Bakeries – Page 20 – Michael Eats

Carrot Cake Doughnut at Dipped Donuts

Published on June 19, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 161 Baldwin Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.dippeddonuts.ca/

Dipped Donuts: still great. I tried the blueberry basil doughnut from this place last year, and it was seriously tasty.

The one I just had — the carrot cake — might have been even better. It’s outstanding.

It’s a raised doughnut topped with cream cheese frosting, carrot cake chunks, candied walnuts and ginger, and a caramel drizzle.

It’s definitely sweeter than the last doughnut I tried, but it was just right. The frosting was gooey and satisfying, and the chunks of cake were seriously tasty. The nuts and the ginger amps up the flavour, and the caramel? Come on. It’s indulgent and amazing.

And of course, the doughnut itself was just as good as I remembered, with a nicely substantial texture and a great flavour. It’s a top-shelf doughnut.

Delicious Butter Tarts at Abbey’s Bakehouse

Published on June 17, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 100 City Centre Drive, Mississauga (inside Square One)
Website: http://www.sircorp.com/abbeys-bakehouse/

I love butter tarts, but they’re one of those things that I’m sometimes wary to order; when they’re tasty they’re very tasty, but they can easily be throat-burningly sweet.

But I had specifically heard that the tarts at Abbey’s are quite good, so it seemed like a safe enough bet.

They’re not just good. They’re great. I’m not sure if they’re quite on the level of the Maids’ Cottage in Newmarket, which serves my favourite butter tarts in the GTA, but they’re clearly way above average.

The filling is sweet but not too sweet, with a rich caramelized flavour and a nice gooey consistency. The crust is great too — it’s buttery and shortbready, and compliments the sweet filling perfectly.

The crust-to-filling ratio is also on point. This can easily trip up a lesser butter tart, but here the balance is just right — there’s enough crust to offset the sweet filling, but not so much that it dominates. It’s delicious.

Unique Desserts at Patchmon’s Thai Desserts

Published on January 5, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 2463 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.thaidesserts.ca/

I mentioned recently that Asian desserts have a tendency to be an acquired taste. That is absolutely, positively the case with Patchmon’s Thai Desserts.

But that’s part of the appeal — how often do you get a chance to try something that’s entirely unlike anything you’ve ever eaten before? There’s something thrilling about that, especially when the thing you’re eating is also delicious.

I tried three desserts, and the biggest “whoa, that’s new” was easily the Thai taro custard. For the most part, it’s not all that unusual — it kind of tastes like a much denser, richer version of creme caramel, with an almost cakey consistency.

It’s also topped with caramelized shallots.

It’s weird. The shallots aren’t just a topping — the whole thing is perfumed with their flavour. It sounds like it should be off-putting, but oddly enough, it works.

There’s no doubt that it’s unusual, though. It’s one of those things I ate with a perpetually furrowed brow. I’ll also admit that I didn’t finish it. It sat in my fridge for about a week until I finally threw it out. As much as I liked it, I never particularly felt like reliving that odd sensation of eating dessert that’s also a little bit oniony.

The next thing I tried was the Thai coconut layer cake. Despite the name, it’s actually more of a jelly, which the woman behind the counter explained is made with tapioca rather than gelatin, and which is flavoured with pandan leaves.

This was my favourite of the three. The texture was denser and creamier than your typical gelatin (it was somewhere between mochi and Jell-o), and the flavour was great, if a bit hard to describe. It’s vaguely nutty and almost malty. It’s quite good.

The third item was the ta-goe (sweet tapioca with coconut cream). I didn’t particularly enjoy this one. The texture — featuring a creamy top layer and a tapioca-infused bottom layer — was quite nice. But it had a sharply salty, almost sour flavour that I found to be a bit overwhelming. I have no doubt that it’s an authentic version of that particular dessert, but I think it’s an acquired taste that I haven’t yet acquired.

Tasty Cookies at Cookie Scoop

Published on January 5, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1115 Castlefield Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://cookiescoop.ca/

I recently mentioned that there aren’t nearly enough cookie shops in the city. I mean, you can never have enough cookies, but the handful of shops we have in the GTA definitely isn’t enough.

Well, here’s one more, though the location is in an industrial area that’s a bit out of the way (they offer delivery on their website, and I suspect that’s where they do most of their business).

It’s a tiny shop, but they offer a dizzying array of cookies; I decided to get six, and it was exceptionally difficult to pick from the many, many delicious looking choices.

I ultimately went with pistachio milk chocolate, peanut butter Nutella, Mars Bar cookie, Italian milk chocolate gianduja, hazelnut praline (Ferrero Rocher), and milk chocolate brownie. All the flavours looked so good, though. I wanted all of them, but that wouldn’t have ended well for anybody.

They’re solid cookies, but they have a cakey texture that you only get from cookies that have been engineered to be perpetually chewy. I’m guessing this is due to their delivery-heavy business, which means the cookies probably won’t be consumed until a day or two after they’re baked, if not longer.

Don’t get me wrong — they’re quite tasty, but I prefer the classic dense and buttery cookies that they serve at a place like Craig’s. There’s nothing wrong with the cakier variety they serve here, but the crispy/chewy texture of a more traditional chocolate chip cookie can’t be beat.

Still, the flavours were all top notch (I particularly enjoyed the peanut butter Nutella), and despite my minor quibbles with the texture, they’re tasty cookies.

(Mostly) Tasty Wheel Cakes at Formocha

Published on December 26, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 55 Eglinton Avenue East, Toronto
Website: https://www.formochabubbletea.com/

They sell Taiwanese-style wheel cakes at Formocha (which are essentially pancakes that are cooked in a circular mold with a sweet filling) and they’re mostly pretty good. But there are a couple of issues.

The first (and biggest) issue? Red bean wasn’t a filling choice, at least when I went. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to deduct about a million points for its absence. I mean, come on. It’s the classic filling. Red bean or GTFO.

I wound up trying custard, and Oreo custard. They were both tasty enough, but (and here’s the second issue) the custard tasted off. There was something weird about it, with an almost fruity flavour that was vaguely off-putting.

The Oreo was much better — rather than the chunks that you might expect, it was filled with an entire cookie, which was surprisingly delightful.

Plus, the cakes themselves were super fresh (they cook them to order), with a slightly crispy exterior and a fluffy interior. They were good, but… come on. Red bean. Give it to me.