The Dessert Room

Bakery: The Dessert Room 
Address: 1048 King St W, Hamilton ON 
Website: http://www.thedessertroom.ca/
Style: North American, Cakes 
Price: $$$ 

With nearby Weil's of Westdale just closed on a Christmas Eve, and it being very unlikely to find anything else open at that hour, it came down to The Dessert Room, a chic, upscale "pastry boutique" with wedding cake displays in the window and an exterior that is more reminiscent of a spa than a patisserie. In fact, all signs look like it is limited to custom cake and pastry (which are more or less either cupcakes or macarons) orders, but they do sell a smaller selection of individual cakes and macarons for the casual purchaser as well. In keeping with the overall appearance, items are on the pricey side.

So what was bought? The first item was a chocolate cake with caramel frosting.... It, admittedly, didn't look like anything special: just a rectangular slab of layer cake with no embellishment, but whereas it may have looked like a standard slice of chocolate cake, it turned out to be quite tasty with rich, moist chocolate dough, two layers of creamy caramel buttercream with a hint of salt, and on top a coat of chocolate. Simple, indulgent, but pretty good at the same time, though I think it could have been made more aesthetically pleasing than just a giant slice... mini cakes or triangular slices, perhaps.

 The second item was the white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake. Yes, a cheesecake. I was a little wary (see previous posts on my dislike of New York cheesecake) but the cheesecake mass was creamy and more complex than just cream cheese. Other samplers gave it a perfect score, saying it was a great cheesecake. The swirl of raspberry on top was very good, and the little dollop of raspberry frosting was a nice touch. I found that it reminded me a little too much of anything "cheesecake-flavoured"; maybe that was because of the white chocolate? Nonetheless, a good place to go for a more special treat.

Rating: ***