Good Earth [International Correspondent]

Bakery: Good Earth Coffeehouse and Bakery
Address: 8623 112 St, Edmonton AB (and other locations in Western Canada)
Website: http://www.goodearthcafes.com/
Style: North American 
Price: $$

Because this cafe was located right next to the place where I stayed, we had this for breakfast on more than one occasion.

Good Earth is an Alberta coffee chain (or I assumed so; however, according to their website they also have locations in BC and Saskatchewan) with multiple locations. I would say that it's similar to a Starbucks or Second Cup, just with a lot more food options like bread, sandwiches, etc. They call themselves a bakery too and so they offer, in addition to breads, baked goods. These are the typical baked goods like cinnamon rolls, lemon pound cake, scones and muffins; things that obviously match a cup of coffee or tea.

I had the cinnamon roll. It was alright; I found it a little dry and not as flavourful as I like it, but at the same time I wasn't expecting too much from a chain. Therefore, I'd say it's a typical cinnamon bun. I probably wouldn't go out of my way to come here just for the baked goods, but it's a good option for coffee and much better than, say, Starbucks or Tim Hortons.

Rating: **

Taylor's Bakery & Ice Cream

Bakery: Taylor's Bakery & Ice Cream
Address: 69 Queen St, Niagara On the Lake ON
Website: n/a 
Style: Scottish, North American 
Price: $-$$ 

If you recall, I mentioned two bakeries on a recent trip to NOTL; here's the second. :) Located, quite literally, across the street from the first offering, Taylor's is, as the name suggests, a bakery and an ice cream shop. You might think that this dual business would detract from the baked goods, but luckily I had no such problem. The bakery features your traditional Canadian favourites such as carrot cake and pies with a generous smattering of Scottish classics in there as well, which are always welcome, especially since I've come to learn that I do like Scottish baked goods. :) Not to mention the fact that for a bakery located on the main street of a very touristy town, the treats are quite reasonably priced. If memory serves me correctly, three items cost around $7, including taxes. Not bad.

Anyways, to the yummy stuff! ^^ The first item was the carrot cake and it was pretty good. Nice spiced dough with the right icing, both in terms of taste and amount. There seems to be a self-proclaimed carrot cake expert in the house (among other things), and he gave this the stamp of approval and I agree.

... Well, that's also because I particularly liked the Fern tart (a sort of almond tart with almond filling, a little berry jam on the bottom, and topped with icing). Nice flaky tart, softer filling and nice bit of jam with icing that wasn't too brittle. I love these things, no matter the origin. *-* I'm always happy to try out almond tarts.

Ahem, yes, and there was the Eccles cake, another Scottish classic and filled with dried currants, raisins and uh, that's about it, isn't it? :P Unlike other bakeries, this one was rather flat and resembled more a hand-held pie than the harder soda dough I've encountered elsewhere. Not too sure if that's a good or bad thing, just different. Nonetheless, it too was very tasty and, just like that, this place became my personal favourite from Niagara On the Lake... sure, that's still limited to two bakeries, but no matter -- Taylor's is now on top. A great, well-priced find!

Rating: ***

Alberta Bakery [International Correspondent]

Bakery: Alberta Bakery
Address: inside Heritage Park (1900 Heritage Dr SW, Calgary AB) 
Website: http://www.heritagepark.ca/plan-your-visit/attractions-and-exhibits/alberta-bakery.html
Style: Old-fashioned ;) 
Price: $ 

Introduction: Feeling like revisiting his childhood, I guess, the brother went to Heritage Park and, of course, everyone knows that there's indeed a bakery in Heritage Park! When you go on a school field trip (I think I must have gone two or three times), the bakery is always a highlight because you get free samples. :P Alas, when you're paying full-blown admission, you have to buy the baked goods yourself. Yeah, sorry about that...

Nonetheless, the idea behind the bakery is that not only are the ladies serving you in historic garb, but the baked goods are fashioned after what would typically be in a bakery at the beginning of the 20th century, so think very simple fare along the lines of bread, cinnamon buns, butter tarts, all made in the good old-fashioned way (though that tin tart form doesn't look very old-fashioned if you ask me...). Don't expect fireworks, but hey! you wouldn't want it any other way -- it is Heritage Park after all.

Now to the brother's verdict: "Alberta Bakery features old-fashioned classics like butter tarts and cinnamon buns. At $1.50 for one butter tart, the bakery is cheap and affordable, and really good -- just like I remembered it when I visited it as a kid. I decided to take the butter tart; it was both soft and flaky, and buttery as well. I would say this is the epitome of what I call a Western butter tart, and those happen to be my favourite. The shell is thinner and the filling is a thicker mass, not runny. This one is probably one of the best butter tarts I've had -- very good! I'd definitely recommend this bakery."

Rating: ***1/2

Blackbird Baking Co.

