[1] Celebrating eight years of CAKED’s cake cookies and other goodies (all photos © CAKED).

[2] While flavors rotate, here are some of the delicious options.

[3] You’ll want to taste every flavor, so you need a strategy. Ours was to take a forkful of each and freeze the rest. As Scarlett O’Hara said, “Tomorrow is another day!”

[4] Send boxes to every cookie lover on your gift list.

We’re always looking for the best baked goods: cakes, cookies, bars, everything! We’re thrilled when we find something terrific, and we have been thrilled by CAKED’s cake-like cookies.

They’re our Top Pick Of The Week, our Gift Of The Day for the holidays, and beyond. We can already see them as a reprise Top Pick for Valentine’s Day.

Founded in San Diego by Kathy Phan in 2017, CAKED makes wonderful artisanal treats: brownies, cake cookies, and traditional cookies.

We intend to try them all, but we started with a box of their cake cookies—exceptionally tender delights that look like artisan cookies.

Just take a bite, and you’ll find that what looks like a cookie has a cake-like softness.

How does Kathy do it? After lots and lots of recipe development came the breakthrough: cookies with an irresistibly soft texture that sets them apart from traditional crispy or chewy varieties.

The soft, cake-like texture comes from a secret ratio of fat, moisture content, and other kitchen wizardry.

The cookies are thick and pillowy, unique*, and irresistible. We have fallen under their magic spell.

The Red Velvet cake cookie may be the most heavenly cookie we’ve had all year—and there are only three weeks to go.

With more than 30 flavors in rotation, there’s always something to look forward to at CAKED.
 
 
GET YOUR CAKED COOKIES

They’re sold at five San Diego farmers markets, a storefront in the Miralani Makers District, and thankfully, via e-commerce.

Head to Caked.love.

> The history of cookies.

> The 10 different categories of cookies.

> The different types of cookies: a photo glossary.

> The different types of sugar: a photo glossary.

> The year’s 44 cookie holidays.
 

[6] Red Velvet was our favorite from our recent batch, but the rest tie for second place.

ROTATING FLAVORS

CAKED cookie flavors range from the classic to the modern. Many flavors have dark or white chocolate chips, adding additional flavor and texture.

This season, you’ll find Pumpkin Spice, Snickerdoodle, and White Chocolate Gingerbread, plus:

 
There are also gluten-free and vegan varieties.

The flavor list follows.

However, language evolves, and “unique” has developed a colloquial meaning closer to “unusual,” “distinctive,” or “remarkable.” When people say “that’s a very unique flavor combination,” they usually mean it’s highly unusual or particularly distinctive, not that it’s literally the only one in existence. In this looser sense, the gradable usage feels more natural.

Style guides and grammar purists generally advocate for the strict interpretation. If you mean “unusual” or “rare,” they’d argue you should use those words instead. Reserve “unique” for things that are genuinely singular. When you do modify “unique,” traditionalists accept qualifiers that address the manner or degree of uniqueness itself, such as “almost unique,” “nearly unique,” or “truly unique” (emphasizing its absolute uniqueness).

In practice, the “very unique” construction is so common in everyday speech that most listeners understand the intended meaning without confusion. Whether to avoid it depends on your audience and context—in formal or academic writing, stick to the strict usage, while in casual conversation, the broader interpretation is widely accepted even if not technically correct.
 
 

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