The Sugar Tooth Fairy

It's J again, writing to you about another delicious find in the cupcake world.  Our focus this time is The Sugar Tooth Fairy.  G first told me about Tania, who bakes from the Beaches, back when she was studying at Queens.  She spoke very highly of Tania's creations and insisted that I give them a try.

I finally took G's advice a few months back and ordered a dozen of alcoholic, yes - alcoholic!, cupcakes alongside a half dozen gluten free selection for a friend's birthday party.  To be honest, my memory is a bit hazy as there were a few too many drinks consumed that night but I do recall being blown away at how delicious these cupcakes here, as were the other guests.  In fact, as proof, my other half who has been gluten free for several years now was so amazed, he ate three of the gluten free cupcakes!! What I do recall is that Tania's cupcakes were consistently moist and flavourful, wheat or no where.  

My Aussie friend, S, was visited from Van-city during the Easter long weekend and seeing that it was her first time visiting our beautiful city of Toronto, I thought what better way to be introduced to the city than go on a food tour! We indulged in Jamaican beef patties, Trinidadian doubles, north Indian samosas and other ethnic foods, only to top it off with an order of two dozen mini cupcakes from The Sugar Tooth Fairy. 

The order:

• Cookies & cream
• Donut delight (chocolate base and chocolate/vanilla frosting variety) 
• Red velvet
• French toast

The review:

• The cookies & cream was definitely my favourite.  I give it a full 10/10!  The cake tasted just like a cookies and cream ice cream bar.  Not too sweet, moist and filled with cookie flavour.  The icing was smooth, light and delicious! 
• Tania's creativity knows no bounds.  Seriously, who thinks of putting a donut on top of a cupcake?! The cupcake base was very chocolatey.  If you've read our past posts, you would know that G's biggest issue with chocolate bases is that they often don't taste like chocolate.  Bakers tend to overcompensate with sugar and sometimes, the cake winds up dry and flakey.  This cupcake was none of these things.  Both the vanilla and chocolate frostings were simple, yet fulfilling.  The donut itself didn't quite taste like a donut but I give an A for effort.  The icing tasted like mom's homemade icing which I was a fan of.  Overall,  9/10.
• Red velvet is usually my go-to flavour so my standards are pretty high on this one.  I give this cupcake a 9/10.  While I can't fault the base, the icing was a bit on the oily side.  Aside from that, great cupcake!
• French toast cupcake for breakfast? Yeah, that happened! I didn't quite know what to expect with this one but did it ever blow my expectations out of the water.  Tania nailed the flavour on this one.  While it was a bit too sweet for my palette, there is no doubt that this cupcake tasted just like french toast.  

So you're all probably wondering, did she really eat two dozen mini cupcakes?? The answer is, no, no I did not! In spite of the objections voiced by my taste buds, I ended up sharing most of my cupcakes with friends and family.  However, you can bet your dollar that I will be ordering from The Sugar Tooth Fairy in the future as there are many other flavours that I want to try.  

Cheers,

- J

Dough Hook Bakery

Greetings fellow cupcake lovers!

It's been so long since our last post, you're probably accumulating doubts about our devotion to the quest to find the best cupcakes in Ontario.  Fear not, as the quest continues!!

A long-time friend of mine has finally decided to take the plunge and start up his own bakery after years of coaxing from family, friends and coworkers.  In fact, G and I were asked to sample one of his newer creations, candy bar cupcakes, prior to his decision to open shop.  Marc not only invited us to taste this yummy treat, he also extended an invite for us to observe the entire baking process.

G took note to the quality of ingredients used in the cupcakes, from homemade salted caramel to real fleur de sel, Marc took no shortcuts in the kitchen!

all prepped for baking!

 The cake was of a brown butter base.  Simple, yet flavourful.  Moist and just the right amount of sweetness, even for me.  The frosting was comprised of a chocolate peanut butter butter cream.  G was besides herself, claiming that it was the perfect combination of chocolate and peanut butter.  At times, some buttercream frostings fall short as they are too buttery but for G, the texture was just right.

Salivating already? I haven't even gotten to the best part! Marc injected the cupcakes with his homemade salted caramel filling, which was also carefully drizzled on top of the frosting and topped off with just a sprinkle of peanuts.  At first taste, we all agreed that the caramel filling did not ooze out, as we had expected, but according to G, the one day old cupcake did the trick.

G and C enjoying a taste of the homemade salted caramel

oozing with goodness

topped off with peanut butter chocolate frosting

finishing touches!

