bakery Archives - Macarons and Mischief

September 11, 2012

Macaron Adventures Part XI: Stuart’s Bakery (with sad face)

This post is wayyyyyyy delayed.

So I was at Oakridge Mall with some time to spare, so I was chilling at the food court. I came across these macarons, (though the bakery called them macaroons.) I thought I’d give them a try, and I deeply regret taking out my wallet out for this.

It may be called a macaron, but by experience, this is not a genuine Parisian macaron! I wish I spent my $4 on macarons on something else. *insert sad face.*

I chose the Coffee & Praline Macaron and Cinnamon Macaron. PS- I don’t know why all the other macarons are spelt “macaron,” but the Raspberry is called “French Macaroon.” Huh?

Okay- I don’t get why some macarons have to be so frozen. Maybe kept in cooler temperature? Yes. But I don’t want a tiny ice cream sandwich for $2.

The flavour itself isn’t bad, as I liked the taste of the cinnamon one. The coffee was okay. But they were very condensed, frozen, and not light and dainty. They weren’t very creamy either. They were quite flat as well, and the texture is not comparable to other macarons as well. I felt like whoever made these just made them for the sake of it since Vancouver is jumping on the macaron bandwagon.

Final words: There are other places with better macarons for $2 or cheaper!

July 11, 2012

Cinnamon Bun Fun at Cobs Bread

As the journey of finding awesome cinnamon buns continue, I bought a six pack of mini cinnamon bus for $6.75.

Photo 2012-07-10 10 54 41 PM — Gooey goodness

I ate two for breakfast- one glazed and one not glazed! This is the glazed one:

Photo 2012-07-11 7 50 47 AM — Glazed Goodness

I microwaved it for around 20 seconds so the frosting would melt and seep between the cracks of the cinnamon bun. The most outer layer of the bun was a bit dry and tough to chew, but the inside was soft and chewy. Because it’s all about the frosting to me, I wish there frosting lining the bun on the inside, rather than melting the glaze.

Once microwaved, it was delicious and I ate it by peeling/stripping the cinnamon bun.

Next was the unglazed cinnamon bun.

This one was a bit softer than the glazed bun. Naturally, this one is less sweet, but it was a tasty morsel nonetheless. (I still prefer glazed cinnamon buns!) It still had a good cinnamon flavour to it while I was unraveling the bun.

Photo 2012-07-11 7 56 14 AM — Inside the unglazed

I wouldn’t say this is the best cinnamon buns ever, since I still love Cinnzeo at Metrotown.
However, Cobs Bread mini cinnamon buns are

More affordable
Their locations in Richmond = convenience
Baked fresh daily (although mine sat overnight)

And this concludes my journey of the cinnamon buns. More to come!

July 4, 2012

Treasure chest of sweets at Sweet Spot Bakery

On Canada Day, my friend and I went to Sweet Spot Bakery, located in Steveston. This place is located a bit far down the end, and I almost passed by it since it looked like a house!

Photo 2012-07-01 3 25 19 PM — Sweet Spot Bakery

There is a very small seating area- the floor space includes a counter, display, fridge, and a high table with 4 chairs.

I really liked the simplicity of the store- green wallpaper, wooden boarded floor; it is simple, elegant, and classy. Steveston always gives off a homey feel for its residents and tourists.

Photo 2012-07-01 3 25 33 PM — Glance of desserts

Here is a quick snapshot of some stuff they sell. There is also a little table between this fridge and the cashier of other pastries, such as pain au chocolat and coconut macaroons. There is also a fridge that sells ice cream and French macarons.There were only two types of macarons that day- salted caramel and kalamarasi (no idea how to spell/say!)

Due to the limited seating space, my friend and I ordered our goods and went to Waves Coffee to grab a drink and eat our snacks there.

I had a lemon curd tart with Italian meringue ($4.25) + a salted caramel macaron ($1.75.)

Photo 2012-07-01 3 43 39 PM — Box of sweets

The tart was well, tart. To reduce the tartness, it had to be eaten with the meringue on top. I loved the meringue, soft, sweet, and melted upon the touch of the tongue. The lemon tart was bursting with lemony flavour, although I thought it was a bit too sour (that’s why meringue is needed!) The crust was a bit hard to dig into, so when I cut it with the plastic fork, crumbs spread everywhere.

