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

A Quick Fix!

If you’re craving a cupcake, you may be a bit hesitant to go to the grocery store and grab cupcakes from the bakery. Grocery store cupcakes are usually too sweet, heavy and have a manufactured flavour, never completely satisfying one’s desire for the ultimate cupcake. I discovered the FSB cupcakes at Metro on one of my usual late night dessert outings with my roommate, C. After a day of classes, we would have a lengthy dinner at home, and to prolong our eventual return to our desks and books, hit up the grocery store for something sweet with our after-dinner tea. The FSB cupcakes were adorably packaged in single containers and came in a multitude of flavours. Naturally, I couldn’t resist. I first picked up a couple of milk chocolate cupcakes and my roommate and I happily devoured them. The chocolate cake was incredibly moist and featured a creamy, milk chocolate centre, which was slightly toffee flavoured. The frosting had a strong chocolately flavour without being overly sweet, and was fairly light, with an almost whipped consistency. Over the next few weeks, my roommate and I sampled a few other flavours, and they were all pretty scrumptious: the salted caramel, red velvet, and Boston cream among others. I’d say the best cupcakes were the ones with the chocolate cakes.

After I finished writing the bar exam, and was ready to crawl out of hiding, J and I met up for lunch at a little Italian joint near her workplace. I wanted to bring along some cupcakes in keeping with our tradition. I didn’t have much time to go to a speciality bakery that we hadn’t already tried yet, so I popped by Metro and picked up four different flavours for us: Red velvet, salted caramel, milk chocolate and peanut butter chocolate. After we finished our meals of veal and chicken parmesan, we dug into the cupcakes. J was pretty impressed by the richness of the cakes and the perfect symmetry of light and sweet in the frosting.

Bottom line: if you are ever in a pinch and want that gourmet cupcake experience, don’t think twice about grabbing some of these FSB cupcakes from Metro!

- G

A Cupcake Fail

G is finally finished law school (yay!) and is now back in the GTA which means... more cupcakes!!!  Given that it has been a while since our last post - which, coincidently is the last time I've eaten a cupcake - I decided to jump at the first opportunity to get back on the cupcakewagon.  G suggested that we visit Sweet 'n Sinful, located in Bolton.  It was to our dismay that we arrive to our destination, only to discover closed doors!! It's unclear whether the shop is temporarily or permanently closed as there was no sign or notice.  What a disappointment.

Trying to salvage our day, we found our way to the only bakery in Brampton that vaguely resembled a cupcakery, as per Google.  We wound up at Rashmi's Bakery, located on the north west end of Brampton.  We weren't entirely sure what to expect and after browsing their fresh baked goods, we certainly did not have high expectations.  Their selection was limited to chocolate and vanilla cake - both with white 'grocery store looking' frosting.  

We were surprisingly pleased with the texture of the cake and the quality of the icing.  The cake, especially the vanilla, was adequately moist and flavourful.  G felt that the chocolate was a tad on the floury side and could have used more chocolate (disclaimer: G is looking for a chocolate cupcake that actually tastes like chocolate!).  The icing was much better than expected; sometimes I find that generic icing can taste almost like plastic, especially in the aftertaste.  This icing was very light, with the right amount of sugar... almost like whipped cream.  What is more impressive is that these cupcakes were vegan!  I've had vegan cupcakes before and despite how my peers felt about them, I did not like them as it seemed as though the bakers overcompensated with sugar, especially in the icing.

So today's lesson - call the cupcakery prior to visiting to avoid potential disappointment.  That and Brampton really needs to step it's cupcake game up!

Until next time...

- J

Cupid's Gourmet Cupcakes

It was my good friend, Google, who helped me find Cupid's Gourmet Cupcakes.  I happened to be dropping off my board at the pro shop in Oakville for some tuning when G suggested that I pick some cupcakes up for our planned get together that evening.

Cupid's was founded by a young mother who found herself wanting some 'grown up time' during her time off from her teaching career.  One thing lead to another and before she knew it, she had a full blooming business to run!  Cupid's, like many other cupcake bakeries, is a peanut free zone.  However, this wasn't always the case.  It was upon receiving her son's peanut allergy diagnosis that the owner decided to switch gears and move in this direction.

