Archive for the 'Dessert' Category
Monday, March 31st, 2008
Since we were flying to China via Japan Airlines, we had a half day stop over in Japan near Narita Airport. Since we didn’t get to our hotel until late in the afternoon, we only had enough time to shop at a nearby Narita mall. I would have loved to zip into Tokyo but it just wasn’t practical. But I suppose that just means I will need to go back to Japan someday. 
We found out about Aeon Mall from my aunt, who brought us maps and mall directories from her last trip to Tokyo. Since we were hungry after our long flight, our first stop in the mall was to Beard Papa’s. I’m sure most people in Vancouver have been to the Beard Papa’s in Aberdeen Centre by now but how can you resist Beard Papa’s when you are in the country where it was invented? The selection was much larger (obviously!) and the line-ups were not as long.
The cream puff shells were piled high on the counter and looked so delicious. There was someone constantly pumping these with one of the several flavoured creams available.
The cream puff of the month was strawberry, so we decided to give that a try. There was also a new product on the market called the “Paris Brest”. It was a doughnut-shaped cream puff shell pumped with fresh vanilla cream.
Yum…just looking at these pictures makes me want to eat some more cream puffs! We gobbled these up in no time.
My favourite of the two was the strawberry cream puff. The outside was crispy and light and the strawberry cream was rich with strawberry goodness. I found these to taste better than the ones in Vancouver…perhaps because they are more fresh? To be fair, the Vancouver ones that I ate were a day old.
Grick and Jenkins liked the Brest more. I guess because the doughnut shape had more surface area than the regular cream puff, it was much crispier. If I was in Japan for more than just half a day, I would definitely try all the other flavours. :) Each brest or cream puff cost approximately $1.50Cdn.
Details:
24, Wing Tsuchiya, Narita, Chiba, Japan
Tel: +81-(0)476-23-8282
Summary:
Food: 
Service: n/a
Price: $
Posted in Narita, Other Cities, Dessert, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Sunday, February 10th, 2008
I went to King’s Bakery one day to continue our hunt for a wedding cake. This place came recommended by my dad as a good bakery for Chinese baked goods so we thought we would give their western-style cakes a try too. King’s Bakery is nestled in a little plaza right by Aberdeen Centre on No. 3 Road in Richmond. I didn’t make an appointment so I just dropped by
one morning and picked up some cakes and drove over to Jenkins’ house to do our tasting.
We started first with the flourless chocolate cake. This cost $6 but was actually quite big. The cake was really moist and full of rich chocolaty flavour. I really liked this but wasn’t sure how good it would be as a wedding cake since it was a bit crumbly and eating just chocolate cake seemed a bit plain.
Next, we had the German pear cheese cake. We couldn’t really taste the pear flavour in this and it tasted like a regular plain cheesecake. It also wasn’t as creamy as I like my cheesecakes.
Next came the Tiramisu. This came with some “shards” of chocolate that surrounded the cake itself. The coffee and chocolate flavour here was very light, which may appeal to some palates but I like mine to have a slightly richer taste.
Last came a chocolate sponge cake with whipped cream and chocolate. I found this to be a bit bland and couldn’t really taste the chocolate. The layers of whipped cream and chocolate were ok but I would have preferred more chocolate chunks and less whipped cream.
Moreover, the cake had trouble staying together once you poked your fork in:
My favourite of the four cakes was definitely the flourless chocolate cake. It was very rich in flavour but not heavy at all. I found that the taste of the other cakes was too mild and bland for my liking. I wonder if their other baked goods (i.e. Chinese buns and pastries) are better tasting though as I have heard pretty good reviews from most people. I would definitely come back and give that a try some day.
Details:
135-4200 No. 3 Rd, Richmond
Tel: 604-276-2811
Summary:
Food: 
Service: n/a
Price: $
Posted in Cake, Wedding, Dessert, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Monday, January 28th, 2008
Right after our tasting at Sweet Obsessions, Jenkins and I headed over to the main Anna’s Cake House location, which is located at E. Broadway and Fraser. Anna’s is one of the more well-known Asian bakeries in the Lower Mainland and has a large selection of Asian buns and pastries. What I didn’t know prior to my wedding cake research, was that Anna’s makes about 300 wedding cakes each season…which is a pretty phenomenal amount when you think about it.
Jenkins and I met with Ron, the main wedding coordinator for Anna’s. He recommended that for a wedding of our size, we would be best off with a sheet cake in the flavour(s) that we wanted. We could then rent a fake cake from Anna’s and decorate it with flowers and other things. Delivery, cake stands, and everything else were added on a per cost basis.
