a week before thanksgiving and they were very accommodating. We needed a random mushroom themed cake and were able to send them pictures of what we wanted. Not only was our cake super cute, but it tasted like heaven. We also bought several cupcakes on our way out lol. Great experience and wonderful cake. read more

The Cake Artist's Studio - Bakeries Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

It was a special designed cake we ordered (Approx. $200). We used a sample picture to convey our design and they confirmed it will look "almost the same if not exactly the same" in their own words. Once I went to pick up the cake, first they could not locate the cake order and asked me to come 2hrs later. When I got there I had to wait another 40min and then the cake they brought out was nothing like the sample picture. When I very politely asked why this so different then the picture, the main baker overheard the conversation and came out rushing and started lecturing us, how a cake is a form of art and there cannot be a re-creation of the same art piece. I still kept my composure and requested for options as I did not like the cake and if I could take a different cake from them (at this point I am just trying to salvage my elaborate birthday theme for my wife). The main baker now started yelling that we insulted her artistry and they will not sell any other cake to us. At this point her own staff was confused and embarrassed by her behavior. We walked out without any further escalation as this lady is riding high on self-importance and unaware the damage she is causing to her own business. So this place, basically misplaced my order and to cover it up brought a half done cake and then tried to force me to buy it. One of the most horrible experience I have encountered from a seemingly decent establishment. I am sure they made some good cakes here but trying to con your customer is where I draw the line. If you decide to order with them, I wish you the best and hope you get what your ordered for. read more

They said my sister's wedding cake would arrive at the venue at 2pm. It's 2:30... It's 3... It's 4:30... At this time, my mom called and politely asked for an update on the delivery of the cake. The woman who answered the phone said 4:30. But, it was 4:37, which my mom pointed out. The Cake Artist's Studio shot back with, "Well, what time does the reception start?" I'm not sure how this matters when you promise a delivery of 2pm. She then HUNG UP on my mom. Some of the staff of the venue commented that this business is notorious for being late for weddings. Being late happens, but I felt that it was handled really poorly and rudely. The cake tastes great but you don't want to deal with this on your or your loved one's wedding day. read more

This is THE place to get beautiful and delicious confections in the Paign! The buttercream frosting is the best I have ever tasted. The other bakery in town doesn't hold a candle to this place in the taste and presentation departments. The only constructive feedback I have for the owners is to clear out the overgrown Russian sage in the beds outside the building because it looks unkempt. read more

I have given the Cake Artist Studio two tries. I was not impressed the first time and less impressed the second. I even ended up throwing away all four cupcakes I purchased. I tried several different flavors to make sure that I didn't like all of them. I tried their "special" oatmeal flavor. The cake had a good flavor. It was much to dense and had the same problem as all of the cupcakes I tried the "buttercream" icing. It is quite possibly the worst version of buttercream that I have ever tasted. It is more like a fluff with no taste. I will not give this bakery a third shot. Very disappointing for $3.50 per cupcake read more

I've now had the opportunity to try more of the goodies here, and I remain incredibly impressed. They now have cupcakes in addition to the personal sized cakes. Everything is fabulous - the cakes are light, the frostings rich, and the flavors perfectly balanced. They have some great cake flavors and I generally find myself making some very tough decisions when I stop in for a cupcake! I recently tried a brown sugar oatmeal cake with a bruleed icing that tasted like a cross between a really good oatmeal cookie and a toasted marshmallow. It was crazy good! The non-cake items (bars, cookies, and pies) are also excellent. I even loved their lemon bars, and I normally don't even like lemon bars! The cookies are the only thing I've tried that are just ok. They're better than average, but if you decide to splurge on a sweet treat, I'd stick with the cakes as that is where they really excel. In addition to the great pastries, the staff here are wonderful. I've always gotten great and attentive service, and they're always very patient as I try to make up my mind about what to get. They little cakes are individually packages, and they have these neat little plastic containers that perfectly hold the cupcakes in place so as to prevent any frosting from being rubbed off on the container. They really do think of everything here! read more

We had white wedding cake for my sons birthday. The best cake in town. Moist and flavorful. The white wedding is like no other white cake that my guests have ever had. We also love the red velvet. read more

I've had their cakes for a friend's baby shower and although I do not remember which ones, they were amazing! Two weeks ago, I went all out and took 6 of their cupcakes for a weekend binge. Each cupcake and its frosting is just the right amount of dense and the textures are perfect! Their flavour combinations are the next great thing: the banana one with a creme filling and caramelized shaved coconut frosting was de-lish! Equally heavenly are their oat & caramel ones. There's also the carrot cake, but I'm biased there. The espresso chocolate & raspberry chocolate ones were okay. #foodgasm read more

