In a city full of incredible bakers and sweets, I went looking for the personal touch, the nicest atmosphere, and perfect pieces of confectionery bliss.
THE CRITERIA: I’m not talking about pastries and other sweet things that are acceptable to eat for breakfast or brunch, like pear danishes at Autour D’Un Pain or amazing cookies and squares from Sweet Lee’s, or even special order gluten-free cupcakes from Almond Butterfly. I’m also not talking about restaurants that have a great dessert chef in the kitchen, like Les 400 Coups or Europea. I’m talking a casual place you walk into in the middle of the afternoon or evening and sit down at a comfortable table with a slice of fantasy cake or pie. If it’s just a counter, it, ironically, doesn’t count. I’m even on the fence about including places that close at 5pm. A real dessert place caters to the spontaneous after-dinner cake craving. It’s place to have cake on a friend’s birthday, or to share a piece after an early movie. Sure you can go into the Cheesecake Factory or Java U and get an enormous and rich piece of chocolate, caramel, cream cheese or peanut butter, but there has to be something more…quaint? Here are the results:
Top 10 Dessert Places in Montreal
1. Cho’Cola
2. La Croissanterie Figaro
3. Crudessence
4. Aux Deux Marie
5. Le Cagibi
6. Brocante Baleze
7. Brulerie St-Denis
8. Aux Vivres
9. Au Festin De Babette
10. Calories, Pekarna & Rockaberry
THE WINNER!
Cho’Cola: 7-layer lemon-raspberry cake. An epic carrot cake with the lofty ambitions of a basketball star. Boston cream cakes. Dulce de leche. Pear and ginger. Red velvet. Lavender. Chocolate chip cookie dough. All these are cales or layers of cakes, or delicious things to ice cakes. None of them are worth missing. The bakeshop is 100% nut-free, and there are a handful of sad gluten-free items (cookies, mostly, but if you’re not lactose intolerant there are the tiramisu and custards in the fridge). The cupcakes. I can’t say enough about the cupcakes. I really need to stop now, before I start yelling at my now gluten-free stomach, but you can read more here.
1075 Laurier West, 514-276-3652; Sun-Wed 7am-7pm, Thurs-Sat 7am-8pm.
5601 Monkland, 514-485-2652; Sun-Wed 9am-9pm, Thurs-Sat 9am-10pm.
La Croissanterie Figaro: I thought this was just a croissant, pastry and breakfast/lunch place, but no, it makes its own beautiful cakes, is open late, encourages lingering, has a beautiful atmosphere (and terrasse in summer) and, well, is perfect if you avoid the Saturday/Sunday brunch rush (and can digest cream. It’s certainly not vegan). You should eat their chocolate mousse cake. Three layers of…oh just eat it. I make a lot of chocolate mousse and this knocked mine out of the water. It was light and fresh, and espresso soaked into the cake layers like tiramisu. It’s even kept lighter with a cocoa dusting instead of a thick layer of ganache.
Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake. This is the best cheesecake in the city. It doesn’t taste overly sweetened, overly cheese-y, or heavy. It has a little bit of tang from lemon juice which works beautifully with the cake’s namesake chocolate swirls (thick shards of pure chocolate…).
Carrot Cake. This is the most unique carrot cake in the city. It does not go for glory by towering bland layers of suffocated cake with sheets of hydrogenated sugar cheese. This cake is 3 elegant, savoury layers (you can taste every piece of carrot, of walnut and of toasted almond) in perfectly rich, smooth icing. Just enough icing. Never too much. I love my carrot cake swimming in icing, but this proved me wrong and gluttonous. The only thing I would change about this is adding dried fruit (diced raisins maybe, or dates) for a bit of contrast or flavour in the cake itself. As it stands, it tastes more like a very, very good banana bread.
Croissanterie Figaro, never let your dessert chef leave. You, and we, are lucky indeed.
5200, rue Hutchison (at Fairmount), 514-278-6567, daily 7am-1am.
Crudessence: Definitely the best vegan (and raw) desserts in the city, and 2nd overall. Pop in any time of day for mousse made from raw cacao, key lime pie with intense organic lime flavour, or blueberry cheesecake that could put the Cheesecake Factory out of business. Enjoy a very different kind of guilty pleasure; desserts are refined sugar-free and are all vegan, but you’d never know the cheesecake was made with macademia and cashew nut purée until you’re done and instead of feeling gittery from a sugar high, you feel full for the next 5 hours. Very full. And glowing. Hurray for dessert.
