Charly’s Bakery is a famous Cape Town cake shop on the must visit list for many tourists. Charly’s was the subject of a South African reality show called Charly’s Cake Angels which aired internationally on the Food Network in 2012 and followed the happenings of the family owned and operated bakery, well known for its whimsical cakes. Charley’s has a signature style of bright colors, glitter, and over the top desserts. Sweet treats are served from the walk-up counter, and they also do custom bespoke cakes to order.

Despite Charley’s location in a huge Victorian era building on the edge of District Six, the interior display section where you choose your treats and order is problematically small. It’s a concave U-shape so it’s very difficult to actually see everything that’s available in the display cases if there are more than one or two customers waiting in line to place orders—and there’s almost always more than one or two customers. The cakes of the day are also hidden behind the corner of the display case, so unless you already know what you’re doing, chances are you’ll get a little frustrated trying to decide what you want. I’ve tried the wicked chocolate cake, which is a very rich and moist gooey chocolate cake covered in an even richer and gooier chocolate syrup. It was amazing, but so sweet that any more than three bites would have killed me. I’ve also tried the gold Amarula ultimate chocolate cake. It looks crazy—it’s totally covered in gold glitter, but it was a little dry and didn’t taste to me like Amarula, a special delicious South African creamy liqueur. Charly’s also offers cupcakes and all sorts of decorated cookies.

I’d say Charly’s is more about the experience than the actual quality of the cakes. It’s an interesting place to visit for sure, and anyone who saw the Charly’s Cake Angels show will enjoy seeing the girls at work on real cakes behind the display counter. Plus, Charly’s once baked a cake especially for Oprah Winfrey, and if it’s good enough for Oprah, it’s good enough for me.