*Our packaging is 100% recyclable and/or compostable!

*All of our cakes contain AP flour, dairy (eggs, butter, cream), and gelatin.

*Pickup in San Francisco, Nob Hill area. Address and additional information will be provided in your order confirmation email.

When should I order a cake?

ASAP: It is advised to place your order once you know the day of your event (we can accept orders months in advance from the event date). As always, the earlier the better because there is a chance we are fully booked and therefore are not able to fulfill your order. We accept orders based off of our booking availability — books are filled on a first come first serve basis by placing the order through our website. In the unlikely event that we can not fulfill your order, you will be notified ASAP and a full refund will be issued back automatically.

All of our cakes are made fresh to order so orders of 1-2 cakes require at least 1-2 weeks advance notice for The Designer and at least 3 days advance notice for The Classic cake to ensure your order gets confirmed. For large orders needing 3+ cakes/100+ servings, we require orders to be placed at least 2 months in advance from the event/fulfillment date.

Pre-Orders only. We do not accept any “last minute” or same day cake orders.

What happens when I place an order, but you are fully booked for my specified date?

In the unlikely event that Sincerely Meraki can not fulfill your order, clients will be notified ASAP to see if re-scheduling is an option. If not, a full refund will be issued back in the original form of payment.

How do I order a cake?

We are an online luxury cake boutique in SF with transparent pricing and designs on our website—all of our orders are taken through our website.

STEP 1: Browse and select your desired item from our Cake Shop and ADD TO CART

• customize/personalize your designer cake by adding on an Accent Piece (optional).

STEP 2: Go to your cart and CHECKOUT — booking info (date/time) will be filled out here

STEP 3: Receive ORDER PENDING email — your order has been submitted and is awaiting confirmation of fulfillment from the Sincerely Meraki team

STEP 4: Receive follow up ORDER CONFIRMATION email within 1-2 days of order placement — your order is confirmed and will be ready for pickup on your selected date

• if you have not received an Order Confirmation email within 1-2 days, please check your spam/junk mail folder. If it’s not there, contact us.

STEP 5: Pickup in San Francisco

Cake Ordering Process:

All of our cake orders are placed through our website with 100% of the cost paid upfront at checkout to secure your order and booking date.

Placing an order and receiving an “ORDER PENDING” email after purchase DOES NOT GUARANTEE ORDER CONFIRMATION OR FULFILLMENT. It is only confirmed and fulfilled once you receive an ORDER CONFIRMATION email that contains our pickup address and instructions. We try our best to fulfill all incoming orders, but it’s possible we can not fulfill your order based on booking availability.

If your order can not be fulfilled, we will notify you ASAP via email and/or phone number provided at the time the order was made and issue a full refund immediately.

Can I cancel or change my order?

See our order cancellation, order change, and refund policy. (Link is also provided at the footer of our website)

Do you ship your cakes?

No. Hopefully in the future as we would love to expand our clientele.

Do you deliver?

We currently do not have a delivery service readily available. However if interested in delivery within the general San Francisco Bay Area, please inquire about it by emailing us and we may be able to accommodate the delivery request for an additional fee. For more info please refer to our Pickup/Delivery page.

Pickup Instructions/where are you located?

Curbside pickup in San Francisco, Nob Hill area. Our address and additional information will be provided in your order confirmation email after your order has been placed. For more info please refer to our Pickup/Delivery page.

Can I customize one of your cake designs?

Yes! Our shop’s The Designer cakes collection have customizable options available in each product’s drop down menu and provided order form — click the cake you like to see the customizable options.

For a more “build your own” cake approach, clients have the option to add 1+ of our available accent pieces to their cart along with their Designer cake order. (accents include: custom script, floral arrangement, custom number topper, etc.)

Can I combine different designs into one cake?

Yes, if you see one aspect of a design and another aspect of another design on our website and want to combine them into 1, shoot us an email or text us and we will be happy to work with you. Total cost will vary.

Can I request a custom designed cake?

Yes, if you do not see a design from our collection that will suit your event and would like a custom designed cake, we offer cake consultations. We consult with our clients 1 on 1 via email.

• Fulfillment of a custom design is not guaranteed and is determined by the client’s design request/theme. We ask our clients to stick to our shop’s aesthetic (minimal, organic influence, and modern elegance) and allow us some creative freedom. Clients may describe and send us pictures for inspirational purposes of what they are looking for and envisioning but, we absolutely will not copy another cake shop’s design since we pride in our own ability to create a custom cake best suited for our clients in our own style.

• We specialize in decorating with Swiss meringue buttercream and do not work with fondant. We also use real flowers for any floral accent pieces.

• We do not tolerate bargaining or negotiating the final price of a custom designer cake.

