Vancouver has long been celebrated for its vibrant café and pastry culture, and in 2025 the city’s dessert cafés are as creative, cosmopolitan and welcoming as ever. Whether you crave elegant plated sweets, cozy cafés with local charm, or adventurous fusion desserts, the city offers a rich constellation of sweet destinations. Below you’ll find twenty dessert cafés that stand out in 2025 for their vision, consistency, local impact and ability to delight.
At the end, I offer a reflective summary on what these cafés reveal about Vancouver’s sweet culture today, and advice on how best to explore them as a dessert pilgrim.
Featured Dessert Cafés (with address and website when available)
1. Remi Patisserie
Address: 511 West 7th Avenue, Vancouver, BC
Website: remipatisserie.com
Remi Patisserie has earned a reputation for marrying French pastry technique with Asian flavor sensibilities. Their eclairs, mochi-infused sweets and delicately constructed tarts have made them a darling of the Instagram crowd and serious dessert lovers alike. The space itself is modern but warm, and the display cases read like a poetry of texture and color.
2. Beaucoup Bakery & Café
Address: (Multiple; flagship) Vancouver, BC
Website: beaucoupbakery.com
Beaucoup is a beloved fixture in Vancouver’s pastry circle. From delicate viennoiseries to creative daily specials, the café balances precision with warmth. The interiors reflect that duality, with clean lines and friendly seating. For many locals, going to Beaucoup is not just dessert, but part of how one lives in a city of pastry appreciation.
3. Cheesecake, Etc.
Address: 2141 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC
Website: cheesecakeetc.com
Cheesecake, Etc. is something of an institution in Vancouver after decades of service. Famous for its late-night dessert offerings, jazzy and cozy ambiance, and commitment to its signature cheesecakes, this café continues to lure nocturnal dessert seekers. The menu also includes pastries, coffee and seasonal specialties, making it a go-to for both classic and comfort desserts.
4. Passione Gelato
Address: 55 Smithe Street, Vancouver, BC
Website: passionegelato.ca
Passione Gelato offers one of the finest gelato experiences in Vancouver. Their shop in Yaletown features a daily rotation of traditional Italian flavors alongside seasonal and inventive specials. For gelato lovers, it’s a must-stop: smooth texture, balanced sweetness and a sense that this is gelato crafted by purists.
5. Trafiq Café & Bakery
Address: 4216 Main Street, Vancouver, BC
Website: trafiq.ca
Trafiq specializes in layered desserts and elegant cakes. Their menu spans mousses, glazes, fruit curd layers, delicate sponge cakes and chocolate finishes. The atmosphere leans toward the minimalist and refined. It is the kind of place where dessert is the main event, rather than a footnote to coffee.
6. The First Dessert
Address: 5857 Victoria Drive, Vancouver, BC V5P 3P9
Website: thefirstdessert.ca
The First Dessert is a local gem specializing in Cantonese dessert traditions, updated with carefully modern touches. The menu showcases sweet soups, puddings and hybrid desserts, bridging traditional Chinese dessert culture with contemporary presentation and technique. For those who love dessert beyond the Euro-style pastry model, this spot is a compelling counterpoint.
7. D Spot Dessert Café
Address: Vancouver, BC (multiple or centralized)
Website: dspotdessert.com
D Spot Dessert Café is imaginative, with a menu that includes homemade ice cream, Belgian chocolate work, cakes and some savory crossover offerings. Their ambiance leans toward playful elegance, and for many patrons it’s the kind of café you visit when you want a dessert that feels both familiar and theatrical.
8. 17°C Dessert Café
Address: (Kingsway & Nanaimo area, Vancouver, BC)
Website: — (no definitive website listed)
17°C Dessert Café is a small but beloved spot in East Vancouver, known especially for its shaved ice, parfaits, bubble tea, and Chinese and Western dessert crossover. Reviewers praise the generous portions, appealing presentation and the sense of discovery when you find this slightly tucked-away shop.
9. La Casa Gelato
Address: 1033 Venables Street, Vancouver, BC
Website: lacasagelato.com (or analog)
La Casa Gelato is an icon in Vancouver’s dessert map, well known for its extensive range of gelato flavors (reportedly over 200 in prior feature articles). Their longevity and devotion to gelato craftsmanship give them gravitas among dessert cafés. The shop invites gelato fans to linger, taste, and return repeatedly.
10. Earnest Ice Cream
Address: Multiple (e.g., 3992 Fraser Street, 1829 Quebec Street, Vancouver, BC)
Website: earnesticecream.com
Earnest Ice Cream may lean more toward ice cream than plated dessert, but its dedication to small batch, carefully sourced ingredients, rotating seasonal flavors and vegan offerings make it impossible to omit. As Vancouver’s dessert cafés evolve to include cold dessert experience as art, Earnest holds a special position.
11. Beta5 Chocolates
Address: 409 Industrial Avenue, Vancouver, BC
Website: beta5chocolates.com
Beta5 is known primarily as a high-end chocolate atelier, but its café dimension — with cream puffs, dessert sandwiches, chocolate confections, plated sweets and tasting experiences — gives it status among Vancouver’s dessert cafés. Every visit feels like an encounter with chocolate as sculpture and emotion.
