Georgestown Bakery

Bakery: Georgestown Bakery
Address: 60 Hayward Ave., St. John's NL 
Website: n/a 
Style: Canadian 
Price: $ 

On a very rainy, very cold, absolutely miserable day in October, I decided to brave the elements and make the walk to Georgestown (also written Georgetown online; their store sign is with an -s??) Bakery, located in the historic neighbourhood of the same name. Stepping in on a weekday afternoon, I was pretty surprised to find the line to the door. Of course, the wooden interior worthy of a pioneer village is quite small, with most items laid out on wooden shelves behind the counter, but I hate to say that long lines at the bakery aren't (alas!) the most common of sights. At first glance, I was worried that my trip had been in vain: the bakery has a lot of rustic breads, but I couldn't see any see any sweets. Getting closer, I espied a tray of squares (date and some sort of nut and chocolate? ones), already wrapped individually in saran wrap and neither priced or labelled. The woman in front of me got the date squares and, turns out that at $0.75, they're a total steal! Ready to grab some for myself, I then spotted several spice cakes, wrapped, labelled, priced, and even including a list of enticing ingredients like real vanilla extract, unbleached flour, and some other good stuff.

Holy-moly... if only I could get these shipped!

Now, I love spice cakes and I was jumping at the super moist gingerbread when I spotted it: the date and rum cake ($4.30, taxes included). And oh yeah, there was real rum in it. How could I not take it? Too cold and wet to go any further, I soon returned to my room and instantly cut myself a slice. A-maz-ing! Fragrant and moist spice cake, some of the best I've ever had. My mom makes this fantastic date cake with date paste (actually, her baking beats most bakeries), so I already felt that I would love this one, but I especially liked how Georgestown threw in whole chunks of chewy dates right into the dough. The picture and modest loaf cake shape doesn't give this thing justice: I was sighing in pleasure after every bite. Insanely good.

Perhaps I had other places to visit that day and had to postpone them due to the fact my shoes were saturated and I was freezing, but nonetheless, I will say that the rainy trip to George(s)town was well worth it!

Rating: ****