Prairie Girl Bakery

There is a new cupcake shop in downtown Toronto called Prairie Girl bakery.  Located in the financial district, a rather unlikely place for a bakery, Prairie Girl brings much needed colour and sugar to the corner of King and Victoria.  I went in last week with a colleague from work for a visit and taste test.  We tested four mini cupcakes between the two of us, vanilla lemon, red velvet cream cheese, chocolate peppermint and carrot cream cheese.  We both concluded that the icing had good consistency, was soft and whipped tasting, not overly buttery, and packed with flavour (for the lemon icing on the vanilla cupcake).  The cakes themselves were spongy and overall, quite satisfying. 

The merchandising and presentation of the cupcakes in the store is great, however the cupcakes themselves are simple and home baked in their look.  The owner has rows of cupcakes all lined up in the front display cases and on the back shelves giving a visually pleasing effect.  The base of the counter looks like swirls of white cupcake icing that has been carved or molded into the facade. FYI, there is no coffee/beverage in the store, just cupcakes.  Jean, the owner of Prairie Girl Bakery, has created a solid product and is a contender for an overall good tasting cupcake in the city.  They are neither complicated or fussy.  Just simply baked and dressed with icing with a clear attention paid to ingredients and flavour combinations.  I wish her the best of luck on carving out her niche in the financial district.

artist: oli goldsimth

I find I am getting to the stage in my life where I am starting to pay more attention to art.  As kids, art appreciation is something part of growing up either via arts & crafts lessons, school trips to the art gallery or art history classes in school.  During university art appreciation, for me, when dormant.  I was no longer drawing and painting, I could count on one hand how many times I set foot in an art gallery and the last class I formally took on about art in school was my third year aesthetics class for my philosophy major.

Now that I own four walls and a roof, my interest in art has been rekindled and I make more of an effort when out and about in Toronto or traveling abroad to visit galleries and shops with art.  I scribble down names of artists so I can research and blog about their work and have started to build my repertoire of what I would like to fill my walls with when I have the budget.  One of my new favourite artists is Toronto based Oli Goldsmith.  His art is chaotic, bust, colourful, graphic, involves the repetition of patterns and is sometimes referred to the genre of pop-surrealism.  I saw his work in a great furniture store, Michael Thomas, in Port Hope.  If you would like to read more about the artist, I found two good bios here and here.

via flickr

via flickr

via flickr

via flickr

via torontoist.com

Herbal Infusions Tea Co.

Today at lunch I made the trek in minus 20 degree weather from Queen and Bay to Adelaide and Spadina.  Some of my colleagues thought I was crazy for walking outside in such cold weather but my mission to scope out Herbal Infusion Tea Co. meant I would get a warm reward.  I first read about newest tea outpost on a Blog TO review.  Herbal Infusion Tea Co launched by Dan Johanis, is tucked away on Adelaide St West beside a printer and my favourite downtown giftbag store,Retail Bag Co.  A good place for a cafe amidst the brick and beam office buildings in the area, I am sure Herbal Infusion Tea Co. will become a favourite of the creatives and condos in the neighbourhood because there really is no other place for tea south of Queen.  When I went in for my green tea, I spoke with the owner for a couple of minutes to get the goods on his place.  Dan is knowledgeable about his product having spent some time running a tea website and studying the subject at George Brown and he clearly demonstrates a passion for his new store and product.  The interior is simple yet welcoming and I love the ladder that slides back and forth in front of the wall-o-tea.  Of course I am bias because I only drink tea but in my books, more tea spots in the city is a great thing.  Now if only someone would venture north of the 401 even north of Lawrence!  Is that too much to ask? 

Love the Design

I tell you, I continue to be impressed with Toronto’s event and design scene.  Case in point- stationery company, Love the Design on Queen East. Opened in 2009, owner Christine Flynn, is both a photographer and an artist and her company offers stylish cards and some interesting photography/wall art.  I love her invites.  Here is a selection of my favourites.

via Love the Design

via love the design

via love the design

via love the design

via love the design

via love the design

Cake Opera Co.

I dream of the kind of cake produced by Alexandria Pellegrino (the artist – fine arts major from OCAD and Cordon Bleu grad) and Jessica Smith (the pastry chef- George Brown Culinary and Cordon Bleu grad) of Cake Opera Co. in Toronto.  This is what cake should look like.  Artistic, full of imagination, colourful, textured, intricate, an element of fantasy and statuesque.  Opened in 2007, the duo have been steadily building their brand while churning out confections like macarons and chocolates and of course stunning wedding cakes on Eglinton.

via Belle Amour

via Belle Amour

via artisan cake company

via ananasa miami

via cake opera co

icing dreams cupcakes

I would like to think of myself as a bit of a cupcake connoisseur.  By no means am I a professional baker.  Far from it actually.  I just have an appreciation for baked goods, design and art.  When someone can successfully put these three things together,  I get excited.  While reading multicultural wedding website, Wedding Nouveau, I came across Maryam from Icing Dreams.  Her company name gives you an indication of what to expect from her confections but when you see the real deal, be prepared to be blown away.  She is not producing dreams, she is creating fantasy.  Her attention to detail is like none other and what’s best about this post is that on her website she mentions she is relocated to T.Dot!  That’s right.  Toronto.  When she moves, I will get to try these cupcakes out first hand and not just salivate in front of my screen.   You can view more of Maryam’s outstanding cupcake, cake and cookie designs on her flickr page here as well as more of the Indian themed desserts that were created for her friend, that I’ve featured below here.

via aaisha shaikh

via violet cottage

via mad girl's love song

via flickr

via flickr