In just two more days the Easter Bunny will be hopping through the homes of children, leaving little chocolate eggs along the way. For many of us, Easter still makes us think of chocolate and candy, but perhaps our tastes have matured somewhat, and now we’re looking for something a little more fancy to satisfy our collective sweet tooth. And the best solution for that, in my opinion, is cupcakes.
Fortunately, the worldwide popularity of cupcakes has touched down in Toronto with more than a dozen “cupcakeries” in the downtown area alone. But where are the best places to go when you’re in need of a mini-cake fix? Read on for my four favourite cupcake spots in T.O.
Life Is Sweet (2328 Queen St E, 416.698.0555)
Subtitled “A Cupcake House”, this small east-end bakery offers a wide variety of delicious and unique flavours daily. For $2.25 per cupcake, you can choose from flavours such as Vanilla Bean, Chocolate, Mint Chocolate, Lemon Drop, Butterscotch, Earl Grey, Orange, Chocolate Chip, Coconut, and White Chocolate. On my visit I chose to try both a Chocolate and a Mint Chocolate Cupcake, and I couldn’t have been more satisfied. The cake was light, fluffy, and oh-so-chocolatey, and the lovely employees freshly piped the divine icing onto the cupcakes while I watched!
The Cupcake Shoppe (2417 Yonge St, 416.322.6648)
Offering a total of 17 nut-free flavours, with nine available in-store each and every day, The Cupcake Shoppe wins the award for having the most creative cupcake names. Some of my favourites include Yonge ‘n’ Eligible (vanilla or chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream), Sleepless in Toronto (vanilla or chocolate cake with coffee buttercream), Curious George (vanilla or chocolate cake with banana buttercream), and Eh? (vanilla cake with maple buttercream). At $2.50 a pop, these little cakes (seen peeking out of their super cute box in the photo above) taste as amazing as they sound and more than worth the price.
Lollicakes (859 Mount Pleasant Rd, 416.482.2253)
While Lollicakes doesn’t offer a wide variety of flavours (vanilla or chocolate cake with vanilla or chocolate icing), they sure do make their cakes to be the very best they can! The cake is light, yet rich in flavour, and the icing is very sugary sweet. Best to pair these $3.00 cupcakes with a glass of milk! Like The Cupcake Shoppe, Lollicakes also offers nut-free cupcakes, but additionally they are certified Kosher. I tried a chocolate cupcake with pink vanilla icing on my first trip to this bakery, and they impressed me by freshly piping the icing to order! Sometimes the littlest touches make the biggest difference.
Miss Cora’s Kitchen (69 Kensington Ave, 416.593.2672)
This adorable Kensington Market bakery only sells mini-cupcakes, but they sure are mega-delicious! Available in chocolate, vanilla, lemon, and carrot cake (with amazingly rich cream cheese icing) for $1.50 a piece, they truly are heavenly little creations. And because they’re so small, you can eat more of them without feeling guilty! You’re definitely best to order yourself a whole dozen and try out every flavour!
Truly one of the best ways to perk up your day is to enjoy a perfect individual-sized cake just for you! Now you’ve read about my favourite T.O. cupcakeries, but where are yours? Share your top spots in the comments, and happy cupcaking!
I love taking pictures — but only when I’ve got a camera that’s small enough to keep in my coat pocket and cute enough not to make a big deal of taking pictures. So when I got sent the KODAK Zi6 Pocket Video Camera to test-shoot for a month, I was excited, and not just because it was pink. It was as small as my BlackBerry and combined a camera and video camera all in one. 
