Need a treat? Try these 6 great cake slices from D.C.

If you’re craving cake, don’t wait for something to celebrate. And don’t think you need to buy a whole cake. Single cake slices are suitable for any occasion: for breakfast in lieu of a pastry, as a midday pick-me-up or to sweeten the end of a hearty dinner.

Fortunately for cake seekers, the DMV’s bakeries offer a delectable variety of single-slice options. We’ve gathered six standouts that put their best slice forward — cakes that are culinarily influenced by gastronomic traditions around the world, yet served within walking distance of Metrorail and bus stops.

The eateries featured here offer the option of eating on-site or taking your slice to go, and they serve coffee, tea and other beverages that pair well with their freshly baked offerings. The next time a cake craving hits, consider yourself prepared.

This award-winning Asian American bakery’s ube coconut cake is such a vibrant purple that it doesn’t look real. But there’s no need to be alarmed: The eye-popping color is characteristic of the cake’s main ingredient.

Ube is a naturally purple yam that’s often used in Philippine desserts. Although the Woodley Park bakery’s owner Rosie Nguyen is Vietnamese, her Filipino husband introduced her to the “deep vanilla chestnut flavor” found in ube. When Nguyen opened her shop two years ago, initially in a downtown D.C. food hall, she knew she wanted to incorporate ube into various Rose Ave menu items, including doughnuts and a latte.

In Rose Ave’s slice, bits of ube give the cake a slightly chewy texture and a sweetness that’s not overly sugary. It’s a nod to the traditional cakes you’d find in Asian bakeries, Nguyen said, but with a little extra sweetness. In between the cake’s starchy purple layers is a fluffy coconut Swiss meringue buttercream.

$6 per slice. 2633 Connecticut Ave. NW. roseavebakery.com.

Entering Kyoto Matcha’s Rockville location, customers must immediately choose their own adventure. Walk to the right, and you’re faced with a menu of matcha drinks: lattes, lemonade, boba and frappuccinos. Shuffle to the left and you’re greeted by a selection of desserts: soft serve, mochi ice cream and, of course, cake.

It doesn’t matter which path you choose initially, but you should incorporate the delightfully fragrant passion fruit crepe cake slice if a tart yet sugary confection is your intended final destination. The gel-like top layer of passion fruit is a punch of flavor, tactfully mellowed by the cream and crepe.

While passion fruit was a personal favorite, you can’t go wrong with any of the other crepe cake flavors: tiramisu, peach oolong, chocolate, ube and matcha. All of Kyoto Matcha’s slices are visually stunning and come in varied shapes and bright hues: spongy roll cakes, cylindrical milk cap cakes, square mousse cakes, and log-shaped towel cakes dusted with matcha or ube. No matter what choice you make, the ending will always be sweet.

$9.50 per slice. Locations in Rockville, Bethesda, Ellicott City, Hunt Valley and Towson. kyotomatcha.us.

If you’re looking to up your cake-tasting game and try more creative cake slices, look no further than Sharbat, an Azerbaijani bakery in Adams Morgan.

Owner Ilhama Safarova arrives each day at 5 a.m. to prepare freshly baked pastries from scratch by 10 a.m. “My goal is to introduce Azerbaijani cuisine to the world, and … to bring happiness to people,” she said. “When I see people trying it and experiencing it and loving it, that gives me a lot more energy to keep going.”

Try Sharbat’s cake slice with the most buzz, medovik (honey cake). Sharbat’s recipe deviates from its Russian equivalent. It has about 17 layers of thin crepe, and one cake takes Safarova about two hours to make. It’s easy to identify it in the Sharbat display case from the honeycomb pattern atop the cake. The slice has the texture and taste of a soft graham cracker, and the homemade cream is refreshing.

$5.99 per slice. 2473 18th St. NW. sharbat-bakery.business.site.

This vanilla cake slice with fresh strawberries, typically available to order once a week, is on the slightly gooey side and has a homey taste, just like Mama would make. And Mama did make it: Co-owner “Mama T,” also known as Teresa Velazquez, said the slice is the cake form of sister bakery Baked & Wired’s best-selling strawberry cupcake.

Velazquez’s Mama Love cupcake made its debut around Valentine’s Day 2013, with chocolate ganache frosting to replicate the flavor of chocolate-covered strawberries. The “naked”-ness of the slice, which means it’s barely covered by a thin coat of frosting, comes from Velazquez’s niece, who asked for a naked strawberry cake for her wedding.

Sometimes, store-bought bakery items truly put the “ice” in icing, resulting in a hard, crackled frosting. But the cream cheese frosting and Valentine’s Day heart sprinkles give the Naked Mama Love slice a reinvented look and welcome moistness at the casual food spot. That’s true of all of A Baked Joint’s rotating cake selections, which you can eat with the shop’s sandwiches, soups or salads.

$7.25 per slice. 430 K St. NW. abakedjoint.com.

This elegant Arlington cafe is known for top-notch pastries in the French tradition, particularly its white chocolate génoise cake, which combines white chocolate mousse and fresh raspberries. The smooth mousse is delightfully creamy, while the raspberry seeds give the cake a satisfying crunch with every bite.

For those who are part of the white-chocolate-hater contingent, not to worry: Eclairons also offers a dark chocolate version of the cake with a slightly more bitter taste. To grab the bakery’s breakfast, lunch or the espresso macchiato ($3.75 to go, $4.50 dine-in) that goes well with the dessert, be sure to stop by before 2 p.m.

The shop’s name, a portmanteau of éclairs and macarons, is an ode to owner Toni Srour’s favorite desserts. Srour, who’s spent more than four decades as a pastry maker, opened the Rosslyn bakery in 2020, his second cafe after opening Pastry Xpo Café in Falls Church’s Mosaic District in 2008.

$7.25 per slice. 1737 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. eclairons.com.

If you’re a no-frills kind of person who loves cake but hates icing, you’ll agree that the miniature loaf-style cake is one of the best inventions since sliced bread. And if that is the case, you’ll need to sit down with a slice of Café Georgetown’s lemon poppy loaf cake. (Want some frills? The cafe carries traditional chocolate and carrot cake slices as well.)

The lemon pound cake is divinely soft with a tart taste. And the poppy seeds add just the right amount of mellow flavor and crunch. Cafe owner Emel Bayrak loves pairing the flavor-packed loaf with a cortado or an espresso macchiato.

Signs at the cafe inform customers that the eatery is a “laptop-free zone” and extol the virtues of focusing on your dining companions. But even if you’ve come alone, you’ll want to stow the electronics and give this simple but satisfying dessert your undivided attention.

$5 per loaf. 3141 N St. NW. cafegeorgetown.com.