Then it was time to taste the cakes. Ron had prepared a plate of five of their more popular wedding cake options. Anna’s cakes are all prepared fresh on the day of the wedding, so their cakes have a very light taste and they also use fresh cream instead of fondant or ganache. He suggested that we start with the lighter flavours and then move on to the richer and more chocolatey flavours.
We started with the traditional fresh fruit cake flavour. Growing up, both Jenkins and I had eaten this type of cake countless times at birthdays and many other special events. We were looking for something a bit more original. They also had a version of this cake but with a crispy cookie layer. Actually, the cookie layer was originally crispy but by the time we ate it, it was a bit soggy. We weren’t sure if the cookie would be able to stay crispy by the time we ate it at the reception so we passed on this flavour as well.
Next, we had a mango and coconut mousse cake. I liked the tropical taste of this cake and the mousse had a very light consistency. Next was the tiramisu cake…Asian style. This was more of a coffee mousse cake with coffee sponge cake in my opinion but was actually quite good. The coffee taste was quite strong and this was a bit heavier than the fruit cakes. Lastly, we tried the chocolate mousse cake. You could really taste the chocolate, but it was still very light and the cake was very moist.
My favourite cakes tasted here would be the mango and coconut mousse cake and the coffee cake. The cakes here were all very light and the whipped cream was a nice change from the ganache, frosting, and fondant that we had tried at some of the other bakeries. Having grown up eating almost all these cakes, they certainly brought back memories of birthdays and celebrations past. Ron was very helpful in explaining the cake process to us and Jenkins likened him to a scientist. The pricing here is also very reasonable, probably due to their almost factory-like efficiency.
Details:
606 E. Broadway, Vancouver
Tel: 604-876-6532
Summary:
Food:
Service: n/a
Price: $
Posted in Cake, Wedding, Dessert, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Sunday, January 27th, 2008
Jenkins and I continued our search for the perfect cake by visiting Sweet Obsessions bakery in the Arbutus area. I’ve had desserts from Sweet Obsessions a few times now and have always enjoyed them. We booked our consultation a couple of weeks in advance, and I, for one, had been looking forward to this since I booked it.
We started with a couple of cakes that we picked from the array of yummy cakes under the glass counter. I wanted to try the Dulce de Leche cake and Jenkins chose the Chocolate Hazelnut Zucotto. Yum!
Starting with the Dulce de Leche, this was cinnamon chiffon cake with dulce de leche, pecans, and milk chocolate ganache. Dulce de Leche is a sweet caramel-like sauce/syrup that likely originated in South America. I was a bit iffy on how this cake looked, but I must say that it tasted much better than it appeared! The dulce de leche was sweet but the pecans countered it nicely and it was not too rich. My only gripe was that the chiffon cake was a bit dry.
Jenkins’ pick was the chocolate dome zucotto. We were told that if we decided on this for our wedding cake, it would be made in a sheet cake format so that it would be easier to decorate and serve. :) I really liked this cake because it was chocolaty without being too sweet. I also liked the mixture of hazelnuts right in the middle. On the other hand, Jenkins was a bit disappointed with this cake even though he is a big hazelnut fan.
We met with the owner, who told us that our two choices above were a bit unconventional for wedding cakes. We were a bit tight on time so he packed us a couple of more cakes to try out at home. He noted that these two selections were their more popular wedding cake choices.
We ended eating these take-home cakes with our lunch. :) First was the Chocolate Ganache cake. The ganache was very chocolatey and rich but I found this cake to be a bit plain. I think I want my wedding cake to have a bit more pizazz.
The white chocolate raspberry cake is also another popular cake choice at Sweet Obsessions. I actually found the white chocolate ganache on the outside to be too sweet for me, although the raspberry did add some tartness. I guess this cake is popular because it is white like a traditional wedding cake…but probably not the cake for me.
Although the consultation at Sweet Obsessions was not bad, I was a bit disappointed. I have always had excellent cakes and desserts here so I suppose my expectations were a bit high. Our consultation also started late because the person we were supposed to meet with was not there…and even though they served us some tea while we were waiting, we still had to pay for it! :( The cakes that we tried were not bad, but I think Jenkins and I were looking for something a bit different for our cake. The search continues…
Details:
2611 W. 16th Ave, Vancouver
Tel: 604-739-0555
Summary:
Food:
Service: n/a
Price: $$
Posted in Cake, Wedding, Dessert, Reviews | 3 Comments »
Thursday, January 17th, 2008
After Jenkins and I finished our cake tasting at Ganache, we headed over to Cupcakes on Broadway for our second and last tasting of the day. If you are going to cake tastings, I would recommend not doing more than twice a day, or else you will get tired of cake pretty quickly. I didn’t think that could actually happen to me but it did!
