A Creamy Dessert at 6 Cloud

6 Cloud
Location
: 3236 Yonge Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.6cloud.co/

6 Cloud serves what they describe as “Cold Souffle Cream Sandwiches.”  Basically, it’s Japanese-style souffle pancakes stuffed with a whole bunch of whipped cream.

I like souffle pancakes.  I like whipped cream.  So yes please, cram the two things together.  I’m into this.

6 Cloud

And yeah, it’s good.  They have several flavours, but I went with the most basic, Hokkaido Milk: “Our signature fluffy souffle stuffed with rich, creamy Hokkaido milk cream.”

6 Cloud

It’s very tasty.  It’s actually pretty interesting — the level of sweetness is a lot more restrained than you’d expect, and there are no other flavours to distract from the cream.  There’s a bit of egginess from the pancake, but otherwise, this is all about the flavour of the dairy.  It’s satisfying.

6 Cloud

It’s also less messy than you’d think.  I was afraid that all the cream would immediately squish out of the sides when I ate it, but the pancakes are soft enough and the cream is dense enough that it totally holds together.

Delicious Cream Puffs at Ian Cakery

Delicious Cream Puffs at Ian Cakery
Location
: 1100 Burnhamthorpe Road West, Mississauga 
Website: https://www.iancakery.ca/

I’ve mentioned before that, even now — years after they closed their only location in the city — I still regularly think about Beard Papa and their delicious Japanese cream puffs.  Tragically, they used to at least have locations in Vancouver, but they’ve now apparently vacated Canada altogether.

Delicious Cream Puffs at Ian Cakery

(They are, however, still alive and well in Japan and elsewhere in the world — just not here, for some reason??  Come on, man.)

Delicious Cream Puffs at Ian Cakery

There are a few places serving a similar style of cream puff in the GTA, but I think the one at Ian Cakery might actually be the closest to what Beard Papa serves.

Delicious Cream Puffs at Ian Cakery

They have a few different flavours — I went with the classic vanilla, and man, it was good.  The choux pastry has a nice crispy exterior, and the very generous amount of custardy cream within is seriously delicious.

I’m still longing for the day Beard Papa makes its triumphant return to the GTA (it’s gotta happen eventually, right???), but until then, I’m glad that Ian Cakery exists.

Outstanding Pastries at Steven Tran Chocolatier Pâtissier

Steven Tran Chocolatier Pâtissier
Location
: 476 Roncesvalles Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://steventranchocolates.com/

Steven Tran Chocolatier Pâtissier (that just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?) is clearly doing pretty well.  When I visited just after 1:00pm on a recent Saturday, the place was pretty much cleared out, with just a handful of pastries remaining.

I don’t know if I would have tried the salted caramel brownie if it weren’t one of the only things in stock, but wow, I’m glad I did.

Steven Tran Chocolatier Pâtissier

This might have been one of the best brownies I’ve ever had?  It has a perfect chewy texture and a delightfully intense chocolatey flavour.  That’s not to mention the salted caramel on top, which is borderline burnt in all the best ways, with a slight bitterness that balances out its sweetness.

Steven Tran Chocolatier Pâtissier

After I finished it, I was extremely tempted to walk back into the store and order another one, which basically never happens.  Seriously, seriously good.

Steven Tran Chocolatier Pâtissier

I should note that I actually went back a couple of weeks later and ordered the brownie again, and it was just as good.  If I’ve ever eaten a better brownie, I certainly can’t remember it.

Steven Tran Chocolatier Pâtissier

Because I’m a glutton, I also tried the mont blanc, and yeah, that was stellar, too, with a nice creamy/crispy contrast from the cream and the crispy meringue, a satisfying chestnut flavour, and some nice fruitiness from the sauce (blackberry?) in the middle.

Steven Tran Chocolatier Pâtissier

I went back one more time and tried the canele, and like everything else, it was stellar.  Perfect light crispy exterior, and the interior is delightfully custardy.  So, so good.

Quality Eclairs at The Happy Chocco

The Happy Chocco
Location
: 100 City Centre Drive (inside The Food District at Square One)
Website: https://www.thehappychocco.ca/

I’ll admit that I was a bit skeptical of The Happy Chocco.  They always have a million eclairs on offer, and they never seem to be particularly busy.  And I’m like, are these all fresh?  Because it seems like they won’t all be fresh.  There’s nothing sadder than a stale eclair with soggy pastry.

The Happy Chocco

Well, I just went with two other people, and we all tried different eclairs and found them to be quite fresh (and quite delicious!) so I’m happy to say that I was wrong.

The Happy Chocco

I went with the Dubai chocolate eclair: “classic eclair filled with pistachio pastry cream and Belgian milk chocolate dip with roasted kataifi.”

The Happy Chocco

I really enjoyed this.  The choux pastry had a great texture and was clearly not stale at all, the pistachio pastry cream was creamy and delicious (if a bit light on the nutty flavour), there was a decent layer of good-quality chocolate on top, and the roasted kataifi added a nice crispy texture.  It’s a quality eclair.

Tasty Desserts at Bakerbots Baking

Bakerbots Baking
Location
: 1242 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: https://bakerbotsbaking.com/

Bakerbots is affiliated with Bang Bang, which serves some of the best ice cream in the city (I’ve written about Bang Bang roughly a billion times on this blog, and while it’s been a while, they’re still great).  So, of course, it’s a top-notch bakery.

Bakerbots Baking

They used to be in a teeny-tiny location that was about the size of a generous walk-in closet, but have since moved to a much larger spot on Bloor (they even have a few seats!).

I think the assortment of desserts might be slightly larger than before, but it’s also possible they’re just more spread out now.  Either way, they have a very tempting variety of cakes, cookies, pies, and other tasty stuff.

Bakerbots Baking

I ordered the key lime puff, which features a choux pastry stuffed with whipped cream and key lime pie filling, topped with Italian meringue.

It’s hard for me to not compare a pastry like this to the amazing Choux Lab, and no, it’s not as good as that — but it’s close!

Bakerbots Baking

The key lime filling is nicely tart and very creamy.  I’m not sure if this needs both whipped cream and meringue, which I think dilutes the lime flavour a bit too much, but that’s a minor complaint.  The filling is delicious, and the nicely crisp choux pastry complements it well.