Profile

If the Cake Man's good enough for Patti LaBelle, 50 Cent, and Isaac Hayes, he's good enough for you. Owner Raven Patrick De'Sean Dennis III is known for the lavishly decorated and whimsically shaped cakes he's made in honor of dozens of celebrities, from Cab Calloway to Spike Lee as well as the 120th birthday of the Brooklyn Bridge—reproduced on a seven-foot scale. But step into the cramped retail space fronting his Fort Greene bakery, and you'll see the Cake Man's real bread and butter: old-fashioned layer and sheet cakes celebrating birthdays, graduations and retirements with colorful calligraphies of frosting. The biggest seller is the Southern red velvet cake, which, underneath its creamy, demurely white icing, holds three layers of cake that's rightfully (if alarmingly) vermilion with a lofty, delicate texture. A light touch is also evident in the pound cake, which has a gentle butteriness. While the bulk of the business is in special-orders, a varied assortment of cupcakes, brownies, breakfast pastries and cakes by the slice are available for spur-of-the-moment cravings. — Stephanie Rosenbaum

There is a $20 minimum on credit card transactions, so be sure to bring cash.