Rocking Horse Bakery [International Correspondent]

Bakery: Rocking Horse Bakery
Address: 265 Riverside Ave, Winthrop WA
Website: https://www.rockinghorsebakery.com/
Style: American
Price: $$

The town of Winthrop is this pretty cool Western town and right in the middle of it, there's Rocking Horse Bakery, which also looks a little like it came straight out of a Western with the wooden decor inside and out. I would call it a legit bakery, one that seems to get quite a bit of business and features all the usual "classic" baked goods like cinnamon buns, carrot cake and different kinds of coffee cake, etc.

 I had a peach berry-something coffee cake ($4.00). I don't remember what else was jumbled in with the rest of the name.... It was very soft, fresh and moist with good sweetness and a nice amount of fruit: not too much, not too little and that was real fruit too, not jam or pie filling. I also liked the crumble on top of that fruit. Very well balanced and tasty. Very good, in fact; certainly my favourite Washington bakery on my trip.

Rating: ***

Fiddle Valley Cafe

Bakery: Fiddle Valley Cafe 
Address: @Miette Hot Springs AB
Website: n/a 
Style: Canadian
Price: $$

This cafe at Miette Hot Springs on the outskirts of Jasper (or within Jasper National Park, if you will) is pretty much your only destination for sweets in the area, definitely until you reach the town of Jasper, about an hour away. They make homemade food in addition to offering a limited, though not too shabby (for a cake, at least) selection of classic Canadian baked goods like cinnamon buns, Nanaimo bars, date squares, etc. Prices aren't so bad: not cheap, but exorbitant either - kind of what you'd expect for a fairly remote cafe at a tourist attraction.

The carrot cake was moist and the icing was soft, not the mention just the right thickness on top in relation to the cake dough. It had a good level of sweetness with lots of nuts and carrot - just the way I like it -  and the shaved almonds on the side was a nice touch. Maybe it's not worth going out of your way, but when at the hot springs, why not?

Rating: ***

Spring Bakery [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Spring Bakery
Address: 227-15 (198 Seongsansan-ro) Dongjin Market 1F, Yeonnam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul
Website: instagram
Style: Korean, European 
Price: $$ 

Spring Bakery is a charming, itsy-bitsy bakery away from the hustle and bustle of Hongdae. It may not be big, nor is there that much selection given the fact that everything is contained on a single table. This includes about a dozen items, both sweet and savoury, that range from loaves of bread to croissants, cannele, several flavours of scones (is it just me or is the boring old scone enjoying its 15 minutes of fame?) and a few others. Labels include English.

I discovered that one of my favourite Korean baked goods were soboro buns (1800 won), so I couldn't resist opting for one here over the tiny selection of French pastries. These mildly sweet, fluffy buns with their crunchy crumble topping (definitely the highlight) aren't too elaborate, but their simple, slightly nutty flavour makes for a great treat, especially in the morning. The crumble topping had good coverage, but I would have liked some more texture and chunkiness. Great taste. Maybe the dough could have been moister as well?

Rating: ***

Duffin's Donuts

Bakery: Duffin's Donuts
Address: 1391 E 41st Ave, Vancouver BC
Website: http://www.duffins.ca/
Style: Doughnuts
Price: $

If someone told me that a 24/7 dive serving fried chicken, hot subs, burgers and hot dogs in addition to random Mexican and Chinese food items also happened to have a huge variety of fresh homemade doughnuts, I wouldn't take them too seriously. Maybe I'd even get a little insulted - Mimi's Cake Tour doesn't have to stoop *that* low. And yet there's Duffin's. It may not look like all that much on the outside and inside, but this humble establishment is home to over 50 (so they claim) varieties of doughnuts that fly off their shelves just as quickly as their fried chicken - and are often served together on the same paper plate. They've got all the classics: honey dip, chocolate, eclair and cream-filled, along with a couple flavours you won't find in your usual doughnut shop: coconut cream, honeydew, peanut and the old-school angel cream, all at a very unpretentious $1-2.

 My favourite is always the apple fritter ($2). This one was all lumpy and fried a golden brown on the outside - maybe a little too fried and crunchy in some places - with a moist dough inside with a couple of apple pieces and some cinnamon. Fresh glaze on top. Yum - a  classic apple fritter done right without breaking your budget.

Rating: ***

Rolling Pin Bake & Coffee [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Rolling Pin Bake & Coffee 
Address: 30 Urban Place, Hyoryeong-ro 77-gil, Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul
Website: http://rollingpin.co.kr/main/index.html
Style: Korean 
Price: $$$ 

The only bakery I could find in Gangnam that wasn't the ever-present Paris Baguette, Rolling Pin is actually also a chain of bakeries. Compared to Paris Baguette's million locations, they're a more humble franchise, but still several dozen outlets in Seoul and throughout the country. Strangely enough, I never did spot another Rolling Pin during my remaining time in the capital nor did I see any elsewhere.

With its industrial chic look, uptight service and... 6,500 won drinks ;D, this Rolling Pin is in keeping with the neighbourhood. I also found it expensive/overpriced for what is essentially a bakery franchise; whether that's also due to the neighbourhood or it's a Rolling Pin thing is yet to be determined. There is signage in English.

