Cinnamon Bear Bakery & Cafe

Bakery: Cinnamon Bear Bakery & Cafe
Address: 8342 20 Ave, Coleman AB
Website: n/a
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$ 

Right in the heart of the Frank Slide area, there's Cinnamon Bear an at times bustling bakery-cafe famous, as it seems, for their cinnamon buns. With their wooden decor and rustic, hearty, semi-healthy baked goods and lunch items, it is without a doubt a mountain bakery, though they are first and foremost a lunch destination with people running for their soups, savoury scones, and quiches. Beyond that, they have a selection of cookies, some squares, and cakes at varying price points. Some items were a little pricey in my opinion.

Nevertheless, back to those cinnamon buns! Having purchased something savoury, the question "white or whole wheat?" was, I assumed for the other item; I only discovered later that they do indeed have white and whole wheat cinnamon buns. And I ended up with the whole wheat. Two things irked me a bit: everything in-store is labelled and priced except for the cinnamon buns (how much did they cost? I think $2-something?) and you have to pay $0.75 extra for icing, which is a first.

However, these don't need icing. With a bit of glaze on top and filled with sunflower and sesame seeds and whole grain flour, these have good texture and are perfect for those who don't like excessively sweet baked goods. Heck, you could almost say they're healthy... and that's reason enough to have another one. :)

Rating: ***

Homestead Bakeshop

Bakery: Homestead Bakeshop
Address: 228 24 St, Fort McLeod AB
Website: https://www.homesteadbakeshop.ca/
Style: Canadian
Price: $$

Right in the middle of Main St Fort McLeod, I found this relatively new bakery. Simply given the size of the place and just general trends, I was expecting this to be your typical small-town bakery. You know the kind: squares and cookies, maybe some really good doughnuts. Instead, I was surprised to find a pretty, tastefully decorated artisanal bakery that wouldn't be out of place on the hippest of city streets. Not that the former is a bad thing, of course. ;) Both are good and well, a bakery is a bakery~

Fortunately for me, my bakery touring that day started nearby and I was actually at Homestead before lunch. ((This must, I need to add, be celebrated; it seems a general rule for me to be running in a few hours before closing)) Nonetheless, I did find labels with items obviously cleared out and others on their way there. I found goodies made with flaky dough, others with puff pastry, a few surprising finds (were those Dutch almond tarts!?) and more rustic, artisanal versions of baking classics such as butter tarts, cookies, muffins, and these guys: sticky buns ($1.95).

Yes, I was debating between this and the almond tart, but this being the third bakery so far (three more would follow .__., I thought it would be more budget friendly to "stick" to the bun. Ha ha, get it? Anyways, this was a tall bun with a slightly flaky exterior and a soft inside, similar to what you might expect from a danish or French-style cinnamon buns; all of that was then beautifully topped off with sticky syrup just oozing down the sides and big chunks of nuts. A bit of caramel, a bit of cinnamon, some walnuts -- yum, this was good!

Rating: ***

Kooyman Bakery

Bakery: Kooyman Bakery 
Address: 514 51 Ave, Coalhurst AB
Website: facebook
Style: Dutch, Canadian 
Price: $

Just outside of Lethbridge, there is the small town of Coalhurst, and in that town is a Dutch bakery -- the only Dutch bakery I managed to nab on this particular Cake Trip. Yes, I had quite a few lined up here and there and I was ready to take them on, one apple fritter at a time. :P But I was either at the wrong place at the wrong time. Nothing worked out. Until Kooyman, that is.

Kooyman has a fairly large selection for its size, but of the baked goods they do have (the majority being bread and savoury items) I was a tad disappointed that they didn't really have many Dutch mainstays, though there were packs of botterkoek and slices of Dutch apple cake, so I shouldn't complain too much. :P Beyond that, it was a nice selection of classic, small-town baked goods with cinnamon buns being perhaps the most prominent.

Someone had been just talking about Dutch apple cake ($1.95) and the desire to eat some a few days ago, so spotting this one, I couldn't resist. Chunks of apple folded into a slightly moist, slightly dough and then topped with a glaze. Maybe, I confess, my mom's is still the best, and I realize it would have been much better warmed up a bit (it was eaten in the car a few hours later), but it was still very good.

