Tipsy Cakes & More

The bad:
I missed picking up my (very well executed, delicious, quite pricey) microphone-​shaped custom birthday cake at 4:30pm on a Saturday. No phone call from them, my cake contact had never mentioned that I’d be picking up right before closing time, and Google lists closing as 8pm (I couldn’t see it at first glance on the Tipsy Cake website)
Bottom line is that I was able to get to the store at ~6pm. Door locked, heart in my throat. Found out later my cake was sitting on the table, not in a fridge… and would have been there Sat-​Tues, as they’re closed Sun & Mon. I was very surprised that a cake shop left an expensive custom cake out for what would have been 2+ days.
The good, which outweighed the bad:
I really have to rate five stars because, even though I didn’t pick up my cake at my pickup time (not ideal information from them & via Google, but ultimately my fault), Tipsy Cakes asked one of their employees, paying him double, to open the store at 10pm on that same Saturday night so I could pick up the cake. I was extremely grateful, and despite what was not great communication and the fact that the cake was left out, Tipsy Cake went above and beyond to get me access to my cake.
It was delicious, the hit of the party, and executed extremely well.

Tipsy cakes is a find! I had the pleasure of meeting Naomi (owner) when we won a $ 300 auction item at a fundraiser. I finally collected on the fabulous gift certificate and ordered a cake in the shape of a grand piano for a birthday party. I simply wondered into Tipsy cakes store front with my gift certificate and from the moment I met Naomi, the entire experience was nothing short of perfect!
She is lovely, and do is her shop. Not only does she create amazing master pieces from cake material, she opens her space to parties, afternoon teas, and catering opportunities.
My grand piano cake was spectacular! It was the center piece of the birthday party. It was delicious, but honestly, I did not want to cut it and share. It was a work of art.
Thank you Naomi!

Hmm Tipsy Cakes, what can I say about you guys. I ordered a cake from them last year for my friend’s wedding shower and the «founder» was a little wishy washy when we came in for a tasting but in the end worked with our budget and the cake turned out great!
Now I thought lets come back again for another friend’s wedding shower! I was emailed Naomi back and forth to set up a tasting, which at first was ok but after exchanging two emails with her I realized she barely reads anything you say and shoots off half ass responses. I ignored it and kept going and scheduled our tasting.
Now the tasting had the bride with us who was super excited since I told her we had champagne last time and Naomi is amazing to work with. Unfortunately the tasting was the opposite, first Naomi asked me what flavors and fillings I would like to try ahead of time which I provided but when we arrived, she only had ONE of the cake flavors I wanted ONE of the fillings, all other cakes and fillings weren’t anything we asked for. Second the samples she provided were stale, I will even ignore that. Then she says I have samples of all our cakes and fillings so let me know what else you want to try, so I go on to ask for my original request of cakes and fillings and she says no to majority and then goes onto say we have budget issues so I cant give you so many tasting since I already provided you too many samples, we are thinking about stopping free tastings… UH I am sorry I requested ONLY 4 cake flavors and 4 fillings WHICH YOU DID NOT PROVIDE! How is that my fault? 4^th there was no champagne, which I felt horrible about because the bride was excited for that. Now the part that bugged me the most was her attitude. She has THE worst attitude about everything and anything we asked. We had a budget in mind based off the cake we ordered last year and she gave us BS that her «board» is not allowing discounts… but quoting us almost a grand for a two tier cake with fresh fruit filling… is insane especially for a cake that isn’t over the top in customization.
If you are truly having budget issues this year, maybe it’s the founder’s horrible attitude that attributes to your «budget issues» Being the founder I would think you would respect your customers and try to work with them.

