From viral chocolate ganache sensations to a 10-layer Russian honey cake, here’s where to indulge your inner child.August 8, 2026The Bertha, sold via online pre-order at Messina at 12pm, August 10.The Bertha is a visual feast of dark chocolate cake and ganache standing 24 layers high, each $40 slice weighing in at about 900g. It’s the viral signature dish at Get Baked in the UK and it’s in Australia for a three-day pop-up at gelato giant Messina from August 14 (pre-orders from August 10). Bruce Bogtrotter, eat your heart out.It might be one of the heftier slices of cake in Sydney but it certainly isn’t the only one stacking layers upon layers of aesthetic deliciousness. Much as The Bertha’s good looks garner social media attention – driving as many as 10,000 orders across Get Baked’s UK outlets each week – Sydney bakeries are drawing queues for their own layered creations. Local offerings include the crunchy creamy honey cakes, as at the July launch of Christina’s Honeycakes’ Campsie cafe; pastel-green pandan and coconut chiffon cakes at Khanom House in Chippendale; and, of course, the monstrously large, 32-layer chocolate cake served at The Fullerton Hotel Sydney, which comes in at $39 per slice. Sure, this trend might feel like the sugar-fuelled fever dream of a five-year-old, but perhaps it’s time to indulge your inner child. Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.Sign upSelected from Good Food’s 100 Essential Sydney Cafes and Bakeries of 2026 – plus a couple of extra specialty spots – these are the venues serving Sydney’s best layered cakes.A.P Bread and Wine, DarlinghurstA.P Bakery harnessed Sydney’s love of artisan bread and pastries, and turned it into an obsession. Head baker Dougal Muffet uses heritage NSW wheat and house-milled grain to create a formidable offering, from rustic loaves of sourdough to delicate tartes tatin.The bakery was among the first to serve oversized layer cakes to Sydney, in early 2025. “[It] looks deceptively simple but every layer has to be just right,” says Muffet. “Biggest hurdle is making the impossibly thin layers [of chocolate sponge and chocolate cream] and doing so evenly ... There are no gimmicks or novelty ingredients. The magic is in the balance, the quality of the chocolate, and the patience to let each layer come together properly.”32 Burton Street, Darlinghurst, apbakery.com.auBlood orange upside down cake with rose and sea salt at Cherry Moon General Store, Annandale.Edwina PicklesCherry Moon General Store, AnnandaleThere’s a certain storybook charm to Cherry Moon. It’s the lone cafe on a pretty, tree-lined street, with a hard-working wood oven at its heart. Apollonia, as it’s called, coaxes raw pastry into crisp, flaking layers, gives fig-leaf sourdough its spring, and bakes five layers of dark caramelised sponge for Cherry Moon’s Russian honey cake.The latter has become a staple of the pastry cabinet, alongside the “signature” cake – three layers of butter cake, cream billowing out the edges, flavours changing with the seasons. Good to know: Want an entire cake to yourself? Order ahead via their website.77 Nelson Street, Annandale, cherrymoongeneralstore.com.auA cross-section of the London cake at Flour, Caringbah South.Flour, Caringbah SouthFlour is tucked away on a quiet suburban street but you’ll have no problem finding it – just follow the long procession of cars. This sun-drenched cafe-bakery makes excellent breads, sausage rolls and sandwiches but most people come for the pastry cabinet.It’s a butter-laden dreamscape of lemon meringue doughnuts, bruleed custard tarts and an increasing number of layer cakes. Available only on Mondays, the bakery’s crowning jewel is the classic Victorian sponge: thick clouds of double cream and house-made berry jam sandwiched between feather-light layers.Good to know: This week the bakery debuts its version of UK baker Edd Kimber’s viral London Cake, with three layers of couverture chocolate cake filled with whipped salted caramel and ganache. Available every weekend in August. 277 Willawong Road, Caringbah South, weareflour.com.auPistachio kataifi cake at Happy Alley, Rockdale.Happy Alley, RockdaleHappy Alley is a playful remix of artisanal bakery, fast-food restaurant and Levantine flavours, and there’s nothing else like it in Sydney. Brekkie kicks off with house-made spiced sausage on cheesy egg muffins, revving up to crumbed fish sandwiches and “happy patty” burgers for lunch.The strength of its in-house bakery grows each year, adding to the signature line-up of cookies in flavours like caramel macadamia and traditional choc chip. In February, it took on Russian honey cake, with more than 10 textural layers of pistachio, golden kataifi (finely shredded pastry) and honey. It also serves a chocolate layer cake named The Bruce, so-named for the character in Roald Dahl novel and ’90s film Matilda. Good to know: Both cakes are available exclusively for pre-order on the Happy Alley website. 13 Bay Street, Rockdale, happyalley.com.auPandan coconut cream chiffon cake at Khanom House, Chippendale.Khanom House, ChippendaleSelf-taught Thai baker Yeen Veerasenee is a market-stall success story. Buoyed by the popularity of his matcha Basque cheesecakes, Veerasenee opened his first brick-and-mortar in a light-filled corner of Chippendale in 2025.Returning customers will note some welcome changes since then: more outdoor seating, more drinks, and more pastel green in the pastry cabinet. Veerasenee has a penchant for pandan, using the tropical plant’s natural dye and earthy vanilla flavour to reinterpret his Ukrainian honey cake and create a pandan coconut cream chiffon cake, with layers of pandan whipped cream, pandan custard and warm coconut sauce. Must try: Finish the pairing with a pandan matcha foam. 15 Meagher Street, Chippendale, instagram.com/khanomhouse.sydA colourful cross-section of the yuzu blanc entrements at Madame and Yves, Clovelly.Madame and Yves, ClovellyBefore opening this small shop with wife Jennifer in 2019, classically trained French-born pastry chef Yves Scherrer created the signature desserts at fine-dining restaurants including Est. and Berowra Waters Inn.Of course, the primary school kids who pile in after class don’t know any of that – they’re just here for scoops of creamy house-made gelato, eclairs glistening with Valrhona chocolate, and flaky croissants (ranked among Sydney’s top 10 in Good Food’s blind taste test).If they’re lucky, they might score a very impressive-looking yuzu blanc entremets for their birthday, with layers of yuzu mandarin curd, fromage-blanc mousse, raspberry marmalade and vanilla and raspberry sponge, on a base of Linzer sable crunch. 343-345 Clovelly Road, Clovelly, madameandyves.com.auBeyond Good Food's Essential Cafe and Bakery guide