Doan’s Bakery of Woodland Hills Gets Celebrity Approval

Decadent White Chocolate Coconut Cake, made famous after Tom Cruise began gifting it to friends, puts Ventura Boulevard bake shop on the radar amongst the who’s-who crowd.

Comfortably nestled at 22526 Ventura Boulevard and offering up delicious batches of cakes, cookies, cupcakes, cobblers, cheesecakes, pies, and much more, Doan’s Bakery of Woodland Hills has, for a quarter of a century, been baking for restaurants, coffee houses and caterers alike, the business continues to remain family-owned-and-operated to this very day.

Around the holidays, however, Doan’s gets thrust into the local spotlight for a different reason, though it takes nothing away from the bake shop’s history of churning out delectable desserts. Dubbed the “Tom Cruise Cake” because of its association with the actor and his habit of gifting the concoction to famous friends each holiday season, Doan’s own White Chocolate Coconut Cake becomes the talk of the town when Christmas arrives. Celebrities like Rosie O’Donnell, Kirsten Dunst, Renee Zellweger, Angela Bassett, James Corden, Jimmy Fallon, Henry Cavill, Cobie Smulders, and Graham Norton all landed on Cruise’s “nice list” to receive one of the cakes encased in a gorgeous box-and-bow package…and worthy of display on a mantle.

Cruise, who was introduced to the cake by then-wife Katie Holmes (who learned about it from Diane Keaton), was quoted back in 2018 saying: “I send cakes to everyone…and I wait for the calls from recipients who tell me how good it was. My response is always ‘tell me about it.’”

Eric Doan, who runs Doan’s Bakery with his 79-year-old mother Karen, describes the uber-popular White Chocolate Coconut Cake as a coconut bundt cake with chunks of sweet white chocolate, layers of cheese frosting, and a dusting of toasted coconut flakes, a concoction that Karen created and debuted in 1984 when she first opened her business. With a two-month wait on the dessert, Doan’s will send you one for $99 (shipping included) via Goldbelly, and the cake will come frozen, packed with dry ice; according to feedback from some celebrity super-fans of this decadent treat, including Cruise’s Jack Reacher co-star Smulders and Interview with the Vampire co-star Dunst, a little goes a long way because the cake is so sweet. In fact, Smulders, who, upon receipt, stores it below 32 degrees each year and then chips away at it slowly from December until March (though Dunst admits she does dig into it right away with family and finishes it in one night).

What’s more, the Doan’s White Chocolate Coconut Cake is 10-inches in diameter and serves 12 to 16 – we may go so far as to say 20 because a small slice satiates, indeed. It is also important to note that if Tom Cruise isn’t sending you the cake (it’s okay, we’re not on his personal mailing list, either), the box doesn’t come decorated in the same fashion as it would if the A-list actor were sending it to someone like O’Donnell, Dunst or Smulders (i.e., with the signature reindeer ornament and elegant bow). Regarding this special packaging, Eric Doan explains that Cruise has his Odin Productions company staffers pick up the finished cakes, which are taken elsewhere to be dressed up before they’re sent to those on the actor star-studded holiday list.

For our Woodland Hills residents, Doan’s sells smaller sizes of the cake – plus, the 10-inch version costs $50 in which the bakery has compared to the $99 delivered option with Goldbelly’s markup. As a side note, you won’t see the “Tom Cruise Cake” anywhere on Doan’s menu; while the dessert has taken on that moniker because of its connection to the myriad of celebrities who have hyped it, the bakery doesn’t market it as such. Instead, it’s simply the White Chocolate Coconut Cake, one of 30 cakes on Doan’s expansive sweets roster.

Cruise actually buys a few hundred of the cakes over the holidays – because hey, why not? – but also orders them during the year, with Doan’s owner Eric often crediting the actor for helping keep them afloat, notably during this COVID pandemic. Still, Doan’s is no stranger to the celebrity attention: sweets lover Sofia Vergara is also a fan of the coconut cake, and the bakery, in general, has enjoyed the patronage of other famous peeps like Jennifer Lopez, who ordered custom cakes through Doan’s for the birthday of twins Max and Emme. Being more than just a cupcake or cheesecake depot, Doan’s Bakery crafts personal creations, delicious and beautiful wedding cakes for that ultimate family event. The business is located at 22526 Ventura Boulevard and can be reached by calling (818) 591-9236.