Korea Bakery [RIP]

Bakery: Korea Bakery
Address: 689 Bloor Street West, Toronto ON 
Website: n/a
Style: Korean
Price: $

 [Well, this place has been boarded up for the past few times I've come to Koreatown. In the fall, there were blinds and a sign, so I thought that maybe they had closed for vacation or something, but it looks like, after all, this place won't be reopening. Another bakery gone. :(]

I was in Koreatown yesterday and thought that I might as well pop into pretty much the last remaining bakery I have to do in this section of Bloor (though I would like to add the walnut cake place too... I've had it a few times and it never dawned on me to do a cake tour of it. Scandalous.)

Anyways, Korea Bakery is a fairly small bakery with a similar format as other Korean bakeries (like BnC down the street), with various sweet, mostly cream-filled buns wrapped and sitting in various baskets. In addition to this, they have several bags of pre-packed cookies, a small assortment of cakes and a few steam buns, sold as a pack of six. Despite not having any prices, these guys are really as cheap as you'll get in terms of Korean baked goods (at least in the buns; not sure what anything else costs), which usually average around $2 for a bun. At $1.25 each, they're a steal! :)

The buns are pretty much the same varieties as you'll see everywhere else, stuffed with red (sometimes green) bean paste, pastry cream or custard, but these guys seems to have a lot with peanut butter and mocha cream, two things I haven't seen so much of in other bakeries. So if you're a fan of peanut butter, check it out.

For myself, I settled on a bun, specifically the "Netherland Bread" ($1.25). Why? I don't know; maybe I'm just uh, craving some Dutch baking. :D Though, I'm not exactly sure what makes it Dutch, but I'm assuming it's the swirl of almond paste on top? Anyways, swirl of almond paste with the bun cut open and filled with a custard resembling the fluffiness of choux cream, not thick pudding. This in itself was a good thing and the bun had a light feeling (though most like deceiving ;D); however, what the cream had in fluffiness, the dough itself lacked it. Korean dough, I find, it quite dense and really soft. Biting into a bun is like.. laying your head on a pillow. XD The dough here was a lot more airy and didn't have that moist softness I've come to expect. It wasn't at the peak of freshness either, but it was alright; I think what it really needed was a little more softness and less of an Italian bread texture, which doesn't suit the purpose.

Besides this, I picked out the red bean doughnut ($1.25), deep-fried, sugar-coated doughnuts stuffed with red bean paste and, as one brother explained, lacked the richness and *pow* that so amazed him at Bakery Nakamura. The red bean paste, in particular, wasn't -- purely in his words -- "beany" enough.. "and with Korean stuff, I'm always afraid of biting in and finding an omelet". O.o Nonetheless: it was alright, but not great.

Overall, I was actually a little surprised to find that my Koreatown stops didn't do as well as I had expected, with both not coming close to the cloud-like softness and freshness of Royal Fauchon, which is the place to beat.

Rating: **1/2

Clarkson Scottish Bakery [RIP]

Bakery: Clarkson Scottish Bakery
Address: 1715 Lakeshore Rd W, Mississauga ON
Website: n/a
Style: Scottish
Price: $

I don't know why, but I really wanted to check this place out. Maybe it's just to cross "Scottish" off the list (or, rather, add it onto the places I've visited ^.^)? Maybe simply for the uniqueness? I'd never tried Scottish baking before, and I was curious, though -- to be quite honest with you -- I was expecting nothing more than meat pies (to be sure, those *were* there) and a lifetime's supply of... scones. In every flavour imaginable. Maybe some pound cakes... XD But man, do I ever love surprises!

Nestled behind the plaza at Lakeshore and Clarkson (I did miss this the first time; you need to actually turn on Clarkson Road N and then go to the back.. it's in the downstairs area, above a restaurant), this small bakery actually had more sweets than I imagined and share the place equally with a wide assortment of meat pies and pasties. And, even more amazingly, I had a hard time choosing what I wanted simply because... I could have everything there! O_O Add on top of that stunning, stunning prices: individual items are $1.50 or less; whole pies for $5.50! Clearly labelled with names and prices, I ended up with a whole bunch of stuff. I actually bought a bridie (beef and onions) and Cornish pasty (meat and veggies) (both around $3) and a loaf of bread ($2.30) too to go ahead and try everything -- you can afford it! :)

So, I was really itching to chomp right into these treats! And they didn't disappoint. First up were three tarts (well, it was one tart per person): the iced ones were a Fern Tart (with the fern ;P) and the other a Blackwell Tart (both $1.30/each). Wanting to know which I would rather eat, I did some research and as both sounded equally good, I cut the two in half. According to online recipes, the Blackwell Tart is supposed to be filled with a sort of pudding (the photo looked more like bread pudding than the vanilla variety) whereas the Fern Tart was stuffed with an almond-coconut-marmalade mass. So, my two halves actually... I don't know if there was supposed to be a difference, but I think they were the same. O.o For all that, they were really good and reminded me too much of Scandinavian almond tarts for me to turn that into a complaint.

