Best Gluten-Free Fruit Cakes in Seoul at Rice Dessert Cafe Chamsae!

Rice dessert Cafe Chamsae 카페 참새방앗간 is a well hidden café, which offers delicious cakes all made 100% of local rice flour, unrefined sugar and creamy butter (they also call themselves gluten-free and only offer gluten-free desserts as of the moment). Their signature cake is Fresh Mango Cake, but all other fresh fruit cakes are just as delicious as well!

Note: The cafe emphasizes on Instagram and their Kakao page that they use only rice flour and are gluten-free.

Cafe Chamsae is located in Sadang, a neighbourhood in Seoul with many small restaurants, cafés and a place called “vegan street” and it is just a 7-minute walk from Sadang Station, Line 2. I particularly liked the fairy lights and quiet music, especially in the evening. It was a perfect place for spending a calm evening with a friend (but it can be more crowded on weekend afternoons).

The metal sign with the café’s logo, a sparrow (Chamsae 참새) with a rice ear, is subtle, but the words ‘rice’ and ‘dessert’ caught my eye immediately as I walked by. On Sunday evening in Winter, only a handful of other guests were there, and the café was quiet, allowing us to choose our seats freely.

Unfortunately, many of my pictures didn’t quite do justice to the café because my phone camera doesn’t take particularly good photos in the dark. You can find more and better pictures from other guests on Google Maps and Naver Map (link below!).

The drink menu was diverse, as is common in most cafés in Seoul. Besides coffee, there were also several teas, such as Peach Earl Grey and lemonades.

At the counter, there were individual slices of cake, whole cakes, and cake decorations for birthdays and other occasions.

When it came to choosing a cake, we were spoiled for choice. There were options like carrot cake, cheesecake, Shine Musket (grape) cake, fresh mango cake, fresh orange cake, and a few hours earlier, there had apparently been banana chocolate cake and chocolate cheesecake as well. Depending on the season, they also sell fig cake, orange cake and more and they also had brownies, Earl Grey financiers, and cookies.

The fruits were incredibly juicy, and the cream was sweet and buttery, without being overly heavy or sugary!

Final Thoughts

With prices ranging from 7,000 to 8,000 Won for a slice of cake and 4,000 to 6,000 Won for a piece of cake, prices were similar to many other gluten-free/ rice flour cafés in Seoul.
Probably because it’s not directly in the city centre, the café was a bit more spacious than many cafés I’ve written about so far. It was a perfect place to enjoy my time with a friend while eating one of the best fruit cakes I’ve had in Seoul so far and is, as I found out later, also pretty popular with Korean locals. The fruits, especially from the mango cake, were very fresh and juicy, and combined with the fluffy cream, they were super delicious without being too sweet.

Total: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5)
Taste: ★★★★★++
Variety: ★★★★☆(4.5)
Interior: ★★★★☆ (3.5)
Access: ★★★★☆
Price: ₩₩₩ (normal prices for cake in Seoul)

참새방앗간 Cafe Chamsae
10:00~22:00, close on Tuesdays
Instagram
Google Maps: 66 Bangbaecheon-ro 4an-gil, 방배2동 Seocho-gu, Seoul
Naver Map