The other item I got was the apple fritter ($1.25). Unlike most apple fritters, this proved to be more like a jelly doughnut, with the jam-like apple filling stuffed in the middle of a denser cinnamon-spiced dough and glazed only one side. Nice taste of cinnamon throughout. This was certainly a different take and quite good, though I think there was too much filling, especially towards the middle where there was more filling than dough. Never really like when that happens.

Nonetheless, I did finally get my Dutch bakery fix and it was a satisfying one!

Rating: ***

The Neighbourhood Bakehouse

Bakery: The Neighbourhood Bakehouse
Address: 1418 17 St S, Lethbridge AB
Website: https://neighbourhoodbakehouse.com/
Style: Canadian
Price: $

In one week of travels (almost) across the country, there was actually only one perfect 4-star bakery and that unassuming bakery happened to be The Neighbourhood Bakehouse in Lethbridge.

As the name indicates, this bakery is sandwiched right in the middle of a residential area, a very small plaza popping up almost unexpectedly as you drive past house after house. Inside, this equally small bakery has a whole corner of display cases, fully stocked with delicious glazed doughnuts, baked goods, cinnamon buns and cookies -- and did I mention they have three varieties of apple fritter? Wow! All priced, all labelled, and all looking delicious.

For a mere instant, I was unsure of what to take; I had a few options when, yet again, I spotted it. The poppy seed bun ($1.25). Rolled into a spiral and simply glazed, it looked pretty straightforward. Biting into it was a whole different story. Super fresh, super fluffy, this wasn't any old poppy seed bun, this was a poppy seed doughnut! And it was amazing! *-*

Rating: ****

Sweet Bakery

Bakery: Sweet Bakery & Coffee House
Address: 2445 Broad St, Regina SK
Website: http://www.sweetbakeryandcoffeehouseregina.com/
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$$$ 

At the beginning of August, I embarked on a road trip from Toronto to Kelowna. Five provinces. Six days. Sure, the main purpose wasn't to go cake touring, but it was certainly a top priority, especially considering that I am still aiming for 150 bakeries from all over the country! Here are the results.

Rounding out my Saskatchewan tour this time around is Sweet Bakery. Well, I suppose I forgot to do this chronologically and had to go back, but nevertheless, I spent one night in Regina and thought it a travesty if I didn't have any Cake Tours from the city. This proved more difficult than you'd think. There really aren't that many bakeries for a city of Regina's size and they seem scattered about; none, suffice to say, were really on the way. Except, that is, for Sweet Bakery, which was located a few blocks away from where I was staying and it was more or less on the way back to the highway.

Despite the name online, it's known as Sweet Coffee on location and that is certainly more appropriate. It really isn't in any way a proper bakery in the sense that the focus is the drinks and prepared light meals or sweets to accompany those drinks. They really don't have that much in terms of selection; no bread, that's for sure, and baked goods are more or less variants of the same item (cookies, cheesecake, and coffee cake). Moreover, these baked goods were expensive! I simply did not think anything was worth the price.

I confess I was ready to walk out when the idea of not doing a bakery in Regina loomed darkly over my head and I caved, going for the cheapest item: a cookie. I picked the ginger cookie ($2.55). I love ginger cookies; I could eat them all day, every day. People often get them wrong, yes, and I don't often stumble upon a good chewy, gingery cookie. Most of the time, they're too sandy, even though they have enough of that ginger zing. These, on the other hand, were brittle and hard. The size and thickness made them nearly impossible to break or bite apart and they didn't smell like ginger, nor taste like it. I hardly ever get nasty on my reviews, even when I don't particularly like it, but I was really... unsatisfied and disappointed with this place.

Rating: *

Maple Leaf Bakery

Bakery: Maple Leaf Bakery 
Address: 424 4 Ave, Moose Jaw SK 
Website: n/a 
Style: Canadian 
Price: $ 

At the beginning of August, I embarked on a road trip from Toronto to Kelowna. Five provinces. Six days. Sure, the main purpose wasn't to go cake touring, but it was certainly a top priority, especially considering that I am still aiming for 150 bakeries from all over the country! Here are the results.