*Cake Consultation Refund Policy: If Sincerely Meraki is not able to fulfill your request upon the initial review of the consultation form submitted with the purchase of a Cake Consultation, we will notify you via the email you have provided us with and issue back a full refund. Besides that, a cake consultation is non-refundable and the order cannot be cancelled.

Why do I need to pay for a consultation?

A consultation is an exclusive service provided by Sincerely Meraki. It takes time and effort out of our production day to communicate, brainstorm, and mockup the final cake design specific to each client in addition to calculating the overall cost of the custom cake — it’s all part of the cake making process. The fee is to accommodate for the service provided and to ensure that the clients inquiring about a custom designed cake are serious in working with us.

Can you make a fondant cake with fondant/sugar flowers and/or fondant figurines?

No. We do not work with fondant or make themed cake designs. Our shop only specializes in Swiss meringue buttercream, and use real flowers.

Do you make cupcakes? Cake pops? Gender reveal cakes?

No. Our shop does not offer cupcakes, cake pops, or gender reveal cakes.

Can I have multiple cake flavors?

Yes. Only if you have multiple cakes in an order, they each can be different flavors. If you have a 2-tiered cake, you can request for 2 different flavors —1 flavor per tier. Please shoot us an email or text us to inquire as there will be an additional service fee.

Can I request a custom cake flavor?

No, because of quality and production efficiency purposes. Creating a new cake flavor takes weeks, sometimes months to perfect in terms of achieving the right balance of overall flavor, texture, and taste. We are open to suggestions for future menu changes though!

Do you do weddings/special events (100+ servings)?

Yes! For more info on how we serve weddings/special events, please refer to our Wedding Info page.

Do you do destination weddings?

Yes, please shoot us an email to discuss the opportunity.

What can I expect in a Sincerely Meraki cake?

Handcrafted with refined taste and design in mind using high quality ingredients with NO artificial flavorings and preservatives. Everything is made from scratch in-house—nothing is pre-made/bought. Sincerely Meraki cakes merge the design style of Western buttercream cakes with the flavor palate of Asian bakery cakes

Taste: “not too sweet”. Our cakes sit at the intersection of Western and Asian baking styles in terms of sweetness, lightness, and texture. Our cakes are less sugar forward and more refined which, allows for natural and delicate flavors to stand out such as our signature whipped mascarpone cream. We do not use any artificial flavorings or preservatives. The only artificial flavoring we use is vanilla—see why in “our values” section of our About page.

Design: Our design aesthetic would be described as pristine, organic influence, with modern elegance—influenced by the Japanese aesthetic of Shibui and Shizen. We specialize in having clean/sharp corners, straight/perpendicular edges, and symmetry all around.

About our Signature Whipped Mascarpone Cream: After weeks of research and developing the perfect recipe for our cake sponge, Elizabeth was determined to make the perfect “frosting” that paired well with the cake. Because the cake sponge errs on the lighter side, the “frosting” needed to be sturdy enough to be able to stack the cakes with, but light enough so that it doesn’t weigh down on the cake sponge—flattening it. With this in mind, the whipped mascarpone cream was born. In our eyes, it’s the perfect pairing with our light genoise cake. The taste and texture of our whipped mascarpone cream is preferred over the taste and texture of traditional buttercream which is often too sweet, too dense, and for the lack of a better term, too buttery. However, we find that Swiss meringue buttercream is the perfect medium to decorate our cakes with being silky smooth. So, the only time we use buttercream, is to decorate the outside of our cakes—and we decorate our Designer cakes using our silky, Vanilla Sweet Cream Swiss meringue buttercream.

What flavors do you offer and what do they taste like?

Strawberry Shortcake: vanilla sponge + fresh strawberries + white chocolate covered almond brittle + whipped mascarpone cream

*almonds can be removed for allergy restrictions

Flavor profile: A crowd pleaser—our vanilla genoise cake is paired with an equally light cream that can be enjoyed by everyone. The tartness from the fresh strawberries cuts through the sweetness of the whipped mascarpone cream, brightening up the cake. The addition of the white chocolate covered almond brittle provides a sweet, textural, nutty complexity to the palate. You can’t go wrong with this flavor as it’s one of our most popular flavors.

Pistachio Peach: vanilla sponge + roasted peach oolong compote + toasted pistachio cream

Flavor profile: An aromatic flavor—our aromatic pistachio cream is made from real toasted pistachios. The nutty pistachio cream pairs well with our roasted peach compote made in-house with the slightest hint of oolong tea and sweetened with a bit of honey to give it a refreshing bite. This flavor tastes like summer but lucky for us, it can be enjoyed all year long!

