Main •
Kat Dennings as Maxine "Max" George Black, one of the waitresses at the Williamsburg Diner. She is a poor underclass girl who had a rough childhood in
Hope, Rhode Island, and an equally rough adult life, driven by both poverty and being raised by a mother who was usually absent and dangerously incompetent when she was around (it is strongly implied that her mother is a longtime
drug addict). Han initially allows her to sell homemade cupcakes in the diner, which leads to her going forward with Caroline's idea to go into the cupcake business. Max is street-smart, tends to deliver insults with a smile, and often pokes fun at her own promiscuous behavior, voluptuous breasts, and marijuana indulgence. She always wears knee-high brown leather boots and a name tag while waitressing. She is co-godmothers with Caroline to Barbara Kaczyński-Golishevsky. •
Beth Behrs as Caroline Wesbox Channing, a waitress at the Williamsburg Diner. She is a slim, blonde, formerly rich high-society girl and
University of Pennsylvania Wharton graduate who lost all of her money when her father Martin was arrested and sent to jail for a
Ponzi scheme. She is forced to start over and becomes Max's co-worker, roommate, and best friend. She comes up with the idea of starting a cupcake business with Max. Despite being spoiled since birth and then losing her money, Caroline is kind and optimistic, although sometimes high-maintenance. She is sometimes very clueless. She always wears large pearl necklaces with her waitress uniform, as well as high-heeled shoes and a thin gold belt around her waist. Unlike Max, she does not wear a name tag with her waitress uniform. She is co-godmothers with Max to Barbara Kaczyński-Golishevsky. •
Garrett Morris as Earl Washington, the elderly African-American cashier who has worked at the Williamsburg Diner since 1962, or 1989, and a former jazz musician with a love of marijuana and gambling. Max is very close to him, and frequently says that she wishes he was her father. By season six, Earl is starting to show signs of memory loss, but the show never explored the topic with any seriousness. •
Jonathan Kite as Vanko Oleg Golishevsky, a Ukrainian cook at the Williamsburg Diner. He sexually harasses Max and Caroline frequently with inappropriate jokes, innuendo, and propositions for sex, but his behavior is benign and easily ignored (or mocked, by Max). He later develops an attraction to Sophie, and has a purely sexual relationship with her. At the end of season two, Oleg cheats on Sophie, leading her to angrily break up with him off-screen before the third-season premiere. In season four, the two reconcile and get engaged and then married. In the sixth-season premiere, they have a baby daughter named Barbara Kaczyński-Golishevsky. •
Matthew Moy as Han "Bryce" Lee, the owner of the Williamsburg Diner. He is constantly a target for jokes (mainly from Max) involving his lack of height, his effeminate mannerisms in spite of his claims of being heterosexual, and his lack of knowledge of American culture. He is originally from South Korea and he references his parents and his home country often. •
Jennifer Coolidge as Zofia "Sophie" Kaczyński (seasons 2–6, recurring season 1), a loud, tall, blonde, buxom middle-aged Polish woman who owns a cleaning company called Sophie's Choice. She lives in the apartment above the girls, and often tells them stories about her sex life and growing up in
Communist Poland. She prefers Max over Caroline and often calls Caroline "fluffy" owing to her ditzy characteristics. Despite multiple bad interactions with the two girls, Sophie still invests in their cupcake business in season two. She always sits in a booth that she considers her own. She is involved in a relationship with Oleg during seasons two and three, gets engaged to him in season four, marries him in the finale, and during season five becomes pregnant with their first child. In the sixth-season premiere, they have a baby girl whom they name Barbara Kaczyński-Golishevsky.
Recurring • Chestnut is Caroline's horse, one of the few possessions she was able to retain from her old life prior to her father's business scandal. During the first season, Chestnut lives full-time in the garden of Max's apartment, until Max convinces Caroline to have Peach adopt and stable him so that he could endure the winter weather. At the end of the season, Max goes back to Peach and gets him back. In season two, the girls enlist the help of two
Amish boys to convert the garden into a barn as a permanent home for Chestnut. He appears in all seasons. He is portrayed by a horse named Rocky, who died in 2019, along with his sister Ruby. •
Brooke Lyons as Peach Landis (season 1), a high-society mother who acts like the most clueless version of that description. She has two babies, Brad and Angelina (a reference to real-life actors
Brad Pitt and
Angelina Jolie), whom Max babysits. Peach fired Max from that job to appease an awful friend of hers after a cupcake-catering mishap, and after she begged Max to return full-time, Max initially declined, but later decided that she would only return in a part-time capacity. She has not been seen or heard from since, and the show has made it clear Max no longer has any association with her. •
Nick Zano as Johnny (seasons 1–2), Max's on-again-off-again love interest. He tells Max he broke up with Cashandra and that he was about to marry a woman he met just a few months earlier, in the season one finale. He is not seen again until the season 2 episode "And the Big Opening," in which he and Max have sex. They both agree that they only want each other when they are taken by another person. He leaves at the end of that episode, promising her he will see her again someday. •