I was intent on doing a bakery in Moose Jaw and this one instantly came up, though there's very little information about it online. Usually, this doesn't bode well and I already encountered a few on my trip like that, but Maple Leaf is indeed open! Stepping into this small, long-established bakery, at first glance, there wasn't that much selection, at least in the actual display cases, but then you realize that baked goods are either presented on cookie trays in the window or behind the counter on racks. And unlike a great many bakeries, the focus seems to be on the sweet goods -- yes!

Maple Leaf was one pleasant surprise after another; first, amid the doughnuts, cinnamon buns and butter tarts, I spotted it. Yup, it was a poppy seed bun -- my first poppy seed bun of the trip! *-* The next surprise came in the form of the price: I paid $1.90, with taxes, for the poppy seed bun AND cinnamon bun. Together. Whoa. Elsewhere, a bun with so much poppy seed would set me back at least $2.50!

And how did it taste? Amazing! This was a generous, what I call a Russian-style poppy seed mass. Very black, pure poppy seeds and lots of it, rolled around a soft, fluffy, pull-apart dough. I haven't had such a good poppy seed bun in so long!

Then there was the cinnamon bun. Similar soft, fluffy dough as the poppy seed bun with a nice amount of cinnamon that got a bit nice and gooey in the centre. As always, I'm not the biggest fan of raisins and thought this would have been better without, but still tasty. Yes, it's not the poppy seed, but besides that....

Rating: ***1/2

Tilli-beans Bakery & Coffee Shop

Bakery: Tilli-Beans Bakery & Coffee Shop 
Address: 109 Sherbrooke St, Wolseley SK 
Website: facebook 
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$ 

At the beginning of August, I embarked on a road trip from Toronto to Kelowna. Five provinces. Six days. Sure, the main purpose wasn't to go cake touring, but it was certainly a top priority, especially considering that I am still aiming for 150 bakeries from all over the country! Here are the results.

The one thing about Saskatchewan towns, at least the ones on the Trans-Canada, is that they have a bunch of signs advertising what they have in advance. Some towns have bakeries and they don't advertise, but then there's Tilli-Beans. Actually, I had no idea this place existed; rather, that there was a bakery in Wolseley, but I spotted the sign and turned in. Your advertising worked! ;)

Anyways, Tilli-Beans is more a cafe than traditional bakery, with plenty of seating and quite a bit of selection for enjoying something with a coffee, whether that be lunch, breakfast, or something sweet. At first glance, many of their sweets are sold as 6-packs, but once stepping in, they do have a display case with slices of pie, tarts, and cookies.

I decided to try their butter tarts ($2.25 each); if I recall, they're sold either with pecans or raisins. I had the pecan. This had thick, jelly-like filling with big chunks of caramelized pecans. The taste was nice and buttery; however, the boat-shaped shell made it a little difficult to tackle. The slightly chewy texture of the shell, while quite tasty once in your mouth, was so hard to pull apart with your fork. The shallow basin for the filling also made some of it fall onto the plate when the struggle for cutting it was taking place. A bit unmanageable, yes, but a pretty good butter tart nonetheless.

Rating: **1/2

Grenfell Bakery & Coffee

Bakery: Grenfell Bakery & Coffee 
Address: 810 Desmond St, Grenfell SK
Website: n/a 
Style: Canadian 
Price: $ 

At the beginning of August, I embarked on a road trip from Toronto to Kelowna. Five provinces. Six days. Sure, the main purpose wasn't to go cake touring, but it was certainly a top priority, especially considering that I am still aiming for 150 bakeries from all over the country! Here are the results.

Fresh from a disappointment in the form of a small-town bakery having just (permanently) shut down, I took the risk of turning into the town of Grenfell. Gas needed to be bought along the highway, but a little detour wouldn't hurt and turns out it was a productive one after all. There was a bakery! :)

Grenfell Bakery was indeed open, though it being later (not too late, however) in the afternoon, the first thing that I noticed was that the bakery itself was mostly empty and the one customer there was waiting for pizza. Yes, the focus does seem to be the pizza, and I'm not quite sure what this place features in terms of sweets besides the last two doughnuts I bought. The somewhat harsh service didn't make me want to inquire....

