Inside Daan Go, Kensington Market’s new pastry lab that makes cute-as-a-button baked goods
By Renée Suen| Photography by Renée Suen
| September 21, 2018
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Masterchef Canada contestant and pastry chef extraordinaire Christopher Siu has opened a bakery in Kensington Market. Here at his second Daan Go location (he opened one in Scarborough last winter), he makes sweet treats that are more technical than they look. His whimsical creations incorporate classic French-style components like crémeux, but come in flavours like Ovaltine, matcha and Vietnamese coffee. The shop stocks his popular cartoon character-shaped macarons (Pikachu, Doraemon, the poop emoji) but a new line of desserts as well, like the punnily named Tira-Meow-Su, a marshmallow cat curled up in a tiramisu-filled chocolate tea cup. Siu’s show-stopping cakes, in signature flavours like Hong Kong milk tea, are available by the slice, too. Here’s a look inside his new “lab”.
The macarons come in 18 flavours, including white peach, roasted milk tea, chocolate banana and earl grey.
Here’s a closer look.
Custom macaron towers start at $65.
The seasonal yam cake was inspired by pumpkin and pecan pies. The gluten-free layer cake sandwiches pecan dacquoise with dulce de leche cinnamon cream and cinnamon-and-sugar roasted yams. It’s topped with a roasted butternut squash cream. $6.50.
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Another Daan Go signature, the Lady Grey cake, was originally made for Chinese New Year but was so popular it became a regular item. Milk chocolate mousse surrounds vanilla chiffon and a layer of earl grey Bavarian cream. The cake sits on a base of caramelized puffed rice, and it’s finished with a chocolate coating, chocolate-coated puffed rice, fresh raspberries and edible gold. $6.50.
The Banoffee Jewel is a chocolate diamond filled with banana slices, peanut butter crémeux, salted caramel and chocolate almond dacquoise. $8.
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These adorable edible terrariums are made with layers of sea-salt caramel, vanilla pastry cream with roasted banana or red bean paste with matcha pastry cream. They’re topped with cactus-shaped macarons, Korean white bean paste cookies and chocolate cake crumbs. $5.50 each.
The Tira-Meow-Su is Siu’s spin on tiramisu. The chocolate cup is filled with vanilla chiffon that’s been soaked in a Kahlua-cold brew espresso syrup, then topped with mascarpone crema and a marshmallow kitty. $7.
For the Lucky Ducky, a wee chocolate duck comes in a bath tub container filled with rich pistachio crémeux, tangy lemon curd, almond dacquoise and white chocolate foam. $7.
Pre-tub ducks.
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Siu with one of his macaron towers.
Siu and his staff in their 300-square-foot workspace.
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