Americans love cake—we love baking it, eating it, and smoking it—and Seed Junky’s cannabis confection Wedding Cake is no exception. A combination of Triangle Kush x Animal Mints, it has traveled across state and national lines and found new names like Pink Cookies and Triangle Mints #23. No matter what you call it, Leafly users have spent the last eight years loving Wedding Cake for its propensity to evoke relaxation, sedation, and even sexual arousal.

The rapid proliferation of this strain across phenotypes and into the genetic families of dozens of other strains still causes some cannabis elite to roll their eyes. But when the Cake hits the table, everybody wants a slice. We crowned Wedding Cake as Strain of the Year back in 2019 for its prismatic, colorful buds and blend of vanilla, fuel, and doughy flavors. It remains one of Leafly’s most visited strain pages of the last four years, occupying the top spot from 2021 to 2023 and currently sitting as the second most-visited of 2024.

It’s not just the masses that enjoy a Wedding Cake cartridge or preroll; it placed first for solvent-infused prerolls at the 2024 Emerald Cup. Its family tree clearly illustrated how this baked good has risen to produce some really strong heroes shaping strain trends in the market even today. So, we thought we would take a look at 12 of the most popular and distinct Cake crosses out there now.

#12 Beach Wedding

Two major names in one dynamite package. That’s the best way to describe what happened when Oni Seeds crossed Wedding Cake with their deeply cerebral Tropicanna Cookies. Dense nugs smell like sweet frosted cereal and a glass full of orange juice and gasoline. Known for producing large amounts of resin, Beach Wedding gives off a heavy body high but a stony, creative headspace.  

#11 Dosi-Cake

Potent is the word most often thrown around when describing Dosi-Cake. Bred by Archive Seed Bank, the tag-team of Dosidos and Wedding Cake bring out the maximum stoniness out of each other. Archive says that this combination leans on the Wedding Cake side, and the flavor of sweet vanilla carries a fresh earthiness with it reminiscent of pine needles. This powerhouse left many Leafly reviewers too stoned to make it to the store for snacks, so come prepared.

#10 E85

Well known on shelves in California’s weed-drenched Bay Area, this Grandiflora Genetics creation pairs Wedding Cake with their popular Project 4516. E85 has a lot of that sweet gas on the nose and has gotten a great reputation with daily smokers who say they can smoke this on the daily and still get the same stony high. 

#9 Wedding Crasher

Another Cake cross that calls for an uplifting, and mentally creative experience is Wedding Crasher(s). A creation of Symbiotic Genetics, who also bred Mimosa and Amarelo, this strain carries the vanilla notes of Wedding Cake with the berry flavors of the Purple Punch as well. It’s almost like someone cut you a slice with the fresh fruit on top. Also renowned for helping with pain, there are countless reports of people who found smoking Wedding Crasher allowed them to let any problems roll right off them. 

#8 Nila Wafer

Also known as Wedding Driver and Vanilla Waferz, Cannarado’s Nila Wafer pairs up two cultivars that are known for gluing inexperienced smokers to the couch. Most smokers agree that this strain has a blissed out, uplifting effect that brings out the carefree side of your experience. Like a lot of Wedding Cake crosses, there’s a dominant vanilla flavor that gives this strain its name.   

#7 Cake Crasher

When it comes to Cake hits, Seed Junky is DJ Khaled—another one! Using his Wedding Cake and Symbiotic Genetics’ Wedding Crasher, the game unlocked a bonus level full of flavor in Cake Crasher. Creative from the couch is the best way to describe the high on this one. Perfect for a day of editing videos, making music, or just playing video games. Cake Crasher is also responsible for helping SHUGA Seeds create their Purple Gelato.

#6 Grape Cream Cake

Runner-up for Leafly’s 2023 Strain of the Year, Grape Cream Cake is a big hitter from Bloom Seed Company. This winning recipe includes Cannarado’s Grape Pie, Symbiotic Genetics’ Wedding Crasher, and Seed Junky’s Ice Cream Cake. Breeder Harry Palms also isolated a GCC phenotype he dubbed the Dulce De Uva, which helped create the popular Black Maple strain. Grape Cream Cake has vanilla, berry, and roasted nut flavors and Leafly’s reviews show an overall relaxed and sleepy euphoria.   

#5 Purple Push Pop

Part of the big Seed Junky Jealousy explosion, Purple Push Pop brings together Ice Cream Cake, Sunset Sherbet, and Jealousy. Like Medellin, this is a Cake cross with a citrus flavor married to those vanilla overtones and the strong floral notes that come with any Jealousy cross. This one has that strong head buzz that drowns out the noise and let’s you sit back and enjoy what’s in front of you.

