Recommended Desserts Toronto & GTA

It’s also possible to buy a half loaf of their breads.
I either buy half, or freeze half the loaf at home.

I mostly buy croissants for other people, typically almond croissants. For whatever reason, croissants don’t agree with me.

I don’t know why I don’t have that issue with KA. I will recommend Le Conciliabule for KA if you’re on the east side of town, and I will also recommend Noctua Bakery, although they often sell most of their goods by early afternoon, and I’m not sure how often they bake KA. I understand Gouter had a good KA but I haven’t tried it.

I find their sausage rolls, and other sausage rolls around town, a little underdone for me lately. I don’t like pink-looking pork sausage- so when I get their breakfast sandwich I order the sausage well-done. I probably won’t buy the sausage roll again. I’ve also noticed this at Brick St Bakery and a couple other places.

Had a cake delivered by Delysee as they have opened up nearby so it’s serves well that one can have dessert real quick if I’m having guests over.
Café Latte Mascarpone Cake was the consensus. Hmm this is the second time I have received an almost solid frozen cake. I chalked the first one up to being a very cold day and the delivery taking it’s time. Their cakes are mostly mousse with very little sponge at the base so beware that you need to let it that for a good amount of time before proper consumption. Those who tried it tasted like an ice cream cake and all the taste profile were lost on moi.
Here is a pick from today with cappuccino (next day so all proper) I am not big into cakes so this is ok not too sweet.

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Had a chance to go to Yorkdale mall early today couldn’t resist the French toast (legendary imo) so had one real quick.
Never disappoints

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I was surprised to see a Delysee has opened on Ossington, too. Who owns this place? Deep pockets!

I bought a loaf of seeded bread & 2 cranberry almond danishes at Dear Grain, and 6 truffles at Avoca today. Haven’t tried them yet.

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Ok I finally picked up the pistachio croissant from Emmer
It’s decent but not at that price point imo

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"RUELO, Times Square, Richmond Hill " - Now, I finally realize why I have NOT been back for ages!!

I was in the neighbourhood of Times Square when my sweet tooth started to act up! As such, I decided to pay ’ Ruelo Patisserie ’ a looooong overdue re-visit.
Due to the lunar new year, their display offered a variety of seasonal , cute, multi-colour, gimmicky looking and ‘expensively priced’ cake products
Avoiding those distractions, I ended up buying myself a couple of regular looking, chocolate based cakes with close resemblance to some of ‘DUO’'s offerings. This would also allow me to carry out some curious and intriguing taste comparison.
Average price of the Ruelo’s regular cake products were priced steep, at around $10 a piece!! These price point were a dollar or two over and above their nearby competitor, ‘DUO’. Portion and size-wise were also smaller and daintier. With these price premium and size disparity, I was hoping Ruelo’s products would make it up in the taste department.
Sad to say, though overall, Ruelo’s products were good and enjoyable. However, none of the products I bought were standouts, featuring only acceptable, ho-hum taste components. In fact, their signature all-chocolate house-special cake, ‘Ruelo’ was overly sweet for my liking. ( based on my recollection, DUO’s version was more complex and featured multiple dimensions of flavour and texture components ). Sprinkling of bitter dark cocoa-powder on top of the other ‘Hazelnut’, cream and praline cake was a nice touch though, adding another dimension to offset the overwhelming sweetness.
IMHO, for value, quality, presentation, taste and service, DUO is still the undisputed go-to French pastry place north of the 401 and in the Richmond Hill/Markham neighbourhood.

Now I truly understand why, on a busy Saturday morning, there is always a long line queuing outside of DUO’s shop whilst today, I was the only customer in Ruelo’s premises during my lunch-time visit!!..and why I haven’t been back for years!!

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What was that? $2.25 per bite? Pistachios? No, that’s just nuts.

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One layer is chopped Hazelnut, one layer is hazelnut/chocolate cream.

I was responding to Elvisahmed’s lament.

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Emmer’s Pear Frangipane Tart. $26.

Nice cinnamon rugelach and raspberry rugelach at Primrose Bagel. Best commercial rugelach I’ve had in Toronto.