On a weekday afternoon, the shelves were pretty much empty. With the exception of one last croissant and some savoury buns, the red bean rice cake pastry (3,800 won) was more or less the only choice. Somehow I pictured the rice cake being the dough itself, not an actual rice cake smeared in red bean jam inside a pastry. The thick, glutinous rice cake didn't really match the airy texture of the pastry. I also found it not sweet at all; actually, it was pretty tasteless. Not to mention there was way too much of that dusting on top. Fairly dry (and drier thanks to that topping), mismatching textures and a lack of taste resulted in me... not being a fan. Interesting, but maybe there was a reason why this was one of the few things left behind?

Rating: **

Blue Hat Bakery

Bakery: Blue Hat Bakery at Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts 
Address: 1505 W 2nd Ave #101, Vancouver BC
Website: https://www.picachef.com/blue-hat-bakery
Style: Canadian, European
Price: $$$

Blue Hat Bakery is the retail bakery offshoot of the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts and is, I believe, for the most part student-run. In a sense, this is the future of Vancouver bakeries and patisseries, so I not only like the concept, I'm happy to support this new generation of pastry chefs. Stepping inside, it looks like your typical higher-end bakery with an elegant, minimalist spread of cake slices, pastries, macarons and petite cakes. Personally, I found items were a little too expensive; this isn't entirely owing to the fact that it's a "teaching kitchen" - it's just too pricey for what it is. A $4 baked good should at least be a French pastry or anything that involves more skill.

I tried two items: the cinnamon bun ($4) looked pretty exciting with its rolled horn shape; however, I was disappointed that it wasn't as complex as I thought. The dough was dry and airy. A typical, old-school cinnamon bun without all the gooeyness of a sticky cinnamon filling and decadent icing. Instead, the cinnamon was too dry and grainy and I just couldn't get past that dough.

On the same note, the danish ($3.75) had a nice fresh fruit centre with strawberry, rhubarb and one blueberry which made it a bit moister than the cinnamon bun. However, this wasn't real danish dough! This was too bready and there was no buttery element; it was the kind of danish you'd find at a classic Canadian bakery or at a supermarket, not one you'd find at a better patisserie. No flakiness, no crunchy airiness. Still good in taste, but unfortunately, it just didn't make the grade.

Rating: **1/2

Fuhaha [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Fuhaha Cream Bun 
Address: 22-25 Yanghwa-ro 19-gil, Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul
Website: n/a 
Style: Korean 
Price: $$ 

One of the more unique baked good destinations, at least in the Hongdae area, Fuhaha specializes in one single thing: the cream bun. Though they have a few other items if you're lucky, that cream bun is the star of the show. Really, it doesn't even look like all that much from the outside; it's just a simple round bun, somewhat like a hamburger bun.

The focus, however, is that rich, creamy inside, available in a couple of flavours like red bean, green tea and sweet salt. What makes it even more unique is that, unlike sweet buns from a bakery, it's sold cold and is to be eaten cold as well. At least that's what the instructions say. I guess so that the filling has almost the consistency of ice cream.

Well, I walked in with the plan to try just one bun. To see what the evil laughter was all about. I walked out with two: one green tea (2200 won) and one "real" strawberry (2300 won). Biting into it, I was overwhelmed with the amount of cream filling. Flavourful whipped cream with the perfect texture was just oozing on all sides - it was indeed a beautiful thing! *-* The one downside, I would say, was the actual bun itself, which had no real taste. Personally, I actually enjoyed it more once it warmed up a little to room temperature. You didn't have that ice cream filling, but it was soft and fluffy, like biting into a cloud. The bread was also better; a cold bun felt a bit bizarre.

Ahem, and yes, *cue the maniacal laughter*

Rating: ***

Joy's Bakery & Cafe [International Correspondent]

Bakery: Joy's Bakery & Cafe 
Address: 823 Metcalf St, Sedro-Woolley, WA
Website: facebook
Style: American 
Price: $$ 

Welcome to the Cake Tour, Washington!

Joy's Bakery in Sedro-Woolley was the first bakery I spotted after crossing the border. You could call it a bakery restaurant in that it's more a place that you sit and have a hot breakfast or lunch instead of just coming in to grab a single baked good. However, the bakery has a dedicated corner with a glass bakery display and most items are features there. Baked goods are classic North American, what you'd usually expect from a small-town bakery. I don't remember everything, but there were cookies and muffins, scones, etc.

One of my favourite classic baked goods are cinnamon buns, so I thought this was my best bet. It didn't seem that huge on the shelf: it was a massive cinnamon bun! Tons of icing on top with a less intense cinnamon filling on the inside. The dough was more stiff and airy, so it was naturally more on the dry side without it necessarily being stale; I would call it a cross between a hot cross bun and Easter-style baba. It's not really my preferred style of cinnamon bun and I would have liked more cinnamon flavour in it as well. And maybe about half the size too? I'm still eating it....

Rating: **1/2