Earl Grey Brown Sugar: earl grey tea infused sponge + earl grey brown sugar cream

Flavor profile: A delicate flavor—this flavor highlights the delicate flavor from naturally steeped earl grey tea. The earl grey tea shines through as it is infused in our cake sponge and paired with our earl grey brown sugar flavored cream. The hint of brown sugar in the cream adds a sweet warmth to the palate without it overpowering the tea flavor and without it being overly sweet. If you enjoy boba milk tea, this flavor is for you.

Salted Caramel Coffee Chip: vanilla sponge + salted caramel + coffee cream with mini dark chocolate chips

Flavor profile: A balanced flavor—this flavor is for all the coffee lovers and errs on the sweet side because of our salted caramel filling. The salted caramel filling is not too salty and balances out perfectly with the bitterness from the whipped coffee flavored cream. Mini dark chocolate chips is added into the coffee cream for a hint of extra indulgence. If you enjoy coffee ice cream, this flavor is for you.

Birthday Cake: vanilla sponge + vanilla funfetti cream with mini white chocolate chips

Flavor profile: A classic flavor—this flavor is self explanatory, there is no flavor more classic and well known than the traditional birthday cake, funfetti cake, however you like to call it. Enjoy the universal, nostalgic taste of our vanilla funfetti cream paired with our vanilla genoise cake. We added mini white chocolate chips to the vanilla funfetti cream to add some texture and add a slight spin to a classic bite. Keep the tradition and childhood memories alive with this classic flavor!

How much does a cake cost?

Prices are all transparently shown on our website. The overall price is determined by the cake design and size.

Reasoning behind our prices:

1) Our cakes are of high quality inside and out:

• We use premium, fresh quality ingredients with no artificial flavorings or preservatives. *the only artificial flavoring we use is vanilla—see why in “our values” section of our About page.

• We have high standards and focus on the smallest of details when it comes to the final look of our decorated cakes. Our decorating technique involves a skillful finesse which takes years to master and is needed in order for the surface of our cakes to be seamlessly smooth and bubble free—unless it’s a design that has texture. We also take our time to make sure our cakes are symmetrical, standing perpendicular with straight lines and clean/sharp corners all around the entire cake. These fine details may go unnoticed to the standard eye but for us, it’s these small details that make a huge difference in the quality, skill, and attention to detail a cake shop has and what makes us stand out from the rest.

2) We are a small business—everything is made fresh to order from scratch in-house. Nothing is mass or machine produced therefore, our cakes, packaging, and accent pieces are individually handcrafted with care to our highest standards. We are not a “fast-food” cake shop where things are pre-made and ready to go. You are essentially buying a work of art — like any other artist, we pride ourselves in making delicious works of art just for our clients.

3) You are not only paying for the material cost of a cake but also the time spent to make it as well as supporting the talent that is making the cake. Years of experimental failures, R&D, culinary education, knowledge of the craft, and professional culinary experience have led us to where we are today—mastering our craft in buttercream cake decorating and creating products for you in our highest standards with our own innovative techniques.

4) The food and hospitality industry is notorious for exploiting employees to the point where it’s the norm/standard, resulting in the industry’s negligence to properly price food that correctly reflects the actual production costs and operational costs of restaurants. Having been in the industry for 11+ years, i’ve seen and experienced it all, from long 10+ hour shifts on our feet with no breaks (and sometimes no overtime pay), to toxic work environments, to sexist treatments, to hardworking employees being disrespected by customers. It is nearly impossible for the majority of workers in the food and hospitality industry to make a decent living to support a family, let alone oneself off of minimum wage and it is rare to be offered basic benefits such as healthcare.

With that said, prices not only reflect the staff’s dedication to the craft, but it also reflects Sincerely Meraki’s true production and operational costs which, includes the cost of supporting our own staff with a livable wage to the best of our abilities — in our hopes to making this normalized in the food industry.

*Compared to other specialty and custom cake shops, we actually believe our prices to be pretty reasonable.

How long does the cake last?

4-5 days in the fridge from the day you receive it.

Cake Storage/Serving prep:

Please refer to our Cake Care page

Cake Cutting:

Please refer to our Cake Care page

Carrying and Transporting our cakes:

Please refer to our Cake Care page

Do you have gluten free, dairy free, or vegan cakes?

No, unfortunately not at this time. Eventually, we would love to be able to offer those options but for now, all of our cakes contain AP flour, dairy (eggs, butter, cream), and gelatin.

Where is your cake stand from and how big is the cake stand used in your pictures?

The cake stand we use is made by American Heirloom. You can also find some nice cake stands at Food52, Williams Sonoma, or even at your local Home Goods, thrift stores, and/or Amazon.

Our cake stand’s dimensions: 10”W x 5” H

• We recommend a 10 inch diameter cake stand for our cakes.

*if you do not have a cake stand, you can make one by simply inverting a vase/flower pot or even a bowl and place the cake on top.

Does a cake stand or serveware come with the cake?

No, we do not provide a cake stand and/or serving ware.