Bakery: Blackbird Baking Co. 
Address: 172 Baldwin St, Toronto ON 
Website: http://blackbirdbakingco.com/
Style: European, North American 
Price: $-$$ 

To my absolute delight, there's a semi-new (granted I actually tried it about a month and a half ago) bakery in Kensington Market! Taking over the somewhat short-lived Cob's Bread, this little bakery seems more known for their rustic breads and, in fact, upon first glance I assumed that they didn't have any sweets at all, but there they are, a small assortment of buttery baked goods and cakes, both individually-sized and larger versions. The selection is small (although this was one of few places where I would be perfectly happy trying any and everything) and the style can't really be called one in particular; instead, it seems a fusion of rustic Italian, a little French, a little North American, and with a generous pinch of creativity. ;) For what you get, sweets prices are reasonable and everything is labelled and clearly priced. And what else is worth mentioning? The place is hot and smells amazing; these guys are baking throughout the day, with workers running from the back with fresh goods. I had to say that because it's so great to go to bakeries and see that actual baking is taking place! *-*

And so, I was supposed to pop in for one small item.. and came out with two. Actually, I was supposed to technically split that with my mom and just kind of um, ended up eating both. .__.;; The first item was a raspberry danish (around $2.75; I forgot to make a note of it -.-) with a delicious buttery dough, flaky and multi-layered as it should be. No gloopy filling here, just whole raspberries baked into a bed of almond (?) paste. Mmmm... this was a danish as it should be!

The second item was the lemon and almond polenta tart ($3.25?); okay, so maybe the order of words was different, but you get the point. ;) That polenta part really intrigued me and it was definitely a unique cake with a soft, spongey dough, slightly reminiscent of a coffee cake, but with something indescribable about it. Strangely enough, there was nothing corny about it -- ha ha, I mean literally, of course. :P Delicately flavoured with lemons and topped with almonds. I thought it hard to say what it would taste like, judging by the name, but it was a perfect snack. If you love baked goods, but find too often that they're too sweet (here's looking at the mom XD), this is a great option for you. Then again, this place might be a great option for just about anyone. :) Recommended!

Rating: ***1/2

Bon Ton Bakery [International Correspondent]

Bakery: Bon Ton Bakery
Address: 8720 149 St. NW, Edmonton AB
Website: http://bonton.ca/
Style: European, Jewish
Price: $$ 

Foreword (by me): Ah, this brings back a lot of childhood bakery memories! *-* Bon Ton Bakery was one of the very first European bakeries (nearing 60 years now!) in Edmonton and every weekend my grandfather would come here for the rye bread -- and not only because it was the only place in the neighbourhood to get rye bread -- and we'd get a free cookie. ;) I don't actually remember what was there besides those free cookies and bread, seeing as I don't think we ever bought any sweets, but I think they've stepped things up judging by their website (and the addition of tvs everywhere as the brother had to include) since those simpler days when I was a [freeloading] customer. :D

A few months ago, my mom took a cookbook from the library and there was a recipe for cinnamon bread inspired by the "famous" (!?) cinnamon bread from Bon Ton bakery; seeing this was an American cookbook, this was an impressive surprise and that got me thinking I need to review this place. And then these vague memories of having that cinnamon bread kind of came back to me.... Bon Ton certainly was the first place on the list of bakeries I ordered my brother to visit. Except he chose not to take my advice and did *not* buy that cinnamon bread. :/ And let's see what he has to say (bringing some of this back would have been appreciated, you know...):

Bon Ton serves all the Jewish classics like breads, cheesecakes, and cookies in addition to other treats and cakes that are a little less Eastern European and more French or typical of a usual European bakery (Opera, etc.). Everything  looked pretty good and I would have liked to have had the opportunity to try a cake. We took the poppy seed butterfly. It was softer than the typical Polish offerings [not quite sure what he means there, but I won't interrupt..], which was a good thing, but still had some dryness that kept it from brilliance. There wasn't a lot of poppy seed and instead it was rolled more into the dough. I would liken it to the small poppy seed rolls they sell at What a Bagel or similar places, only larger. I wouldn't say it was the best, but I thought it was good. Out of all the food we tried (baked goods and restaurants), Bon Ton ended up as the best.

Rating: ***

Vince's Deli

Bakery: Vince's Deli
Address: 130 Davis Dr, Newmarket ON
Website: http://www.vincesdeli.com 
Style: German
Price: $$-$$$

Another soccer tournament in Newmarket gave me another chance to revisit Newmarket and to try a new bakery. This is the second one and so, one more is needed for me to have an official Newmarket tag, but it looks like that'll take another tournament for me to get some goodies delivered. :)

Nonetheless, Vince's Deli was chosen as this tournament's choice for its close proximity to the fields/offices and the fact that I can never really resist German baking. ^.^ This place is, as the name suggests, a deli first, with imported products, cold cuts and ready food -- the usual. Of course, they do also advertise a bakery, but their selection is a lot smaller in store than what is described online. For one, most products are baked on a made-to-order basis, specifically the German cakes and specialty baked goods. The treats available for purchase are quite limited and mostly include a few danishes, maybe one or two varieties of strudel -- in short, the bakery area is probably typical of many European delis; that is, very small.

However, one of the very few items available were poppy seed strudels ($10.99 each). And guess who got one? :) I have to say this thing looked and smelled better than it tasted. As it sat on the table until it was time to cut it up and taste it, the aroma drove me crazy! Cutting it into slices, I was a little disappointed with the idea of just wrapped some puff pastry dough around this log of poppy seed mass. The mass was quite hard, unusually so, and totally overpowered the sheets of dough. I'm not sure that the texture of the two together was that great. In the end, you got this impression of eating pure poppy seed mass (yes, even I can say it's not that desirable ._.;;), which gets a little much. I also thought that, for what it was and its size, it was pretty pricey. A little bit of a bummer, if you ask me (especially when you have Finnish baked goods in the somewhat-vicinity ;)).

Rating: **