Along with them was the rhubarb tart ($1.30 for a small; $5.40 for a large pie) which was also really good and the favourite with both brothers. Slightly different dough than your typical pie (soda-based??), but it's definitely worth getting a big pie. I'll remember that for next time.

Besides this, I got myself a currant square ($1.40; apple also available), two layers of slightly denser dough with a crust of sugar on top just jam-packed with soaked dried black currants which literally burst with flavour with every bite. Mmm... this was SO good!

Lastly, there was the Eccles Cake ($1.55), a type of turnover, one could say, made of hard, thick dough and stuffed with mincemeat (an assortment of dried fruits) The brothers had this one; they liked the taste of the filling and thought it overall quite good, but slightly too doughy.
 
Still, this can be shelved under 'a great find'. I actually think I might have every bakery in Mississauga covered, either being already reviewed or on my "to visit" list (20+ spots ._.) and this was one of the very few remaining that I was really looking forward to and I'm so happy that, for once, it actually went beyond any of my initial expectations!

Rating: ***1/2

Akko Cake House

Bakery: Akko Cake House 
Address: 4040 Creditview Rd, Mississauga ON 
Website: n/a
Style: Chinese
Price: $

[Hello again! Before I begin with this week's (and last week's) stops, I thought I'd pop in and let you know I have two new pages to introduce, mainly my Cake Tour Map (seen here), which took three weeks to create, but I hope it was worth it! It has all stops, complete with interactive map and custom markers (with all necessary information). Wow, how neat is that! *-* And because this wasn't enough Photoshop fun for one weekend, I decided to make a separate suggestion page, because um, why not? Sure you can comment on any possible review and make a suggestion, but it's... not the suggestion box. ^^;;;; Both can be accessed at any time through the side bar *points* And check out the cake icon on the browser bar... yes, when I have a shortage of bakeries, I truly have NO life]

Anyways, this was suggested to me in the summer and I finally popped into this established Chinese bakery on a Sunday afternoon. This in itself wasn't very smart, since the bakery was literally emptied out and only a few bins remained, with all the leftover buns crammed into two compartments. In some way, this is good since you know they bake this stuff every day, but it was hard picking something out (that didn't have meat in it, on top of that!).

Nonetheless, as an intro, somewhat contrary to the name, Akko Cake House is indeed a Chinese bakery and, like all Chinese bakeries, their focus is on meat/savoury buns or flaky pastries and egg tarts (online comments claim these guys have some pretty good ones). Tucked into the fridge by the cash, they do have some cakes, but I can't say I was overly thrilled with the two we tried many years ago (one reason why I didn't really return): one was a sort of fruit cake which was pretty much sponge cake stuck together with Cool Whip. This is a fairly standard 'recipe', but I don't think I can recommend it from any place. I don't know if they still make it (even the cakes were sold out when I was there!), we had one that was a lighter version of the standard birthday cake was a mango mousse cake, with a sort of mass of mango and maybe condensed milk? It was alright, but as a Cake House, Akko is certainly not 'great' value -- at over $20, you can pay that elsewhere and get an amazing cake. There are, however, several options (and not many exist in Mississauga) if you don't want to go the traditional, frosted birthday cake route.

As a bakery, they're not bad. Actually, they're probably one of the best Chinese bakeries in the city (though there aren't that many besides supermarkets) with plenty of selection (according to the labels that were on the ledge), both sweet and savoury alike, and, at almost everything under $1, amazing prices. They may be slightly smaller than the supermarket versions, but for that, they're fairly generously filled and pretty tasty.

From the two or three sweet things left, I picked out: a walnut bun ($0.80), stuffed with a walnut mass and brushed with egg on top. This was good and a big hit with brother#1 who claimed that this is probably the best bun you can get in the area.