105 Rachel W Street, 514-510-9299, Mon-Sun 10am-9pm.
Aux Deux Marie: This place looks like another cookie-cutter cake buyer, but I don’t know for sure, because the manager refused to tell me where the cakes were from…”A caterer” was all I got out of him. Wherever it magically appeared from (Pouf! Mousse!), this was a very, very good chocolate mousse. Much heavier and richer than La Croissanterie Figaro, the smooth ganache topped two thick layers of chocolate mousse (one a deep milk chocolate, the other a lighter mocha) and a not-dry base cake layer. When you don’t want mousse to evaporate in your mouth, and you want to feel the chocolate mixing with thick, decadent tiers of cream, this is what you want. Savour the intense chocolate while your heart melts. The Carrot Cake. Finally my perfect balance of icing, sugar and nuts in a carrot cake! I wish there had been more to the cake itself, but it was moist, full of walnuts, and had a not overly-cream cheese-y icing. Much better than Brulerie St-Denis (see below), and better than Croissanterie Figaro’s if you like your carrot cake sweet rather than savoury. Key Lime Pie – so-so. Nothing special. The cream was pretty boring and the key lime didn’t pop like Crudessence’s. It kind of tasted like bottled lime juice used to flavour instead of actual limes. I’m not saying it was, just that it was disappointing. But the mousse. Have the mousse. 4329 Rue Saint-Denis, 514-844-7246, daily 8am-11pm.
Le Cagibi: Great atmosphere, cool shows in the back, friendly people, and one cake a week that rotates between chocolate layer cake and carrot cake. Made fresh every Monday, these are not cakes you want to run to get on a Friday evening, but they’re home-made, simple, full of love (and cream and butter and sugar…the cafe is vegetarian, not vegan) and tempt you from the edge of the counter when you walk in. There’s a healthy cookie gluten-free option, but you probably don’t want it unless you’re desperate. The peanut butter square is vegan, though, and awesome. Not cake, so I’m breaking my article rules, but it sure could be an awesome cake if made to stand tall…
5490 St. Laurent, 514-509-1199, Mon 6pm-12am, Tues-Fri 9am-1am, Sat 10:30am-1am, Sun 10:30am-12am
Brocante Baleze: The owner here can be very rude…but even if he can’t tell you what’s in the cakes and loaves, and tells a lactose-intolerant person that maybe she should buy a piece of cake and see what it’s like instead of asking so many annoying questions (very not okay), the cake shouts “home-made”. One answer he did give was that the chocolate layer cake was made by a friend. No factory involved in this one, and it again showed in the roughly-applied icing. Way more love went into that cake than a cookie-cutter cake from Rockaberry…now if only the owner weren’t so mean.
2116 rue de Bleury (at rue de la Concorde), 514-288-2692.
Brulerie St-Denis: These desserts are not made in the store, but come from two of the largest and best-known Montreal dessert companies, Dawns Desserts and Fousdesserts. Since Dawns Desserts doesn’t have a shop, it can only be purchased at certain cafés and restaurants, and you’ll want the coffee here at the Brulerie to add a bit more flavour to these cakes. Featuring a two-layer Old-fashioned Chocolate Cake and a two-layer carrot cake (the colossal one with 6 layers you see at JavaU sometimes wasn’t in attendance that day) your options are limited for Dawns Desserts, but there’s no question that you go with the carrot cake. The chocolate cake tasted like just about nothing. It was dense and a bit dry from being refrigerated, but at least it wasn’t pre-frozen like Fousdesserts’ cheesecakes and mousses (but maybe you can get Fousdesserts’ cakes fresh at the home shop on Laurier?). The chocolate cake almost found a saving grace in a bit of espresso flavour in the icing, but it couldn’t make up for the rest of the bland slice. The carrot cake fared much better. The first of the two layers being a white cake with strands of carrot. Definitely not overly carrot-y, very moist, but the bottom layer had more of a gingerbread colour and taste, with more walnuts and dried fruit pieces present, while staying just as fluffy and deceptively light as the top. The real cream cheese icing (kind of sickening after the 4th bite) tasted respectable at first and was melt-in-your mouth smooth. Not the best carrot cake ever (Aux Vivres wins when theirs is fresh, as long as you don’t mind too much orange in the icing) but definitely not bad. If you’re a cheesecake fan, try the Fousdessert’s Green Tea version, and for Mousse, try the popular Phénix. All Fousdesserts products are apparently made with the richest butters and creams, so though it’s a factory-type production, these cakes are made with the best of intentions. Brulerie St-Denis: 3967 St-Denis, 514-286-9158 5252 Cote-des-Neiges, 514 -731-9158 1587 St-Denis, 514-286-9159 Maison Alcan, 1188 Sherbrooke West, 514-985-9159 10 rue King, 514-397-9866 Ste-Justine Hospital, 3175 Cote-Ste-Catherine, 514-738-4900 Ptomenade Masson, 3039 Masson, 514-750-6259 Fousdesserts: 809 avenue Laurier Est, 514-273-9335, Tue-Wed 8am-7pm, Thu-Fri 7:30am-7:30pm, Sat 7:30am-6pm
Aux Vivres: This used to be the best carrot cake in the city. Added plus that it was vegan. Then the size got cut in half, the refrigerator got abused, and a poor orange got scalped. The Tarte Choco-Banane is very good, but it compares to one layer of mousse at Aux Deux Marie. For the price, you’re better off going elsewhere, but it still comes in at number 7 because it’s home-made, vegan, and there’s a very fun vibe to the restaurant (aka the servers actually smile and the decor is retro-chic).
