Cafe Aroma Latino

Bakery: Cafe Aroma Latino
Address: 5780 North St, Halifax NS
Website: n/a
Style: Mexican, South American 
Price: $

This is my final "Great Canadian" Cake Tour of the year; well, this is the last stop on my trip to the Maritimes a couple months ago and it's taken me this long to finish things up. Nevertheless, Cafe Aroma Latino, though I had wanted to try it and someone I know recommended it as a budget-friendly, tasty place for food, was actually my plan B. I had yet again tried the local market a couple doors down and found nothing -- this time, they did have a tray, with corresponding prices, but everything was gone! -.- So, off to Cafe Aroma Latino I went!

Cafe Aroma Latino specializes in, as the name suggests, pan-South and Central American foods, both savoury and sweet. It features a hodgepodge of small, well-priced dishes with a description and country of origin written beside each item. The selection isn't huge, but it's interesting with its choice of cheese stuffed items (such as arepas done more than one way) and, of course, there are several (rum-soaked) cake slices (at around $2.50 each) to choose from. That's what I'm talking about! ;) Unfortunately, it seems to be just my luck that the aforementioned cake was unavailable that day (as was another similar one) and, stating that I wanted to save this for my train trip the following day, the worker recommended I grab a sweet empanada instead. (around $1)

Sweet empanadas, por favor! :P

Well, no rum cake for me. :( But I take up the advice and got, among other savoury items, a sweet empanada. Normally, one would associate empanadas with meat fillings, but there are countless sweet variations. The shell was similar, if not identical, to the savoury kind, though perhaps slightly on the sweeter side. The filling was pretty interesting and, in fact, not exactly what I was expecting, though I'm not sure what I *was* expecting... It was a flavour-packed, delicately spiced fruit paste filling, though I have a hard time pinpointing the actual fruit used. I want to say fig because of the small seeds and dark pulp, but I don't think it was fig. It has so boggled me, I even did research and can't come up with a definitive answer; authentic sweet empanadas are stuffed with anything from pear, pumpkin, rice, to a variety of tropical fruits I've never heard of. To be quite honest with you, I liked the Colombian arepa (cassava patties stuffed with cheese) the most of the items I got, but the empanada was, nonetheless, a tasty and unique treat.

Rating: **1/2

Madison Sweets [International Correspondent] [RIP]

Bakery: Madison Sweets
Address: 511 State St, Madison WI
Website: http://www.mysweetmadison.com
Style: American
Price: $-$$ 

This is finally the last place we went to during our road trip! It was actually the first "bakery" we went to; we just wrote down the wrong name and neither of us could figure out what this place was called. The only thing is that we didn't buy any baked goods or cakes here. I wanted to, but you have to buy a whole cake (I wanted the Guiness cake) and no one wanted to split it and someone was getting mad at me for wanting a whole cake "on the very first day", whatever that's supposed to mean. [editor's note: please calm down... and why on earth are these photographed on a piece of paper towel?!? x_x]

Different flavours of chocolate truffles

The only reason we walked into this cake and chocolate shop was because we walked by and thought it would probably make a good stop to put on the map, especially when this was our first time in Wisconsin. I was a little disappointed that it was pretty much a cupcake place and nothing really attracted my attention, except the Guiness cake I already mentioned. I didn't want a cupcake and so we were pretty much left with the chocolate truffles. I don't know if that even counts as reviewing the store, but the truffles were probably the best thing there, but I like chocolate.

The small chocolate truffle balls ($0.97 each) had hard shells and a soft interior, the variety depending on the decorations on top. These were rather good, which I would expect from a chocolate shop, but at the same time I can't say they were amazing either. I would have probably preferred the Guiness cake or any other chocolate cake they had on sale, though I don't know how much I'd like it. Pretty good.

Rating: **1/2

Kevin's Taiyaki

Bakery?: Kevin's Taiyaki 
Address: Inside PAT Mart (675 Bloor St W, Toronto ON + other locations) 
Website: n/a
Style: Korean, Japanese
Price: $-$$

Eep, you do know this isn't really a bakery?

Well, it's not quite a bakery, but seeing as someone brought back a whole box once, I was inspired and decided to make a tour of it. ;) Kevin's Taiyaki operates out of small stands in mostly Korean supermarkets  throughout the GTA and some of their products are available in Oriental supermarkets, even when they don't make them on-site. As unbelievable as it seems Kevin's has indeed clamped down on the taiyaki market (if such a thing can even exist) and turned it into a empire.

More specifically, taiyaki are traditional fish-shaped waffles with a variety of fillings: you have a choice between the classic red bean, custard, green bean, and black sesame. Baked constantly throughout the day, these come fresh and are best enjoyed that way, losing some of their "pow" when eaten the following day, for instance. An idea, in that case, is to stick them in the toaster, which works unless the filling somehow starts oozing....

"Contains no fish" (reading that always makes me laugh...)

