Sweet Gifts

Don't you love having a "thing" or hobby? I love it when co-workers and friends tell me about cupcake and baking things they've seen. Honestly, there are trip photos from friends where I get tagged as cupcakes or bakeries on facebook. So, I wanted to share some of the baking-related gifts I received this year! (Click here for last year's edition.) Maybe you'll spot something that you would like to put on your wishlist.

1. From the holidays, I got bubble bath cupcakes (thank you Pamela)! They come in these yummy scents: lemon meringue, apple strudel, orange chiffon, strawberry shortcake, blueberry cheesecake, and toasted coconut!

2. Howard found another set of flannel pajamas from La Senza! This year they had lots of cupcake patterns, we picked the pink and white set (the pattern is called "Sugar Spice" on the website).

3. The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook by Tarek Malouf was on my wish list this year (recommended by Trilby). I want to thank Secret Santa Kurt for ordering a copy for me! I am looking forward to baking from this cookbook, recipe pages have already been tagged and noted. Thing to note, beautiful photography (by Peter Cassidy) and the recipes are very easy to follow. I really like how the recipes yield a dozen cupcakes. The cookbook includes lots of classic American favourites, so I think this would be the perfect nostalgic gift. If you have a copy, don't forget to read these tips from the publisher before baking. One day... we will visit the bakery in London!

4. This drool-worthy Cakes calendar was a birthday present. It boasts a year of scrumptious recipes. What a great way to start each month! Thank you to Kurt and Diana!

5. This book, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, was also a part of my Secret Santa bundle, so thanks again Kurt! It is written by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, photographs by Tina Rupp. This is such a beautiful cookbook - well done production and design! I really like the clean and simple ways their cakes and cupcakes are decorated. I am really looking forward to their next cookbook! My next trip to New York will have to include a stop at this bakery!
PS: Where do you get the little deer cupcake toppers on page 72??

6. For my birthday, we went to get mini cupcakes from Life is Sweet. I picked out earl grey with orange, butterscotch, lemon drop, white chocolate, double chocolate, and mango and lime. Sigh! While we were there, there was another couple taste-testing for an event (a wedding perhaps?).

7. Cute mini cupcake spatula/spoon! This mini set will be perfect for scraping the mixer's blade and for filling my smaller piping bags with frosting!

8. Cupcake cookie cutters from Howard's Secret Santa! Thank you to Megan for including these for me! =P

9. You see that small vintage pedestal holding the mini cupcakes? Birthday present from my brother, so thank you little brother! I know he doesn't understand ("What's wrong with regular plates?"), so even more gratitude for getting it for me. =)

10. My very sweet birthday card, thank you Howard. =)

On a random side note, after picking up my mini cupcakes on my birthday, we passed The Pie Shack/The Paw Shack. I had read about The Pie Shack in a bakery roundup from blogTO, so we quickly parked and went inside! Howard and I tried a slice of the apple cinnamon pie. Yummy pie crust! Howard also picked up the AAA Angus Beef Pie for later. We both want to let Tim know that we love the setup, decor, and the feel of the bakery, oh and Campbell? Such a well behaved collie!

Well now I'm curious, what kind of sweet gifts did you get over the holidays? Feel free to share links to the item or links to your blog in the comments below!

Cupcake Tour: Queen Street East

As a birthday treat, Howard promised me a Cupcake Tour! So during the cold, snowy, winter weekend we (including my friend Laura) went to visit a few bakeries on Queen Street East in Toronto. I absolutely love the drive down Queen Street, it is filled with unique shops (we love spotting puns as store names) and the street passes the beaches.

1. The first place we stopped at was Babycake inside their parent restaurant Lil' Baci. This Italian restaurant smelled so good! I know we were there to pick up cupcakes, but I think next time we'll try the pizza! We were greeted with a friendly smile and when it looked like we weren't staying, they knew we were here for cupcakes. There was a small selection displayed in a glass cake stand. We decided on Choco Funk (chocolate cake with dark chocolate frosting) and Snowball (pink vanilla cake with marshmallow and coconut frosting). They were packed in these cute boxes that resembled Chinese Take-Out boxes (but without the wired handle), but later I had a hard time taking the cupcakes out without ruining them.

