Bakeries – Page 12 – Michael Eats

Tasty Coconut Pie at New Pie Co.

Published on December 2, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: Currently online only
Website: https://newpie.co/

Note: Since writing this (I have a bit of a backlog), New Pie Co.’s brick and mortar location has shut down. You can still order a pie on their website, however.

New Pie Co. is a teeny, tiny little pie shop on King that’s easy to miss. They have a whole bunch of tasty pies that you can either order whole, or by the slice. It’s one of those places where everything looks so good that actually picking something is a challenge.

After much agonizing, I went with a slice of the buko crumble pie — New Pie Co.’s take on a classic Filipino dessert.

It’s basically a coconut cream pie, but with a sweet crumble topping instead of whipped cream. It’s super tasty, with a satisfying coconut flavour and a dense, creamy texture — it’s kind of like a cross between a traditional coconut cream pie and flan. The crumble on top adds some nice pops of sweetness and crispiness that works quite well with the silky filling.

My only issue is that — when I went at least — it was clear that the pie had either been baked way earlier in the morning or the day before, and the bottom layer of crust had completely sogged up. The pie was otherwise so tasty that this wasn’t that big of a deal, but it did hold it back from greatness somewhat.

A Delicious Almond Croissant at Castle and Coal

Published on November 24, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 108 Dovercourt Road, Toronto
Website: https://castleandcoal.ca/

I have a hard time saying no to an almond croissant. There’s something about the combo of a crispy, fluffy, buttery croissant with the creamy, sweet almond paste that’s kind of magical.

The version of Castle and Coal also has chocolate in it (it’s basically a cross between a traditional almond croissant and a pain au chocolate), and sure, why not? Add chocolate to every dessert. I have a hard time thinking of a dessert that wouldn’t be enhanced by adding chocolate.

The croissant itself doesn’t quite have the level of exterior crispiness that you’re hoping for, but it’s otherwise right where you want it to be. The very generous amount of almond paste almost borders on too sweet, but never crosses that line (and the addition of dark chocolate, aside from complementing it quite well, does a good job of balancing out the sweetness of the filling).

A Creamy Pastry at Marvelous by Fred

Published on March 13, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 224 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://marvelousbyfredtoronto-order.ca/

Marvelous by Fred is a French bakery chain with a bunch of locations in Europe, the States, and, in the last couple of years, Canada. They have a handful of tasty looking desserts and sandwiches, but their specialty is the Merveilleux, a tasty combo of whipped cream and meringue.

They serve a few different varieties of this, but the classic is the dark chocolate, which the store describes as “dark chocolate whipped cream & dark chocolate shavings.”

It’s good. Obviously it’s good — it’s just a big pile of crispy meringue chunks held together by chocolate-infused whipped cream, and then covered in shaved dark chocolate and topped with more cream. You literally cannot go wrong with that. How could you?

It’s not mind-blowing, though. I know that its creation is likely more involved than it tastes, but it kinda feels like I could mix together meringue, whipped cream, and chocolate at home and wind up with largely the same result.

I’m almost certainly not giving the bakery enough credit, but I can’t say I’ve ever thought that about literally any dessert from a French bakery, so there’s that.

Unique Doughnuts at Isabella’s Mochi Donut Boutique

Published on February 23, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 4 St. Patrick Street, Toronto
Website: https://isabellasdonuts.com/

A mochi doughnut, for the unaware, is basically a regular doughnut, but with the addition of rice flour. This gives it a delightfully chewy texture that works better than you might expect. Even if you don’t like mochi, it’s worth a shot — the chewiness is definitely there, but it’s not particularly aggressive.

They have nine flavours at Isabella’s; they all looked tasty, but I went with the s’mores (“chocolate, toasted meringue, graham crackers”).

It’s really good. The chocolate glaze has a nice chocolatey flavour that isn’t too sweet, and while the fluffy toasted meringue isn’t super marshmallowy, it’s tasty and complements the chocolate well. I don’t think the graham cracker crumbs made much of a difference, but it’s tasty either way.

As for the doughnut itself, yeah, it’s good. The chewiness is just enough to set it apart from a standard doughnut, but not so much that it feels overwhelming. It’s really satisfying.

(Mostly) Tasty Doughnuts at Cops Doughnuts

Published on January 31, 2023January 31, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 445 Adelaide Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.eatcops.com/

What’s better than a doughnut? A warm, fresh-from-the-fryer doughnut, that’s what.

Outside of a few beverages, Cops does just one thing: Tiny Tom’s-esque mini doughnuts that you can order topped with OG sour cream glaze, cinnamon sugar, or the weekly feature, which was orange sherbet when I visited. I went with an order of six of the feature.

My batch had an unnervingly pale colour, and I thought, uh oh, but maybe they serve a different style of doughnut?

Alas, they do not — the doughnuts were underdone, with an interior that wasn’t quite raw, but that was softer than you’d like.

Still, I didn’t dislike eating them — it’s hard to go wrong with a fresh doughnut, even when it’s not quite fully cooked. The exterior still managed to have a very light crispiness, and while I wish the interior was less mushy and more fluffy, it wasn’t unpleasant to eat.

That’s not to mention the orange sherbet icing, which was fantastic — it had a great balance of sweet and tart, and a nice hit of orange flavour. You could put that on anything and it would be great.