Visiting Duff’s Cakemix, a Decorate Your Own Cake Shop in LA

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When we learned about Duff’s Cakemix, the Decorate Your Own Cake shop founded by Ace of Cakes Food Network legend, Duff Goldman, we knew we’d discovered the PERFECT kid-friendly Los Angeles activity.

This Do-It-Yourself cake decorating studio empowers you, no matter what age or skill level, to create your own cake design. And with helpers to guide you through your cake decorating experience, plus all the tools and ingredients you need, it’s more fun and streamlined than ever to let your cake-making creativity soar.

Update: Unfortunately, all Duff’s Cakemix locations have now closed.

Don’t fret! We have ample Los Angeles-related guides to check out next:

Or you can travel on over to Anaheim! Check out the top things to do in Orange County, the new Rise of the Resistance ride at Disneyland, stay at the best hotel walking distance to Disneyland, and try luxury bowling at Downtown Disney.

Before You Go

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Make Your Own Cake in Los Angeles

As LA locals, scoping for places to take kids in Los Angeles can be a little tedious: the blog posts are usually written by people who don’t live in LA, know very little about it, and all cite the same boring LA activities most locals don’t actually do.

That’s why we love Duff’s Cakemix. Getting the chance to make your own cake in Los Angeles is fresh, fun, creative, and all the celebrities are doing it (hey, I see you Khloe and Kourtney!), making it perfect for locals and tourists alike.

Plus, the Duff’s Cake Mix Los Angeles locations are conveniently near other LA attractions! It’s definitely do-able if you follow our LA Itinerary.

While we visited the Duffs Cake Mix Tarzana location, there are several throughout Southern California.

The Duffs Melrose cake shop in West Hollywood is the most centrally located to LA tourist sights (literally a 2-minute walk from the Paul Smith wall).

Check out this list of the best hotels in Los Angeles for families to find kids-friendly hotels near LA attractions.

Discounts to LA Restaurants

DON’T miss out on these LA Food & Drink discounts, as we’ve managed to score some FANTASTIC deals for some of these restaurants (and many many others)!

If you’re traveling to LA, you should just make a habit of checking out these local LA deals, as they have discounts on almost EVERYTHING like amusement parks (like Universal Studios), whale-watching, sporting events, concerts, and so much more, ya girl can’t even type it all out.

LA Transportation

Remember, Los Angeles is notorious for its less-than-stellar public transportation, so you’re DEFINITELY going to want to rent a car.

Cake Decorating for All Ages and Skill Levels

I know a LOT about eating cakes (or just eating in general, which is why I wrote about the best places to eat in LA).

But I don’t know that much about decorating cakes.

Luckily, that’s not an issue at Duffs Cake Mix studios. Almost anyone can walk in to the Make Your Own Cake shop and get to work creating your own cake design with the Duff cake decorating supplies, even with absolutely ZERO baking know-how, including our 8-year-old niece!

This is why we think Duff’s cake decorating Los Angeles studios are the perfect family-friendly destinations: they make cake-decorating accessible to almost anyone.

All the cake decorating classes we researched simply weren’t suitable for kids—making Duff’s Cakemix a standout. If you’re looking for a kids-friendly cake design studio to decorate your own cake, Duff’s Cakemix is the place.

Duffs Cake Mix: Walk-Ins and Reservations

To create your own cake design at one of Duffs locations, you can either make a reservation ahead of time (call 626-317-8612), or walk in to any of the Duffs Cakemix studios throughout Southern California.

For the day of our visit, we made a reservation for 1pm. When we arrived, there was one large birthday party group, and one other small group, with plenty of spots still available.

However, by the time we had finished decorating our cake about 1.5 hours later, the place was fully packed, with more people waiting to get in! If you’re on vacation and have a strict itinerary to adhere to, I would definitely recommend making a reservation, as the decorating studio can get busy.

Booking.com

The Process of Duff’s Cakemix

The Duff Cake Mix process to decorate your own cake is fairly straightforward.

1. Choose your cake-decorating canvas.

Choose whether you want to decorate cakes or cupcakes. We chose a cake—these are cake making places, after all!

2. Choose your design.

This is the hardest part. You can either choose to design one of the Duff Cake Shop step-by-step guides or just freely create your own cake design. Either way, you can put your own creative spin on whatever you decorate.

Our niece had a tough time deciding between the narwhal and unicorn cake designs, but she went for the unicorn because it was a slightly more advanced level.

3. Choose your cake or cupcake flavor.

No need for any Duff baking supplies, as all the cakes are pre-baked. For flavors, you get to choose between chocolate or funfetti.

I’m a chocolate lover myself, but it was my niece’s choice and she wanted funfetti. FUNFETTI! I was NOT a believer, initially, but after having a bite the next day, I had to admit…the Duff’s funfetti is delicious.

4. Choose your fondant colors, frosting colors, and candies.

Everything is cleanly packaged for convenience, so it’s as easy as grabbing whichever colors and candies catch your eye. If you selected a cake, you’ll also choose what color fondant the helpers will cover your cake with.

5. Gather your Duff cake decorating supplies and tools.

In my opinion, the array of cake decorating supplies are what makes the Duffs cake decorating store so cool. They have all the tools you’ll ever need to create stunning cake decorations right at your finger tips.

