creative space: Bake Shop Hop

I feel like this post should come with a warning - possibility for some mouth-watering action ahead. My sister is totally into baking. And she's becoming quite the pro; she makes her own peppermint patties. And homemade ice-cream. I recently tried her personal-sized S'more ice cream cake: graham crust with fresh toasted marshmallow ice cream and chocolate ganache on top.

So for her Christmas gift it only seemed natural that we would do our own little tour of some bakeries around Kitchener-Waterloo.

First stop: Honey Bake Shop on King Street (Uptown Waterloo). We shared an apple fritter and a maple bacon cupcake. Both tasted amazing. Price was decent, but not cheap ($2.50 for the cupcake). The best part about Honey is the atmosphere. I'm a sucker for good graphic design and colours and this place is A+ in my books. Also, call me weak, but I was already feeling a good sugar buzz after this.

Therefore, we felt it necessary to make the next stop something savoury. Vincenzo's. More of a gourmet market - but the sandwiches are seriously amazing. Only $5, which is really good considering they slice whatever meat you want right then and there. And the toppings range from the typical lettuce, onion, tomato, to bruschetta (hello!), artichokes... So we shared a sandwich. But definitely stopped to check out the bakery there - baklava, cannoli, macarons!

But back to the sweet stuff. Right beside Vincezo's is the Bauer Kitchen. And beside that, the tiny Bauer Bakery. At this point it was time for coffee/tea, which they had. But some tarts to go with it, of course. Ferrero Rocher and white chocolate pistachio. I can't remember how much they were - but definitely not much for a gourmet little treat. Unfortunately there's no where to sit, so we sat outside until we couldn't stand the cold. Consider me officially sugar-buzzed.

Alas, we must go on. So we wander downtown King Street to scout out some more bakeries. We see Nova Era, a Portuguese place that Jody's heard good things about. Their signature item is the custard tart - sign us up! And we decide to get something we've never seen - a "rice cake". More like a tall lemony muffin. Both amazing. Price was the best (it's straight up homemade, no frilly gourmet-ness to drive the price up). Atmosphere - meh, we didn't really want to stick around. But I'm pretty sure we've both thought about that custard tart since.

At this point I'm ready to crash, but we figure we should squeeze in one more - City Cafe Bakery. A bright colourful place. Kind of cool inside - you can pick what you want, then pay on your own. Totally on the honour system! We had their signature item: deep dish pecan tart ($2 I think?). Consider me officially over the edge in sugar-ville.