Next up was the famous almond cookie ($0.90). On the hunt for the best almond cookie (this is brother#2's great idea), he said this one came pretty close, tasting like it came from a bakery... not sure what that's supposed to mean, but I suppose it wasn't commercial-tasting or -looking with parts brushed in eggs and actual slivered almonds in sight. And it wasn't neon yellow! :P Another hit.

Lastly, I settled for the sponge cake ($0.80), which ended up being not the greatest I've had, but still good, especially with the bit of a crust from the brushed egg. A little too brown and the bottom of the cup also had this scorched dough feeling; the dough itself was slightly dry, going with the 'too long in the oven' theory. I suppose I know why there were so many left. :| Somewhat of a miss.

Overall, Akko Cake House is quite good and probably beats anything in the city in terms of taste and price when it comes to Chinese baking.

Rating: ***

Bread's Fusion [RIP]

Bakery: Bread's Fusion 
Address: 363 Kerr St, Oakville ON
Website: http://breadsfusion.com/
Style: Venezuelan
Price: $$-$$$

[Note: this bakery no longer exists. Signage indicates a French and Middle Eastern patisserie is on its way, so look out for that one]

Here's another Oakville bakery. I actually don't get many chances to try the bakeries in Oakville, so I was pretty thrilled that my mom came back with two paper bags from this new bakery, cafe & deli that opened up on Kerr Street (in what is known, I think, Kerr Village) and which replaced the Polish deli where I had a poppy seed bun from and never got a chance to review because I didn't know what it was called. *sighs* There goes that idea...

Anyways, from my experience, South American bakeries are a little like Vietnamese restaurants: the food may be pretty simple, but you can eat your fill of (generally) tasty stuff for a great price. I don't think this place lives up to that generalization. Bread's Fusion, a Venezuelan bakery in Oakville, also carrying some (unnecessary) North American sweets, is not too well priced (and hey! taxes not included!?! :P) in terms of their simple, traditional pastries, especially considering that I was flipping through my old posts for the sake of the previous post and found I had bought the same thing at half the price ($1.50, taxes inc.) in Toronto. :/

Not to say that it wasn't good. On the contrary. These guys don't have that many options if you do want to go for their authentic baked goods; their menu lists four different fillings (though I believe each pastry only has that one filling? Possibly?), all of which are fruit (and one with cheese). As the lady told my mom, the guava and cheese is the most popular, but seeing as this is similar to the one at Colombian bakeries, I ended up with:

One prune pastry ($2.60) was a simple, thick sheet of puff pastry folded over a nice and gloopy (I'm not sure if 'nice and gloopy' go well together, but just play along XD) prune jam. A little dry in the middle with that triple layer of puff pastry, but still good.

The second item ($2.60) was a sort of apple pie stuffed with a spiced apple puree that just didn't want to stay in the thin, flaky dough. Again, quite good; I had a similar thing at Pancho's, but with egg brushed on top to hold the dough together more. This fell apart a little too easily in the middle, but I really liked the filling and the plain, unsweetened dough was also quite tasty. Both were, as I mentioned, very simple, rustic even with no garnish and little else except fruit on the inside, so $3.00/each was a little much when you think about it. I would personally expect to pay $2.25, $2.50 at most, with taxes for what it was. This was definitely the only minus, except, as my mom was complaining, not being able to find a parking place. XD

Rating: **1/2

Columbus Bakery

Bakery: Columbus Bakery
Address: 2111 Jane St, Toronto ON (another location at 2931 Dufferin) 
Website: n/a
Style: Colombian 
Price: $ 

On the same plaza as St. Pio, there's a teeny-tiny Colombian "bakery" which I had to try, simply because I'd like to have some sort of comparison to the only other Colombian place I've tried, that being Todo Rico. As with most/all South American 'bakeries' (well, this is my take on it), they're actually more of restaurant first, selling hot foods like empanadas, chicharron and various meat platters. Second place comes the baked goods, with breads stuffed with cheese and pastries and cookies with guava, cheese or caramel. I don't know about their original location on Dufferin, but it seems like there's a reason why all the Colombian (alright, perhaps it's more appropriate to say "Spanish-speaking" since I'm not that good to tell :P) people are coming for the sausages and empanadas. :/

