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