My fiancé and I are currently looking at bakeries for our wedding cake. We made an appointment with Tipsycakes because they came up on The Knot website. Our appointment was on a Saturday afternoon. After parking several blocks away, we walked in and the front room was set up for a tea party event. There was a woman seated at a computer. I explained to her we were here for a tasting and she simply told us to sit down and continued at her computer. Eventually a young man came over and started serving us coffee. Several minutes after that, the woman came over and introduced herself as the owner. The young man came back and brought a few slices of cake. The owner left so we could try the cakes. Overall they were good but I would have preferred to have tried flavors of my choosing.
Eventually the owner came back and asked us some questions to get a sense of what we were looking for. I explained we wanted a wedding cake for 120 people and a groom’s cake shaped like a car. She responded that she could definitely make them but we were looking at 3,000 dollars at least. She did not give us other options to try to work with our budget. I cannot justify spending 20% of the budget on cakes.
She did have a condescending tone and left much to be desired. I believe if she had tried to work with us, maybe we would have given her a shot.

Went into tipsy cake based on recommendations and it was the worst experience ever! Poor customer service was one two I bought a cake and cupcakes and I have to say not worth what I paid for the cake looked nice but once it came down to eating it no one ate it… this was a lesson learned!

Our wedding was Apple product (we had a ceremony in the Apple Store), Dr. Who (Yup, we’re Whovians) and Twilight (Loved the décor from the Twilight wedding) themed, we knew our cake would be a challenge. We originally came in with some basic designs, things we had seen done over and over. Naomi was open to this but she had another idea and we fell in love. We put our faith in Naomi’s capable hands and she went above and beyond.
She made us a Tardis cake, complete with a photo of the inside so it truly looked bigger on the inside. The top lit up and it had the Twilight Logo and an Apple in the front, with a replica on my engagement ring. She was able to get all this on a cake and it didn’t look gaudy or «busy».
We asked for blue velvet cake as well as the dark chocolate cake and it was great. We even got three vegan cupcakes for my vegan guests and they thought that was so special.
That was the cake… now let me get to service. Naomi was amazing. We had an emergency soon after our tasting and I called to tell them I would not be able to afford the cake. I was devastated and near tears but I didn’t want to waste their time stringing them along about a cake I couldn’t afford. Naomi told me to wipe my tears and she worked with me. We were able to set up payment arrangements that worked with my budget, which allowed me to breathe and have wiggle room in my overall budget (every bride needs that)
I cannot wait to think of some reason to have a little soirée at their store, and have them design my daughters birthday cake next year.
I was more excited about my cake than my dress and that’s what I wanted. A showstopper cake and Tipsy Cake delivered 100%

