Gold Thorn Durian Cake by Daan Go Cake Lab

Wow! Never thought my first official food review would go to a smelly food! 🤣

I have to be honest first: I have never tried durian (the fruit) before so it is my very first time getting a taste of this strong-odor heavy-taste^† stinky fruit.

Daan Go Cake Lab

I got to know about this new kid on the block through a facebook group.

Daan Go in Cantonese means cake, so it’s obviously… a cake shop. Its first store is in Toronto and finally it’s now open in west coast Richmond city in Metro Vancouver. It’s famous for its cute character macarons, artisan chocolate and highly real life-looking cakes.

I didn’t really plan on getting anything from them now because of the long lineup. I was planning to get the durian cake for my partner’s birthday later in the year because of the hype. But I decided to get it now because they provide online ordering so I can preorder and skip the line!

“Gold Thorn”

You can tell why it’s created a hype in town cause of its realistic semblance of the real fruit!

I preordered it a day before the scheduled pickup time. When I arrived at the store, there was still a long lineup despite the store was going to be closed in an hour! There were 2 people in front of me waiting for pickups and it took me about 10 minutes to wait for my turn. Obviously the store was understaffed as there were only 2 staffs working at that time and both of them were very busy doing their job. Poor girls!!!

Packaging

So the cake comes in a colorful big paper pastry box, with a welcoming text “Enjoy” on the opening lid.

Appearance

I already viewed the real thing before it was given to me so I knew it looked just like as advertised. But for someone who has never seen it before, the cake absolutely looks interesting – my partner was so surprised how realistic it looks.

The inside look also looks nice. The color looks almost like the durian meat.

Taste

The moment we cut it, we knew it would taste so soft. We were right and it tasted very creamy. Again, just like the real durian meat! It literally melted in our mouths.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve never tasted durian before, and I can confirm the taste and texture are exactly what I thought they would be. I can also confirm I don’t like durian. The taste and smell are a bit too much for me.

But for my partner who’s a durian fan and a chef himself, his first feedback after taking the first bite was: “WOW!”. He complimented how strong the taste was (in a good way) and how close it was to the real fruit.

While it’s a fact that this cake is probably the most authentic and sincere durian dessert he has ever had, when I asked him to rate its taste, he said he would give it 4/5. It’s great, but not super-duper impressive to make him want to go back to it again and again. It’s very rich but can be overwhelmingly filling one’s stomach, especially after a big meal.

Portion size

We both agree that the whole cake should be enough to serve more than 5 people as suggested, since a thin slice feels so rich and fills one up easily. We think it may be enough for 6 to 8 people.

Perfect portion size to share with buddies. The question is: do you have that many friends to try this heavy-taste cake?

Price

It’s priced at $45 and I didn’t get charge the 5% GST when I checked out. They don’t offer delivery so the only option is free pickup in store. The grand total for the cake is $45 CAD all inclusive.

Considering the cake is a mini durian size with a suggested serving size of 5, $9 per serving per person is on the more pricey side.

However, as I wrote under Portion Size, the cake may actually serve around 6 to 8 people with smaller appetite. Therefore, it may cost down to $5 to 7.5 per slice per person, which in my opinion isn’t too bad. It’s value for money with its decent quality.

Goodbuy or Goodbye?

This is absolutely a goodbuy to me! The cake is fun to watch and eat. If you are a durian lover, definitely give it a try.

You can get your order of Gold Thorn here.

Unsponsored This article is (sadly) NOT sponsored and I purchased the product/service(s) at my own expense. I am not paid to write this review.

Daan Go Cake Lab

Address: 4731 Garden City Rd, Unit 100, Richmond, British Columbia
Hours: Tues to Sat – 11 AM to 7 PM, Sun – 11 AM to 6 PM
van.daango.com