Yup, this rounded up the CT3 and it wasn't such a great trip. Feeling a little cheated at Ma Maison, it still left the other bakeries somewhere in the dust, very far behind. Actually, I had to wait one week to write up this post, because I didn't want to look at the picture. x_x So, what happened? I ordered two of their "desserts" instead of the baked goods: mistake. For one, given you pay $1.00-$1.50 (which is CHEAP; yes, in capital letters!) for pretty much anything sweet at my local Colombian bakery, I was expecting the same knock-your-socks-off value here, especially given the neighbourhood. No prices are listed and you're a little startled to be paying $2.50 (!?!) for what costs $1.00 elsewhere. Even Kensington Market, which is not so dirt-cheap, sells it cheaper at Pancho's Mexican bakery. I mean, $2.50 isn't lots of money, but for a) what you get, and b) the quality/freshness of it, it was so not worth it!

First up was a creme caramel or some sort of custard ($2.50) which is sold in squares or as a whole tin. The caramel supposed to be on top was pretty runny and by the time it arrived home, most of it had made it down into the Styrofoam.. and the photo itself makes it look radioactive orange -- I have no idea why. It was white with a bit of brown on top. -.- Still, too eggy and not enough taste from the caramel, this was deemed "alright". 

The next item was supposed to be a favourite of mine: bread pudding. (torta de pan; $2.00) Looking at it, it didn't look too bad. It had more of this crumble on top instead of just the soft pudding, but oh man! I see this and it makes me shudder. This was *so* old. You know when you take a piece of bread, slice the crust and stick it in the fridge for a few days, it develops this stale crust around it and then the bread itself starts taking on the flavour of everything else in the fridge? Yup. The crust around this was thick and just not good. Cutting it off, it still had this stale taste to it and was strangely greasy, giving me this impression that they deep-fried it along with the empanadas or in some old oil. Maybe they did, but I don't think that's what bread pudding is supposed to be. Just no... my mom announced later in the weeks that she had bought me my bread pudding at Todo Rico and I was ready to puke at the words "bread pudding", but they restored my faith in the good stuff. :)

Like I said, I don't know about the original location, but there's no reason for me to return to this area (I actually only found the plaza itself while looking for the 401 exit) and I can't say I'll miss going to Columbus for a return trip. Maybe I'd like to revisit St Pio and give them a second chance (I really would, since their buns were good, but this place.. no thanks) :/

Rating: *1/2

St Pio Bakery

Bakery: St Pio Bakery
Address: 2133 Jane St, Toronto ON
Website: http://www.cakeandbake.ca/ 
Style: Italian
Price: $$

[Since my Toronto tour has begun to go beyond the subway line and into the upper regions, I thought I'd introduce a North York section to make it easier to navigate. Erm, not too sure on the official boundaries so let me know if I screwed something up XD I'm thinking of embedding an interactive map with all bakeries I've reviewed.. but I think it'll take some time ^^;;;]

Stop #2 on Saturday's tour. Actually, nothing really ended up being stellar (I'm in a bad luck rut) this time around and, without a doubt, Ma Maison reigned supreme by a long shot. St Pio is one of the few bakeries that I've stepped into and I had absolutely no idea what to take to try. No idea. As with many Italian bakeries, the reason is that they're a bread-first sort of place (as well as wedding cakes). This one, in particular, has many delicious-looking breads and buns at good prices and we walked away with two bags of the latter. Their sweets aren't so exciting. As for baked goods, they had croissants and the most alluring thing there was an apple strudel ($8.99) which I would have taken, but didn't necessarily want to feed the whole family. ;D They had cannoli, naturally, in a variety of fillings. Maybe I should have taken one, just for the sake of trying something, but I've never been fond of them (sorry .___.;;) and wasn't in the mood. I think the cannoli was as Italian as it got. Besides this, they had a few cake slices, but which didn't look so great. As the mom says, they looked like the "back of the cream cheese box recipe" kind. I passed. :/ They had a sign that they carried homemade Jamaican rum cake, which I would have *really* liked to try, though I have no idea where it might have been if they had it.

