cake – Michael Eats

Quick Bites: La Casa Dolce, The Fourth Man in the Fire, Petite Bouchée Patisserie

Published on February 16, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Chocolate chip cookie from La Casa Dolce

I certainly wasn’t in a rush to go back after my last visit to La Casa Dolce, but I was in the area and craving something sweet, so sure, why not? I went with the chocolate chip cookie this time, because it’s basically impossible to mess that up. That’s one of those things where even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good. And this one: not bad! Not great, certainly, but it had a good amount of decent quality chocolate chips (bittersweet, I think), a nice chewy texture, and it wasn’t too sweet. It felt like something was missing, however (vanilla, maybe?), which held it back from being much better than pretty good, but I still enjoyed it.

Meatball sandwich from The Fourth Man in the Fire

I’ve written about the pizza from The Fourth Man in the Fire a couple of times on this blog, and in case you don’t feel like clicking on that link: it’s great. I like it a lot. So I decided to try their meatball sandwich this time (“Meatballs (Beef and Pork Mix), Povolone. Served on Fresh Baked to Order Bread”), and yeah, it’s good. In particular, the flavourful, tender meatballs were actually pretty amazing, and the ultra-rich tomato sauce they come with is the stuff dreams are made of. I want to bathe in the stuff. Oddly, I was expecting the bread to be the highlight (I like the crust on their pizza quite a lot) and it wasn’t. It got the job done, but I think it might have been slightly underbaked, with a mildly doughy consistency that I wasn’t crazy about.

Chocolate cake from Petite Bouchée Patisserie

I picked up a chocolate cake from this place after reading several references to it being the best in the city, and hey, wouldn’t you know it — it just might be. The cake itself is delightfully tender and fluffy, and the rich and creamy frosting is crammed with a delicious, chocolately flavour. It’s very sweet, but not in a way that feels overwhelming or cloying. Immediately after eating it, we were all making plans to order another one. So yeah, it’s quite good.

A Nostalgic Dessert at Alice Marie Bakery & Coffee

Published on January 31, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 807 Gerrard Street East, Toronto
Website: https://www.alicemarie.ca/

Alice Marie Bakery & Coffee serves a cake they call “Deep N’ Nostalgic,” which is their upscale take on McCain’s Deep’n Delicious chocolate cake.

It’s been many, many years, but I actually have a good amount of nostalgia for the Deep’n Delicious cake — probably because it came with a family-sized meal KFC sold back in the ’90s called the Mega Meal, which I used to regularly harass my parents about ordering until, once every few months, they’d cave and do it. It was a pretty key part of my childhood.

The version at Alice Marie definitely nails the look, right down to the plastic-domed container it comes in.

They might have fancied it up a little too much, however (it had better be fancy, for twelve bucks for a relatively small piece); their website says they use Valrhona Satilia Noire 62% chocolate, which I’m going to go out on a limb and say is slightly nicer than the chocolate McCain uses.

It’s a tasty cake, with a rich chocolatey flavour and a restrained level of sweetness. I don’t know how much it recalls an actual Deep’n Delicious cake, outside of the look, but it’s definitely a good quality dessert.

The biggest issue is the buttercream icing that it’s topped with. They serve the cake fridge-cold, and the stuff is rock hard. The smart thing to do would be to wait maybe like half an hour for the cake to come to room temperature and for the icing to soften. But I regret to inform you that I absolutely, positively do not have that kind of patience or willpower. If you want me to eat that cake at room temperature, you should serve it that way. Put a tasty chocolate cake in front of me, and tell me it will get better if I wait a few minutes? That cake is going down my gullet immediately. Sorry.

Tasty Basque Cheesecake at Tea One Bakery and Cafe

Published on December 19, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 900 Rathburn Road West, Mississauga
Website: https://www.instagram.com/teaonebakery/

Though Tea One Bakery and Cafe has a whole bunch of tasty looking Chinese-style buns and pastries, they also have a whole display case filled with a variety of Basque cheesecake slices. Clearly, that’s the thing to order.

Basque cheesecake, for the initiated, is a crustless cheesecake with a dark, caramelized top.

I got a slice of the original, and wow, it was good. It had a perfect texture — nice and creamy, and just set enough. It’s incredibly rich, but the relatively restrained sweetness and tart flavour does a great job of balancing things out.

I’m going to have to come back and try some of the other flavours, because it was legitimately one of the better slices of cheesecake that I’ve ever had.

A Great Cake at Oompa Bakery

Published on September 29, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 71 Underhill Drive, North York
Website: https://oompabakery.com/

Oompa Bakery is a delightful little bakery in North York; they were mostly cleared out when I visited on a Saturday afternoon (they clearly do well!), but they did have dacquoise cakes in a variety of flavours.

The one I tried featured pistachio- and raspberry-flavoured buttercream sandwiched between two little cakes. I really enjoyed it.

The buttercream was perfect; super creamy, not overly buttery, and with a great contrast between the pistachio and raspberry flavours.

The cake in a dacquoise is kinda like a macaron, but with the addition of ground almonds, which gives it a more substantial texture and a slightly nutty flavour. It was quite tasty, with a delicately crispy exterior and a chewy interior that complemented the smooth buttercream perfectly. It’s a great dessert.

Quick Bites: Apricot Tree Cafe, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Gouter

Published on July 1, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Apricot Breakfast from the Apricot Tree Cafe

The Apricot Tree Cafe seems to be quite well regarded, so maybe it’s just not my thing, but I got the Apricot Breakfast (“Smoked salmon, poached eggs, dill sour cream, Apricot Tree salad, toast”) and it mostly left me puzzled. Nothing on the plate was bad — in fact, the smoked salmon was actually quite good, and the eggs were well prepared, with a nice runny yolk. But none of the individual flavours particularly cohered in any meaningful way, so it basically just felt like random stuff on a plate. Also: the toast came unbuttered (with no butter on the side, either!), and get out of here with that.

Classic vanilla bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes

True to their name, Nothing Bundt Cakes sells bundt cakes, bundt cakes, and more bundt cakes. They’re available in various flavours like chocolate, lemon, and red velvet (among many others), and they’re all topped with cream cheese icing. They have full-sized cakes, but their specialty seems to be smaller versions that are about the size of a very big cupcake. I went simple with the classic vanilla, and it was tasty enough. This place is apparently a chain with hundreds of locations, and yeah, that tracks. It basically tastes like if Little Debbie came out with a line of bundt cakes. I have a soft spot for junky treats like that, so I enjoyed it — but at about seven bucks per individual cake, it might be a bit overpriced for what it is.

Blueberry tart from Gouter

I had a raspberry croissant that I really did not care for the last time I visited Gouter; however, I just tried a blueberry tart from their Etobicoke location, and I think maybe they’re better than I gave them credit for, because the tart was quite good. The shortbread crust was buttery and had a nice texture, the custard filling was creamy and not too sweet, and the blueberries and crumble topping were thoroughly tasty.