I have never eaten a Cake Artist wedding cake, and let me tell you why. At a wedding: Bride? Check. Groom? Check. Guests, Food, Gifts? Check, check, check. Cake? Not present. That's right, the cake was not delivered. In fact, the person in charge forgot which weekend she was supposed to make the cake. Yes, the contract was correct. Yes, the replacement grocery store sheet cakes tasted fine. Just imagine picking out a wedding cake to have it not show up that day due to complete carelessness. read more

Parking is a little confusing and easy to miss. But there are large signs on the store that says "Bakery." When you enter, there are beautiful cakes that are listed as examples as well as award-winning contest winners. It is cupcake heaven in here. So many varieties with succulent toppings. Cupcakes are approximately $3.50 each or you can get three packaged minis for $5. They also have stuffed giant cupcakes for $5.50. Cupcakes and minis were good. Not overly sweet and just enough to satisfy my sweet tooth. The real star of the show was surprisingly the heart-shaped petit four. It melted in my mouth, and the skill and the love that was put into it was sublime. Would definitely return here and I definitely recommend the petit four! read more

Not worth the drive because it's closed a lot of times, such as when the owner competes in contests or goes on break. They have cookies, brownies, cupcakes and $30 cakes all the time, but rarely something in between those price points and quantities. The cakes are good but smothered in too much icing. If they made lightly frosted cakes, we'd be friends. read more

I ordered my daughter's 2nd birthday cake here. I asked that they design it with Calliou and they did such an amazing job. It was a round red velvet and cream cheese cake. It fed our guests and we had left-overs for the next day. I will come back again and again. read more

What a wonderful experience we had with Cake Artist's Studio for our wedding! The final design was gorgeous, and from the initial tasting, we knew these cakes were special. Great to work with from day one! read more

I had a great brown sugar coconut cake from this place tonight at a faculty party. It was an original flavor; more distinctive than the chocolate and vanilla cakes that were served. I felt the sweetness was a tad overpowering though, and I think that for cake consistency I would prefer sweet indulgence. read more

An awesome little bakery for sweets! I purchase cupcakes or their mini-cakes for birthdays, but I also love their cookies! Their little mini-cakes are SO FUN! They have so many different flavors and it's so nice to be able to choose a couple, share them and NOT have a huge cake left over afterward. (portion control, love it!) They are kind of on the pricey side though, so this is our special occasion bakery. read more

Unbelievable sweets! They serve pies and cakes in the store, so if they have something you're craving, you can get it right then and there. Also, if you can wait, you can custom order pretty much anything! The cakes are awesome, but the apple pie is what won me over -- the thing was huge and very tasty. read more

Ordered a birthday cake (chocolate with vanilla buttercream frosting, and filling chocolate fudge + cream cheese) with a general picture/layout for a design and everyone thought the cake turned out amazing. I am also grateful to say it tasted great as well! Picked it up on Saturday for a party Monday night and the cake was still very moist! I also have had their cake pops and petite fours which were very good. read more

Love, love, love the cupcakes here. Also ordered our wedding cake from here a few years ago and they did a great job on short notice. No problems delivering to Jim Gould's downtown. My nephew and his wife got their wedding cake here and wanted the White Out cake. I hate white cake and ate the whole piece because it was amazing. I have yet to try anything bad here. read more

For my wedding in 2010, we had a small cake and several tiers of cupcakes made. We had fondant flowers in pink, aqua, and purple on the cupcakes as well as edible pearls. Very simple and elegant. Only minor hiccup was the purple color didn't quite match - ours was a bright purple and the frosting was a dull purple. But honestly, it didn't matter. Guests were raving about how delicious they were. It was all very affordable, and they delivered the cake and cupcakes to the reception. read more

I had ordered a custom birthday cake from "The Cake Artist's studio" as a surprise for my sister. I placed the order over phone since I don't live there. I described them what I have in my mind. They delivered the cake today and its perfect! The cake exactly looks the way I pictured it. Ashlee did a great job. My Sister and her friends said cake tasted delicious. I will definitely order again. Thank you Ashlee and Sue. read more

This woman was so rude followed us around couldn't answer or some of the questions we had and couldn't do a simple almond cake no but she did have Champaign which tasted really crappy one of the worst places in Champaign Urbana area don't go read more

They did both cakes for our wedding and a birthday cake as well. Absolutely top notch from taste to design! They also have killer cupcakes and cake pops read more

We ordered our wedding cake through the Cake Artist, and were happy with the appearance and taste for our 200 person wedding. However, the cake topper that we hand delivered to the bakery was MIA on the big day. I would recommend this bakery for a wedding, but please ensure that you have a back-up plan in the event that this mistake happens again. read more