#4 Ice Cream Cake

The army of Seed Junky Cake crosses marches on. Part of the more sedated side of the Cake spectrum, Ice Cream Cake has a proven track record of helping people fall asleep, or just take the night off mentally. With a flavor that’s often described as creamy vanilla, you’ll find page after page of Leafly users giving this strain props for pain relief. Just like Wedding Cake, Ice Cream Cake has helped launch a thousand ships into the water, including a couple from this list. 

#3 LA Kush Cake

One of the most famous members of the Cake family, and one of its steamiest, is LA Kush Cake. Named one of Leafly’s top 8 strains for arousal in 2023 and Best Personal Flower at 2019’s Emerald Cup, LA Kush Cake seems to leave people both relaxed and stimulated. Its flavors also run the gamut, with an earthiness that pairs well with notes of peppermint and vanilla. Along with the obvious, this strain also helped Leafly users with feelings of anxiety and depression.

#2 Papaya Cake

Another hit from the duo of Seed Junky and Oni Seed Company. Papaya Cake is as straightforward as it sounds—vanilla blends seamlessly with the unique fruitiness of Papaya strain, a combination as hard-hitting as chocolate and peanut butter. This is one strain that had Leafly user’s snacking like crazy. Looking to unwind, this strain has all the necessary qualifications and has a strong taste regardless of if you found it in flower, vape, or concentrate form. 

#1 Wedding Cake

The best Wedding Cake is still Seed Junky Genetics Wedding Cake. Being mega-popular means the strain has critics, but Cake just points at the scoreboard. You’ll be able to find it across the country in most dispensaries. You can find it in flower carts, pre-rolls and dabs, and edibles. It’s a commodity crop. It’s top-shelf flower. The branding alone is worth countless tens or hundreds of millions. This 24% THC hybrid indica dessert strain makes people relaxed, aroused, and hungry. The reviews speak for themselves.

And that’s how you become the best and stay the best.

Did we miss a cool Cake cultivar? Set us straight in the reader survey below.

Rejoice, my Cali smokers, we’re in a new era for the world’s most prestigious cannabis competition—the Emerald Cup. Now based in Oakland, a new venue means fresh blood; the leaderboard this year was a mix of newcomers, old favorites, and heady collaborations. Decibel Gardens made a splash with their own Roswell 47, a Jealousy cross. Huckleberry Hill Farms had a hand in multiple winners, from concentrates to prerolls to edibles. Rebel Grown’s Double OG Chem continues to dominate the Sungrown category, and Whitehorn Rose might be the strain of the year. That’s just scratching the surface.

From the best buds to edibles to what to put in your Puffco, here are the standout Emerald Cup winners and where you can find them in shops across California, all on Leafly. 

Flower

Hundreds of buds pass through judges’ pipes, papers, and bongs every year. The 2024 Cup had four growing categories, and we’ve picked the creme de la creme from each.

Indoor

Roswell 47 by Decibel Gardens is a cross of our 2023 Strain of the Year Jealousy crossed with their proprietary C-Note. It won the Indoor Flower Breeder’s Cup for its peppered berry terps. You can find it at Santa Cruz Naturals in Aptos, CA, LAXCC in Los Angeles, Jungle Boys San Diego in La Mesa, CA, and Pacabol in Chula Vista. 

Runner-up Nameless Genetics stood out with their Mega Wellness OG, a Chemdog x OG Kush cross with an OG Kush male that dates back to 2002, which created a kush with intense earthy, hoppy, and petrol profile. You can find it at Buzz Wellness in San Diego, Jungle Boys San Diego in La Mesa, CA, and Purple Lotus Patient Center in San Jose. 

Decibel Gardens takes third place with Golden Kiwi, a cross of Stardawg x Vanilla Kush that creates an energizing fruity and chemical canna-concoction. You can find it at Jungle Boys San Diego in La Mesa and Exhalence LA in Sun Valley, CA. 

See also: Seven Alien Labs strains placed in the top 20 indoor flowers this year, and the top was the sticky and sweet Honey Bananas S1 at number four; BK Satellite and Area 41 made the top 10.

Mixed light + Greenhouse

Terp Mansion takes the Mixed Light crown with a tantalizing Thin Mint x Jealousy cross, yet unnamed. You can only find it right now at Bigfoot Cannabis Co in Willow Creek, CA. 

Wave Rider Nursery and Humboldt Seed Co teamed up to bring HSC’s Blueberry Pancakes the Mixed Light Breeder’s Cup win, and second place for Mixed Light flower overall. You can get this sweet treat at Cornerstone Wellness in Los Angeles, Liberty Cannabis in Gardena, Mission Organic on Geary in San Francisco, and Airfield Supply Co in Redwood City.

Chameleon Craft fills out the podium with Bubble Bath. You can find it at Elevation 2477 in Nevada City, March and Ash in San Diego, Purple Star MD in San Francisco, and CoCo Farms in Concord, CA. 