However, I could not pass up an unexpected bakery, so I did take the last two doughnuts ($1.25 each) on the tray, this being the chocolate glaze variety. Biting into it, I got a nice, fluffy yeast doughnut that was undeniably fresh (despite being the last thing in store) coated in a perfectly thick, set-yet-soft chocolate glaze. A simple doughnut, yes, but just as it should be. Lousy doughnut chains, take note! ;)

Rating: **1/2

Austin Bake and Coffee Shop

Bakery: Austin Bake and Coffee Shop
Address: 30 2 Ave, Austin MB
Website: n/a
Style: Canadian
Price: $

At the beginning of August, I embarked on a road trip from Toronto to Kelowna. Five provinces. Six days. Sure, the main purpose wasn't to go cake touring, but it was certainly a top priority, especially considering that I am still aiming for 150 bakeries from all over the country! Here are the results. 

From Winnipeg, I set out across the prairies and ended up with one of my most productive days! The first of these stops was the small town of Austin, Manitoba. There was another cafe advertising homemade baked goods on the edge of town, but I'd previously researched this place, and to Austin Bake and Coffee Shop I went. Well, it certainly wasn't a very lively place; we were the only ones and the shelves of baked goods seemed quite barren and gave the impression of it having never been full. Doughnuts had labels but were gone save one or two; there was a large pie and some sweet buns, with not a lot looking very exciting. The lunch options were similarly limited and the use of processed cheese in the homemade panini wasn't greatly appreciated, but there was a silver lining and it came in the form of the Saskatoon (berry) pie ($1.25).

I've heard great things about Saskatoon pies from my bakery correspondents and this was my chance to try one. Slightly flaky pie dough rolled into a sort of handheld pocket and stuffed with Saskatoon berry filling and drizzled with a bit of icing on top, it took one bite and I was hooked. This was so good that I instantly dreamed up visions of going to one prairie bakery after another, gobbling up these delectable personal pies... except no other bakery I stopped at had them and all I had was a lingering regret of, especially at such a ridiculously low price, why hadn't I bought more!?!

Rating: ***

Stella's Bakery

Bakery: Stella's Bakery
Address: 110 Sherbrook St, Winnipeg MB (+ other locations)
Website: http://stellas.ca/
Style: European, Canadian
Price: $$

At the beginning of August, I embarked on a road trip from Toronto to Kelowna. Five provinces. Six days. Sure, the main purpose wasn't to go cake touring, but it was certainly a top priority, especially considering that I am still aiming for 150 bakeries from all over the country! Here are the results.

Day 3 brought me to Winnipeg, where there was already one bakery reviewed. Actually, having done research for the previous tour, I remember Stella's so vividly I was at first sure I'd already reviewed it. Turns out I hadn't. So it's to Stella's I went!

Stella's is without a doubt the bakery in Winnipeg. With about a half dozen locations throughout the city, you don't have to go far until you spot another Stella's; I think I passed three... Anyways, one of more popular locations (perhaps even the "main" one) is the Sherbrook one. Going in, I was a little surprised that much of what they sold was savoury. Quiche and croissants with gourmet cheeses and veggies; not quite as many sweet baked goods as I would have liked. I also thought that the savoury goods had more "fancy" flavours and fillings than the sweet, but well, I did manage to pick out something. ^.^

That was the cranberry crumble ($3.00) Similar to a classic date square, this had a nice, slightly tart fruit filling with a chewy dough loaded with oats. Add to that a topping of slivered almonds and icing which took a classic, homestyle goody to another level. My favourite in Winnipeg and one of the bakery highlights of the day.

Rating: ***

Falcon Lake Bakery Bistro

Bakery: Falcon Lake Bakery Bistro
Address: 21A Park Blvd, Falcon Lake MB
Website: http://www.falconlakebakery.com/
Style: Canadian
Price: $$$

At the beginning of August, I embarked on a road trip from Toronto to Kelowna. Five provinces. Six days. Sure, the main purpose wasn't to go cake touring, but it was certainly a top priority, especially considering that I am still aiming for 150 bakeries from all over the country! Here are the results.

Still suffering from my defeat in Thunder Bay, I decided to up the ante on Cake Touring and to get as many bakeries from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg as possible. Problem is, there aren't any bakeries to be done. However, there was Falcon Lake.