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" NA-NA BAKERY, Warden & Finch, Scarborough"

Came across this Oriental run bakery, offering some creative looking and ‘cute’ design French pastries and baked goods. Noticing their pricing to be on the average $3 - $4 cheaper than corresponding products offered by my neighbourhood stores like ’ Ruelo ’ and ’ DUO '. Out of curiosity, I decided to buy a few and do some taste comparison.

Products bought included:

  • Green Apple and Lemon Mousse Cake
  • Mango and Passion Fruit Mousse cake
  • Intense double dark chocolate mousse cake
  • Double dark chocolate tart

Based on such a fairly huge pricing discrepancy, I was expecting these ’ Na-Na ’ products to be inferior, less refined and sophisticated in overall taste profile…which was indeed the case. However, except for the slightly dry and bland, one dimensional chocolate tart, the rest of the products, especially the fruit based ones, were fresh tasting and surprisingly enjoyable. Quality of the chocolate used in the intense chocolate mousse cake was surprisingly high and the final product delectable…though comparing to the higher end ’ Ruelo ’ & ’ DUO ', textural components and contrast were noticeably missing. However, at $4 cheaper, I am not complaining!

Overall standard and taste, in general, is higher than the other run-of-the-mill Chinese bakeries like Lucullus and St. Germaine whilst price point and value remain very competitive.







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I purchased pecan squares, a cherry square, a cardamom bun, an apple nut sourdough boule and a rye bread at City Bakers Collective on Danforth. Some things were hit or miss. The breads were half price after 4 pm. Cardamom bun was a little under baked. The squares are pretty good. https://citybakerscollective.com/

Also stopped by Café Serano since Serano Bakery was a zoo due to Family Day. I picked up spanakopita and tiropita. Tempted by some sweets but held off since I had already purchased a lot.

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Make your own??!! Stranded at home, surrounded by snow and ice with nothing to do. Decided to hand-make some ‘International themed’ Roasted Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Bark.

Slow roast raw Turkish Hazelnut in a cast iron skillet. Let cool and add to a mixture of hand-tempered 85% cocoa, Swiss; 70% cocoa, Peruvian and 60% cocoa French chocolate chips.😋😘👌👍

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Which bakeries/ patisseries would you choose for:

Black Forest Torte

Fraisier (when local berries are available, I’m planning in advance!)

Roselle makes Fraisiers when local berries are at their prime.

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I enjoyed my Black Forest from Les Moulins La Fayette.

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Out in the wilderness of Scarborough, I just love the old-school right down to the maraschino cherries Black Forest cake at Vienna Fine Foods on Birchmount north of Eglinton. Don’t give me none of that modern stuff.

Here’s something I didn’t know. From Food Network:
Germans take their world-famous dessert seriously: The cake was granted protected status by the European Commission in 2013, meaning that for a dessert to be sold as a Black Forest Cake, it must contain Black Forest kirsch, a brandy made from local cherries.

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Thanks, Googs! Looks like Apricot Tree in Mississauga is the west side answer for a traditional Black Forest.

I will try to check out Vienna this spring. I know Scarborough still has some Central European strengths. I also want to check out that Prague Restaurant patio this summer.

We keep Kirsch on hand for Black Forest and some other German stuff. We add Kirsch to a Strawberry/Cherry Vacherin, too.

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Good chocolate cookie, sprinkles cookie and everything cookie from Bakerbots. Mediocre butter tart, won’t bother posting the photo. Good filling, thick and heavy pastry. 6 cookies and 1 butter tart came to just under $17.

https://bakerbotsbaking.com/

Are you guys tipping at bakeries? Lately, I’ve been rounding up where I’m a regular and if I get a coffee, sometimes I tip 10 percent where I’m a regular.

I think asking for a tip at a place where baklava costs $59.90 a kg is a little rich. Apparently the baklava is imported from
Turkey, hence the high cost. I rounded up to an even number at Liu Loqum last night. 12 bite-sized pieces of baklava and a slice of kataifi cost $48.40 after tax. I rounded up to $50. Will let you know how it tastes later.

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Ended up taking a variety of desserts les moulines Lafayette
Enjoyed the black forest

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I prefer fraisier topped with a layer of marzipan. The taste combination of strawberries and marzipan is something I really enjoy. Here’s a picture of one I made sometime ago. I dislike writing on cakes……for obvious reasons!

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