In sweet heaven: trendy Donecake café in Düsseldorf

Pure indulgence. Everything at Donecake calls out for it: the pink-walled interior, velvet- upholstered chairs and pastel-toned arrangements of artificial flowers. But above all, the display of cakes, doughnuts and desserts – iced, sprinkle- topped, decorated with every imaginable sweet from the confectionery assortment. ‘What does Düsseldorf need?’ Hakan Cengiz asked himself just over four years ago. His answer: ‘A café with a special concept.’ There were plenty of eateries in this city on the Rhine, thought Cengiz. Cafés offering cake as well. But the 43-year-old family man saw an open market niche: for outstanding cheesecake. More precisely, San Sebastián cheesecake. With this speciality – intense cheese flavour, creamy consistency and distinctive, darkly browned top – Cengiz hit the bull’s eye when he opened Donecake in May 2022.

Indulge faster with DISH Pay Now

‘Our San Sebastián is out of this world,’ raves Yasemin Demir about Donecake’s top seller. The 36-year-old has worked here as a server for a year and a half now and knows her regular guests by name. Keeping an eye on all the tables, Demir dashes back and forth between the cake counter and the seating area. ‘I always try to make sure everybody’s comfortable and no one has to wait long.’ Now, in the summer months, in addition to the usual on-premises and takeaway sales, there are 25 further seats on the terrace. Until recently, this was a ‘half self-service’ area: guests ordered and paid at the counter inside, and their food and drinks were brought out to them. Despite the quick pace of the service staff, this meant guests often had to wait. DISH Pay Now has brought relief. The mobile card payment device is the size of a smart-phone and just as intuitive to use. The guest touches their debit card to the device – and that’s it. ‘That saves us a lot of time,’ says Demir. Donecake owner Cengiz was one of the first to be able to try out the new solution from DISH, the METRO subsidiary. Since a successful test run at the Christmas market, he has also been using the device at other events. ‘It’s extremely practical,’ he says. An additional advantage: there’s no monthly fee. So restaurateurs, as well as small retailers and other vendors, can use the device exactly as needed, for example at food festivals or markets.

Flavour first

Satisfied guests like to post photos on social media – so it’s no coincidence that, from the picture wall with ring light to the dessert toppings, everything at Donecake is highly Instagram-compatible. ‘It’s important to us that everything here looks good – but it’s even more important that it tastes good,’ Demir emphasises. The credo: home-made. ‘It just tastes sooooo much better.’ The person responsible for that is the head of the bakery in the basement, Dilek Altintas. She oversees the large volumes of eggs, flour, sugar and cooking oil that move through here – and she constantly needs fresh supplies. Accordingly, METRO delivers the required ingredients twice a week. The latest hype: ‘lazy cat’, a cake made from cocoa, chocolate, cereal flakes and mascarpone. The latter, from METRO’s own brand, is used here by the kilo. While the guests are savouring their sweet treats upstairs, Altintas stirs and kneads like there’s no tomorrow. Her favourite cake? The chief baker doesn’t have to consider for long: ‘No question – San Sebastián.’