Cakebread Artisan Bakery

Bakery: Cakebread Artisan Bakery
Address: 368 5th St, Courtenay BC 
Website: http://cakebread.ca/
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$-$$$ 

The only bakery in downtown Courtenay, Cakebread is more than anything an offshoot of the grander Hot Chocolates chocolate and gourmet food shop, occupying one corner of the large space, past the rows of jars of jam and oil; it's also where you order any hot drinks so that corner also doubles up as the cafe portion -- this chocolate shop really has a bit of everything! It's not necessarily obscure or hard to find; it just seems... secondary, though at the same time, they have a decent selection of breads behind the counter and two perpendicular display cases with cakes and tarts in one, cookies and squares in the other, and a few baked goods scattered here and there. Despite the use of 'artisan', most of the sweets are nothing fancy and fairly standard fare at any neighbourhood bakery: chocolate chip cookies, scones, sticky buns, etc.

Not wanting to pick something that I could get anywhere, I was debating between one type of square (forgot what it was) and the peach tart I took. The peach tart ($3.25) was a bit of a more unique treat; despite the fact that there is a local peach season, it's frustrating to see how few places actually bake with peaches. Peaches are so good in baking! The concept here was very nice: big chunks of fall-apart peaches with a delicious topping of skin-on almond chunks of varying sizes and streusel. However, just like pies, the important thing when it comes to tarts is the shell and it was here that this fell a bit short: thin and soft, it almost disintegrated upon contact. I think making it thicker so it would hold up against the fruit filling and offer a bit of texture would have made it so much better.

Rating: **1/2