Cupcakes has two locations in Vancouver but all wedding (cup)cake consultations take place at the Broadway location. Once we were there, we were greeted by Isabella, who coordinates all the wedding cake orders. In addition to the cost for the cake, you would also be charged for delivery and cake stand rentals. Cupcakes offers both regular wedding cakes and cupcake-style wedding cakes.
I had been looking forward to choosing which flavours to try at Cupcakes, but unfortunately, they were all pre-selected for us. Not only that, but we got the tiny cupcakes rather than the regular sized ones! It was also a bit difficult to cut the cupcakes in half for both Jenkins and me try.
We were given four cupcakes: lemon, vanilla, chocolate, and coconut. I started with the chocolate cupcake. The cake was moist but the chocolate icing was very sweet. I normally like lemon cakes but I found it hard to taste the lemon flavour in the lemon cupcake and again, the icing was too sweet for my taste. The vanilla cupcake was more of the same, with the icing being too sweet for my taste. I liked the coconut cupcake the most but that’s probably because the sweetness of the icing was cut with the shredded coconut.
To tell you the truth, I was a bit disappointed with Cupcakes but not overly surprised. I find that the cupcakes here are hit and miss and since we weren’t able to pick which cupcakes to try, we were unfortunately stuck with some duds. Both Jenkins and I found the icing much too sweet and there was way too much of it. Jenkins even noted that he preferred Safeway cupcakes more! Long after we finished our tasting here, we could still feel the sticky sweetness on our teeth. Cupcakes seems to be pretty popular despite our personal opinions. I guess it is an acquired taste or only appeals to some people.
Details:
2887 W. Broadway, Vancouver
Tel: 604-974-1300
Summary:
Food:
Service: n/a
Price: $$
Posted in Cake, Wedding, Dessert, Reviews | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
As some of you may know, Jenkins and I are getting married later this year. One of the best things about the wedding planning process (or maybe even the best thing!) is cake tasting. Before I started looking into cake tastings, I had no idea that most of them were complimentary and that you had the opportunity to try so many cakes.
The first place Jenkins and I went to was Ganache Patisserie in Yaletown. I first experienced Ganache last year when some friends took me there for some birthday cake. I was quite impressed with the variety and quality of dessert there so it was definitely at the top of my list when it came to cake tasting places.
We arrived at Ganache and were greeted by the pastry chef, Peter. He was very friendly and asked us what we had in mind for a wedding cake. I had some ideas which I expressed to him but also said that since Ganache was the first place we were visiting, we really weren’t set on any particular design. After giving us an overview of what we would likely need for the cake and answering our questions, he led us to the counter so we could pick out some cakes to try.
Peter told us that the Chocolat-Banane cake was one of the most popular items so it was definitely something we wanted to try. It was so popular that even my aunt and uncle had Chocolat-Banane from Ganache for their wedding cake! It was layered with dark chocolate mousse, caramelized bananas, and a crunchy layer on the bottom. To jazz things up, there were even gold flecks on top. Yum! This cake was delicious and we could see why this was one of the most popular items. I had to remind myself that there were still three more cakes to go so it probably wasn’t a good idea to polish an entire piece right at the beginning.
I can’t remember what this next cake was, but it was a layered cake with white chocolate cheesecake and berries (strawberry or cherry). It had a nice light taste and you could really taste the berries and the white chocolate. I wasn’t sure if I would like this cake because it seemed a bit plain to me, but the combination of the berries, chocolate, and cake went really well together.
Next was the Coco-Mango cheesecake. This cake was also delicious. It was very creamy and you could really taste the mango and toasted coconut in every bite. There’s not much else to say about this but it was very tasty. Jenkins wasn’t sure if this would be an odd choice for a wedding cake though.
Finally, we were at the last cake that we picked. This cake was called, if I remember correctly, Chocolat Canneberge. It had chocolate mousse layered with chocolate cake and another layer of cranberries with white chocolate. The mousse had an interesting consistency and the cranberries added a light tang.
Of the four cakes we tasted, I liked the Chocolat-Banane and the Coco-Mango the best. Jenkins thought the Coco-Mango was good but he wasn’t sure if it would make a good wedding cake. I really liked how the cakes at Ganache all tasted very light and was not too rich. Overall, we were very impressed with the cakes at Ganache and with Peter’s friendly demeanor. Ganache is definitely in the running for our wedding cake!
Details:
1262 Homer St, Vancouver
Tel: (604) 899-1098
Summary:
Food:
Service: n/a
Price: $$
Posted in Cake, Wedding, Dessert, Reviews | 3 Comments »
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