So, I’ve thought long and hard about what I wanted to write in this review, because my experience with Tipsy Cakes was a real mixed bag of ups and downs. My wife and I used Tipsy Cake as our wedding cake vendor, and as a result we got both one of the best parts of our wedding, as well as the greatest letdown of our wedding.
I suppose I should start from the beginning. We used Frank Event Design to plan our wedding — Frank is amazing by the way, check out my review for him too — and we were informed that Tipsy Cakes does the best (if only?) carved cakes in the Chicagoland area. We were doing a Star Wars themed wedding and I wanted an Ewok cake REAL bad… like «The only two requirements that I have for the wedding is that you show up as my bride, and you allow me to have an Ewok groom’s cake» kinda bad. My then fiancée, now wife, was finishing law school in Baltimore while I was completing my master’s in Seattle — so we were doing some long distance planning and had to come in and get all the details set in stone a little over a month before the wedding.
When setting up the cake tasting Naomi, the owner, had asked us which flavors we wanted to try. We e-​mailed her back with our selections, and were surprised upon our arrival the day we were scheduled to come in for the tasting that she had seemingly not prepared all of the flavors that we had requested. She had various kinds of cakes and cupcakes with differing flavors, some of which we had not thought we would want, but ended up ordering. However, we really would have liked to — you know — get the flavors that we had selected at her request. Also, I would absolutely recommend you try any of the «tipsy infused» flavors before you order them. We tried it and it tasted like some sort of chemical that ought not be for human consumption. Everything else was generally very good however.
We went over what our vision for the cake would be, doing multiple redesigns with Naomi and Frank until we had selected a design. I also had to make clear that we really did want the Ewok cake to be Red velvet on the inside with strawberry filling, so that when you cut into it, it appeared to be carving up an actual Ewok. For the main wedding cake we created a Star Wars themed design using the Aurebesh (the Star Wars alphabet) to create words like «Love» and «Happiness» that would be used kind of like lacework — picture how the code looks in the Matrix — and that all of the icing would be red, which was one of our wedding colors. I said specifically, several times, that I did not want black icing on the wedding cake. One of the center tiers of the cake was going to read «I love you.» on one side and «I know.» on the other side, which is a Star Wars reference to an exchange between Han and Leia. And then on the top would be our custom logo. The original plan we created called for 4 tiers, bottom tier with the Aurebesh, 2^nd tier from bottom with alternating rebel and imperial logos, 3^rd tier with more aurebesh, 4^th tier with «I love you.» «I know.» and then the logo as the cake topper.
We had two different kinds of flavors in the cake. One layer was chocolate cake with chocolate ganache, raspberry mousee and dark chocolate buttercream filling. The other cake was supposed to be red velvet with two layers of cream cheese and one layer of salted caramel butter cream.
After we returned home and got the budget for the 4 tier cake, we talked about it and then asked if we could have a price for a smaller, 3 tier cake with the majority of the cake that people would be eating set in two simple sheet cakes that no one would see. The price difference was significant so we went with the smaller cake.
Essentially we narrowed it down so it was Aurebesh for the top and bottom layer, with «I love you.» «I know.» in the center, and our logo as the topper.
The Ewok cake turned out awesome. Like I said earlier, a highlight of the wedding. Except that it was just filled with regular buttercream, not strawberries as had been discussed. But 4.5 out of 5 stars for it.
The actual wedding cake was another story. It kind of looked like they spent all the time on the Ewok and ran out of time for the other one. I had sent Naomi a .jpg of the Aurebesh alphabet thinking that she would hand-​pipe on the words. Nope, they just took the image of the alphabet, printed it onto fondant and called it a day. For the middle tier, they messed up the wording so it read «I love you and I know you,» Which A) Is not the correct quote and B) Makes no sense. The cake topper and all of the wording was done in black.
The cakes tasted great. My wife’s chocolate cake was done perfectly. My red velvet was not. The salted caramel butter cream was nowhere to be found.
Frank notified Tipsy Cake of the mistake in the Star Wars quotation, and we received a $ 100 credit.
In short, the cakes WERE tasty, and my Ewok WAS awesome, but there were a lot of headaches that I don’t know if they would have happened elsewhere.

Wonderful time meeting Naomi eating meat pies and lemmingtons! A little bit of Australia here in Chicago! Next time sausage rolls!
Naomi made a special point to be in and made my parents feel like a million! Thank you!

Terrible customer service and poor communication skills…
When I arrived at the shop looking to order cake pops for my bridal shower, there was an angry customer that stormed in demanding that «Stephanie» fix an order of hers that was wrong. That was my initial impression but the cake pops were good so I emailed their contact person, Nicole about tea party themed cake pops.
She went on Pinterest to shop for ideas which was surprising since they host bridal shower tea parties at their location, so one would expect them to have pictures of previous events that they’ve hosted in the past. After going over some ideas, I asked for pricing, we discussed colors, and I left with the impression that I would receive some sort of visual of what to expect beforehand (since I could not see their actual work) and not have to pick up my order the day of and scramble to make changes.
Fast forward to a month later (I’ve been wedding planning etc) and I have not heard anything from Nicole nor gotten any mock up. I emailed her and she explained that she thought my order was canceled and if I wanted to proceed, it would be a $ 1 extra per pop (I was getting 15 for $ 80 already), and it seemed foreign to her to show customers an example of your product before hand in some capacity, aside from the Pinterest pictures. I found her tone and response to be unacceptable and have decided to take my business elsewhere.

