Jelly Craft Bakery

Bakery: Jelly Craft Bakery
Address: 120 Main St., Shelburne ON 
Website: http://www.jellycraft.com/
Style: Canadian
Price: $-$$

Yet another bakery stop in small(er) town Ontario to add to the series, Jelly Craft (name origin unknown ;)) seems to be the bakery in Shelburne and surrounding area, although it also seems to be more a cafe/light lunch spot than anything else, with homemade sandwiches, soups, and breads to go along with them. However, they likewise have a modest, though ample selection of baked goodies and cakes that cover most of the basics of Canadian bakery fare: cinnamon buns, danishes, cheesecakes, carrot cakes with a few more original treats (such as my Eccles cake below). At around $2-$2.50 per item, prices are reasonable as well.

Since one of their signature items is the carrot cake (served with cream cheese icing; around $2.50), it was, of course, taken. Not to mention the person bringing me back the goodies this time was the self-professed carrot cake connoisseur. :P And according to that carrot cake connoisseur, it was a good one. Perhaps there wasn't very much to set it apart from others. The cream cheese icing was of a good consistency and not solid and overbearing like it sometimes is. Good cake with nice amount of carrots, though I can't say it was remarkable. Then again, one must remember I'm not a carrot cake connoisseur. ;)

At the same time, I couldn't resist grabbing the Eccles cake for myself (I believe it was $2.40), seeing as I am quite fond of them. Flaky pastry pocket pie filled with a filling of raisins, orange peel, fruit and currants (though I had a hard time finding them here) and topped with a little sugar. Unlike other places, I had a very hard time distinguishing anything in the filling, with the exception of two raisins. I had this impression that it was more like the mincemeat you buy in stores, which resembles more a jam (with no meat, of course) that a hearty, fruity filling. Suffice to say, I would have liked a little more texture on the inside, but it tasted good and I liked the texture of the "shell": flaky and neither too hard nor too soggy.

Essentially, Jelly Craft has a bit of a monopoly going on, so you have no choice but to go here for your bakery fix, but that's not a problem. Tasty treats and reliable classics make this a worthy stop.

Rating: ***

Sesame Pastry and Deli

 Bakery: Sesame Pastry and Deli
Address: 2783 Lakeshore Blvd W, Toronto ON 
Website: n/a 
Style: Polish
Price: $ 

From afar, this small bakery doesn't scream Polish as they usually do. The name alone makes things a little ambiguous, but stepping up to the window of baked goods, you know that this is another Polish bakery on a rather impressive bakery strip and that this place is a veritable institution. Despite its somewhat tired storefront, those in the know seem to flock nonetheless for the baked goods; while I was there, three different "regulars" popped in. The selection is limited to the items in the window: several varieties of Polish slab cakes: cheesecakes, multi-layer cream cakes, yeast-based and fruit-filled, as well as a few other baked goods. Namely poppy seed buns. :P Friendly, approachable service, fresh goods, and great prices seem to be the three things to take away from this place.

Everything in the window not only looks fresh, but tastes fresh, and this is something that -- unfortunately -- does need to be mentioned when it comes to Polish slab cakes, though I've never had a problem with the other bakeries in this smaller Polish neighbourhood in Etobicoke. And they're not all the same, which was nice to see. It was neither the same old cakes nor was everything a variant of each other (i.e. cheesecake topped with peaches, cheesecake topped with cherries, etc.). Not to mention this is really the go-to destination for well-priced treats: an ample piece of cheesecake (able to be cut into three portions) cost a little more than $3. Same goes for the other cakes. I also liked that the owner suggested reasonable, if not slightly too small slices, instead of giving you that roll of the eyes when you don't want to take the whole darn slab...

To the goodies, though! First up was the poppy seed bun ($1.50), a nice big bun, albeit simple with no garnish except for a wee bit of crumble, but with delicious poppy seed filling. It tasted homemade and was so yummy! Mmm, even if not in the mood for a cake, step in for this one!

I also grabbed three cake pieces (around $3.20 per chunk; all were then divided into three ample slices). The first was two layers of soft sponge cake-like dough with a layer of homemade cherry filling in the middle. Loved the dough. Taste-wise, it was quite good, though I found the filling a little too gloopy for me. It was actually better on the second day once the filling had set and absorbed into the dough a little.

The second cake was a yeast cake with pockets of apple slices and blobs of gloopy fruit. I have to say I wasn't a big fan of this, on account of the gloop. The taste was good, but it was the one real miss. I certainly wouldn't take this one again.

But the cheesecake made up for it. With maybe the exception of the poppy seed bun, this was not only the best, but amazing. I was actually stunned by how much this actually resembled a Japanese-style cheesecake: it was so airy and the cheese was incorporated into the dough so that you could just go on eating this forever without feeling nasty. ;) Mmmm, this was so good! It has to be one of my favourite cheesecakes!

