Cafe Wicked Desserts

**UPDATE**
A couple weeks ago, café wicked CLOSED. Bad news bears.
***
I love the concept of this place. The staff was very nice and well informed and the furniture was very comfy. I was disappointed to hear that all of their desserts come from a commercial bakery, but with such a huge selection I could understand why. I love that they are open late and offer board games to play. They only issue I’ve had is the hours with this place. They are not open on mondays, and the one time I really wanted to go they had a makeshift sign up on the window saying they were closed for the day.
I really hope this place does well and stays around for awhile, its a really good addition to the neighborhood.

Since moving to this neighborhood, you can’t help but be enticed by a dessert shop. The great thing about this place is that it’s open late. I believe until 12:30am weekdays. This is perfect for the days where you don’t want to go some place like a bar to drink, and can go to meet up for desserts instead. Personally, these desserts are much tastier than alcohol. I came in with my sister and brother-​in-​law for a late night dessert movie night. We each picked a dessert and my raspberry mousse was delicious. It could be deemed slightly pricey, but the taste of it lingered until I went on my run the following Monday and told the guy standing outside handing samples that I’m coming back after the run!

Being that I live just down the street, I really, really wanted to like this place. I’ve tried three times to mixed results and have made up my mind that it will never be ‘great’ to me. There’s something missing it seems — it really doesn’t have it’s own style. This could be partly in that they sell desserts from other bakeries, but also the décor just is not cozy to me.
The staff was friendly enough, but between the neopolitan cake I tried, the cookies, and more recently the red velvet cake (which I did enjoy), there isn’t enough here to keep me interested in ever coming back. I’ll be heading up the road to the Bleeding Heart bakery or (for a healthier option), a little farther west on Armitage to Doc’s for a smoothie.

I really like this place.
My favorite dessert — hands down — is the raspberry éclair cheesecake (cheesecake swirled with raspberries covered with whipped cream mousse, éclair puffs, raspberries and chopped pecans). Whenever I hit the café, I always make it a point to try a brand-​spankin’ new dessert, one I’ve never tried before. But when I see that amazing cheesecake staring at me from the other side of the glass, I… simply…cave…in… Needless to say, I buy TWO desserts each time. Ugh, so sad.
Everything else I’ve tried from here has been delicious, by the way.
I like the atmosphere. Came here with some friends and wasn’t planning on staying and socializing but… well, we did. I liked it because the music wasn’t too loud, the customers (it was late so there weren’t too many people) weren’t too loud, and the couches were comfy. I feel like my guests and I got to know each other a bit better that night, ha! (side note: you can play in-​house games there if you don’t feel like doing mass amounts of talking with your friends; the only game I remember off the top of my head is Yahtzee.)
I feel that the world would be a better place if everyone just stopped in for some raspberry éclair cheesecake. Fo’ serious.

Yesterday was the fiancé’s bday and he wanted a cupcake. Actually he first requested a Jewel cake (we’re working on his taste in cakes), but with our wedding just a few months away we decided maybe cupcakes would be a better idea… cause you know us piggies would eat the whole cake ourselves!
I was in this area and decided to head over to Café Wicked Desserts to pick up 2 cupcakes (i get one too on the bday!). Been wanting to check Wicked out since they opened, especially since they claim they have the best desserts in town and won’t tell where they get them from (I love secrets!). So imagine my disappointment when I walked in and discovered that they don’t sell cupcakes! What kind of dessert place is this? They did have some tempting looking desserts so I bought a mini cinnamon muffin thingee (had to try something after my trip there) and it was very good. Everything else looked yummy as well, but nothing really looked good enough to bring home for the bday celebration.
Their staff was super sweet and gave me suggestions of nearby bakeries where I could actually get my cupcakes. The place was much more spacious than I expected as well. I asked if they have wifi (i had visions of myself working from there surrounded by delicious desserts), but they responded they don’t because then someone will buy just 1 cup of coffee and sit there all day. But then again that one cup of coffee is probably better than having a room full of empty tables.
I probably don’t have much of a need to go back (especially when places like Sweet Mandy B’s and Alliance Bakery exist), but may change my mind if they ever get wifi and cupcakes! Oh, and if you’re wondering… my fiancé did get his cupcake. Red velvet cupcakes from Alliance Bakery and boy were they good!

