E&G Pastry

 Bakery: E & G Pastry Bakery and Fine Cakes
Address: 133 Metcalfe St, Elora ON
Website: n/a
Style: North American, European
Price: $$

Well, the brother went off to some sort of antique fair last week to Elora and, what do you know, he ended up finding a bakery for my tour. :) E&G, in the heart of the small town, is in fact Elora's only real bakery with the exception of one place that just sells bread and another that calls itself a 'bakery bistro' and is more a cafe than a bakery; at any rate it's the only place to get your baked goodies. And speaking of those baked goodies, this small bakery that's almost hard to miss has a little bit of everything and would probably best be described as a baker's hodgepodge, with pies to danishes to more elaborate cakes and personal pastries to baklava. It's quite difficult, actually, to attribute this place to one specific style.

Of course, they seem not only to make a special emphasis on the cake portion of their business, but people online also happen to say great things about these cakes, so it was very nice that the brother decided to spoil us with a quite ample taste test. ;) Personally, it would have been nice to try some actual baked goods (which is always my favourite as opposed to fancier, creamier cakes) but well, what can you do?

E&G has a nice, though not overly large selection of individual cakes, quite similar in terms of style and just varying in their flavours. There are no descriptions or prices and the brother ended up paying $3.50 for each item, taxes included. Not too bad.

Both the white and pink cakes are pretty much the same thing and are composed of a light, mousse-like top layer with a chocolate cake and nutty centre on the bottom. One brother said they were very good; he liked the mousse as well the chocolate and nut cake while the other called it "a glorified cupcake" and preferred the blueberry cheesecake, which he thought pretty good. Me, I have to say I'm not exactly fond of this mousse-cake style, but these were pretty good; they had good flavour and the proportion of cake to mousse was good, with there not being too much of the latter, as is usually the case.

My special treat was what I believe to be their rendition of the mille-feuille (Napoleon, in English), although it was what I'd call a simplified version, with the puff pastry on the top and bottom, with a layer of raspberry jam and sponge cake on the bottom and a very generous mountain of whipped cream in the middle. Trying to find out what sort of baked goods they offered prior to coming, I noticed that a few people commented about the cakes not being overly sweet, as is often the case. I agree on both points; this wasn't too sweet, but at the same time, I found the cream filling lacking in complexity. It was, in a word, pure whipped cream -- and, in comparison to the amount of dough, there was a lot of it -- and there is a limit to how much whipped cream one can eat without any sort of accompaniment. The jam gave it a nice touch, but there was simply too much cream; more dough would definitely be appreciated.

Overall, E &G is a fairly good bakery, a very tasty option in the area, with a variety of cakes and sweets, although I wouldn't put it at the same level as a few of the bakeries I've tried lately.When in Elora, though... ;)

Rating: **1/2

Daryani Bakery

Bakery: Daryani Fine Bakery
Address: 10670 Yonge St, Richmond Hill ON
Website: http://www.daryanifinebakery.com/
Style: Persian, Middle Eastern
Price: $$

While in Richmond Hill last week, I thought it a great opportunity to try yet another Persian bakery along Yonge St and area (there are plenty, so the Cake Tour is almost endless ^.^), especially considering that I really think Persian must be my favourite Middle Eastern baking and fellow samplers agree as well. Daryani Bakery is, in fact, more a deli than a bakery in that they're quite large and not only have an ample grocery section, but hot table, etc.

The sweets section (because, realistically, I'd say it's the only thing I'm there for, but that's not entirely true since that Persian ice cream in the freezer looked amazing; that's next time though ;)) is quite extensive as well, with not only several varieties of baklava and baklava-looking pastries, but a nice selection of honey goods, cookies and even more "Western"-style cake slices and choux pastries. Not to mention breads as well! This is definitely the most varied Persian bakery I've been to. It was actually quite hard picking something out... that is, without going broke. ;) Nothing is priced, except the triangle "dumplings" at $22/kg, but it was fairly reasonable for Middle Eastern pastries. The items were weighed separately, but in total, I paid $7.50 for six items. Not cheap, but not bad either.

