It’s the most wonderful time of year for everyone on Tom Cruise’s gift list.
The Mission: Impossible star is known for his gift of a very specific item – a white chocolate coconut cake from Doan’s Bakery in Woodland Hills, California – and the delicacy has developed its own lore.
The cakes are delivered every December and the A-list recipients don’t mind if word gets out that they’re on Cruise’s nice list. Glen Powell tipped people off to his delivery this year, sharing a photo of his Dec. 13 delivery on Instagram with the caption: “The Cruise cake has arrived.” Powell, who appeared Top Gun: Maverick with Cruise, has said that every year he throws a “party” when the cake arrives, inviting friends to enjoy.
Spanish-American singer-songwriter Victoria Canal, who denied she was in a relationship with Cruise over the summer, happily accepted her special delivery this year as well.
“Let it be known: the Tom Cruise Cake is a 10 out of 10,” Canal said in an Instagram video posted on December 9.
Around the same time, the Today show stars sliced into what they called “Cruise’s iconic coconut cake,” courtesy of Carson Daly, who had it delivered via Goldbelly. The entire segment, on December 13, was the gang – including Hoda Kotb, Craig Melvin and Al Roker – eating cake for breakfast.
While Cruise himself won’t be eating the cake (“I love sugar, but I can’t eat it because when I’m working out…” the action star said in 2018), recipients include Kirsten Dunst, Tom Hanks , Angela Bassett, Rosie O’Donnell, Renée Zellweger, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, James Corden and Jimmy Fallon, to name a few.
Yahoo Entertainment has been keeping an eye on the Cruise Cake phenomenon for a long time. We’ve reported on who’s getting it and who’s been dropped from the list. We tried it. We tried to replicate it. But it’s always fun to go to the source – bakery owner Eric Doan – for a sweet chat about the famous treat.
‘We’re just a small town’
“There’s a strange fascination around it,” Doan told Yahoo Entertainment on December 17.
To be clear, Doan is not seeking press about the ‘Cruise Cake’, although he does receive requests from all over Germany, including. He protects his old customer and doesn’t want to say too much. There is no mention of a “Cruise Cake” or acknowledgment of Cruise’s endorsement on the bakery’s website. Doan didn’t know that 2024 breakout star Powell was getting his cake delivery or Regram was getting the Twisters actor’s social media post about it. He didn’t look at the Today show segment – or even know it aired.
“We never really promote the celebrity side of it, but we’ve been super blessed to have the messages of support,” Doan said.
It’s not that Doan doesn’t appreciate it all. He certainly is, as he acknowledges that Cruise’s annual order of “hundreds” of cakes has kept his small family business afloat at times “over the past decade,” especially during the COVID pandemic, and that Cruise’s stamp of approval has led to high demand for the cake. It’s just that Doan is very busy baking.
The day we spoke, he had baked and frosted fifty coconut cakes himself for shipping. That is the daily production at this time of year – with repeat orders until February. That’s in addition to his regular bakery duties, during which he is assisted by his wife Carrie and a small staff. Not to mention large orders like Cruise’s and custom cakes. He works twelve to fourteen hours a day, seven days a week – a pace he has maintained since Thanksgiving.
“Honestly, I’m just exhausted,” Doan said, but also “incredibly grateful.” He will keep up the pace until January, where he will take a short but well-deserved break.
A few facts about the “Cruise Cake”: The order is managed by the team at Cruise’s production company. This concerns between 200 and 300 cakes, which the bakery supplies for several weeks. Doan’s gets special boxes for the cakes, which his team wraps with bows, decorations (in recent years it’s been a blingy reindeer) and the custom notes. The Cruise team delivers the cakes, near and far. Doan’s is not aware of the list of recipients.
Although it is a VIP experience, anyone in the US can order the cake through Goldbelly. However, there is a charge for overnight delivery: $129.95. That has led to some criticism Doan has heard about the price. But if you go to his bakery, the 10-inch cake that feeds 12 to 16 people costs $50. There are also smaller sizes, including one that feeds six to eight people ($39) and a mini ($9).
“People have these expectations,” Doan said, “and you know, we’re just a small town.”
And while the cake makes headlines every December, it’s not necessarily a celebratory cake. It’s a popular seller all year round – especially as a birthday cake – so those who can’t order in December should try it in June, for example.
The history of the Cruise Cake
The cake was made by Doan’s mother, Karen, who started her business in 1983. It’s a coconut cake with chunks of sweet white chocolate and layers of cream cheese frosting, and sprinkled with toasted coconut flakes.
The path to stardom is this: Diane Keaton tried the cake and fell in love. In 2008 she co-starred in the film Crazy money with Cruise’s then-wife, Katie Holmes. Both women claimed to know the best place to get a cake, so they all flew with their selections to the set in Shreveport, La. – Keaton’s from Doan’s – and Cruise did a taste test to choose the winner. Now, years after Cruise’s marriage to Holmes ended, his love for gifting the cake has continued.
Doan’s mother died of cancer in 2023, which was “extremely difficult” for the baker, he said. He tries to protect her legacy and everything she created.
“She’s definitely smiling down,” Doan said. ‘She was allowed to see a little bit of it [the fruits of her labor] … I know she must just be happy” by the overwhelming success.
Doan said that in his mother’s final months, he was in the hospital watching a daytime talk show “and they happened to be talking about her cake,” he said, noting that she was tickled by it. “I mean, [the timing] was a bit weird. It’s like…coincidence?” (Kelly Clarkson did a story around that time.)
In Karen’s final days, her most famous client contacted her, which was very special for the family.
“About a week before my mother passed away, Tom called her and talked to her for over 20 minutes,” Doan said. “I don’t know exactly how it happened, but that was pretty cool” of him.
Cruise also sent a large flower arrangement for Karen’s memorial.
“I know it meant the world to her,” Doan said.