I’ll be shocked if Café Wicked stays in business for a full year. We went here on Saturday and it was completely empty — besides the 4 employees. No cupcakes, no skim milk (only 2%), and there is a $ 10 minimum to use a credit card.
The place is really spacious… too bad there were no customers to enjoy any of the nice lounging furniture. The fact that they have samples is nice, but seriously $ 9+ for some of their pieces of cake. Rip off.

I also went to Wicked after the Time Out review and I was disappointed. The desserts were fairly good — standard stuff, nothing special. Décor could have been more cozy but comfortable enough, leather sofas, and benches. So we were the only ones there, which is always kinda weird. But we ordered a couple of cakes and some lattes. Three workers, two customers and it took over 15 minutes to get all of our food and drinks. I know they were mostly new so we cut them some slack. (I thought it was a bit funny they put those plastic numbers on a metal stand on your table to indicate who ordered what, even though we were the only ones there).
So we went again last night. About two months since our last visit. It was Saturday night around 9pm and we weren’t sure if they were open. It is so dark driving by there and we never know if they are open or not. But we had some people visiting Chicago and they heard about this place from other friends living in the area so we went. Sucked. Really, it was not good. They got our order wrong. We all felt like we were hassling them when we asked for cream or milk for our coffee. Didn’t bring any water out until we asked. No forks for our party of seven unless we asked. And every time we asked, the three loiters/​workers behind the counter made us feel like we were intruding. So much for customer service. Oh and we were the only ones in there… again. (Two more couples came in about 20 minutes after we arrived).
The desserts are okay. I liked the cakes but the service is abominable. We aren’t going back and have told friends not to go as well.

I stopped in and had a chocolate chip muffin and a hot chocolate. The muffin was HUGE and quite inexpensive. The hot chocolate was fine, nothing special. comfy seats, nice atmosphere. I spent under $ 5 so that works for me.

Time Out ran a blurb about Café Wicked a few weeks ago, and I made a mental note then to give it a try. Boy am I glad I did! Do yourself a favor and try the amaretto cream cake. That’s all I’m sayin’.
They’ve nailed the atmosphere (swanky dessert lounge) and each of the five desserts I tried (c’mon. .. I went with seven friends!) were heavenly. I have only two suggestions for the owners. Keep more desserts on hand. (When we came in at 9:00 last night, there was a lot of empty space in the dessert case.) And stay open later on the weekends. (Why, oh why is there no place in town to get a latte between the hours of 10:00 and 11:00?)
Next time you’re having dinner in Bucktown or Wicker Park, leave room for dessert (and apple cider!) and head over to Café Wicked.

I finally stopped in here while a friend was in from out of town. We had been craving dessert all weekend. and didn’t manage to get any until the Sunday that we stopped by. Needless to say. there were high expectations for the goodies we’d been waiting to devour.
Wicked didn’t disappoint! I had the most delicious and moist Red Velvet Cake. my friend tried the Chocolate Eruption. which was also tasty. The interior of the café is also very cozy. We settled in on the most comfy couch. and other then the screaming child on the other side of the room. it was very enjoyable!
I’d say the only major downfall was the price. it is a little hefty for a piece of cake. I almost wish they’d cut down on the portions (HUGE.and unfinishable) and lower the price a bit. But hey, can’t have everything.

Checked out this place the other night and was pleasantly surprised with the treat selection. A great variety, and though it is a little pricey (about $ 5-​$ 7 for most choices), you get a good-​size portion of a tasty dessert in a comfortable lounge-​esque atmosphere. The red velvet cake was delicious. The cookies on display weren’t that tempting, but they were inexpensive. If you’ve got a brownie craving, there were some huge ones there that looked like they could easily satisfy.
Unfortunately, we had no idea it is BYOB… this would be a great place to enjoy an after dinner drink with your sweet indulgence. Will definitely go back, but next time we won’t arrive empty-​handed!

