Astoria Bakery

Bakery: Astoria Bakery
Address: 3171 Lenworth Dr, Mississauga ON (sold at Starsky and Euromax)
Website: n/a
Style: Polish, Eastern European
Price: $$$

Astoria is yet another commercial bakery operating out of an industrial building in east Mississauga. As far as I know, you can't buy anything at their headquarters, but their stuff can be purchased at various Polish delis, specifically at Starsky and Karpaty/Euromax. They seem to make only slab cakes in the standard varieties: apple cakes, gingerbreads and a few types of cheesecake.

Two weeks ago, Starsky had a flyer special on their 'Smetannikov' (I really tried with my photo this time, btw ;)) cake which makes me doubt my previous assumption that they were Polish. Perhaps they're Ukrainian or Russian? Or Poles just making a Russian cake? *shrugs* Anyways, their Smetannikov was on special ($5.99/lb) and I thought it the perfect opportunity to give it and the bakery a try. Unfortunately, perhaps Starsky was not the greatest or fairest place to taste it, since, even though it was the only cake on sale, they had only a small piece (equal to maybe 1 1/2-2 slices) which still ended up costing $5.00 and that small piece was *old*. At regular price, it would have cost nearly $7.00 which seems almost ridiculous given the size and how stale it was. Seriously, there was a crust on two corners and the dough had that 'too long in the fridge' flavour to it. x__x This thing should have been in the reduced section. At the very least, Starsky should have cut away the stalest edges so you're not buying old cake. Was not very impressed. :/

Sadly, I think I can say pretty much the same thing about the taste: it was a rich, heavy cake made up of layers of chocolate cake, thick cream, a few cherries stuck in here and there, and topped with a thick, gooey dark chocolate glaze. First of all, I'm not sure how other smetannikovs taste (as I've seen other bakeries do them and am curious if it's a standard recipe), but I found the name slightly deceiving ("smetana" = sour cream in Russian; in Polish "śmietana" = cream.) as all you could really taste was the chocolate dough and glaze. The hint of cherries reminded me more of Black Forest cake than anything cream-based. Not what I was expecting.

In the end, I pretty much found out what I already knew: when you want an amazing, multi-layer cake, it is so worth the drive to Richmond Hill. ^^;; Still, I can't say I was pleased at all with the whole experience (especially the selling ancient cake part) and I know I'd give this place higher if the cake was fresh, but man, as it was, I can't recommend it to anyone. :/

Rating: *1/2