First impressions - the bakery was very cute, cozy and busy!  There was even a quaint wooden table, painted white, with matching chairs conveniently placed by the window for those customers who wished to dine in.

There were six flavours available that day; naturally, I selected one of each in the mini-cupcake variety.

Starting from the top left, we have Prince - a signature chocolate buttermilk cake with dreamy blue vanilla frosting, topped with chocolate shavings.  The cake was nothing short of chocolatey but was a bit on the dry side.  The frosting was... fine.  As G put it, nothing special; just generic buttercream.

The red velvet (to the right), was rather disappointing.  The cake was not moist nor was it very flavourful.  Let's back up a few steps.  When I think of a froth worthy red velvet cake, I imagine an ultra moist, rich chocolate cake.  Quite frankly, it's what I picture heaven to be made out of..... mmm.  Okay, back to the cake.  Yeah, it wasn't spectacular.  However, the frosting was delightfully delicious.  I think it was the best cream cheese frosting I've tasted so far in our adventure!

Triple chocolate threat - here we come!  Chocolate cake with chocolate chips, topped with chocolate frosting and chocolate shavings.  Now that's a lot of chocolate!! We loved the idea of chocolate chips being incorporated into the cake.  Creativity points awarded! The added texture, not to mention flavour, was very tasty.  Unfortunately, the cake seemed to be lacking in chocolate flavour.  This was a chocolate cake, right?  To make matters worse, the frosting had a liquor flavour to it... it almost reminded me of those terrible brandy/rum filled chocolates offices have during the Christmas season.  Who even likes those things??  

Pucker up! Lemon yogurt cake with freshly squeezed lemon juice and zest, accompanied with lemon frosting.  I don't think I've ever seen yogurt incorporated into a cake before.  Truthfully, I wasn't sure how I would feel about this but I was delightfully surprised when my tastebuds exclaimed after having my first bite.  Five stars on delicious cake!  It was very rich, moist and filled with lemon flavour.  It texture was more on the dense side, which we chalked up to the yogurt base.  The icing was very light and complemented the cake very well.  That being said, it wasn't as lemony as expected but I almost feel like it would have been too much lemon if it was.  Definitely a judges favourite!

Princess - a vanilla buttermilk cake topped with strawberry puree frosting and sparkly sprinkles.  My vanilla goddess was gravely disappointed with this cake.  I mean, how can you go wrong with vanilla?? Sigh.  We found that the cake was very dry and floury.  If it wasn't for the strawberry filled frosting (it REALLY did taste like fresh strawberries), this cupcake would have been a complete write off.

Last but not least, the nutless German.  Keeping with the peanut free concept, this German chocolate cake is made without pecans and is topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting, a pool of homemade salted caramel and a mount of toasted coconut.  At least that's what their menu says.  The cake was good; the frosting was decent - run of the mill cream cheese frosting.  But we couldn't help but ask ourselves, where were the promised salted caramel and toasted coconut?? 

Overall experience - 6.5/10 

Many hit or misses - too many misses to drive across Ontario for!  

- J

The Social Cupcake

What an appropriate name for a cupcake shop.  I mean, what better way to socialize than over a cupcake?!

The Social Cupcake is neatly tucked away into one of Mississauga's many historic neighourhoods, Port Credit.  This bakery prides itself in its eco friendly products, only using organic free trade cocoa, free range eggs and the freshest of ingredients.  Moreover, it is both a peanut and treenut free environment which is a something that cupcake enthusiasts are seeing more frequently.

The Social Cupcake features sixty, I repeat SIXTY, cupcakes!! With traditional flavours such as vanilla chocolate to more complex varieties like strawberry rhubarb cheesecake and chocolate guinness with bailey's swiss meringue , you can only imagine how excited I was to visit this bakery!

To keep with the theme, birthday twin and I ventured on a cupcake tasting date to celebrate our birthdays and catch up (ah hem - socialize!) since some time had passed since we had last seen each other.