Au Festin de Babette: I really wanted to love this place, even though it’s only open until 6pm and maybe shouldn’t be included here. It specializes in hot chocolate, truffles and ice cream, but it serves one home-made cake. I’ve walked in and seen a chestnut torte (not so common) and a banana cake that was like a pineapple upside-down cake (replace pineapple by caramelized bananas) where the syrup from the cooked, sliced bananas on top soaked down into the cake, making it moist. Unfortunately it didn’t sink down far enough, and the bottom half of the cake was dry…and bland. It kind of tasted like banana bread with not enough butter. But today’s the start of another week, and that means another cake. If you don’t mind a gamble, you cold get lucky with an exceptional dessert masterpiece one day. This is not thawed, mass-produced, refined junk. I respect the baker’s efforts here. They just need better butter and a better cake recipe. 4085 Saint-Denis, 514-849-0214, daily 7am-6pm.
Calories & Rockaberry: These are very similar. Often pre-frozen, then defrosted loveless slabs of sugar/flour/shortening. You don’t come here for the best chocolate cake you’ve ever had in your life, but you definitely do come here to drool over the options, the incredible amount of decadent icing hiding behind a glass counter, and when you crave a slice of Oreo or Reese’s Pieces Cheesecake (To buy a whole Oreo cheesecake go to Afroditi – see below). Kind of like the fast food of dessert – nice as a convenient treat, but definitely to be had in moderation. Rockaberry apparently uses real whipped cream. I’m skeptical about real butter, though. Calories: 4114 Rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest, 514-933-8186, Mon-Thurs & Sun 11am-1am, Fri 11am-2am, Sat 1pm-3am(!) Rockaberry: 4275 St. Denis Street (at Rachel), 514-844-9479, Sun to Thurs 11am-midnight, Fri-Sat 11am to 1am 5390 Queen-Mary Road, 514- 481-0092
Pakerna Patisserie: Little dessert place in the AMC Pepsi forum. Huge amount of cakes. Open until at least 10 everyday, this is the perfect place to share a piece of chocolate brownie cake after an action flick. Very romantic. Beats the heck out of buying a brownie each, and you’ll still end up with a sugar rush and a belly full of chocolate and icing. Best bets are oreo cheesecake, classic chocolate cake with butter-cream frosting, strawberry shortcake and one of the 5 chocolate mousses. Yes, 5.
2313 Rue Sainte Catherine Ouest, (514) 228-5222, www.pekarna.ca, Mon: 8am-10pm, Tues-Thurs: 8am-10:30pm, Fri: 8am-11:30pm, Sat: 9am-12am, Sun: 9:30am-10pm
Honourable mentions:
Mamie Clafoutis: This is the sunniest, quietest, warmest place to hang out with dessert and a coffee, alone or in a group. Somewhere between a café and a take-out patisserie (I didn’t know they had an upstairs full of plush chairs and games nights until a few days ago), this place won’t sell you a piece of cake, but the Clafoutis are so unique and the atmosphere is so conducive to sitting and enjoying your dessert that I had to list it. Besides, it’s open into the evening, meaning it’s more than a place to pick up a sweet or loaf of bread and go.
1291 Van Horne (at Outremont), 514-750-7245, Tues-Fri 6:30am-9pm, Sat and Mon 6:30am-8pm, Sun 7:30am-8pm.
Cocoa Locale: Everyone seems to love the Valhora Chocolate cake, but I’m not sold on it. It’s a very dense, rich chocolate texture with thick icing that I find a bit slime-y, and it’s definitely an acquired chocolate taste. I think I had a cake with dates in it once, though, and it convinced me that this bakery deserves the praise it gets. The chili brownies you can often find at Le Cagibi are your only option if you want to sit to eat that piece of even denser chocolate in a place that thinks chairs are good ideas. Probably it is a good idea to keep nosy patrons out of your store post-purchase if your tiny kitchen is also your sales counter and you have a million cakes to bake by the end of the day. Let somewhere else encourage sitting. I have nothing but respect for the great company and great owner. When you need a whole cake for a special occasion, this cute, retro cake shop is a good place to get one. 4807 avenue du Parc (at Villeneuve), 514-271-7162, Mon-Tues Closed, Wed-Sun 12pm-6pm.