With that, having to limit yourself on this stretch of Lakeshore from around Kipling to Islington has become even more difficult. Sorry about that. :P

Rating: ***1/2

Lebanese Bakery

Bakery: Lebanese Bakery
Address: 2094 Lawrence Ave E, Scarborough ON 
Website: http://www.lebanesebakery.ca/
Style: Lebanese, Middle Eastern
Price: $$

One a not so recent trip to Scarborough (the same that brought my purchaser to last post's McEwan), I received some Middle Eastern baked goods for the trying. And while the area abounds in Lebanese bakeries (more future Cake Tours, I hope) and the name is lacking in creativity, it's the baked goods that do all the talking at this place. Think your usual Middle Eastern pastries: various types of moist baklava and cookies as well some savoury options as well, such as the zatar bread (not pictured; a thick pita smothered in Lebanese thyme), which other samplers are still raving about. In fact, they'd like to add that it was one of -- if not *the* -- the bakery's highlights.

But of course not all of us can be placated with herb-encrusted flat breads. That's where I come in. ;) The first item were these sesame cookies that the bakery was offering up as free samples. Finding them very tasty, my purchaser bought the box. Thin cookies generously coated in sesame seeds, stuck on with a sticky syrup, these were really good. And addictive. They knew what they were doing, handling these out for free samples!

Then there was the baklava (sold by weight; a small container -- not all is pictured -- cost around $7-8) which comes in a variety of shapes and styles. Unlike some Lebanese-style bakeries, where the baklava can tend to be dry and doughy with no substance, these were super moist and almost resembled the soaking Greek variety (which happens to be the baklava of choice ^^). Nutty, fragrant, and saturated -- one of the few times this is a positive characteristic. One of the best Lebanese baklava out there.

I was really impressed with Lebanese bakery. Which just goes to show you: there may be many Lebanese bakeries throughout the GTA, but there's only one Lebanese Bakery. And yes, that did sound wittier in my head. :P

Rating: ***1/2

McEwan

Bakery: McEwan
Address: Shops at Don Mills (38 Karl Fraser Rd, Toronto ON)
Website: http://mcewan.mcewangroup.ca/
Style: North American
Price: $$$ 

This past Friday was National Doughnut Day. Don't worry, I didn't know either until I saw it advertised in a grocery store flyer next to pre-packed, factory-made doughnuts. And while I could write a wonderful article on the absence of good and fresh doughnuts from your average bakery, I'll choose instead to write this review... which was up next regardless of Doughnut Day or not. It just seemed to work out that way. ;)

Nevertheless, a couple of weeks ago, one of my regular bakery purchasers went to check out the Shops at Don Mills for the first time and returned with two 'gourmet' doughnuts from McEwan, a high-end supermarket owned by celebrity chef Mark McEwan. In addition to gourmet, imported and overall "fancy" foods, they likewise have a bakery. Not big, but with cakes and pastries, available in both slices or as cakes -- when I heard that you could have a small Dobos tort for $8, I honestly began to wonder why I got stuck reviewing doughnuts.... Price-wise, it's expensive; however, it's not too over-the-top given the type of store and its location. If you go in expecting to pay more, then you won't be too surprised, not to mention products are clearly priced.

To the doughnuts ($3/each): truth be told, I'm not a big fan of so-called 'gourmet doughnuts'. Rather, I do like my fried dough ^^, but I feel like the only reason why gourmet doughnuts exist is because you've either got baked-from-frozen atrocities or nothing. Classic, freshly-made doughnuts that aren't ethnic (Polish, Portuguese, e.g.) are very few and far between, which is frustrating. I don't want bacon on it -- I just want a good doughnut!! *calms down a little*

Anyways, we got for the sampling two doughnut varieties. The first was a raspberry chocolate one, with a rather thick layer of raspberry icing (which actually tasted of raspberries -- quite yummy if there weren't so much of it) on top of a doughnut cut in half and stuffed with hearty dollop of a sort of chocolate mass somewhere in between a custard and a mousse in texture. This was good and the best of the two; however, it was too rich for a doughnut. The texture (especially notable in the second one) of the dough was fantastic though: soft, airy, and flavourful dough -- as it should be.

Same goes for the second one, which looked a little safer: a ring of whipped cream around what looked like a centre of cherry jam and glaze on top. Cutting it open, it was revealed that the inside was actually filled with cream cheese. This was perfectly fine without the cream cheese; with the cream cheese, it was just too much. Both doughnuts were divided into four so all samplers could give them a try and everyone agreed -- we're not sure how one person can sit down and eat this in one go without feeling sick afterwards. I know doughnuts aren't exactly healthy, but both of these were really out to push the boundaries...

It was nice to finally have a quality doughnut, since despite the richness you could instantly tell this was better than your usual jumbo chain, but next time, I'd stay away from the doughnuts and try something else. ;)

Rating: **1/2