Given that the bakery offers a combo of 6 minis for $10 and that there were 6 readymade varieties on display today, it seemed like the perfect idea to sample one of each!  And oh did they ever look and smell soooo delicious! Side note: why don't they make cupcake flavoured perfume????

So for the moment of truth...... The Social Cupcake is a real winner!!!!!

Flavours tested:

• Vanilla
• Cookies and Cream
• Strawberry
• Marble
• Red velvet (of course!)
• Chocolate

Birthday twin and agreed that the top contenders were tied between the chocolate and red velvet.  Given that neither of us are huge fans of icing and that I am no lover of chocolate cake, the fact that this chocolate cupcake has snuck it's way into our number one demonstrates what good value it was!  You could truly taste the richness of the chocolate in both the cake and the icing without being overpowered with sugar.  The red velvet - WOW!  I really don't know if I have ever had cream cheese icing that tasted so good!  It was light, creamy, and cream cheesy - what else can you ask for in a cupcake?!  

Vanilla ranked as a close second.  It's buttery buttercream icing melted in your mouth like ice cream on a hot summer's day.  The cake was nothing short of moist.  This is what my dreams are made of... delicious vanilla cake.  

Sadly, strawberry came in as our least favourite.  Truthfully, there was nothing wrong with the cupcake.  The icing was extra light and the cake was filled with the goodness of strawberries.  I'm just not entirely sure if I like strawberry flavoured cake.  No disrespect!

As you can see, we ate all of our six minis - and no, we did not have a tummy ache after.  Hurrah! 

Overall experience - 9/10!

If you're ever in the Port Credit area and in search for a delightful treat, I highly recommend The Social Cupcake! Just be sure to arrive with an appetite because this bakery will not disappoint.  Disclaimer: expect a queue as there were five customers during our short wait on a Thursday afternoon!

- J

Happy New Year!

May all of you have a happy and safe NYE celebration!!! Looking forward to the many cupcakes that will be eaten in 2013 :)

- G & J

Pink Lemon Bakeshop

Our first adventure as official cupcake enthusiasts took us to Pink Lemon Bakeshop, located in Vaughn off of Highway 7.  The bakery carries a wide array of baked goods, from French macarons to cookies to speciality cakes.  Of course, we were only interested in one thing:  their cupcakes.

The order:
- One black forest cupcake
- One lemon cupcake
- One cookies and cream cupcake
- One red velvet cupcake

First up, black forest!  The cake itself was a bit on the dry side but the chocolatey flavour was pretty damn good.  The icing... well it wasn't bad but it was different.  We couldn't quite figure out what type of icing it was (certainly not butter icing and we were pretty sure that it wasn't marshmellow icing either).  Regardless, the wow factor was lacking.

Next was cookies and cream.  One word: disappointing!!!!!!!!  I got the chocolate flavour just fine but  where was the cookies and cream?!!  I have nothing else to say about this.

At this point, we decided that we were cupcaked out and it would have been unfair to continue eating the cupcakes as our marginal utility was diminishing rapidly.

Overall assessment:  6/10

You're probably wondering what happened to the other two cupcakes.  You didn't think we would let them go to waste, did you?  After all, that would be blasphemy.  Since the red velvet was my pick (and because I am on a mission to find the best red velvet cupcake around), I decided to take it home.

To be honest, I can't really decide how I feel about this one.  The cake itself was perfect.  The right amount of cocoa flavour, super moist, great texture - really, no complaints here.  The cream cheese icing was also super tasty.  It was light and fluffy, yet creamy all at the same time!  I mean, imagine a cream cheese cloud melting in your mouth.  But for the strangest reason, the cake and icing combo didn't quite taste right.  I've been racking my brain to figure out why the flavours didn't mesh with my taste buds but I am coming up with nothing.  Ehh... That being said, I would still rate this red velvet cupcake as a solid 8/10.

Bottom line: if you are ever in Vaughn and in desperate need for a cupcake, you may want to consider Pink Lemon Bakeshop.  Just be sure to avoid the cookies and cream flavour.

- J

Merry Christmas!!!

Wishing you and your families a happy and safe holiday! Happy cupcakes!!!!

