Seocho café fruit cream cake to take home: Chef Cho

Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam after a dental checkup

I visit a dentist in Seoul every month for a regular orthodontic checkup! When I go to the dentist, I cannot even eat lunch because I worry food will get stuck in my teeth, so I endure the agony of hunger through the appointment ㅠㅠ Once the treatment is over, though, my hunger absolutely explodes—and there is one place I always stop by right away, haha.

It is Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam, connected directly to Seoul Express Bus Terminal! The dessert and restaurant area on the department store’s B1 level is packed with seriously delicious shops, right?!

I came to buy a cake from Chef Cho, which my girlfriend had given me a mission to bring back from Seoul! It is famous as one of the four great cake masters on SBS’s Master of Living, and there were already lots of customers when I arrived, haha.

Chef Cho Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam location and hours

• Location: B1, Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam, 176 Sinbanpo-ro, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: 10:30–20:00
• Parking: Department store parking lot

People from outside Seoul say you should never drive there, so I do not really know about parking... There is an interchange near the Express Bus Terminal, and it is always congested there, yikes. Three subway lines pass through this area, so I recommend taking public transportation and saving yourself the stress!

Head into the food hall on the B1 level of Shinsegae Department Store! Whether it is a weekday or weekend, department stores are always bustling with people.

As I walked by, I spotted a Five Guys and went in thinking I might grab a burger first. Then I saw the prices and naturally turned right back around, haha. And there it was—today’s destination, Chef Cho!

When you get there, transparent dessert display cases form a circle around the shop. At first, I thought all of these circular counters belonged to Chef Cho, hahaha. It turns out the space is divided into four sections for different brands! Only the section where the women are standing in this photo is the Chef Cho cake shop. Fellow visitors, do not make the same mistake I did! ㅠㅠ

What makes Chef Cho cakes special

Drawing on 23 years of pastry-shop know-how, Chef Cho says it uses animal-based fresh cream made from 100% milk and fresh fruit sourced the same day.

True to a brand called one of the four great cake masters, the display was full of colorful, mouthwatering cakes.

I debated between two cakes: the Real Mango Rose, a flower cake made with mango, and the Peach Berry for my peach-loving girlfriend. Hahaha.

While it was being boxed up, I looked around the display and honestly, every single cake was piled high with fruit... I thought customers could pick anything and come out a winner! Even the chocolate and pistachio cakes look incredibly good just in the photos, do they not?

Peach Berry No. 1 pickup and taste

Following my girlfriend’s strict guidelines, I had Peach Berry No. 1 boxed up!

Peach Berry (No. 1), ₩53,000. A sweet-and-tangy fruit cake where fresh strawberries and sweet, fragrant peaches meet soft fresh cream.

When I told them that the trip to Cheonan would take an hour, they kindly said while packing it that this amount of time would be fine! Still, because 100% animal-based fresh cream is sensitive to temperature, I rushed straight home, haha. The moment I got home, I opened the box... and my girlfriend greeted the Peach Berry cake even more enthusiastically than she greeted me, hahaha.

My jaw dropped the moment I saw the top of the cake, yikes. It was so densely covered in peaches and strawberries that it almost looked precarious!

I do not think I have ever seen a cake with more fruit than cake sponge in my life, hahaha. Of course, it is in a completely different league from standard ready-made cakes from chain brands!

This is what the cross-section looks like! Fresh fruit and sweet, nutty fresh cream are layered throughout the inside too. There was so much fruit and it was so substantial that pieces kept tumbling off whenever I cut it with a knife, hahaha. It is a little difficult to cut neatly, but when you think of it as the happiness of taking a big bite full of hefty fruit... you cannot help but smile, haha.

Final thoughts on the fruit fresh cream cake

With 100% animal-based fresh cream, it glides over the tongue with a nutty sweetness that is not rich in a cloying way at all! There is such a generous, overflowing amount of fresh fruit sourced that day that its naturally sweet-tart flavor absolutely bursts out! I highly recommend it as a gift for someone special or an anniversary cake. If you are looking for a premium fruit fresh cream cake in Seoul, be sure to stop by Chef Cho at Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam!