"Sweets And The City"

[canucklehead]

I was really surprised by the range of competitors - everyone from a supermarket (whole foods) to a private club (TCC). Much like in real life - sweet stuff can be found in surprising places.

[PlanitV]

Me too. And that was my point. Our fair city has an amazing group of folks in the sweet kitchen that we don't ever hear about except through this kind of forum.

What do you all think about how to better get the word out? I'll be sending a little survey all 25 who entered Quady, to see what they think. They all loved getting together. They don't have an opportunity to get together except through the odd drinks at the bar, but for the most part it's the exec chef/owner who gets the press, even though we all love desserts too and it's a shame that the 'dessert restaurants' become the standard for the average dessert-a-holic.

There's way better out there!

W.

And by the way, the North West Culinary Academy was an excellent venue.

[*Deborah*]

Caramel-Chocolat

Damn you all for putting this picture in my eyes and in my head for the past two weeks.

I finally succumbed.

I don't know what to do: the four-block detour on the way home from work hardly offsets the calories.

Wow.

Edit: I think I will have to delay my venture for a meatball sub, as I already have a (HSG GBP) dessert date with Choclateer for later tonight! and two desserts for dinner seems a little excessive to start with, without adding a foot-long meatball sub!

Edited March 24, 2005 by *Deborah* (log)

[Dining Diva]

Thanks, PlanitV, for all the pictures! All of them look great, but I think Fumiko's dessert looked especially beautiful. Wish I was a judge that night! 

Tomorrow we bring you to Notte's Bon Ton, for those of you following the thread. I've already decided on the Diplomat cake--I believe this is one of their signature desserts, and it's apparently very highly regarded on this board! Really looking forward to it......

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you're going to love the diplomat cake ling. it's one of my favorites and has been for along time. daaaaaamn.... i'm jonesing for a slice now that i've been reminded of how good it is!

[Ling]

I think Joie will post our pictures and her comments later, but I'll post my comments now.

butter (Kirsten), PeppermintTea (Angela), Joie, Joie's son Noah, and I went to Notte's Bon Ton today and we picked out a selection of petit fours (with the exception of Angela, who had the hot cross buns--maybe she'll chime in about those too!)

I chose the Diplomat cake (now called Jealousy) which was pretty good--layers of puff pastry, buttercream, and sponge cake. It came decorated with goopy green and white icing, which I thought brought down the dessert as a whole a bit. Nonetheless, for $1.90 for a small slice, you can't really go wrong here.

We had a selection of chocolate cakes, although I think I forgot my notes at Bon Ton's! Off the top of my head, we had the Dobos Torte, the Chocolate Vienna, and another chocolate cake. Unfortunately, I wasn't impressed with any of these--they all seemed a bit stale to me. My least favourite was the Dobos Torte, a cake with layers of chocolate buttercream. The cake was quite dry.

My favourite at Bon Ton's was Noah's pick, something called Chocolate Progress. It was filled with a rich rum buttercream and covered in chocolate. I could eat a whole box of these--without the maraschino cherry halves.

Overall, I was a bit underwhelmed with our selections today, but will probably go back to try the rest of their tempting selections--they also have a huge assortment of cookies, cannolis, eclairs, and quite a few petit fours that we didn't get a chance to sample.

Edited March 24, 2005 by Ling (log)

[peppyre]

I have to wait for the pictures but having been raised on Bon Ton, the Diplomat cake absolutely should not have goopy icing. It's very thick and should be like biting into a slab of butter. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it. I really want to see these pictures though.

[Ling]

I have to wait for the pictures but having been raised on Bon Ton, the Diplomat cake absolutely should not have goopy icing.  It's very thick and should be like biting into a slab of butter.  I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it.  I really want to see these pictures though.

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I didn't see any whole Diplomat cakes in their pastry case, but I suspected that they must have changed something recently, especially since the cake's been renamed!

[Vancouver]

I enjoyed the Chocolate Flavours at Cin Cin tonight. It is 3 desserts in 1. The highlight being the valrhona chocolate tart, with a flaky crust and deep rich creamy chocolate. Yum!

Cheers!

Edited March 24, 2005 by Vancouver (log)

[Mooshmouse]

Photos as promised. As a camerageek aside, the dim light made for poor flash-required pictures.

Dobos Torte and Diplomat Cake/Jealousy

Ling's dessert selection.

Chocolate Devil and Diplomat Cake/Jealousy

Butter's dessert selection.

Chocolate Hazelnut and Diplomat Cake

My dessert selection. Not having tasted Lorna's Dobos Torte, I'd have to choose the Chocolate Hazelnut as the tastiest of the three chocolate cakes we sampled. The ribbon of raspberry jelly/puree was a nice touch, but I also found the cake itself to be a bit on the dry side. And the Diplomat Cake was good, better than the chocolate cakes IMHO, but not as wonderful as I remembered it to be. Perhaps I had a greater penchant for icing-heavy desserts many moons ago. That notwithstanding, the puff pastry was lovely and light.

Chocolate Progress and Diplomat Cake

Noah's dessert selection. The Chocolate Progress was a chocolate-coated meringue filled with rum buttercream. Extremely rich and rather delicious. To Noah's credit, he only ate about 1/4 of his Chocolate Progress and brought the Diplomat Cake slice home, thus averting the dreaded sugar high. I think the rum flavour was a bit overwhelming and overrode his love for chocolate.

There were, by the way, whole Diplomat Cakes available Lorna; your view of them was obscured by the lineup at the cashier.

All in all, I was underwhelmed too. But it seems that, aside from the Diplomat Cake, their cream or fruit-based desserts might be tastier than their cake-based offerings... at $1.90 each, certainly worth a return visit.

[Ling]

Not having tasted Lorna's Dobos Torte, I'd have to choose the Chocolate Hazelnut as the tastiest of the three chocolate cakes we sampled.

Ack....sorry! It was just so small and disappeared in my greedy mouth so quickly!

[canucklehead]

Like Bon Ton myself - but I think that I am moving away from the whole butter cream school of pastry and more towards ganache and whipped cream. Too much bad butter cream - where it tastes like a solid block of margarine with granulated suger stirred in - I think has turned me off of it.

Then again - as upright Asian fellow - I was raised with the whipped cream - fruit (possibly canned)- sponge cakes ala Anna's and Amy's. So perhaps there is some bias.

[Ling]

Then again - as upright Asian fellow - I was raised with the whipped cream - fruit (possibly canned)- sponge cakes ala Anna's and Amy's.  So perhaps there is some bias.

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I was raised on these too....I like Chinese buns and pastries, but Anna's cakes do nothing for me. I especially hate the whipped cream (I think they use something to stabilize the whipped cream, and it ends up tasting like foam.)

[Zucchini Mama]

Hey folks, my favorite recent dessert is the Double Beet Chocolate Cake (warmed slightly) with copious amounts of whipped cream at Aphrodite Café, 3598 W4th Ave (at Dunbar).

It's farm-girl delicious! Their carrot ginger soup is also soul-warming.

Some of you mentioned Sweet Revenge on Main. I haven't been impressed by their desserts, but they have a good selection of teas and I like the cosy atmosphere. I go there to write sometimes, and I like their pear bread pudding with creme anglaise.

Zuke

My son wants to end it on a happy note as I write this with him sitting on my knee!

[Ling]

Double beet chocolate cake! I think Jaime Oliver has a recipe that calls for beets in a cake in one of his cookbooks....it might be called "Surprise cake" or something. That sounds very interesting--I got the cookbook as a gift, and haven't tried any of the recipes yet.

Mooshmouse mentioned going to the bakery at the Pacific Culinary Institute by Granville Island...so we might go there next.

On Saturday, I'll be having dinner at The Pear Tree and I'll be sure to take a picture of my dessert(s) when I go.

I forgot to mention that I had really good fried banana ice-cream at Octopus Garden on Saturday...the fried banana was so incredibly crisp! I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I just got a dish of the fried bananas, without the ice-cream melting on it and leaving the crust less crispy.

[Dining Diva]

ooooh the whipped cream cakes from asian bakeries... brings back a lot of childhood memories... i do like anna's bakery but to be honest i haven't been back there in a long time. i remember they had a really good strawberry mango cake. anyone been lately? are they still the same?

with so many other bakeries to choose from, i'd rather check out other places like lillykate and have that big slice of chocolate cake .....mmmmm... now that's a good slice of cake.