One thing that I did remark with all pastries was that they were very fragrant, even compared to other Persian bakeries. The baklava, in particular, seemed to ooze the scent of cardamom. I'm not that big a fan of perfumed baked goods, but all that cardamom... man, you can't believe how amazing it smelled. I love cardamom! *-* All pastries (except the doughy one with the pistachio on top) were also generously soaked in honey. And speaking of honey goods, they had the usual dough swirl-things -- yes, I have yet to get the right name for it -- but I couldn't resist trying the uh, pancake version (I'm sure someone who knows more about this is laughing right now.. but that just might be my secret urge to be more popular >.>): fried dough drenched in honey and, strangely enough, as crispy it was on the outside, the middle had this honey layer as well, especially in the bubbles. Mmmm... what a lovely thing!

Those triangular dumplings? Those were also saturated fried dough creations, but stuffed with banana. The most boring was by far the dough roll, which was a fluffy French dough but with no real taste. And there was the baklava, filo-rolls with shredded coconut on top while the second was with semolina (?), both of which were filled with the same fragrant, nutty mass. One brother complained it was too fragrant and there was too much mush, while the other, the self-proclaimed baklava expert, thought that it was very good, with deep, complex flavours that you can't find in a lot of Middle Eastern pastries. Me, I was also impressed. If you love baklava, nuts and honey, this is certainly worth checking out... and for those who are new to Middle Eastern and/or Persian baked goods, the selection and quality makes this a fantastic (and delicious) starting point. :P

Rating: ***1/2

Sigrid's Cafe & Fine Bakery

Bakery: Sigrid's Bakery
Address: 10 Ross St, Barrie ON
Website: http://www.sigridsbakery.com/
Style: German
Price: $-$$

Sigrid's is a good old-fashioned German deli and bakery with all the classics along with some 'Canadian' favourites as well... and of course by classics I mean poppy seed buns! Naturally, there are other treats as well and the bakery seems to have an especially nice selection of fruit-filled items in the form of pies and cakes.

On a Saturday afternoon, their specialty Bienenstich (a cake comprising of yeast dough and a generous layer of almonds and rich creamy custard -- certainly not the faint of heart) was sold out, but I was offered the rhubarb pie as a substitute, which included all the components of the bienenstich with the addition of chunks of rhubarb. This definitely came as a surprise -- man! it's so hard to find baked goods with just rhubarb; it's such a distinctly European taste. This was very good; although the rhubarb and surrounding dough got a little soggy, the combination of dough and custard and fruit was a lovely one.

But why delve deeply into that when they are poppy seed baked goods to be discussed? ;D At first, I only noticed the poppy seed spirals, but was later directed to the poppy seed cake as well. I was a very happy girl, that's for sure. The poppy seed bun was by far the heaviest German bun I've tried. It was really heavy (though I would later discover it was due to the fact that there were apple chunks baked into the middle) and had plenty of poppy seeds in it, more than usual. The mass was mixed with almonds and the overall effect was a little doughy as it was more like two different well, dough layers. I'm not sure I liked the apple centre all that much, to be quite honest with you, but the bun on the whole was tasty.

As for the poppy seed cake, this was a real treat! I'm not exactly sure what it was, but the bottom was a similar, if not identical, poppy seed mass as in the bun with chunks of slivered almonds and then on top, there was a very airy, almost souffle-like cheese mass. Eating on the second day had created a bit of a crust on the top part, but it was delicious. I'd say it was better than the bun!

In addition to this, I got an apple pie as well as a peach streusel pie, which were pretty good, but nothing exceptional. The peach was a little bland, but that's just the nature of the fruit. Ha ha I'd say to stick to the poppy seed or custard cream goodness and you'll be good. ;)

Rating: ***