Boulangerie Cheskie

Bakery: Boulangerie Cheskie 
Address: 359 Rue Bernard O, Montreal QC
Website: n/a
Style: Jewish, Eastern European
Price: $$$ 

As mentioned earlier, I raided "must-have" dessert lists online for the first time, curious to see if I'd perhaps missed something on my regular Cake Tours of Montreal. The majority were well known to me; others didn't really appeal to me, some I went through on my latest trip. I saw pictures of Cheskie's baked goods -- namely, their Russian chocolate babka -- and immediately went for it. How could I not? The photos look amazing.

Cheskie's is a kosher bakery that seems to also be frequented by locals of all kinds and, judging by the amount of online photos, foodies and specializes in Eastern European-style baked goods and a few North American treats mainly for the kids (a wide variety of colourful sugar cookies with icing comes to mind), but what mainly seems to bring everyone in the neighbourhood in is either their famous chocolate babka or their rugullah, available in several varieties.

Unfortunately, most items are sold by weight with no indication of what that price is per kilo/pound; I'm not exactly sure the precise amount I paid for each item either. This can lead to some surprises and I was genuinely surprised how much the man in front of me paid for a dozen rugullah. Next was my moment of truth and, delicious as it is, baked goods are expensive and I probably paid double what I was expecting. Ouch.

However, the pain is soon forgotten, or at least numbed, once you start digging in to your goodies. Of course, I had to try the Russian chocolate babka (I paid $3.78 for two pieces). This is served in almost bite-size pieces, all baked together to create a multi-layered ooey gooey chocolatey mass. As if that weren't enough, it's then drizzled with thick chocolate on top. Quality chocolate and plenty of it, this is a chocolate-lover's dream come true.. and what a beauty it is, isn't it?

Naturally, whenever there's a chocolate babka, there's a high probability that you'll find something with poppy seed. To my disappointment, there actually isn't that much with poppy seed. There was, however, the poppy seed loaf. I had to have it. Costing $15.75 for the whole piece, it can be cut up and is then sold by weight. The latter option turned out not worth it; I paid around $6 for a fourth. And as an essentially individual piece, it was very pricey. This is THE best poppy seed baked good in Montreal, hands down. Crepe-thin layers of dough folded with black poppy seed mass. Whoa. *-*

All in all, pricey and almost wouldn't be worth it... if it weren't so insanely good! A(nother) Montreal bakery highlight.

Rating: **** 

The Kootenay Bakery

Bakery: The Kootenay Bakery
Address: 377 Baker St, Nelson BC
Website: https://thekootenaybakerycafe.com/
Style: Canadian
Price: $$ 

I was excited to try this organic bakery co-op out the first time I was in Nelson and put the town on the Cake Tour map; unfortunately, I had to leave very early in the morning -- even before the bakery opened! -- and I had to put it off for another time. That other time did come eventually and this bakery was able to be done. Another point for Mimi! ^-^

Anyways, as stated above, The Kootenay Bakery is a cooperative bakery using locally-sourced organic flour and they make everything (including their jam fillings) from scratch, which is always nice to hear. When I was there, the selection was excellent and the bakery was fully loaded with baked goods. So, essentially, I started out with their blueberry cinnamon bun. This was very fresh and soft, and that was definitely a plus. The glaze was still a bit wet and sticky, the filling perfectly gooey -- this looked delicious and certainly tasted the same.

 While I was digging in to the cinnamon bun, however, a rack of freshly baked cinnamon twist doughnuts were brought out. The smell was irresistible and really, how could I just sit there and not do anything? These were just simple, classic sugared doughnuts with a hint of cinnamon, and so good! Slight crunch on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside and they just could not get any fresher. Mmm... nothing beats a fresh twist doughnut!