My husband and I don’t often frequent this neighborhood, but we were down here to go to another place and I couldn’t resist when we walked past. I ordered for take-​out, but the inside looked very cozy and if we lived closer I’d be very tempted to come back and hang out (lots of other folks appeared to be enjoying themselves).
The service was very friendly, and the pumpkin praline cheesecake that we brought home was creamy, pumpkiny and not too sweet despite having the caramel and topping. Agreed that prices were a little high, but I think you could share if you were so inclined and the sampler package appeared to be a nice deal (about $ 20 for 5 specific types).

They aptly named this place Wicked because it it pretty hard to pick just one piece. This is a cool idea — they don’t make the desserts but some well known pastry chefs supply the goods from all over town, so don’t be surprised if you get something you might have seen on some fancy restaurant’s menu.
I loved the Key Lime Pie, YUMMY! It was a taste of heaven. And the cheesecakes, OH SO Hard to choose…
Its still new, they have only been open for a bit over a month now and while they still need to sort out some bugs, they are slowly getting more food stuff, so go and support them and encourage them to get more stuff… like cupcakes! The place is huge so there is plenty of room to hang out in and meet up with some friends and they have nice comfy furniture to lounge in.
The staff was so nice and they don’t except tips which was classy and quite different then some places with the in your face tip jar.

We’ve passed this a zillion times and have been eagerly awaiting it’s opening. Finally… we got the opportunity to indulge.
Honestly, while the desserts we had were extremely delicious (we had the caramel granny apple and some kind of heavenly chocolate cake), I’m not sure I’d really go out of my way to go back. I was disappointed in the fact that while they had a large menu of desserts… what they actually had to offer was less than half the menu.
That being said… what we did have was, again, delicious and worth checking out at least once. The interior was cozy having both comfy couches/​chairs with coffee tables and wooden tables/​chairs. We opted for one of the couches which was quite conducive to the sugar coma we both succumb to shortly after finishing off our desserts.
All in all, it’s worth it to check it out especially if you live in the neighborhood.

The desserts that we tried there were very good — especially the red velvet cake and cappuccino mousse cake free samples — but there was just something a little bit off about Café Wicked. Firstly, they don’t make their own desserts, they buy them from other bakeries and then mark up the prices, which we found out when I asked about why there were no cupcakes on the menu (their response: we haven’t found any that are original enough for us — clearly, they haven’t been eating the same cupcakes as me!). Our chocolate cake laced with caramel was very good — although he liked it better than I did, which makes sense, considering he picked it out! The fact that Café Wicked is BYOB wasn’t advertised until we flat-​out asked if they had a drinks menu. I think the major issue is that Café Wicked doesn’t know if it’s a dessert lounge or a coffee place, and until it develops a sense of identity, I’m fearful for its future in a city with great bakeries — that actually sell their OWN products!

So I’ve been waiting for Café Wicked to open since I moved to Bucktown several months back. I finally got the opportunity to sample the goods this past week and I must say that despite being exceptionally pricey, the cake was delicious.
Pros: Nice interior. This place would make a great martini lounge with a little work.
Cons: Deserts were pricey and they don’t have any breakfast offerings.
Über Con: NO CUPCAKES! What desert bar doesn’t have a cupcake on the menu?

Stopped by this place to pick up a dessert for a friend. Everything looked delicious and they had plenty of samples. The carmel granny apple pie is to die for! Seriously some of the best apple pie I’ve ever had. We sampled the red velvet cake and it was delicious as well. The staff was very friendly and helpful with recommendations. I took off one star only because the prices are a bit high. Almost $ 7 for a slice of pie. Despite that, I know I’ll be back.

Prepare to indulge when you go in this place. The desserts are so good here and the portions are huge! We checked it out yesterday and I can’t stop thinking about going back for more. I tried the Crème Brulee Cheesecake and my husband had a Rasberry Walnut slice. They were exactly what I wanted them to be — creamy, sweet (but not too sweet), fresh and delicious. This is a perfect spot for after-​dinner. It’s BYOB, so I would pick up a nice dessert wine and head over here. Great for date-​night!

Great new dessert spot. Opened ¹⁰⁄₂. Lots of great cakes/​cookies, etc. Friendly staff and nice space.
After another visit and after reading the fact that the deserts are just resold I’m backing my rating down to 3 stars.