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Gaming Keyboard Reviews

YUNZII C98 Cake Review 

The YUNZII C98 Cake is more than a novelty keyboard

SCORE8.5
REVIEW DETAILS
What Is It?Building on the beloved and cute C75 keyboard’s “cake-themed” design, the YUNZII C98 99-key mechanical keyboard adds a dedicated numeric keypad while keeping its adorable cake theme. Blends aesthetic charm with professional specs, colorful dye-sub PBT MOA keycaps, and an ergonomic profile for smooth typing, it’s both cute and practical. Ideal as a present or for enhancing any setup—home, office, or gaming station. Incomparable for all skill levels and versatile for work, play, or casual use.
Product ManufacturerYUNZII
ModelYUNZII C98
Estimated Time With Gear6-8 weeks
Where To BuyAmazon, YUNZII
Price$149 AUD

The YUNZII C98 Cake stands out immediately for its aesthetics. It’s cute and adorable, with a look and vibe that will make it a talking piece on your desk. In use, it’s also great, surprisingly so, I found in my time with it. I thought the aesthetics would outweigh the practical use, but that wasn’t the case.

It’s an incredibly cute keyboard, and that personality goes beyond the keyboard itself. The included stickers and overall presentation make the unboxing fun before you even start using it. There are stickers, the manual is shaped like a cupcake, and overall, it’s very different from the usual gamified unboxing of other keyboards I’ve done.

Initially, I was a little concerned that the C98’s distinctive design might come at the expense of comfort, usability and performance. Thankfully, that hasn’t really been the case. The keys feel great in everyday use, and I’ve found the keyboard comfortable for long typing sessions.

It sounds great too, with a distinctive thickness to each keystroke that lands in that perfect spot for satisfying, high-impact clicking whether I’m typing or gaming. The gasket-mounted design and sound-dampening layers do their job, and the sound quickly became one of my favourite things about using the C98.

The positioning could be improved slightly. An additional degree of angle from the stand would have made the C98 sit a little more naturally for me. It’s not uncomfortable as is, but another option would have improved the overall ergonomics.

@explosionnetwork

Unboxing the YUNZII C98 Cake Keyboard. It says cake. Dylan says it looks like a cupcake. It’s still a cake. Review to come! Explosion Network! #Yunzii #yunziikeyboard #unboxing

♬ 天気のいい日 – めめ

You can also have some fun making the C98 even more ridiculous. It includes additional decorative pieces and keycaps, with cupcakes, flowers, ice cream, and other appropriately sweet designs. You can keep things relatively restrained or make it look like a dessert shop has exploded across your desk.

The switches are hot-swappable if you want to change the typing experience, but because the casing is such a major part of the design, you probably won’t be doing much visual DIY. You’re buying the Cake because you want it to look like a cake.

The accompanying software is easy to use and offers what you’d expect, including RGB customisation. Lighting under the keys and around the keyboard’s edge illuminates the icing-like casing. Personally, I think the outside cake-icing lighting is part of why you’d get this keyboard in the first place.

Setup is straightforward, with wired USB-C, Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless options. The included wireless adapter is even hidden inside one of the paws under the keyboard, another fun touch.

Battery life has been impressive, thanks to the massive 10,000mAh battery. I’ve been able to use the C98 for long stretches without thinking about charging it. When you eventually do need to plug it in, though, it seems to take ages to charge. Thankfully, you won’t have to do it particularly often.

The YUNZII C98 Cake could easily have been a keyboard where the novelty did all the heavy lifting. Instead, I’ve been surprised by just how much I’ve enjoyed actually using it.

It looks fantastic, sounds great and feels good whether I’m typing or gaming. There are some small ergonomic improvements I’d like to see, and charging takes far too long, but neither takes much away from the overall experience.

A review unit was supplied for the purpose of this review. Read our Ethics Policy.

REVIEW VERDICT

YUNZII C98 Cake

8.5 SCORE

If you’ve looked at the C98 Cake and immediately thought, "I want an illuminated cake on my desk," the good news is there’s a genuinely great keyboard under all that icing.

Dylan Blight
WRITTEN BY

Dylan Blight

[He/Him] Dylan Blight is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Explosion Network, an independent Australian publication covering video games, film, television and pop culture. Since founding Explosion Network in 2017, Dylan has written and produced reviews, news, interviews, features and podcasts across the entertainment industry, while overseeing the publication's editorial direction and content.

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