Bakerbots Baking
416-901-3500
Trained as a visual artist as well as a baker, Rosanne Pezzelli loves to experiment with non-traditional shapes and sculptural forms (a cake that looks like a geisha, for example). Her sense of whimsy is evident in a simple cream-coloured three-tier with a handful of pastel macarons tumbling down the side. A stunning white cake with a sugar bow edged in black showcases beautiful restraint. Each cake—made with eggs, milk, butter and Belgian chocolate—features at least two layers, with possible fillings including chocolate-hazelnut buttercream or cream cheese frosting. Cakes from $1,000. By appointment.
Bobbette and Belle
1121 Queen St. E. (at Caroline Ave.), 416-466-8800
At their spacious Leslieville pâtisserie, Allyson Bobbitt and Sarah Bell make some of the city’s most wedding-appropriate cupcakes and macarons, as well as cakes. Custom creations are strong on details: a recent cake was five feet tall and adorned with thousands of sugar flowers. Also popular for weddings are French macarons, hand-painted and letterpress cookies, mini cakes and decorative cupcake towers. Cakes from $1,200.
The Cake Lady
416-539-9415
Some sculptors work in marble, others in bronze or clay. Vanessa Le Page, a.k.a. the Cake Lady, works in ganache-filled chocolate cake. The Dufflet alumna’s portfolio includes a three-dimensional Eiffel Tower, an elaborately iced reproduction of a Delft blue china plate and, for Mr. Dressup’s retirement party, an edible Tickle Trunk. Quirky requests are happily accommodated (she once did a cake shaped like a roast chicken). Flavours include crowd-pleasing vanilla, chocolate and carrot; all receive a thick coat of fresh buttercream icing. Vegan options available. Rates vary. By appointment.
Cake Opera Co.
1136 Eglinton Ave. W. (at Glenarden Rd.), 647-347-2626
After meeting with a bride-to-be, Alexandria Pellegrino draws up a sketch, a work of art in itself that becomes a treasured memento of the big day. The OCAD grad and Cake Walk judge crafts ornate, jaw-dropping cakes like the Piratess, a baroque sculpture inspired by 17th-century tall ships. Flavour combinations include red velvet cake with white-chocolate buttercream icing and banana with milk-chocolate buttercream and salted caramel ganache. Cakes from $1,000.
The Caketress
info@thecaketress.ca
Lori Hutchinson’s one-woman operation is usually booked up to a year in advance for high wedding season, and in the winter, a Dubai wedding planner flies her to the United Arab Emirates to make cakes from scratch. Her designs flow like fabric, with 24-karat gold detailing providing subtle bling. A recent splashed-out wedding had a six-foot-tall edifice decorated with more than 500 sugar flowers. Fillings include banana split, Bailey’s-infused dark chocolate ganache and strawberry buttercream. Cakes from $1,000. Byappointment.
I Do! Wedding Cakes
2700 Dufferin St. (at Briar Hill Ave.), Unit 43, 416-787-6666
Meticulous attention to every fondant detail has helped I Do! evolve from a home kitchen operation to a shop with a six-month waiting list. While prices for elaborate custom jobs have reached summits of $15,000 (six tiers with edible jewels and handmade, hand-pressed flowers), it’s the $335 to $500 I Do! line that keeps the place buzzing. Couples select
one of the chic, clean-lined designs and customize the colours and filling flavours (the mango–passion fruit is outstanding). Owner and head designer Olivia Nguyen is often assumed to be a trained artist, but she humbly insists that she can’t do in clay what she creates in cake. By appointment.
It’s the Icing on the Cake
1238 Queen St. E. (at Leslie St.), 416-469-4973
Armed with an arsenal of sculpting tools, Lynda Paul transforms cake, icing and buttercream into an array of impressive edible sculptures: a Lego model, for example, or a mountain (for a couple who met while rock climbing), or maybe a neatly wrapped pink present, its white fondant ribbons just waiting to be untied. Fanciful and always personalized, Paul’s wedding cakes come in a multitude of creative flavour combinations (just ask) and sizes (from daintily decorated single-serving mini cakes to multi-tiered towers that serve 500). All products are nut-free. Make an appointment for a consultation. Cakes $5 per serving. Closed Sunday and Monday.
NEVER MISS A TORONTO LIFE STORY
Sign up for This City, our free newsletter about everything that matters right now in Toronto politics, sports, business, culture, society and more.