12. Thomas Haas Fine Chocolates & Patisserie
Address: Vancouver, BC (main shop in city)
Website: thomashaas.com
Thomas Haas is both chocolatier and patisserie, merging European finesse and local palate. Their desserts are artful, seasonal and precise. Whether you visit for macarons, tarts or chocolate work, Haas offers a refined, consummate café dessert experience in Vancouver.
13. Soft Peaks Ice Cream
Address: 25 Alexander Street, Vancouver, BC
Website: softpeaks.com
Soft Peaks is credited with pioneering organic soft-serve ice cream in the city, with toppings that reflect Pacific Northwest flair (honey, local fruit, nuts). Its approach is simple but elevated — the quality of dairy, toppings and presentation make it a dessert café worth detouring to.
14. Mister Artisan Ice Cream
Address: 1141 Mainland Street, Vancouver, BC
Website: (site as local ice cream/dessert)
Mister Artisan Ice Cream is known for its liquid nitrogen style ice cream, experimental flavors, and refined texture. For those seeking dessert cafés that push the envelope in cold dessert technique, Mister is a conversation piece as much as a scoop shop.
15. Snackshot
Address: 7980 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC
Website: thesnackshot.com
Snackshot brings Hong Kong–style dessert culture to Vancouver: sweet soups, tofu puddings, bubble waffles, infused teas and comforting classics. Their menu is a tribute to dessert traditions that cross continents, and the ambiance feels casual and communal — perfect for sharing and exploring.
16. Mello Patisserie
Address: Vancouver, BC (neighborhood shops)
Website: mellopatisserie.com
Mello Patisserie specializes in elegant pastries, tarts, cakes and petit desserts with a modern twist. Often highlighted in “best dessert” roundups in Vancouver, they appeal to dessert connoisseurs who seek balance, texture, detail and aesthetic flair.
17. Passion8 Dessert Café
Address: Vancouver, BC (Fairview / local area)
Website: passion8cafe.com (or analogous)
Passion8 is a modern dessert haven. Known originally for Korean-style shaved ice (bingsoo), it now offers a broader menu of croffles, pastries, toasts, espresso drinks and dessert hybrids. Their space is youthful, bright, social and built for sharing — a dessert café for the new generation.
18. Nukid Café (Korean dessert style)
Address: Robson Street, Vancouver, BC
Website: nukidcafe.com (or analogous)
Nukid brings Korean dessert culture — think soft bingsu, milk teas, colorful parfaits, mochi motifs — into the Vancouver mainstream. The café has a playful, colorful interior, and dessert lovers often head there when they want something light, cool, and visually joyful.
19. Billy Button Dessert
Address: 3568 Fraser Street, Vancouver, BC V5V 4C6
Website: billybuttondessert.com
Billy Button Dessert is a boutique dessert café with a focused menu of plated sweets, pastry works, dessert “tasting bites” and elegant confections. The space is intimate and artisanal. It invites dessert lovers who want to savor each flavor in structure, not rush through.
20. Gateau de Henry
Address: 2255 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 3H9
Website: gateaudehenry.com
Gateau de Henry is a café that blends brunch, coffee and dessert, with emphasis on cakes and plated sweets. Their reputation is built on balance: desserts that feel luxurious without being overly rich, and café comforts that make it a relaxing, elegant venue to linger over pastry and conversation.
Summary & Exploration Guide
Taken together, these twenty dessert cafés form a cross-section of Vancouver’s sweet life in 2025. They represent tradition and innovation, local and global dessert cultures, cold and warm desserts, and neighborhood anchors as well as destination pastry ateliers. Some focus on Euro-style pastry, others on Asian dessert traditions; some speak the language of chocolate and sugar art, others speak in shaved ice, gelato or cold technique.
The dessert café is in Vancouver no longer just an afterthought to dinner, but often the destination itself. Many cafés now open later; some host live music (e.g. Cheesecake, Etc.); some lean into theatrical presentation; others maintain quiet, seasonal restraint. What binds them is a respect for texture, balance, ingredient provenance and a desire to tell a story with sweetness.
If you wish to explore them, here are a few tips:
- Start dessert tours in the late afternoon or early evening, when cafés shift from coffee to dessert mode.
- Mix cafés by style: pair a classic pastry house (Beaucoup, Thomas Haas) with a dessert fusion spot (Snackshot, The First Dessert) and a gelato/ice cream stop (Passione, Earnest).
- Check each café’s web or social updates, as some rotate seasonal dessert menus or have limited-edition flavors.
- Don’t underestimate smaller cafés: boutique dessert spots (like Billy Button or Gateau de Henry) may have fewer items, but often those items are some of the most thoughtfully executed sweets in the city.
- Bring a companion or take-out box: many places specialize in small portion sweets or tasting bites that are ideal for sharing.
Vancouver’s dessert café scene in 2025 signals that sweetness is serious art: each café above competes not just on sugar, but on texture, concept, narrative and the experience of lingering, tasting, delighting. May this list guide your next dessert journey — and may every bite surprise, comfort or inspire.