Photo 2012-07-01 3 47 32 PM — Bitten Dessert

After this, I tried the salted caramel macaron.

Photo 2012-07-01 3 52 40 PM — Salted Caramel Macaron

This was a very delicious macaron, however it was a of a buttery overkill in the centre. I scraped a little bit off to prevent my sugar levels from exploding. I liked the tinge of saltiness in the macaron, it tastes like those golden caramel candies you find in drugstores and superstores.

Photo 2012-07-01 3 44 20 PM — Pain au chocolat

My friend ordered a pain au chocolat for herself, at the cost of $2.50! I was a bit jealous staring at such a huge yummy pain au chocolat! She said it was delicious and very chocolate-y! For such a size at such a decent price, this is sure a steal!

I will definitely be back here again, because this place is sure a little gem in the heart of Steveston! I love the variety of cuisines found in Richmond; and Steveston always manages to showcase why it’s such a hot tourist spot!

June 12, 2012

Pastries at Coco et Olive

Shopping on Main Street with my friend, we made a little pit stop at Coco et Olive for some pastries to replenish our energy for shopping.

Photo 2012-06-09 4 04 36 PM — Coco et Olive

It has a very clean exterior and a very simple, fresh, and airy interior. There is a counter with displays of pastries and paninis. On the wooden column, there is a long chalkboard with different drink and their prices. I found it fairly expensive, so I didn’t purchase anything to drink.

Photo 2012-06-09 3 59 04 PM — Quick snapshot of display

As a lover of cinnamon pastries, I ordered a slice of cinnamon cake with caramel and walnuts. It had a great cinnamon scent and taste to it, and caramel swirls are infused within the cake. I found the glazed caramel at the top of the cake was a bit too sweet for my liking, and I ended up scraping some off. The walnuts were a nice addition. This was a fairly huge slice and I felt stuffed after I finished it.

I wish it could’ve been heated up, as hot pastries appeal more to me than room temperature.

My fellow shopping friend ordered a slice of Brown Butter Caramel Cake with Caramelized Nectarines.She let me take a bite and I liked how the cake wasn’t extremely sweet. However, it was quite pricey for $3.99. The person working there also added whipped cream on the side, which I enjoyed dipping the cake and part of the cinnamon slice in. The nectarines, however, definitely needed caramelizing since they were rather sour.

Photo 2012-06-09 3 50 36 PM — Brown butter caramel cake

I was delighted at the plates Coco et Olive used- the decorative china made me think we were at a tea party.It was a satisfactory indulgence along my shopping trip.

Pros

✔ Free wifi
✔ Not the usual pastries
✔ Big portions for the cinnamon cake
✔Clean and airy ambiance
✔ Cute plates

Cons

✘ Inconvenient location
✘ A bit expensive

May 6, 2012

Afternoon Break @ Liberty Bakery

My friend and I were shopping around the little boutiques on Main Street in Vancouver and we stopped by this little bakery, called Liberty Bakery. On the outside, it looked plain and simple; on the inside- it looks very homey.

Photo 2012-05-03 6 48 06 PM — Liberty Cafe – Exterior and Interior

They had trays and trays of small cakes and desserts, as well as paninis and cookies.

Photo 2012-05-06 7 27 32 PM — Cakes and Squares

Photo 2012-05-06 8 03 05 PM — Paninis and Cookies

A lot of overwhelming choices! On the counter, they had a sample of lemon cake, which was absolutely fresh-tasting and delicious. They also had cinnamon custard cake for $2/slice- which is what I got.

Photo 2012-05-03 4 19 42 PM — Cinnamon Custard Cake

It was a gigantic piece, and definitely worth the money. The custard was soft and creamy and it wasn’t too sweet. The cinnamon and almond flakes went very well together. It smelt great and taste even better.

My friend had a lemon tart- she enjoyed it as it wasn’t too sweet either. The tarts and cakes were $3 apiece.

Photo 2012-05-03 4 19 47 PM — Lemon tart

The customer service was great. The lady who rang up our order and served our desserts was so sweet and nice, even though we ordered things that were not very expensive.

Pros:

✔ Very fresh, authentic tasting desserts

✔ Cute, vintage, home-y decor

✔ Kind customer service

✔ Reasonable Prices

Cons

✘ Being on main street- the location is kind of far

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