Rating: ***1/2

La Cornetteria

Bakery: La Cornetteria
Address: 6528 St. Laurent, Montreal QC
Website: http://www.lacornetteria.com/
Style: Italian 
Price: $$ 

Little Italy just wouldn't be Little Italy without an Italian bakery. And that bakery -- or at least one of them -- is La Cornetteria, where the eponymous specialty is the humble, not very well-known cornetto. The cornetto being, of course, a sort of Italian equivalent of the croissant, except in most cases it comes stuffed with a variety of fillings such as custard, Nutella, whipped cream, etc. One could call it a cross between a French croissant and a cannolo. However, this petite patisserie with a decidedly retro vibe doesn't just carry several types of cornetti; they also have a selected number of classic Italian pastries. There are cannoli, zeppole, and the bakery's signature creation: cronetti (an "Italianized" cronut), along with a few other treats.

Now, whenever I go to an Italian bakery and see zeppole, it's always my first pick. I love zeppole. While they did have them here, I found them a little expensive. The same could be said of their cannoli. In the end, I opted for that cornetto ($2.95 with filling; slightly cheaper for a plain). After all, I'd never had one before and it seemed a worthwhile choice given it's well, the cornetto destination. Going with the one with ricotta cream, I was a little surprised that technically cornetti aren't exactly stuffed; the "filling" is more or less piped on top of the pastry. To tell the truth, I didn't have such high hopes for it after that, but taking a bite, I really liked it. Likened to a croissant, the dough is not the crunchy, airy, multi-layered dough of a French croissant. It's softer, almost... heartier with a hint of a lemon in the dough. Top that with the ricotta cream, also with a hint of lemon, and the two were a great match: good texture, great taste -- yummy!

Rating: *** 

BlueBelle Bistro

Bakery: BlueBelle Bistro 
Address: 347 Front St, Kaslo BC 
Website: http://www.bluebellebistro.com/
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$ 

With the real bakery closed, I had to make do with the local cafe in town. The BlueBelle isn't, of course, a bakery; they focus more on things like hot breakfasts and lunches, random Tex-Mex food and pizza... perhaps they can hardly be called a cafe at all and "bistro" is the best way to describe it. Nevertheless, they do have a limited selection of baked goods like butter tarts and squares -- pretty much stuff that holds over time and doesn't necessarily need to be sold day-of.

From this selection, I picked out the butter tart. I would call it an average butter tart with a thick, hand-folded crust and a set filling. Breaking into it, it was certainly harder than expected: the shell was hard, yet flaked apart and the filling had a hard crust on top and the inside was gloopy and dryish.  In short, it was far from the peak of freshness; I was a bit disappointed, especially since you can tell if a butter tart is old or fresh.

Next time, I hope the bakery will be open and I can give that a try.

Rating: ** 

Trou de Beigne

Bakery: Trou de Beigne 
Address: 156 Rue Saint-Zotique, Montreal QC
Website: http://www.troudebeigne.com/
Style: Doughnuts
Price: $$

One Saturday afternoon, I popped in here to find it very full, a bit chaotic and, seeing as I had already had a doughnut that day (really, not that legitimate an excuse), I thought I would return another day. The next day, I was looking through I think it was three "must-have bakeries/desserts in Montreal" lists; again, these lists are entirely subjective and I have my own taste, but for a doughnut shop to end up on the list, especially when they did look good, I knew I had to give them a try. Thus the trip was escalated to a necessity!

 Trou de Beigne ("Doughnut Hole") sells just doughnuts and unlike a great many hip(ster) doughnut shops, they had several flavours that I would actually want to try. Why yes, the bacon doughnut was still there, but I often find that a lot of these places just load up on toppings or make everything chocolatey and there isn't as much variety or creativity as I'd like. These guys have nine rotating flavours at one time, available in standard and scouter size. Take standard; you won't regret it. ;P

That day, I had to make a difficult choice: the green tea looked amazing, as did the blueberry one. But the one that won points for originality was the speculoos doughnut ($2.75 standard size). Yes, a doughnut dedicated to those famous Dutch spice cookies. A smooth spiced glaze generously coating a fluffy, fresh yeast doughnut and decorated with a few streaks of chocolate and a piece of chocolate dipped wafer in the hole. Amazing soft, slightly chewy texture, a slight crackle on the top of the glaze and so good. My only problem? I want a bigger one! ;)

Rating: ****

Unity Baking

Bakery: Unity Baking
Address: 331 King St W, Kitchener ON
Website: https://www.unitybaking.com/
Style: Doughnuts, Cakes
Price: $$ 

Unity Baking is a hip, fairly new bakery in downtown Kitchener (well, apparently they're soon moving to Cambridge, so no longer in downtown Kitchener) that perhaps qualifies more as a dessert shop than a "bakery", since they pretty much specialize in three products: doughnuts, macarons, and cupcakes. Yes, I think that's it. Of course, they feature several varieties of each at one time, but if you're in the mood for something different, it won't be here.