If I wanted to stock my own personal kitchen with every one of the Duff cake decorating supplies they had on hand, I’d be spending a small fortune! For the casual cake decorator, it is so much more sensible and fun to be able to use all of their cake decorating supplies on hand.

If you chose one of the step-by-step guides, as we did, you’ll have a list of all the tools you’ll need to acquire before you get started on decorating your cake. At our Duffs Cakemix Tarzana location, there were 2 large bookshelf containers holding all the cake-making tools, with everything labeled for easy finding.

6. Wash your hands, put on an apron, and get started!

Next we visited the hand washing station, got a good lather on, popped on one of their disposable aprons, and giddily rushed back to our table to get to work.

7. Let your creativity soar!

All the fun cake decorating stuff is left up to you! It’s a Decorate Your Own Cake Shop, after all! The friendly helpers roam around the Duffs cake mix shop to check on you if you do need any help, and they’ll take care of the more “technical” stuff like filling the piping bag with frosting, but everything else is COMPLETELY up to you. You can choose to do whatever you want with your creative freedom!

Our niece used the step-by-step guide as a template, but then embellished to her heart’s content, using the Duff cake decorating tools, fondant and candies to add flowers, sparkles, gems, bows, and block letters spelling her name. She was in heaven!

8. Take your cake to go, and devour the whole thing!

Is the cake decorating the best part, or the cake eating? Tough call.

Duffs Cakemix Hours

All locations are open from 10 AM-8pm. If you’re looking for things to do at night in Los Angeles with family, visiting a Decorate Your Own Cake shop might be just the thing!

Booking.com

How Much Does Duff’s Cakemix Cost?

You’re paying for the cupcakes/cake, and the experience, including all the ingredients and tools required to decorate your cake, which are reflected in the studio fee.

At the time of our visit, these were the prices for Duff’s Cakemix:

The “Express,” a 2-cupcake kit: $9 + $10 studio fee = $19
The “Sixlet,” a 6-cupcake kit: $29 + $10 studio fee = $39
The “Ace,” a fondant-covered 3-layer cake: $39 + $10 studio fee = $49

How Much Time Will You Need?

The amount of time it will take to decorate your cake or cupcakes will depend on which package you get, what level of difficulty template you choose (if you choose a template at all), how much additional embellishment you choose to add, and how many people will be helping. For us, we chose the Intermediate unicorn design, and it took about 1.5 hours with our niece adding personalized embellishments, but I’ve heard of others taking even longer.

READ MORE: Coolest Things to Do in LA

Duffs Cakemix Birthday Parties

The Decorate Your Own Cake shop is also available for birthday parties, though of course this would only really be of interest to locals, unless you’re traveling with a large group of people! During our visit, there was a birthday group for a girl celebrating her 11th birthday. How cute! I think it’d be a BLAST to host a party there, and…honey…I’m 28.

We’ve heard that Duffs Cakemix is also used to host team-building activities and corporate events. If you live in the LA area, and you’re looking to have a cake decorating party in Los Angeles, this seems like a convenient, stress-free place to do so.

Is Duff’s Cakemix Worth It?

If you want to decorate your own cake in Los Angeles, I think Duff’s Cakemix is worth it. The price isn’t cheap, for sure, but after experiencing it ourselves, and seeing how fully stocked the DIY cake decorating studio is, I do understand where the price comes from.

Now, if you’re making cakes on the regular, it would make more sense to stock your own home kitchen with all the tools, and a Decorate Your Own Cake Shop would likely not be worth it. But for the casual cake decorator, Duff’s Cakemix is clearly more convenient. PLUS, at Duff’s Cakemix, you don’t have to worry about any of the clean up.

Full disclosure: we didn’t pay for our cake decorating experience, as it was gifted to us in exchange for this review. However, since the Duffs Cakemix location is so close to us, I know we’ll be back as paying customers. Our 8-year-old niece got 1.5 hours of joy from the experience, and we had nearly as much fun watching her and helping her express her creativity freely.

A Decorate Your Own Cake Shop in LA

If you’re looking for the chance to do something creative AND make something tasty, Duff’s Cakemix is everything you need. For a fresh activity to add to your LA itinerary that’s fun, convenient, and unique, Duff’s TAKES THE CAKE! TAKE A BITE OUT OF LA with this SWEET TREAT of an LA activity. IT’S A PIECE OF…okay, I’ll stop now 😉😂

Disclosure: This post is a collaboration with Duff’s Cakemix, but as always, all opinions are very much our own!

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Learn the truth about visiting Duff's Cakemix, the DIY decorate your own cake shop in LA: how much it costs, what you get, and if our visit was worth it! If you're looking for places to take kids in Los Angeles, the Duffs Cake Mix studio is perfect. Make your own cake with access to all the Duff cake decorating supplies. The Do-It-Yourself cake decorating studio makes it fun and easy for all ages to express their creativity, with Duff cake decorating places close to LA tourist attractions!

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Lauren West

With sugar, spice, and everything…SAUCY, Lauren (AKA Renny) has been zigging and zagging ‘round the globe since she was 2. A self-taught photographer and UCLA-trained travel writer, Renny is armed and ready with a camera and notepad in hand to document the world, one piece of content at a time.

Visiting Duff’s Cakemix, a Decorate Your Own Cake Shop in LA

Make Your Own Cake in Los Angeles

Cake Decorating for All Ages and Skill Levels

Duffs Cake Mix: Walk-Ins and Reservations