At the cash, she turned around and said, I'll just take you that (pointing to the iced taralli - $1.90) and she did. I'm not sure why, but there it was on the plate, not looking so great and no one quite knowing what to do with it (Wikipedia informs me they're dunked in wine -- we did it in coffee and hot chocolate, oops! :P) I wasn't too happy, at any rate, having ended up with just that, but really, nothing looked... good! :(


So, we cracked the thing into pieces and everyone got a-dunking. The taste is that of ladyfingers, namely Milano-brand with that hint of lemon. Unlike biscotti, which serve a similar purpose, these just didn't.. want to get soft or absorb any of the liquid. The only thing that was really affected was the icing, which just melted into your drink. Is that supposed to happen? O.o

Nevertheless, I can't say the trip to St Pio was a memorable one, at least not for the baked goods. Sorry, guys, maybe next time I'll be more in the mood to try something (or someone has something good to suggest?). :(

Rating: *1/2

Ma Maison

Bakery: Ma Maison
Address: 4243 Dundas St W, Toronto ON
Website: http://www.ur2busy2cook.com/
Style: French
Price: $$$$

On Saturday (i.e. yesterday), I unknowingly ended up on a CT3: three bakeries were chanced upon, purely by luck, while we were aimlessly navigating through the streets of Etobicoke and Toronto. The other two came about completely without having dug anything on them, but Ma Maison was one that I'd driven past a few times on the way to Solero, but never had the chance to step inside. Well, today was the day.

Despite the steeper prices on French pastries in general, I can't say I've ever had the impression I've been cheated. Quality (and training) comes at a price and I'm more than happy to pay for it. ;) However, this has been the first time where I came away not entirely satisfied with how much money I spent and what I received in return. Ma Maison (despite the somewhat cheesy name -- then again, I'm really not the one to be commenting on cheesiness ^-^;;) is an authentic French shop with the workers addressing you in French once you walk in the door. The only difference from Paris is that you're greeted with a smile -- har, har har! (don't mind my humour, it's the (only?) result of six years and two French degrees -.-) On the store front, it's called a boulangerie, patisserie and traitteur, although I would perhaps reverse the order a bit. In fact, judging also by the website name, this seems to be the place where you go for a light lunch or take home entire quiches or savoury tarts and pates (made by the super-chef behind the whole operation) more than cakes and breads. The half dozen (filled) tables of customers seem to prove this theory.

In terms of the pastries and baked goods (my reason for being there), they have all your staples: fruit tarts (large and small tiny), elaborate cake slices, mostly chocolate, and a few not so exciting viennoiseries such as croissants and pains au chocolat as well as large pans of bread pudding and fruit cobbler, which probably would have been, in hindsight, the wisest choice. One thing that sets this place apart from French patisseries in France as well in Toronto is that there's not a price to be seen anywhere, although the price is... indeed there. It was only as they ring in the items that you realize how much they cost which is, as I always say, not very customer-friendly. One other thing that also strikes you -- this is as I was carrying the paper bags to the car -- is that the sweets are minuscule and weigh absolutely nothing. Whether it's because they're designed as an eat-in dessert to your quiche or they've been shrinking, the portions are without a doubt quite measly, a comment I don't think I've ever made before.

For the first purchase, I got a cinnamon stick ($2.49) which was in the yeast goods and which was particularly unimpressive. For one, it was small and I think it must have been made with two tablespoons of flour. There was none of that perfect, buttery flaky-fluffiness you come to expect from French baked goods. On the contrary, it was strangely dry and lacked flavour (cinnamon itself is not expensive, so I would have liked to at least have more of that) -- not what I was hoping for.

For the uh, "big" purchase, I picked out a tiny tart with cherries ($4.99). Unlike the cinnamon stick, this was actually delicious, although it didn't last very many bites. French tarts aren't huge things in general, but I've never come away with a feeling of "where did it go?" like I did here. Strangely weightless, it nonetheless had an amazingly flaky and buttery shell with a spoonful of what I think is almond mass. On top were dried cherries revived in (I hope!) what I identified as some sort of alcohol. The idea was a weird one and, although the taste was really nice and sweet once you started chewing, the initial texture was that of topping a cake with handfuls of dried cranberries.

At any rate, although the taste was pretty good and the tart especially yummy, what you got was simply not worth the price. :/

Rating: ***

Mr India Grocers

Bakery: Mr India Grocers
Address: 3950 Grand Park Dr., Mississauga ON (one other location)
Website: http://www.mrindiagrocers.com/
Style: Indian 
Price: $$ 

This was my semi-first sweets experience; I say semi- since I had tried one of the signature and more well-known (at least for a non-Indian ;P) desserts, gulab (deep-fried dough balls soaked in syrup), beforehand. Nevertheless, I've visited the Mr India Grocers "superstore" several times, not for the sweets, but for their well-priced hot food counter (known as the 'haveli' at the back of the store) and I was always thinking that I should try a few of their many sweets. Then my brother went for lunch and came back with a box, so: yay!