At any rate, I had the choice of sampling two flavours: red bean and custard. ($1.50 each) Custard is certainly the most "approachable" flavour for non-Asians, although the red bean was unanimously the best, both fresh and reheated. The dough was slightly crunchy with a soft, warm filling on the inside. The custard was pretty good upon purchase, but later on, it didn't hold up as well. It certainly doesn't work so well, regardless of the fact the waffle itself is the same, in the toaster. I thought the custard a little too set, especially when custards and creams found in Korean buns are generally... exceptional. *-*

Overall: Kevin's makes a tasty, impromptu snack while/after grocery shopping, but it's not really anything to write home about... rather, bring home. ;)

Rating: **1/2

Coffee Matters

Bakery: Coffee Matters 
Address: 1 Military Rd, St. John's NL
Website: http://www.coffeematters.ca/
Style: Canadian
Price: $$ 

A cold Sunday morning was the setting for my last day of cake touring (and my last day in St. John's) and it proved to be unsuccessful one, at least at first. One bakery showing up on Google no longer existed, another was considered a bakery on Google and was a restaurant, and yet another was closed that day. Dejected and depressed, but not wanting to ruin the rest of my plans by going off in some other directions, I walked past this coffee place and thought that I could pop in for some coffee and to sit down/warm up before the rest of my long walk Upon entering, I noticed that the sign also said that they have pastries. All was not in vain!!! ^o^ Now, Coffee Matters is a coffee place, serving  well-sized, tasty mugs of the stuff, but they have a pretty impressive selection for what they are of cake slices, squares, and scones. And I might be forgetting something even then.

And a partridgeberry in a pear tree~! :D (excuse me...)

Thus, in addition to the coffee, I grabbed myself a partridgeberry square (around $2-2.50; prices for baked goods are not listed), since I knew I wouldn't be able to find this anywhere else. In fact, I was very happy to get a chance to try some baked goods using local and unique ingredients. I learned from the liquor store label for lingonberry liquor that partridgeberry is the name for this small, tart red berry that I can only get here frozen and imported from Europe. That being said, I love baking with lingonberries: Finnish spice cake, Swedish "queen" cake with vanilla sauce, or lingonberry squares that look just like these ones. I couldn't wait to try this wholly Canadian version and it was a winner. :) Personally, I would have liked to have it slightly more sour (i.e. with less sugar in the fruit filling) so as to bring out more of the distinct flavour of the berry, but it was still delicious as it was: a nice amount of fruit filling and a great oat crumble reminiscent of date squares. Mmm... what a find, and just when I had given up hope on a final Cake Tour in St. John's/Newfoundland! :)

Rating: ***1/2 

Jacobs Lefse Bakari [International Correspondent]

Bakery: Jacobs Lefse Bakari
Address: 221 Central Ave, Osakis MN
Website: http://www.gotlefse.com
Style: Norwegian
Price: $$ 

We pulled over to use the bathroom or have lunch on our drive from Madison WI (where we spent the first night on our road trip) to Winnipeg and we randomly came across a Norwegian bakery. I'm not really a bakery fanatic [editor's note: *glare*]  myself, but even I was amazed at finding a Norwegian bakery at all, let alone in the middle of Minnesota. Although we weren't given any real guidelines about finding bakeries in the 1.5 days we spent driving through the US, we still thought this would make a great cake tour, both due to its location and style.

Almond loaf cake was soft and fairly good

I suppose that the main item at Jacobs is the lefse: flat, crepe-like pancakes. I already had some when I was in Norway several years ago (on the train from Bergen to Oslo, in fact) and thought them nothing really special. [editor's note: no matter where they go, they just can't be trusted! AND then they go ahead and photograph the thing on a paper towel!?! ;___;] Just crepes served with jam. And here you just buy the pancakes (without jam or cream), I think, and so I decided not to get them, but instead picked the almond cake ($5.00). The cake was a loaf-style almond cake with marzipan and coated with almonds and powdered sugar. It was soft and moist, but not the greatest ingredients list (especially disappointing for what looks like a small enterprise). It was good, but nothing special. I suppose the fact that it's Norwegian is the most remarkable and unbelievable of all.

Rating: **1/2  

Richmond Hill Deli

Bakery: Richmond Hill Deli
Address: 9631 Yonge St, Richmond Hill ON
Website: http://richmondhillbakery.ca/
Style: Russian, Eastern European 
Price: $$ 

A whole tin of mini poppy seed buns! ^^

Having found the address to this bakery/deli online and walking there from the H Mart plaza instead of repositioning the car, it never once dawned on me that the deli and bakery under the same name (and website) were actually two separate stores. Having purchased my baked goods in the deli (the first coming in from Yonge), I only realized once going to their website and  wondering why I didn't spot any cakes while there that the cafe/bakery is located seven units down. *massive forehead smack* Arrrgggh! Opportunity lost. Well, for now. :P While I'm at it, though, I can just go ahead and review the deli and either incorporate the bakery into this post in the future or devote another post to the bakery proper; I suppose it all depends on how similar/different the two happen to be. In the meantime, I am such an idiot, especially since I DID look through the website prior to visiting. So, a review of the deli it is.