All I can say is an enthusiastic «WOW!» Naomi and her staff exceeded our expectations when I ordered my son’s 1^st birthday cake. All I had in mind was a safari theme, and Naomi helped to expand the theme and make it even more creative. She was very easy to work with throughout the planning process (easy to reach by email, always got back to me on time and came through). When the cake arrived to my party, I could hear everyone say «WOW!» And we all loved the taste of the cake. Naomi even helped me come up with light summer flavors like coconut cake with mangoes and strawberries, in addition to my favorite, chocolate with strawberries, in another layer. And most importantly, we worked together to make sure I would stay within my budget. Thank you Tipsy Cakes for making my son’s birthday party a success!

I would never again patronize a business that insults our community, with racial remarks.

Stephanie at Tipsy Cakes the best! Helped me by designing my «designer» theme cupcakes and patiently answered 25 emails with all my questions.
Delivered early on the day of my daughter’s bridal shower and they were PERFECT!
Just as I envisioned and guess what; the cake was PERFECT as well. Received so
many compliments from guests!
Highly recommend for that special, one of a kind cake or cupcakes…

Considering they are not the only cake shop in the city, the owner should really consider working on the customer service. The negative reviews aren’t so much about the bad quality/​taste, but about the way they were treated by the owner!
Bottom line… cakes are cakes. You can find good cake just about anywhere. So unless you want to have someone talk down to you & act ruthless to go along with your treats then I suggest staying away from this place.

I had the pleasure of working with Naomi and her team at Tipsy Bakery for an event that I hosted. Naomi and her team were incredibly helpful with every detail of the order. They are one of the only bakeries in Chicago that cater and setup at your venue. Not only was the presentation was absolutely beautiful, the desserts were delicious. We ordered a variety of items. My husband had the brownies and he loved them. I had a couple of the mini cupcakes. The cake part of the cupcake was moist and yummy and not overly sweet. The butter cream frosting was light and airy. I found Naomi to be a delight to work with. She was super sweet and very helpful. Love her! I can’t wait to have Tipsy Cakes cater my next event.

I order fondant teeth for our events with dentists and oral surgeons. They are well made and accommodate last minute requests. They are creative and talented and I enjoy the beautiful ambience these little guys bring to our events! The shoppe itself is cute and had a cozy area for parties!

This review is for event hosting.
I threw a bridal shower here and would not work with this business again.
Everything was fine until the day of the event. We were told we could arrive one hour early to set up; when we did, the room was set up nothing like we discussed in several conversations in the weeks before the shower. We were expecting small round tables and a buffet setup, (which they actually suggested to me for the event) only to find three huge rectangular tables and plates for table service being set up! I immediately told them this was not what we had discussed and was told it was too late to change it. It worked out ok for us, but if you’re someone who has a specific idea of how you want your event to look (or are dealing with a bride who does), be warned!
The food was good, and the service overall was attentive– our guests got refills on their drinks quickly, which makes for a good shower, in my opinion! However, one very unpleasant server took it upon herself to make a lot of sarcastic comments during the event, and can actually be seen scowling in the background of a lot of our pictures. I don’t know what her problem was, but if you’re going to work in a cute bakery where people host baby and bridal showers, deal with it, lady.
The last unpleasant surprise came when it was time to pay– the prices calculated for each item (food, linens, etc.) were all several dollars more than listed in the event packet they sent me. A friend who works in the event planning industry told me this is a big red flag. It ended up costing only slightly more than expected, but again, this kind of thing is hugely unprofessional when this is a big aspect of your business!
The bride and groom ordered their wedding cake here too, and were displeased with their service… But let’s leave that for another review…

I thought I would be posting a negative review here today BUT I am so happy to report that Tipsy Cake knocked it out of the park.
Last night was my husbands company party. I had ordered a special holiday cake (Jillian was great and easy to work with). The cake was to be our centerpiece as well as dessert for 35. The cake never arrived. I was really disappointed. We had a great time anyway.
I received a message from the owner Naomi at 7 am apologizing and promising a refund. She delivered the beautiful cake to my husbands office along with lunch! Filet, chicken and more.
Great job turning a negative situation into a positive one. I will certainly order from Tipsy cake again.