Flavours: We all agreed that the Choco Funk was better. The chocolate cake was moist and not too sweet. We found the Snowball a bit dry and the strawberry and marshmallow flavour did not really stand out.

Frostings: The Choco Funk frosting was smooth and we liked how it is covered in tiny chocolate pieces.

Presentation: These cupcakes look bigger than usual, but we think they're the regular size. It must be their domed top! The presentation was good.

2. Next, we stopped at It's the Icing on the Cake. There was a bakery display filled with cakes and other breads and pastries. Cupcakes were spotted on cake stands. There wasn't much choice here, so we got a chocolate cupcake and a white cupcake. The shop was divided into 1/3 for us to stand and look around. Behind the display cases, the other 2/3 of the shop was the work area and kitchen. I spotted 2 KitchenAid stand mixers and colourful cubby holes to store tools. I think I like the cubby hole idea for organization!

Flavours: The chocolate cupcake was good. The chocolate cupcake was soft and moist. The white cupcake was okay.

Frostings: The chocolate frosting was smooth and good. The white frosting... we weren't a fan. We're guessing white frosting is basically your basic vanilla frosting without the vanilla?

Presentation: These look more home made, nothing fancy with the domed frosting. The confetti sprinkles reminded us of the mini cupcakes you find in grocery stores.

3. Very close by, there is Sweet Bliss Baking Company. Inhale... exhale... zomg it smells so good in here! It is a very cozy and warm shop that sells a variety of other goods too. Cupcakes were displayed on cake stands with a glass (or was it plastic) wall partition separating our drools. There were a couple flavours displayed and then we spotted a fridge on our left with a lot more! So we picked carrot cupcake with cream cheese icing and vanilla cupcake with butter cream icing (the pink was calling my name).

Flavours: Although we're not usually fans of carrot cake, this was very good and moist! The vanilla cake was a bit dry.

Frostings: The cream cheese icing was delicious! Very smooth and complimented the carrot cake well. The pink butter cream icing was overly sweet for our taste.

Presentation: The frosting is generously applied on. The cream cheese icing has a tiny, pink drop flower in the center. The butter cream icing is shocking pink with lots of sprinkles.

4. Before heading home, there was one more stop along the way: Life is Sweet! Sweet indeed, this cupcake house is also warm, cozy, and friendly. They sold other baked goods in the brightly lit shop too. The best part is: they have mini cupcakes... which meant we could try more flavours and so we did! We got vanilla and chocolate, mint chocolate, lemon drop, earl grey with orange, butterscotch, and coconut. As we were leaving the shop, a mother and her little daughter were coming in. I overheard the mother say "now, we're not here to get cupcakes today..." I wonder if the mother gave in after?

Flavours: Delicious for all 6 cupcakes! The butterscotch had a crunchy top. The coconut was the right amount. Lemon drop had the right combination of sweet and sour. Mint chocolate tasted like After Eight! The Earl Grey surprised us and we like it!

Frostings: Some of these frostings were actually piped when ordered. Butterscotch was sweet. Coconut had yummy flakes. Lemon drop reminded me of lemon curd and now I want to try making them. Orange icing was really good, more sweet than citrus (just the way I like it - uh huh).

Presentation: Mini cupcakes always scream "cute!" The decorations aren't elaborate, but we like that they each have something on them, making them extra special. The frosting colours and sprinkles truly compliment each other.

Screen shot of Google Map - Click to enlarge:

Babycake 892 Queen Street East, Toronto, ON. M4M 1J3
It's the Icing on the Cake 1238 Queen Street East, Toronto, ON. M4L 1C3
Sweet Bliss Baking Company 1304 Queen Street East, Toronto, ON. M4L 1C4

Life is Sweet 2328 Queen Street East, Toronto, ON. M4E 1G9

Since it was on the way, we were going to stop by Sugar Plum Bakery on Kingston Road too, but sadly they were closed already. Oh well, not bad for our first venture, 12 cupcakes, 4 bakeries, 1 day! Please note, the bakeries do not give us any special treatment, it is just like if you went in and tried them yourself!

Also, this is not our last cupcake tour! I can't wait for the next one! The bakeries mentioned here are also saved under our Reviews page. Stay tuned for more!