 Me, on the other hand, if someone specializes in doughnuts, you know I'll be there to give them a try. A little embarrassing when phrased like that, but true. At least for the first time, I always like to stick to doughnut classics. After all, the best measure of how well someone makes a doughnut -- or anything for that matter -- is the plain one, either with glaze or sugar. Unity Baking does the sugar kind ($2 each, all doughnuts). Simple dough ring with a small hole in the middle that makes it look like it was made on some sort of spindle. Biting into it, I didn't find it as soft and fluffy as I had expected. The sugar was nonexistent in some areas and flaking off in clumps in others and it just didn't taste super fresh. Doughnuts, especially plain ones, always need to be fresh! It looked really promising too...

The apple fritter was better: fairly well fried, though the glaze was again unevenly distributed and, as is often the case, I would have liked a little more apples in it. Still, it wasn't disappointing in the way the "sugar loop" was, so that was nice. Good, but not knock-your-socks-off.

Rating: **1/2

Old World Bakery

Bakery: Old World Bakery
Address: 480 Ferry Landing Rd, Balfour BC
Website: n/a
Style: Canadian
Price: $$

Conveniently located on the road to the ferry (what better way to pass the time waiting than to go get baked goods!), Old World Bakery may or may not be connected to the Nelson bakery with the same name. Nonetheless, I always seem to associate "Old World" with European baking; in the case of long-established bakeries on this side of the Atlantic, it usually turns out to be either Dutch or German, so in a sense, I was expecting something a little more Old World, but it was still what I could all classic Canadian bakery fare; despite this, there was an excellent selection of lots of baked goods and bread: cinnamon buns, brownies, danishes, cookies, etc. etc. All at reasonable prices.

 Looking back at the picture, I was almost confused into thinking this was a butter tart, but ha ha yes, I got a sour cherry pie! Rather, a tart, since it was a single-serving one. This was pretty good with flaky crust, just the right thickness. The filling, with sour cherry preserves, was also good.

All in all, Old World Bakery makes missing or waiting for the ferry not a bad thing at all; on the contrary.... ;D

Rating: ***

L'Amour du Pain

Bakery: L'Amour du Pain
Address: 323 rue de la Montagne, Montreal QC
Website: http://www.lamourdupain.com/
Style: French 
Price: $$ 

The other Griffintown bakery with 'bread' in the name, L'Amour du Pain is smaller, cozier than its competition, and just because they have plenty of rustic breads, it doesn't mean their array of sweet baked goods and pastries isn't just as impressive. Along with French baking classics, they have quite a few one-of-a-kind treats that makes deciding on one item pretty difficult.

Should I have taken the pear pastry or the apple one; perhaps the hazelnut-stuffed bear paw? Everything looked so tasty, and yet somehow I knew the second I saw it that I would end up with the crémeux à l’érable ($3.45). There is something so enticing about the idea of maple syrup cream stuffed in a flaky dough rolled sprinkled with maple sugar. In some cases, the description alone attests to how good it will be and this fell right into that category. One bite and I couldn't get enough of it: the buttery layered dough, the rich maple cream, the chewy texture of the two together. Some chunks of maple sugar were a little too big and you noticed them a little too much, but a brilliant, delicious idea. I'm not sure if the other baked goods for sale can compare to this treat, but this pastry did indeed embody their slogan: masters of flour and happiness. ;)

Rating: ***1/2

Menntaskóli Borgarfjarður Bake Sale [Mimi's Cake Tour]

Bakery?: Menntaskóli Borgarfjarður Bake Sale
Address: Borgarbraut 50, Borgarnes 
Website: n/a
Style: Icelandic 
Price: $$-$$$

I should consider it the ultimate compliment that people in the small town of Borgarnes (where I'm perhaps a little infamous) not only know of my love of cake and baked goods, but keep me posted on insider events such as this one. A purely local event, one Saturday in the fall, the high school hosted a bit of a bazaar including a bake sale organized by the graduating class to help fund their graduation. Hearing this, I knew I had to check it out!

