I recently received a box of delicious Cake Gems - delectable little bites of cake and buttercream love, wrapped in a faceted chocolate shell, and decorated with with gilt accents. What a special treat!

Cake Gems are made by 12 Oaks Desserts in Los Angeles, a company started in a tiny New York City kitchen by two best friends, Katherine and Missy. According to their site: “Many of our recipes are family heirlooms that have been passed down on faded, hand-written index cards, splattered with vanilla extract and cocoa powder of years gone by.” I absolutely love that!

I sampled 3 wonderful flavors. The first, vanilla - a flavor you can never go wrong with. If you look closely, you can spot little specks of vanilla bean seeds. So yummy!

The next, raspberry. Oh my goodness, these were amazing.

And I saved the best for last. Red Velvet - a true southern classic, and believe me when I say, this particular red velvet cake is legit. Being a baker who lives in a southern state, I’ve tried countless red velvet cake recipes, and this one is among the best. The flavor is phenomenal.

My Cake Gems were carefully packaged and shipped all the way from California. It was a gloomy day here in Virginia, but this box of lovelies surely injected a bit of sunny California sunshine into my rainy afternoon.

And did I mention everything is baked from scratch with love? Who couldn’t use a little baked from scratch with love right about now?

12 Oaks Dessert makes more than just Cake Gems. They also make cakes, cheesecakes, cake pops, and cupcakes. Custom orders are always an option, and if you live in the Los Angeles area, you can choose pickup or delivery (depending on location). For those outside of the area, many of their products can be shipped. Just contact them for a quote.

Also, 12 Oaks Desserts is currently donating 25% of all their sales to Meals on Wheels America in an effort to give back to their community. They’ve also partnered with Cater Cow to be able to make and deliver meals to first responders during the Covid-19 pandemic. Thank you, Katherine and Missy!