Glacier Bilboquet: Known for incredible ice cream (the original store on Bernard in Outremont serves bigger scoops than the one in Westmount or what you’ll get at Java U…), the other desserts here are not to be missed. Though you’re probably not going to walk in and start sharing an ice cream cake between a group of friends (hmm…), you get a beautiful choice of baked goods large enough to qualify as a dessert indulgence equivalent to a piece of cake. They may even have a cake that day. Apparently not open until the April? Who doesn’t want ice cream in March?…Global warming means eating more ice cream…ironically.
1311 avenue Bernard (at Outremont), 514-276-0414‎, Daily 11am-midnight.
4864 Rue Sherbrooke West, Westmount, 514-369-1118.
Lola Rosa: Try the key lime pie. I went on a mission to Lola Rosa to find out once and for all if their key lime pie was vegan and better than Crudessence. Turns out it’s not vegan! There’s egg and milk in it, probably making it delicious for the same reasons brownies are definitely just boring chocolate if there’s no butter and eggs. Had a great chat with the staff there, though, and I got to try their only vegan dessert – a chocolate cake topped with walnuts and a raspberry coulis. The cake had dairy-free chocolate and oil as its base, so it was light and a little chewy, and the top was really nice with the walnuts. Even the raspberry was tart and refreshing, but it just wasn’t the rich chooclate-y taste you want from cake (or brownies), despite using pure chocolate instead of cocoa. The very accommodating guy there swears the cake is not their best dessert and the key lime is much better, but unfortunately not vegan. So Crudessence definitely still has the best vegan key lime, both by default and because it’s amazing. If you’re a lacto ovo vegetarian, though, or an omnivore, give Lola Rosa a try.
545 rue Milton, 514-287-9337, Mon-Thurs 11:30am-9:30pm, Fri 11:30am-10pm, Sat 11am-10pm, Sun 11am-9:30pm.
Café Vert: This little shop is an up-and-comer. Currently the cakes are brought in fresh (putting it on par with Dawns Desserts at Brulerie St-Denis), but they hope to eventually make the desserts in-house. Currently the baker is a little overwhelmed with muffins, croissants and chocolatines. Imagine being overwhelmed by such things…doesn’t that sound wonderful?
3951 Rue St-Denis, open late-ish.
Salimar Sweets: Indian sweets galore. See the fresh trays of desserts coming out of the basement and dream of sweetened condensed milk for the rest of the week. Rasgulla, jamun, kheer, halwa… 638 Rue Jean-Talon West, 514-273-0080. Juliette et Chocolat: Sure they have serve meals here, but it all comes with chocolate. Many, many kinds of chocolate. Would you like a goblet of 75% cocoa from Tanzania? I was talking about cake, though…Well, you can get a bomb of chocolate mousse, but it’s not quite the same. Still, this is definitely a place catering to an afternoon or evening sweet tooth, and is somewhere to celebrate with friends (as long as it’s not Saturday or Sunday. Enjoy the long wait. The Laurier location is much more spacious, relaxing and less busy. There’s also a new Prince Arthur/St-Laurent location). 1615 St-Denis, 514-287-3555, 11am-11pm Mon-Thurs. and Sun, and from 11am-midnight Fri. & Sat. 377 Laurier Ouest (corner of Parc), 514-510-5651 (opens at 10am Sat. & Sun.) 3600 St-Laurent (corner of Prince-Arthur), 438-380-1090
Afroditi Bakery: This baklava is the Greek version and comes swimming in honey syrup, not the Middle Eastern kind you find all over the city from take-out shawarma places to grocery stores. More like a gooey pouding chomeur than a dry Christmas cake. If you live more downtown, you can also find their baklava at the PA Supermarket on rue du Fort (I’ve heard tell that Ambrosia actually has the best baklava, but it’s in Laval, not Montreal, so doesn’t quite qualify for the competition. It definitely shouldn’t be ignored, though). So baklava isn’t cake, obviously, but you really can go to Afroditi and sit in a great space to enjoy your dessert of choice. The cakes you need to buy whole (like the beautiful Oreo cheesecake), putting this more in line with Première Moisson in terms of a place for buying and eating single-serving pastries with your Grandmother, but Première Moisson has nothing on the baklava, AND these guys are open late, encouraging a post-dinner excursion. Afroditi: 756, rue St-Roch, 514-274-5302, 8am-8pm Mon-Wed, 8am-9pm Thurs-Sun. Ambrosia Bakery, 4657 boulevard Samson, Laval, 450-686-2950‎ Cocoa Locale photo by VincciWincci from the Midnight Poutine Flickr Pool.