Acland Street Cake Crawl

Want cake? Acland Street has more confectionery than you can poke a stick at

First published on 9 Nov 2011. Updated on 12 Dec 2011.

Photos: Graham Denholm

Don’t talk to us about being a cake addict until you’ve eaten your way down Acland Street and fallen in a jittering heap outside Luna Park. The cake shops lining the strip have been making Melbourne a sweeter place since 1934, and are still pumping out Eastern European classics thick and fast. Here are the essentials to put on your sugar-hit list.

Plain cheesecake at Europa Cake Shop
81 Acland Street, St Kilda	Forget the sugar coated cakes in the window - the baked cheesecake is where it's at. Crisp shortbread base and a cottage cheese filling, this baby is firm, silky smooth, and on the savoury end of the sweetness spectrum - right where we like it.
Vanilla Slice at Le Bon Continental Cake Shop
93 Acland Street, St Kilda	After 38 years, Peter Siapantas knows how to make a good vanilla slice. Flaky thin sheets of buttery puff pastry sandwich a thick smack of vanilla infused creme patissiere (egg custard with cornflour). Ace.
Kugelhaupf at Monarch
103 Acland Street, St Kilda	Monarch has been pushing sugar on Acland since 1934 and the recipes haven't changed since day one. Try the chocolate, savoury-sweet Kugelhoupf. It's a yeast-based cake (cake taste, bread texture) with thick swirls of melted chocolate throughout.
The Fruit Boat at Acland Cake Shop
97 Acland St, St Kilda	Watch the staff bicker over 52-year-old grievances while you smash a custard tart. The canoe-shaped shortbread has a fine crumbly texture and gets a lick of chocolate before being filled with custard and topped with fruits and a glaze. It ticks all the creamy, sweet and tart boxes.
Walnut, fig and chocolate cake at Nineteen Squares
31 Blessington St, St Kilda	This joint may be off the strip, but their cake/brownie is off the hook. Served warm, it's a gooey mess of dark chocolate cake, dotted with nuts and chunks of sweet fig. Worth the detour.