[eatrustic]

I just picked up a Double Beet Chocolate Cake from Aphrodite to go. They don't sell it in the bakery portion, just the cafe. For close to $6.00 I got a very small slice of what is a single layer cake with no icing or other accompaniment. It tasted like a moist chocolate cake that needs to be finished.

Perhaps the whipped cream helps but it's a rip in the to go category.

[Ling]

Has anyone heard of Sugar Arts in Steveston Village (in Richmond)? The baker, Dominque Jarry, is apparently quite famous among pastry professionals.

[barolo]

^I've seen that couple competing in an international pastry competition in France (on FoodTV). I looked at the website...but is the only way to get their product is having it shipped, or do they have a retail location?

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I saw some of their products for sale at Whole Foods when I was there last night; didn't buy any though so no report.

Edited to add: it is Wild Sweets I'm referring to.

Edited March 31, 2005 by barolo (log)

[lemon curd]

Has anyone heard of Sugar Arts in Steveston Village (in Richmond)? The baker, Dominque Jarry, is apparently quite famous among pastry professionals. 

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I've been to Sugar Arts a few times to buy bulk chocolate (Cacao Barry), cocoa butter, chocolate moulds and pastry equipment/supplies. It's been about a year since I was there last. It's generally not a place that you can just drop by - I've always made an appointment a head of time.

I don't know too much about his background but he is very knowledgeable and talented in chocolate and sugar work. He has some very interesting showpieces on display in his office. I have contact information for him if you are interested.

[Mooshmouse]

^I've seen that couple competing in an international pastry competition in France (on FoodTV). I looked at the website...but is the only way to get their product is having it shipped, or do they have a retail location?

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I saw some of their products for sale at Whole Foods when I was there last night; didn't buy any though so no report.

Edited to add: it is Wild Sweets I'm referring to.

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Thank goodness it isn't recycling day yet. There was an article featuring Dominique and Cindy Duby, owners of DC Duby Chocolates, in the Arts & Life section of last Wednesday's Vancouver Sun.

According to the Sun:

DC Duby chocolates are available at Whole Foods, Au Chocolat (West Vancouver), Urban Fare, Mission Hills Winery (Kelowna) and online at www.dcduby.com.  The chocolates sell for approximately $10 for four and $39.95 for 12 to 20 pieces.  At Urban Fare, they are sold by the piece, at $1.50 each.

If anyone's looking for Lorna early tomorrow morning, you'll find her camped outside Urban Fare's doors waiting for them to open. Or trying to break in.

[Ling]

^Hmm....if they are the ones that Urban Fare sells in their pastry case, then I've already sampled quite a few of them! I think I remember them being about $1.50 each, but I don't remember whether I liked them or not! (Probably did....knowing myself. )

[Ling]

I've been to Sugar Arts a few times to buy bulk chocolate (Cacao Barry), cocoa butter, chocolate moulds and pastry equipment/supplies.  It's been about a year since I was there last.  It's generally not a place that you can just drop by - I've always made an appointment a head of time. 

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I'm getting the impression that he doesn't sell pastries at Sugar Arts then....?

[lemon curd]

I've been to Sugar Arts a few times to buy bulk chocolate (Cacao Barry), cocoa butter, chocolate moulds and pastry equipment/supplies.  It's been about a year since I was there last.  It's generally not a place that you can just drop by - I've always made an appointment a head of time. 

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I'm getting the impression that he doesn't sell pastries at Sugar Arts then....?

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That would be correct! Sorry I should have made that more clear in my post...

[the Bill]

last night the waiter at Parkside was thoughtful enough to provide forks to SushiCat and my brother-in-law so they could share my dessert:

mascarpone cheesecake with sour cherries. a thin candied slice of lemon on top of it all. silky smooth and heavenly taste.

[barolo]

The Georgia Straight reports that Ganache Patisserie has 5 new desserts out for spring. I don't have it in front of me or I'd type them out for you, but from memory there is lemon based one and a cheesecake made with goat cheese and vanilla. Some competition for the Stilton cheesecake perhaps.