- G & J

Calling all cupcake lovers!!!

Dear fellow cupcake fiends,

If you know of a bakery that you would like us to try, feel free to send us an email @ cupcake.enthusiasts@gmail.com!  Or if you happen to be in the cupcake tasting mood and come across an incredible find, let us know and we can blog your tasting! Be sure to take photos :)

- J

Prairie Girl Bakery

Greetings cupcake lovers,

I was downtown today for a recruiter appointment and given the fact that I had paid a flat fee for all day parking, I was tempted to go for a walk into the financial district and 'pop into' PGB.  

This bakery was founded by a real life prairie girl, originally from Saskatchewan.  With the help of a professional baking team, Jean opened Prairie Girl Bakery up for business and has never looked back!  It has two convenient locations for those busy-bees working in the financial district: 18 King Street East and the First Canadian Place (concourse level).

It was of no surprise that there was a small line formed in front of the bakery's location in the First Canadian Place.  After all, it is the week before Christmas!  It was just last week that I had been browsing the bakery's website when I saw that their weekly special was an eggnog and vanilla cupcake.  I knew I was going to be downtown this week so I figured, why not give it a go??  Unfortunately, I missed the lesson on calendar weeks as a child and didn't realize that the special would have been different this week.  Slightly disappointed, I decided to test the infamous Joe Prairie's Red Velvet Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese with a swirl of vanilla icing.  I didn't just walk all the way from King and Spadina for nothing, right?

PGB prides itself on using only natural ingredients, thereby only selling fresh goods to its customers.  Be warned, just because it's natural, doesn't mean that it's healthy! In fact, PGB's chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing falls just short of 700 calories with approximately 30 grams of fat!!! It's no wonder the bakery does not have an accessible nutrition guide.  So the question is, was calorie worth it?

  In short, the answer is no!  Here's why:  

There are several things that I look for when I eat a cupcake.  The most important you ask?  The cupcake itself!  A lot of bakeries overcompensate for poor cupcake quality with their icing.  If I'm eating a cupcake, I'm more concerned about the cake than the icing.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not an icing hater by any means but I like to know that the cupcake can still be delicious on a standalone basis!    

I'm not entirely sure if I didn't get a so-called 'fresh' batch but given that my purchase was at 11:30am, I think it's fair to rule that out as a crutch.  I found the cupcake itself to be slightly dry, which was rather disappointing.  That being said, red velvet flavour satisfied my expectations.

Secondly, the icing was slightly overwhelming.  I will admit that I'm not a fan of overly sweet icing so the chocolate icing may have been a bad call on my behalf.  Even though I ordered a mini-cupcake, I found that the icing to cupcake ratio was too high for my liking.  The icing itself - pretty damn good.  There was a stark contrast between the chocolate and vanilla flavours which made this cupcake unique to other red velvets.  

Overall, I give this cupcake a 7/10.  So was it a good cupcake?  Yes.  The best cupcake in Toronto?   Doubtful.

- J

The Beginning

Once upon a time, there were two girls - Gobhina and Joanne.  The two first met in grade ten business class at Lincoln M. Alexander Secondary School.  At first, they were merely classmates.  It took several years until the friendship began to first blossom.  Bonding over things like mistaken cultural identity, prom committee and the aspirations of going to the University of Waterloo brought them closer together during their final year of high school.  It was to her dismay that Joanne did not get accepted to her program of choice at University of Waterloo.  Feeling saddened about having to part from her new friend, she decided to accept an offer received from Wilfrid Laurier University, only a few blocks away.  

The pair tried their best to stay in contact, in spite of their notoriously busy social and academic schedules.  This involved cheesy chick flick dates, halloween parties and frequent dinner dates to Jamaican Jerk.  However, it wasn't until Gobhina's exchange to Paris that they discovered their mutual, unfathomable love for cupcakes.  There could have been no better place for this to happen; after all, Paris is the city of love!

Many years have passed and the girls have continued their tradition in indulging in cupcakes while catching up.  Today, they have decided to step things up a notch and to undertake the mission of finding the best cupcakes in Ontario.