So, a year ago, I moved to a new neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto. My partner and I have a little Sunday ritual of having our morning coffee at a Café that should be quiet and peaceful and must serve speciality coffee that’s pure coffee with no artificial flavours. That’s how we both like our morning coffee! And so our move came with spending Sunday morning hunting down a cafe that checked all of them.
That’s when I first spotted Velvet Lane Café, while I was walking on King Street East. Before I had even reached the counter, Sophie, from the Velvet Lane team, greeted me with a smile so wide that it genuinely took away that Sunday slump from my face. Not to mention, the coffee did its magic as well- it was and still is the best I’ve had in Toronto. Trust me, I have tried a lot of coffee outlets.
Of course, I ended up visiting Velvet Lane many times after that. It has now been a year, and for all the love I have for this place, it deserves a feature here. So I sat down with Danielle Issa, who owns Velvet Lane, and a conversation with her made me realise that the warmth I feel here is not accidental. The place reflects Danielle’s energy and calm.
Her Story Is An Inspiration
Danielle’s path to opening Velvet Lane café didn’t begin with a business plan. She was just a woman with a love for baking and, in the process, fell in love with coffee.
It began when Danielle’s friend hosted roughly a hundred people at her own birthday party. Back then, there were almost no local options for a cake that could actually serve them all. Danielle and another friend decided to bake cupcakes and a customised birthday cake. Then, somehow, her friend couldn’t bake the desired themed cake, and the whole thing landed on Danielle’s plate. She baked cupcakes and designed a Chanel-themed cake, and both had everyone talking by the end of the night.
The orders that followed were modest at first. She only charged for ingredients, delivering at near-cost, because the money wasn’t the point; the craft was. She took baking courses to sharpen her skills. She worked part-time jobs to fund her learning, and she networked hard enough that those connections quietly became her first real client base. In 2018, she opened her first cake studio in Cabbagetown.
With COVID hitting only a year in, she pivoted online and kept going. All while caring for an infant at home. That detail stopped me when she mentioned it. She wasn’t just building a business through a global crisis. She was doing it as a new mother. Not despite it. Alongside it. Rather than letting life’s biggest moments become reasons to pause, she built something her child would one day be proud of.
There’s More To Her Story!
About two years ago, Danielle found the King Street East space and felt an immediate sense of belonging. Her vision for a café had always been specific: minimal, aesthetic, and flooded with natural light. The sweeping front window at Velvet Lane is not incidental; it is the whole idea. She describes the space as quiet, peaceful, somewhere that feels like home. Having spent many Sunday mornings there myself, I can confirm: she got exactly what she set out to build.
The work speaks for itself beyond the café walls, too. When Canadian actors Kiana Madeira and Lovell Adams-Grey married in Toronto, it was a Velvet Lane custom cake that made it to their wedding table- a five-layer vanilla and strawberry creation with lemon and elderflower, made to honour a dream the groom had carried for years. That a couple planning one of the most significant days of their lives chose Velvet Lane for it tells you everything about the reputation she has quietly built.
What Makes Velvet Lane So Special?
All those delicious cupcakes, designer cakes at modest prices and their speciality coffee- but that's just what I love. There is more to explore.
What makes Velvet Lane genuinely different is what goes into it. Everything is homemade, including the vanilla syrup in your Vanilla Latte (I love that for my evening coffee) and the ingredients in your cake. The coffee beans are sourced from Ethica, a Toronto roaster whose mission is to connect people through exceptional coffee. The cocoa comes from the best available source, no matter the cost. Danielle does not compromise on ingredients and holds quality above everything else. You taste exactly that in every sip and every bite.
The designer cakes with edible art are available daily for walk-ins and custom orders for birthdays, parties, and kids' events.
Danielle is also a yoga practitioner and a traveller, and both show up in the calm intentionality of the space and the creativity that keeps surfacing in her designs. Her inspiration comes from the places she visits and her interaction with the world.
A Cafe Visit Worth Your Time
Did I tell you that Velvet Lane also conducts cake decorating workshops?
Danielle is deeply empathetic toward her staff, and that filters through to every interaction you have there. Sophie’s Sunday greeting that resets my entire week is proof of the culture Danielle has set from the top.
Velvet Lane also hosts cake-decorating workshops almost every month, open to the community and worth your time whether you’re a practised baker or someone who’s never held a piping bag. Details on upcoming sessions can be found on Velvet Lane’s Instagram and website.
If you’re in Toronto and haven’t been to Velvet Lane yet, consider this your nudge. It is one of those independent businesses in this city that’s worth your time and dollars- local, quality-obsessed, human-run, and entirely worth your weekend/weekday morning.
📍 Velvet Lane Café- King Street East, Toronto
📸 Instagram: @velvetlanecakes
🌐 Custom orders and upcoming events on their website