I discovered the Bake Shoppe at 859 College Street near Ossington when I saw other people’s Instagram feeds. I knew I had to go see for myself what all the fuss was about. The first thing you notice as soon as you walk in the small store is an assault to your senses. The aroma that hits you is magnificent. I always wonder how people can work among these seductive smells without having constant temptations, but they tell me you get used to it. The shop is adorable and playful. On the immediate right, there’s a grass wall where you can see a display of gorgeous wedding and special occasion cakes. On the other side a pink neon sign that says, “baked”. A display case of beautiful treats and on the far wall, blocking the kitchen, is an assortment of cake stands for sale. The shop is owned and operated by sisters Cindy and Sarah Coelho. Around for nearly ten years now, it was originally a custom wedding cake shop. Now they have expanded their menu and rebranded their shop.
The small display case feature brownies, squares, cookies, cupcakes, bars, small cakes and their famous pop tarts. Not the cardboard ones from your childhood, but flakey, tender and light ones filled with things like artisanal seasonal jams or Nutella. They also make something called a ruffles marshmallow square, a riff on Rice Krispy squares, substituting the cereal with salted potato chips. It delivers a balance of sweet and salty, crispy and gooey. Their pecan squares also get a thumbs up. I also tried the Carmelita, and something similar to a hello dolly bar. Unfortunately, there were no s’more bars on my visit. But I did have an out-of-this-world brown butter Nutella cookie. They were making some custom birthday cakes in the back. The prices vary depending on size and detail. But the large tiered wedding cakes can run in the thousands of dollar range. They also need advanced notice for these cakes as they are booked up well in advance.
The Wedding Cake Shoppe is the “sister” shop now to the Bake Shoppe. I like the custom Birthday signs they make, some which use profanities.
The place will make you happy and nostalgic, and provide comfort that makes you want to buy all these scrumptious creations. There are a few tables and you are welcome to stick around for a treat with coffee, hot chocolate or milk. We need more spots like this in Toronto.
Open Tuesday to Friday noon to 9. Saturday 11 till 9 and Sunday noon to 5.
Recommended.
Happy Noshing,
Shanea