At any time, there are about a dozen or so which are organized by number and priced per weight: $5.49/lb for the right-hand case and $7.49/lb for a few slices on the left-hand side. As with middle-eastern treats, these are sold as small squares, balls or rolls, whatever the shape may be, but despite being considerably cheaper per weight than baklava, the price can go up quite quickly as many are quite heavy.

For those who may not know, sweets are pretty much Indian desserts with a very apt name: many items are soaking in sugary syrup. Whereas Greek or Middle-Eastern baking uses a lot of honey, Indian sweets use sugar. These make them sticky and very sweet -- the small sizes must be for a reason, since you can't eat too much of this without getting sugar-high. ;) Besides the items drenched in sugar, there is a vast assortment of little cakes usually made of rice paste and often topped with a heavy, cooked mass of milk, cream and... yup, sugar.

So, to the sweets: the brother came with 2x three different items (this box cost around $6, so roughly $1 per item): The first (in the lower right-hand corner) was the aforementioned gulab jamun, which are actually not really dough balls but are made of powdered milk, butter and sometimes eggs (with very little or no flour), traditionally deep-fried in ghee, dropped in sugar syrup, and then (in this case) rolled further in coconut. Ay, I'm glad I only had one to eat. XDDD These actually don't taste very heavy, so these little guys are quite deceiving. Still: slightly hard on the outside (one was a little too burnt), soft and mushy on the inside with a dense, crumbling 'dough'. Despite the overly browned dough taste to it, it was probably the best of the bunch for me. The second item was pretty much the gulab jamun cut open and stuffed with that cooked sugary cream above. This mushy filling, for me, was just a little too much in terms of, well, sweetness. (ha ha get it?)

The third on the plate is... well, upon eating no one could quite figure it out, except for the top which is that cream and sugar mix. Only one brother called it a 'carrot cake'. It took reading the Mr India take-out menu we have to discover it was gajar halwa, cakes made of, he guessed it, shredded carrots, milk, cream and sugar. This was... an acquired taste. ;P I myself did not really like this, but mostly for the sugary milky thing on top than the actual carrots. One is mushy and melted in your mouth and the other is shredded.. and it just was my least favourite.

Lastly, were these orange dough swirls ($2.49/lb; four big chunks cost $0.69), pretty much the same as the ones bought from Mona the week before, but orange. The brother says that for a dollar more per pound, they had white ones. Although they were quite good (my fave along with the gulab jamun), the ones in Mona were better. These ones were soaked in sugar syrup and there was something slightly bitter about the taste, which I attributed to the orange, though I'm not sure what it is or is it just food colouring?? O.o

Nonetheless, Mr. India wasn't the greatest, but it's made me curious to try other sweets, especially as I assume bakeries/restaurants (such as Shirin Mahal which someone recommended me and someone on Google claimed has the best gulab in North America) will be better than a supermarket. In any case, I would definitely say stick to sticky, deep-fried stuff and certainly to those who want to try something new. (and of course, if you're worried about caloric intake or your blood sugar level, proceed with caution ;DDDD)!

P.S. And erm, thanks to Wikipedia for their articles on Indian sweets. ^^;; Couldn't have done it without you~

Rating: **1/2

Dessert Deli [International Correspondent]

Bakery: Dessert Deli
Address: 716 Maple Rd, Buffalo NY 
Website: http://www.dessertdelibakery.com/ 
Style: North American
Price: $$-$$$ 

Dessert Deli is the second bakery I went to in Buffalo. This one is probably the "fanciest" bakery I've seen in Buffalo, or if there's another one similar I'm not sure where it is. They don't have any bread or baked goods and are, like the name says, just desserts. You can order and eat it there or they also do catering and big orders for parties (like cakes and pies).

Besides the usual cupcakes and cookies, they also have more fancier cakes, but these are pretty expensive. I remember paying more than $6 for an individual cake, but I have to give them credit for experimenting with new flavours and combinations and they put effort into the decorations too. I had an egg nog cake; it sounds a lot weirder than it tasted. It was pretty good. I liked the cookie on the bottom.

I don't really remember what the other thing was. I know it was something with chocolate, probably the chocolate raspberry cake like what I saw on their website? I only know that I liked it too.


Dessert Deli was pretty good. It didn't beat going to Swedish Bakery which is the other review I just did, but I could go again for the cakes.

Rating: ***