Richmond Hill Deli is a well-stocked Russian deli and, as is the case with all Eastern European delis, although the majority is dedicated to cold cuts, prepared foods, and imported grocery items, there are baked goods scattered here and there. Some are located right in the front; others, such as pre-packed poppy seed and walnut buns are located on top of the cold cut counters. The selection isn't too large or elaborate (i.e. none of the cakes featured on the website -__-), BUT they do have plenty of poppy seed options and this is always a plus. How I love Russian-style poppy seed baked goods (sorry Poland)! :P

Mmm... so good!

My choices were between the buns and the larger coffee cakes. The latter also had the choice between plain poppy seed and poppy seed with walnut. Now, normally, I would jump at the plain poppy seed one, but the walnut variation (around $7.50) looked so enticing and more complex. A great choice. Loaded with poppy seed and chunks of walnut with just the right amount of delicious dough. Add a bit of glaze on top -- yummy!

I [heart]ed this too! :3

The second thing was a two-pack of these sweet pretzel-shaped buns ($2 for a pair); they were just plain dough, but something intrigued me and I felt like giving them a try. Super soft and fresh dough, slightly but not too sweet and a great snack that could be eaten for breakfast, tea time, or whenever. It reminded me most of Chinese sweet buns... except better. ^^ I'd definitely take both again!

Well, it's not quite the bakery just yet, but I'm not at all disappointed with my trip the deli portion of the Richmond Hill empire. :D Can't wait to see how the actual bakery fares!

Rating: ***1/2

Megan's Preserves and Treats

Bakery: Megan's Preserves and Treats
Address: @ St. John's Farmers Market (Lions Club), St. John's NL 
Website: n/a 
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$

Note: Not having made a note of who I bought this from, I only noticed too late that the label on the product with the ingredients also didn't mention it. As such, I really don't know if I picked the right vendor from the list on the Farmer's Market website. I know for certain it's not Stella's Kitchen, the major baked good supplier (and which I had to give up after two other bakeries), but I recall it also being a woman's name... and this is the only other on the list. Please let me know if I made a mistake and I'll fix it immediately. :)

Did I ever mention I love gingerbread?

Anyways, during my visit to the Farmer's Market, I was initially debating between this stand (which had a whopping two items left -- a loaf of gingerbread cake and a 6-pack of orange squares, besides some cookies baked with stevia) and the aforementioned Stella's, which had a lot more variety but I didn't want anything chocolatey (and I don't like banana bread ;P) or felt like buying a whole bag of scones. Remembering with great fondness the previous day's delectable spice cake, I somehow wound up returning to the gingerbread cake ($5), expecting great things. And I was not disappointed. Made with good ingredients like apple sauce and molasses, this was soft, super moist and perfectly spiced, just like I like them. Perhaps it didn't have that wow factor of a date and rum cake, but I can't remember the last time I had such a tasty gingerbread cake, regardless of the style.

I can indeed conclude at the end of my tour that St. John's makes a mean spice cake. Oh yeah.... *-*

Rating: ***1/2

Scandinavian Deli & Soppi

Bakery: Scandinavian Deli & Soppi 
Address: 307 Bay St, Thunder Bay ON 
Website: n/a 
Style: Finnish 
Price: $$

I almost forgot about this place! I was looking through my remaining pictures from this grand tour and, having for whatever reason taken for granted that Harri Bakery was my only stop from Thunder Bay, I realized I still had these delicious doughnuts from Scandinavian Deli (and Soppi, though I'm not sure what this means)! :)

Fresh from the bag, Finnish doughnuts are so good! *-*

This stop come about purely by fluke: the international correspondents came across this "Scandinavian" deli (it's really just Finnish) while looking for a bakery selling Persians, which they never found. [And thus a trip to Thunder Bay is almost in vain. -_- Well, I say "almost", because I did get two Finnish bakeries which will beat pretty much anything! :P] Instead, I was treated to something even better -- which was even, even better for both correspondents who ate theirs fresh: Finnish doughnuts! Apparently, these guys sell a variety of classic Finnish baked goods which are either brought in from another bakery (but not Harri) or they have an individual baking for them (in either case, it's nothing open to the public since I don't know about it), since while there, someone was bringing in a whole tray of freshly baked pulla (sweet bread). Having already one loaf in the car, they decided to opt for the coffee and doughnut deal (sans coffee for me). Returning with one, they explained in some confusion that the lady behind the counter called them "monkeys".

Me: "You mean "munkki"?"
Them: (silence) Oh, so that's what it was!

Anyways, a munkki is the Finnish version of a classic, sugar-coated jelly doughnut. As it is, there's nothing overly different about a munkki; perhaps there's a little hint of cardamom in the dough and the jam is good, not this very un-fruity gloop found in some places -- whatever it is, wherever they're bought, munkit are amazing. They just blow (almost) everything else out of the playing field and yet it's difficult to pinpoint what exactly it is that makes them that amazing? Is it that they're perfectly deep-fried with a crunchier exterior and a soft fluffy interior? With tasty jam and classic granulated sugar on the outside? Whatever it is, it is so good and the one from Scandinavian Deli is no exception. :)

Rating: ****