Ryan Hansen as "Candy" Andy (seasons 2, 5, and 6), a candy-store owner whose business was across from the cupcake store, and Caroline's love interest in season two. In season five, Andy returns to Williamsburg and invites Caroline and Max to his wedding, where he marries Romy, a hat designer. The season-six episode "And the Rock Me on the Dais" reveals Andy divorced Romy, and is also quite wealthy. • Federico Dordei as Luis (season 3), a flamboyant man who becomes the new day waiter in the season 3 episode "And the Group Head". He is attracted to Oleg. •
Gilles Marini as Nicolas Saintcroix (season 3), a French "master baker", who owns and teaches at the Manhattan School of Pastry. He is Caroline's love interest until she realizes he is married in "And the French Kiss". He is in an open marriage and his wife gives Caroline permission to have sex with him, but Caroline refuses because she does not want to have sex with a married man. He later moves back to France to be with his wife, thus the Manhattan School of Pastry closes. •
Mary Lynn Rajskub as Bebe (season 3), a neurotic pastry chef who works at the front desk of the Manhattan School of Pastry. However, when he contemplates making a stand against his parents after they object to his relationship with Max, she drugs him so Caroline and she can push his dumpster in front of his parents' house, Max knowing that Deke would be unable to cope with being genuinely poor. In "And the Wedding Cake Cake Cake", Max reveals that she and Deke are no longer together and admits she wishes things had worked out between them. • Patrick Cox as John (seasons 3–4), a large,
homosexual, bald man who shares a table in the pastry school classroom with Max, who nicknames him "Big Mary". He later breaks up their relationship before she leaves town, saying that he likes her too much and knows how long-distance relationships usually end, but he then follows her to New York and they briefly continue the relationship. He returns at the end of season six to open a permanent office in New York, and proposes to Max. She accepts. •
Christopher Gorham as Bobby (season 6) is a contractor who helps rebuild the dessert bar after a storm, and soon becomes Caroline's love interest •
Kerri Kenney as Denise (season 6), Bobby's older sister, who is a crazy woman with a romantic eye for Han
Special guest stars •
Renée Taylor as Hinda Fagel •
Martha Stewart as herself •
Steven Weber as Martin Channing, Caroline's father, who is in prison for a Ponzi scheme he masterminded •
Cedric the Entertainer as Darius, Earl's estranged son •
Caroline Aaron as Wiga, a psychic whom Caroline visits for a reading about her future love life •
2 Chainz as himself •
Andy Dick as J. Petto, a puppeteer who slips on a cupcake at Max and Caroline's cupcake shop, and tries to sue them over his damaged puppet. He returns in the season 6 premiere to thwart the girls' attempts to obtain a liquor license. •
Missi Pyle as Charity Channing, Caroline's rich and abusive aunt. She refuses to give Max and Caroline a loan for their failing business, and later admits that Caroline's claims to their parents that Charity was abusive to her (which they did not believe) were accurate. •
Debra Wilson as Delores, an exhausted employee at the temporary agency where Max and Caroline work. Her catchphrase, "Let me give you a 'for instance'", was used throughout the episode to illustrate violations to company policies. •
Kym Whitley as Shirley •
Piers Morgan as himself •
Kyle Gass as an SFX operator •
Karen Maruyama as Su-Min Lee, Han's mother, who initially appears as a lame strict stereotype of an "Asian mom", but turns out to be a pro-marijuana woman who loves and even admires her son's decision to leave Korea for the United States •
Jeff Garlin as David, Deke's father •
Sheryl Lee Ralph as Genet, Deke's mother •
Lindsay Lohan as Claire Guinness, a soon-to-be-bride who asks Max and Caroline to make her wedding cake but constantly changes her mind about the cakes and every other thing she has to make decisions about, leading to Max and Caroline having to successfully scam their promised payment from her •
Hal Linden as Lester. Lester is the real named tenant of Max and Caroline's apartment, whose OK is needed for them to (illegally) remain there. He goes from telling them they can stay since he is going to move in with his girlfriend, then becoming their unwanted roommate after said GF dumps him, then saying he will evict them unless Max has sex with him, to finally being conned into letting them re-up on a new legal 10-year lease to the apartment. •
Kim Kardashian as herself •
Jesse Metcalfe as Sebastian, Max's brief fling. He works as a DJ at a grocery chain and Max cannot get over how embarrassing his job is. •
Valerie Harper as Nola Anderz, a regular customer at the diner who is actually a successful photographer •
Ellie Reed as Claire •
Caroline Rhea as Bonnie, a randy flight attendant at the airport where the second branch of The High is located •
Martha Hunt as herself, one of several Victoria's Secret models who stay at Max and Caroline's ahead of a big VS event in Brooklyn •
Lily Aldridge as herself •
Judith Roberts as Astrid, Caroline's grandmother who awakens from a coma with no knowledge of her family's massive money scandal •
Jackée Harry as Ruby, a jazz singer-turned-night club owner who was once involved with Earl until his drug habit drove her away •
George Hamilton as Bob •
Darin Brooks as Frank, Bobby's bowling team-mate •
John Michael Higgins as Elliot, Randy's therapist •
Noah Mills as Robbie, Max's womanizing, alcoholic lover •
Mercedes Ruehl as Olga, Oleg's Ukrainian mother •
Telma Hopkins as Pilar •
French Stewart as Mr. Bronsk •
Chad Michaels as a Cher impersonator •
RuPaul as himself (out of drag) •
Brandon Jones as Jebediah, an Amish man building Chestnut's barn •
Nora Dunn as Teresa, Bobby's overbearing and possessive mother •
Annet Mahendru as Robin •
Marsha Thomason as Cashandra, Johnny's love interest •
Brian Doyle-Murray as Blarney Bill •
Ally Maki as June Kim (Korean Beauty June Kim aka Sapphire), Han's fake girlfriend ==Production==