I have bought cakes, cookies, etc for years from Ashlee and they are always wonderful!!!! She made my wedding cake, it was Oatmeal. There is nothing else like it. read more

Excellent cake! As good (if not better) than what you'd get in a fancy restaurant. We bought a lemon round and a white sheet cake for my son's graduation, and they did not disappoint. Often times, cake is leftover from a reception; not true with these cakes. read more

They made my wedding cake 7 years ago and delivered it to my venue. The price was very reasonable. The cake was delicious. There is no other bakery that has butter cream as good as theirs. I traveled from Chicago to get their cake for my son's first birthday because it's that good. read more

We love The cake Artist Studio! It is exactly that! Aslee and her mom are fantastic. What a great team. They use only the best top quality ingredients and it comes through with fabulous flavors in every bite. Ashlee is a perfectionist and is well known in cake competitions for her distinct unique flare for decorating. Many articles have been written on Ashlee and her talents. We have a large family of 10 with 21 grandchildren. This is their favorite place to go for cupcakes. They like the sprinkles,chocolate and strawberry curl. Their mother loves the extreme chocolate and vegan cupcakes. The boys love the cake pops and chocolate. I love their cakes. All of them, oh and my favorite two are pink champagn and carrot cake. So moist, delicious and full of flavor. When i take goodies to pot luck, or special events as soon as everyone sees their famous black and white bags they start to oo and aaw. I never have anything left to take home. A friend purchased their wedding cake here and couldn't say enough about how unique and perfect their wedding cake was. Just delicious! Stop buy and see for yourself this great family and staff. You will love their whole menu and not be disappointed. Enjoy! read more

I left a review some months ago and it appears it has been removed... I was searching for a vendor to make my wedding cake and thought I would try the Cake Artist Studio, as I had heard many positives about the excellent taste. However, I had my reservations because of a neighbor who used them for their wedding cake. The Cake Artist Studio totally forgot about them on their wedding day. That's right, they were left with NO cake and told that they did not have them down for that day (despite the contract stating otherwise). Later, a cake was delivered to their wedding reception venue, but it was not the cake they ordered, To top it off they never received an apology about the mix up. Back to my experience. I went in to the shop, purchased the $10 tasting cupcakes, and went home to try them out. My mom, dad, fiance, and I all thought the cake was very delicious - moist and flavorful. The many fillings and icings were also very good. We then decided we'd like to set up an appointment to sit down for 10 minutes just to get an estimate on pricing and talk about design. When my mother called to make the appointment she was told that that is not how they "do things" and that we must commit to booking them and pay the deposit before we could sit down for a consultation. We were also told that "her (referring to the Ashley, the owner) time is worth something", as if ours is not. We were spoken to in a rude, condescending tone. When we brought up our concerns about their volume of cakes on a wedding weekend and the experience of our neighbors the response was "Out of 1700 cakes it has happened a couple of times". WHAT? That is unacceptable! Clearly they are not hurting for business and don't care to treat their customers well. How are we supposed to commit to buying a cake when we don't even know how much it will cost or whether or not they can do the design I had in mind? All we wanted was 5 or 10 minutes, not the hour long consultation appointment you get once you book with them and pay the deposit. I guess that is not an option. Overall the cake is very good, but the customer service is very poor. I do not want to feel like I am bothering someone when I have to call to check on vendors for my wedding. I have been treated very nicely by all other vendors and expected the same from the Cake Artist Studio, but that is not what I got. Perhaps they would be ok to use for a birthday cake or some small occasion, but I am not going to count on them for a day as important as my wedding! read more

yummmmmmmm. i was needing a cupcake fix and man did this place deliver. best part? it was my birthday so i received not one, not two, but yes, three of their delicious cupcakes, plus one mini cake as a present. best. present. ever. i enjoyed a red velvet, sprinkles supreme, and banana cupcake. and then i indulged myself even more with a whiteout mini cake. what can i say? i have a weakness for these little sugary packages of yum. and it was my birthday. the frosting on all cupcakes was wonderful. it was sugary, but not the sugary-ness that leaves your teeth feeling grimy and makes you feel gross. this was pure and simple goodness. and the actual cake? so moist and flavorful. and the proportion of frosting to cake was, in my eyes, perfection (though the boy had to scrape a little off his piece of the sprinkles supreme cupcake because he thought it was a tad too much). can't wait to go back and try other flavors of both the cupcakes and mini cakes (the lemon curd cupcake is still calling my name). the service is wonderful here as well...if you have any questions on what to try, tell them what you typically like and they will point you in the right direction. or if you wanna try something new, they can help you with that, too! loves it. read more