Overall, G and I really loved this cupcake. To be honest, it was a bit on the sweet side for me but that should be expected when eating something called the candy bar cupcake!!  The combination of flavours really did resemble that of a Snickers bar.

nothing left but to enjoy!

Well done Marc! You too can indulge in these delightful cupcakes as Marc fills his orders on a request basis.  Visit Dough Hook Bakery for more info!

Cheers,

- J

Flour Girls

I first checked out Flour Girls a few years ago, when I picked up a box of minis on my way over to my cousin’s house. Having no recollection whatsoever of how they tasted, I decided to stop in and grab a few cupcakes while I was in Milton on an errand for work.

I picked up two of each of the vanilla, salted caramel, lemon, and chocolate fudge cupcakes, and drove them back to the office to find out what everyone thought. Cakes, cookies and various other goodies are pretty much the norm in my office, so I wasn’t surprised to see that one of the law clerks, N, had already brought a cherry pie in to share that day too. Not that that stopped anyone from having a cupcake in addition ;). Now on to the taste test!

The salted caramel had a vanilla base, with a salted caramel filling. While the cake was universally acknowledged as being delicious, the frosting was terrible- to be honest, I couldn’t tell you what flavour it was supposed to be. It tasted like a dollop of butter, and had the same sort of texture and consistency. A and I liked the salted caramel filling (I am a total sucker for salted caramel everything), but L thought it was too sweet, and she wasn’t a fan of the cupcake overall.

E and P tasted the vanilla, and weren’t very impressed either. The vanilla frosting tasted too much like butter, and while the cake was moist, it was seriously lacking in flavour.

Moving on to the chocolate: this one was a winner. T and N tested out these cupcakes, which had a chocolate cake and was topped with fudge frosting. N described the cupcake as being melt –in-your mouth delicious and thought the frosting had a great fudge flavour to it. Both N and T really loved the chocolate cake too, which they found to be quite fluffy and flavourful.

Lastly, we have the lemon cupcake, which was a vanilla cupcake with lemon frosting. Can’t go wrong, right? Who doesn’t love the tangy combination of sugar and lemon? While J thought the cake was well done, the frosting didn’t live up to expectations, and the zesty lemon flavour was undercut by the buttery flavour and consistency.

Overall: These cupcakes were too inconsistent. While the cake was (sometimes) good, the frosting just didn’t make the cut– and what’s a cupcake without its frosting?

- G

The Sugar Spot

Welcome back from the holidays and happy 2014!! We hope you have been staying warm this winter season. Back in December, J and I were invited to The Sugar Spot just off of Avenue Road in Toronto for a little tasting by Nicole, sole owner and operator of the cupcakery and candy shop.

Nicole working away with her little helper

My articling pal, A, joined us, and despite the heavy snowfall, we were not deterred from our taste-testing mission! We were welcomed to the bakeshop on a very blustery day by Nicole and her young daughter. Nicole is a self-taught baker and candy-maker who does it all pretty much on her own. The bakeshop has ready-made cupcakes, but also makes custom cakes to order, with gluten and nut free options. The bakery also offers a variety of handmade candy and chocolate.

I tried the bubble gum, chocolate with cream cheese frosting and chocolate with chocolate frosting cupcakes and the cake batter chocolate bar, while A tried the gingerbread cupcake and cookies and cream chocolate bar, and J tried the dark chocolate bar.  The bubble gum frosting was very bold and provided a deliciously sharp bubble-gum flavour, which was really unexpected on a cupcake. The cake was a bit doughy/floury and did not have much of a vanilla flavour, though. The chocolate cupcakes on the other hand consisted of moist cakes with a rich flavour, and your run of the mill frostings (of which there was a generous amount on each cupcake). A thought the gingerbread cupcake had a good spice to it, and enjoyed the cream cheese frosting. She thought the cookies and cream chocolate bar was pretty good, but found it too sweet for her own taste. She also doled out a dozen mini cupcakes to her soccer team, who loved them.

While the cupcakes were pretty average, the dark chocolate bars at this bakery are the real gems. Each one is handmade, and truly decadent. They are what Nicole describes as being of single origin- which made for a truly flavourful, rich and delicious bar of chocolate. J described it as being amazing and some of the best dark chocolate she has had- it wasn’t too bitter with just the right hint of sweet. The cake batter bar was equally as delicious, and tasted just like the cake batter we all look forward to licking from the bowl. Definitely worth dropping into The Sugar Spot for!

- G