I wish I had read the reviews prior to purchasing a cake from here. I had a disappointing experience as well, sent the business an email about my experience, and no one even wrote me back to offer an apology or an explanation.
I was really excited to order a cake professionally decorated with fondant for my friends 30^th — she just got her first job as a professor too, so we decided to make it a Nerdy 30. I described in detail over the phone how I wanted the professor cake to turn out, and followed up with an email and photos for inspiration. Based on a personal recommendation from a friend who gets cakes from here all the time — she said they would get it. This is why I didn’t check out the reviews online. The woman I spoke to on the phone was really reassuring and asked me lots of questions about the design, so I thought everyone was on the same page.
I was shocked after paying $ 70 and seeing that my cake didn’t look like a professor at all — just a character behind a desk with no books, office accessories, etc. It looked more like a judge at a bench, and it was so simple and sparse while I thought there was definitely room to do more. Even the Nerdy 30 text was so small. It’s like they didn’t even care… I was really upset.
On a smaller note, when I went to pick up the cake, the cashier said I had a balance remaining when I was told over the phone my credit card would be charged the previous Saturday. I asked her to go ahead and charge it because they had already taken my card info and I was already charged for the first half of the balance, and she said no, I don’t have that on file. I thought that was pretty disorganized.

I have known Naomi for a few years and have ordered several cakes & treats from her in the past. Her cakes are creative and delicious and I’ve never been disappointed. I work in the wedding industry and I have seen her wedding cakes and groom cakes displayed at bridal events and they are works of art.
This review, however, is for Tipsycake’s Event Space in Bucktown. All I can say is WOW! My sister is getting married this year and the bridal party struggled with a place to host a shower. We live in Chicago and most of us don’t have condos or apartments large enough. We looked at some restaurants and private spaces but they seemed stuffy, formal, and expensive. Then I realized I had seen some wedding and baby showers featured on Tipyscake’s Facebook Page! I reached out to Naomi and she was incredibly helpful in helping us figure out the details and secure a date.
During the planning process Naomi and her team were able to answer all my questions and provide suggestions and help guide us. We decided to do a tea service for our guests (which they offer daily, and it’s BYOB!). They came up with the idea of coordinating the cakepops and sweets to match the shower colors. They suggested we bring an ipod loaded with a playlist for music. They thought of everything I was too busy to think of!
The day of the shower the staff at Tipsycake was amazing! Very attentive and helpful. They checked with us to see when they should pass out the scones, start serving, etc. Helped us move the party along and start opening gifts, cut the cake, etc. I was overwhelmed as the «host» and appreciated their suggestions and for helping me keep the shower moving. It’s obvious they are very experienced in hosting showers and parties and know their stuff! We were allowed to arrive a little bit early to decorate and their staff also offered to help us with any setup we were doing. This was above and beyond.
All of our friends and family could not stop talking about the food. The tea sandwiches, bruschetta, and scones were all a huge hit! The tea selection was impressive. The cake pops were amazing and the cake — vanilla passionfruit — was my favorite to date!
Everyone was blown away by the space, the staff, the service, the food. We could not have asked for a better shower location in the city. It felt intimate and personal.
If you are planning a wedding or baby shower, a birthday, a girl’s outing — I would highly recommend a private party at Tipsycake. I cannot wait to go back for afternoon tea service soon. I will probably be taking my mother in law when she visits.
Thank you again to Naomi and the Tipsycake staff for an amazing event!
(check out the profile for photos from our shower!)

Tipsy Cake Bakery is the exact opposite of the negative reviews I had read. First of all, they were the most affordable bakery in town for my wedding cake. There cakes are just as beautiful as more expensive places like Alliance Bakery.
Then, they were able to accommodate my vegan guests with a banana coconut layer, chocolate peanut butter layer, and carrot cake layer wedding cake that everyone RAVED about!
The delivery was on time and even with being unable to meet with Naomi in person to test flavors and discuss design, she nailed my wedding cake to a «T» through email correspondence.
I hope that anyone who sees a negative review about this bakery will give them a chance, because on one of the most important days of my life, she created a gorgeous, delicious cake I could not have been happier with!