Falcon Lake Bakery Bistro is a bit of everything. They have a little restaurant on one side; they serve gelato (hence the insanity at the cash) and then have racks of baked goods including mostly bread, with muffins and cookies as well: simpler, homestyle fare with not a price to be seen. They also advertise their famous cinnamon buns, which unlike everything else, is kept hidden behind the counter.

 I think the first thing that made me not too predisposed towards them was the chaos at the time of purchase. It took 25 minutes and a separate line for people just buying bakery items should have been made; having to wait 10 minutes for one group to decide what ice cream flavours they want wasn't fair to those with just a loaf of bread or paper bag.... Didn't find it the greatest value either; at least, I felt the $9 I paid for everything too much for what it was (homestyle baking).  

Then came the baked goodies. While the classic carrot cake was fairly standard with its semi-thick layer of cream cheese icing, though not overly remarkable and a bit lacking in carrots, those famous cinnamon buns were disappointing. Uh, what happened to these? First of all, they were so dry and not even the parts with some coagulated sugar could help them out. Airy and dotted with raisins (and I don't like raisins ;P), there was so little cinnamon and I think anyone would assume it's just a raisin bun. This coming on the same day as my Thunder Bay flop, I was devastated! ;__;

Rating: **

Nucci's Bake A Deli

Bakery: Nucci's Bake A Deli
Address: 801 Red River Rd, Thunder Bay ON
Website: http://nuccis.ca/
Style: Italian, North American
Price: $-$$

At the beginning of August, I embarked on a road trip from Toronto to Kelowna. Five provinces. Six days. Sure, the main purpose wasn't to go cake touring, but it was certainly a top priority, especially considering that I am still aiming for 150 bakeries from all over the country! Here are the results.

From Sault Ste. Marie, I crossed the barren, bakery-less expanse to Thunder Bay. I had huge plans in store for Thunder Bay. First and foremost, I was there for Finnish baked goods, and I was especially looking forward to a Finnish bakery a visitor had recommended me quite awhile ago. And then there were the others. Not to mention Persians. Yes, I was intent on trying a famous Thunder Bay Persian. I just had one obstacle in my way -- and it proved too great for me. That obstacle was Civic Holiday long weekend. I mean, the holiday doesn't even have a name and yet, the whole city was shut down. Not even just Monday, but the whole weekend. A Finnish dinner didn't happen. Neither did any of the Finnish bakeries, even the ones already done. The Persian Man was closed. Donato's, the 24-hour bakery was closed. I was in a state of shock and disbelief; the city was dead and I was stuck eating Greek. Curse you, long weekend!

I made one last ditch effort: Nucci's. Nucci's was on the road out of town to the highway. Coincidentally, the inventor of Persians was apparently a man named Nucci. Nucci's had the same holiday hours notice as Persian Man. It was meant to happen. Yes, Nucci's was open!

Now, I'm not quite sure what a Bake a Deli is, since I saw a lot of deli going on and not that much baking. Sweets were limited to the case right up by the cash; there was no use circling the store. And 50% of that sweets display was Persians: classic, chocolate, unglazed and sold with the icing on the side -- you name it. Quite honestly, I don't remember what was there besides Persians. 

Of course I took a Persian. Well, two Persians, to be exact: one regular (with the pink strawberry icing) and one blueberry ($1.10 each). A few hours later, when getting ready to finally eat my miraculous find, I discovered that the worker had stuffed both in one bag facing each other and the classic Persian destined for me had been stripped of its icing and it had all gone over to the other one. Someone really doesn't like me. ;__; With some efforts, I got a little icing back onto mine and bit in. Fresh fried dough with cinnamon, not enough to tell me it's a cinnamon bun, but good nonetheless. A bit too much icing in places, but it was fluffy and did compliment the dough underneath. I personally liked the blueberry icing, with chunks of blueberries in it, better than the classic version, but the blueberry one happened to be stale....

Nonetheless, I have tried a Persian! And they were good, better than expected in fact. Perhaps not worth having a mental breakdown over, but an enjoyable treat when in Thunder Bay... on a regular day. ;)

Rating: ***