Sungrown

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! The 2022 and 2023 Sungrown Flower winners, Farmer + the Felon and Rebel Grown, teamed up to take gold both and the Sungrown Breeder’s Cup with Rebel’s Double OG Chem. You can get it at Pacabol in Chula Vista and Padre Mu in Oakland. 

Teamwork makes the weed work, as Magic Meadow Farms x Conception Nurseries x Humido win second place with Heir Heads, available at The Boulevard in Lemon Grove, CA and Purple Star MD in San Francisco.

Ridgeline Farms has been building their reputation on their small stable of strains, and their proprietary Ridgeline Runtz is the leader. Runtz is available all over the country, and no two growers will have the same result. You can shop for another of their creations, LANTZ, which came in ninth, at Lemonnade in Union City,  Cookies in Hayward, and Cookies Brentwood in Los Angeles.

See also: If you prefer a low-THC experience, or want some CBD-rich flower to mix in with your next bowl or joint, Heartrock Mountain Farm’s Love and Laughter, a, 18:1 CBD:THC hybrid, won the Breeder’s Cup for Alternative Cannabinoid Flower. You can get it at both Solful locations, in San Francisco and Sebastopol, and at Cornerstone Wellness in Los Angeles. 

Concentrates

Solventless

Huckleberry Hill Farms and their Whitethorn Rose are dominating the solventless categories, no matter their partner. In this collaboration with Ay Papi, their Whitethorn Rose ice water hash reigned supreme. You can find it at Klover in San Diego and Berkeley Patients Group in Berkeley. Ay Papi also took third place in the hash category with their team-up with Mattole Valley Sun Grown to produce Purple Papaya, available through DNA Delivery in Los Angeles. Have Hash’s Sour Bears took silver.

Have Hash achieved total victory on the live rosin side with their Royal Budline collaboration on Honey Bananas, on shelves (for now) at Cookies Brentwood in Los Angeles and Lytt in Pacifica, CA. 

Moon Valley Cannabis, whose name you’ll see again later, came runner-up with their Panther Candy “dual consistency” rosin; they were also the fourth place hash winner, Neon Panther. An oldie but a goodie, Durban Lime, took third place thanks to Punch Extracts x Luma Farms.

Solvent 

No shame in the BHO game, we promise. Absolute Xtracts came in clutch with a 1-2 victory with Ghost Lemon and Original Z, shoppable at shops like The Chronic in Los Angeles and Nice Guys Delivery in San Rafael. Hot on their heels in third was some wax by a biblical roster collab of Holy Water x Happy Dreams Farm x Lemon Tree Farms with their Unholy Fez x Kiwi. You can find it at Airfield Supply Co – Redwood City.

Vapes

It’s hard to make vapes as appealing as straight flower or globby dabs, but these brands did it. Shoutout to Arcata Fire x Ridgeline Farms, who nabbed podium spots in both categories. 

Holy Water and Happy Dreams Farms are back to dominate the live resin vapes lane with Lemon Pave.

Arcata Fire x Ridgeline Farms and their Grape Gas sauce cart took second. 

ColdFire Extracts and a lost list of collaborators, Team Elite Genetics x Valley Grove x Lumpy’s Flowers x Green Dawg Cultivators x Blueprint x Booney Acres, took both third and fourth for BHO carts with Mimosa #3 and Grease Bucket.

ColdFire Extracts returned with Mountain Man Melts to take solventless vape gold with their Spritzer “ColdFire Juice Bar.” 

Arcata Fire x Ridgeline round out the podium with two collaborations of live rosin syrup in LANTZ and Grape Gas.

Prerolls 

Infused

Holy Water shows out again with a group effort with Good Pizza x CGO for a Fugazi x Tractor Fuel hash hole in the Deluxe Joint category. Senior Editor David Downs predicted Tractor Fuel would be a hit this year, and he was right again!

Wedding Cake proves it’s still a hit with a first place infused preroll by Selfies.

Moon Valley Cannabis pops up again with Neon Panther for third place.  

Non-infused

Moon Valley Cannabis gets gold and bronze for straight bud joints with Grape Gas and Hash Burger, respectively.

Hogwash Pharms x Huckleberry Hill Farms proves Whitethorn Rose is a winner in all forms. 

Edibles

Oui’d Confections x ST6R x Huckleberry Hill Farms bring the acumen of good food and good weed in the Sweet Category winners, Blackberry Limeade Soft Chew, followed by Emerald Sky’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. Shop them here and here. 

Ay Papi and Huckleberry Hill Farms team up with ST6R for a Whitethorn Rose live rosin gummy in third place. P&B made a splash with a Cucumber Melon hash gummy.

If you prefer a bev, you need Blaze Mota x Cheech’s Stash’s Cheeche’lada.

View all The Emerald Cup 2024 winners, and have a great sesh.