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No doubt you have seen Caron Latte Cakes on the shelves of your local craft store and found it almost irresistible. I did too. I bought several cakes the first time I saw them and have used the yarn across multiple projects since — which means I have a thorough picture of what it does well and where it will let you down.
What makes Caron Latte Cakes so soft and inviting is also what makes it uniquely challenging. The yarn is nearly half nylon — if you remember wearing pantyhose or stockings you know how smooth and slippery that fiber is. That nylon content creates the beautiful halo and ultra-soft feel but also makes the yarn slippery, difficult to unravel, and resistant to holding its shape.
One important note before you buy: the label says category 5 bulky but the strand actually works closer to a category 3 or 4. If you are using a pattern that calls for category 5 and specifies a gauge, swatch first and adjust your hook accordingly.
Caron Latte Cakes Yarn — Quick Verdict
Caron Latte Cakes is a genuinely beautiful yarn that requires some experience to work with well. It is nearly half nylon which gives it extraordinary softness and drape but also makes it slippery, difficult to frog, and almost impossible to get clean defined edges. It is also mislabeled — sold as a category 5 bulky weight but the strand works closer to a category 3 or 4. If you go in knowing those two things and choose the right pattern, you will love it. If you expect it to behave like a standard acrylic category 5 you will be frustrated.
Best for: blankets, wraps, scarves, and anything that touches skin where softness matters. Not suited for: structured bags, potholders, anything needing crisp defined edges, beginner projects. Recommended hook: go up one size from what the label suggests to get proper drape.
Verdict: Worth buying for the right project. Not an everyday workhorse yarn.
What Is Caron Latte Cakes Best For?
Based on multiple projects with this yarn here is where it excels and where to avoid it:
Ideal projects: blankets worked in simple stitch repeats, wraps and shawls, scarves, cowls, anything worn next to the skin where softness is the priority.
Projects to avoid: bags, potholders, kitchen items, anything requiring structure or defined edges, projects you may need to frog repeatedly.
The free Caron Latte Cakes wrap pattern on this site was specifically designed to work around its challenges — open stitches that do not need precise stitch placement and long tails worked in as you go rather than woven in at the end.
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Caron latte cakes yarn review
The pros of Caron Latte Cakes Yarn
- The large size cake. 8.8 ounces! This means less ends to weave in and tends to make it a good value.
2. It is very soft and inviting for things that will touch the skin like sweaters, blankets and wraps.
3. It has a soft drape
4. It washes up nicely. It does become just a bit distressed looking after several washes as the fluffy look becomes a bit more compacted but it still has the soft look texture.
I designed project trackers! This is the large print version for tired eyes. So much easier than using apps, scraps of paper or a plain notebook.
Three project sizes, a handy ruler and hook guide inside the cover and plenty of room for notes in each pattern.
Buy it here.
Regular size print here.
I have had bad eyesight since age 18 so large print is a godsend when you can’t see apps and dark yarn, let alone going from one to the other on a crochet-a-thon during a netflix binge.
The Cons of Caron Latte Cakes Yarn
Fuzzy yarns in general are more challenging to work with because the stitches are difficult to see. Stitch counts can be off very quickly as you work on a projects. Latte cakes has the same issue. I don’t consider this a very beginner friendly yarn.
Because of the very fine nylon threads that gives it the beautiful soft texture, they wind on each other when worked making a row or project difficult to unravel if a mistake is made or you change your mind and decide not to finish a project.
I did design a free crochet caron latte cakes wrap pattern that helps work around some of the issues of seeing stitches and is forgiving when weaving in very long tails. A magic knot is not secure with a slippery yarn like this so a long tail worked into the stitches as you go is the way to go with this yarn.
The yarn is not suited to anything you’d like to have some structure or crispy defined shape. You won’t get perfect edges, squares or rectangles with this yarn if that matters to you. Stick to blankets, wraps and scarves for the optimal result.
There are my tips on working with Caron Latte Cakes yarn. If you chose the right pattern, hook size and weave in techniques you won’t have much issue with it.