Upon arrival, I realized that the bake sale would actually be considered a cake sale. Entire tortes, lovely homemade creations (most, if not all involving chocolate, licorice, or a combination of the two) that you won't find in any bakery, were wrapped in cellophane and offered for sale. For me, it was kind of a disappointment, because I, as an individual, didn't want to purchase a whole cake for ~2500kr for myself and my "cake parties" always involved home-baked goodies... I would have liked at least one cake cut up into slices. Even the bags of kleinur were just so big. However, I couldn't just leave a bake sale and not buy anything. That's downright scandalous.

So, in the end, I went for one of the very few (two) items that were under 1000kr. That was the vinarterta (700 kr). I've always wanted to try a vinarterta, being from Vinland myself ^^, but have never actually had the chance to do so. I keep telling myself that I'll order the ones sold online by a lady in Toronto when I have something big to celebrate, but other than that, I have yet to try one. Of course, the ones sold online and the original recipe I snagged in an Icelandic Christmas cake magazine are more torte-like (with whole prunes and vanilla cardamom icing) than the ones I've seen in Iceland. The latter are universally pieces of unadorned vanilla cake, somewhere between shortbread and sponge cake, layered with jam. I liked the dough in this one, but the jam layer was so generic that I can say with confidence I could bake a better vinarterta. And, one day, I will!

 Walking around, I also spotted the sheep cupcakes (400kr) for sale again! I say again because the previous year, I had gone to see the sheep herding festival, or at least, the last part of it and these absolutely adorable sheep cupcakes were being sold. I hadn't brought my money with me so I ran back to my room to get it and when I came back, the festival had packed up and left in a matter of five minutes. :/ It took a year for me to get my chance and I didn't pass it up: available in either white or "black" (chocolate), with little licorice heads, these are... brilliant. The icing on top had gone a little hard/stale, but unwrapping the muffin cup, I found the chocolate dough soft and spongy. I'm probably the oldest customer who actually bought these for myself, but I don't care!

Also, the next day, I got a lovely gift from the lady who had so kindly informed me of the event: a slice of the cake she had bought! This was a rich chocolate cake with mint and decadent ganache topping; very dense, moist, almost brownie-like in texture, this was well, better than my vinarterta, though a little too rich and sweet. Still, I was very thankful for this donation to my research. :)

Rating: **1/2

La Bête à Pain

Bakery: La Bête à Pain 
Address: 195 rue Young, Montréal QC
Website: http://www.labeteapain.com/
Style: French 
Price: $$ 

Needing to do something in the neighbourhood, I decided to brave the frigid temperatures and explore the bakery offerings in hip, industrial-chic Griffintown, because yes, there are bakery offerings amid brand-new condo developments and high-end furniture stores. *shrugs* Hey, I'm not complaining! :P

The first of the two, La Bête à Pain, has their original headquarters in Ahuntsic. This location feels new and is modern and airy, with an open-concept kitchen area and items presented along the counter, though perhaps the whole layout is needlessly complicated/big for the amount of products for sale. Still, bread is in the name of the store and is the name of the game; upon entering, that's what you see and it's only upon turning the corner that you find maybe half a dozen baked goods including classic croissants, chocolatines along with some more unique items and was it, two? other fancier desserts.

I was actually debating between some sort of apple one and what I ended up taking, but in the end I went with the brioche cannelle ($3.25). I was in a bit of a cinnamon bun mood and this one looked lovely with a light, translucent glaze on top and a simple, classic rolled-up bun. Many of their baked goods were, in fact, more bready than flaky and this was no exception. A denser dough that you could pull apart layer by layer, I found the dough minus glaze lacking in flavour. Maybe it just needed a little more sugar in the cinnamon mass? As it was, it had a great taste, but it was a bit dry in texture, though fresh.

Rating: **1/2