Dufflet Pastries

Yummmmmmmmmmm.
Went for the first time today and it was 2 – 1 Wednesday. What a great deal, 2 slices for approx $ 5. That’s amazing actually, in a city with a lot of expensive dessert options. My friend and I each had a slice– the Lemon Parfait and the Strawberry Mousse. Wow, so good. Not overly sweet, but light and delicious. I also had a cuppa.
The staff was friendly and quick, and there were nice fresh flowers on the table.
I will be back!

Dufflet Pastries Inc has a very cute vintage website that progandas people to eat more cake. Dufflet Rosenberg began baking since 1975. Since opening the first pastry café on Queen Street West, Dufflet has had a couple locations throughout the Greater Toronto Region: Yonge Street, the Beaches neighborhood on Queen Street East, etc.
Besides giant size portions, we hardly find Dufflet to be the Toronto’s Queen of Cake. Dufflet Pastries reminds us of True Confections in Vancouver. Tooth achingly sweet with an underwhelming impression. If you are looking for fine desserts and pastries, we much rather send to you Stephanie at Roselle’s or to Butter Avenue.
We ordered a few cakes to go around the table including the following:
Carrot Cake: Densely delicious with pineapple, coconut and walnuts; layered and covered with cream cheese and honey icing and nuts.
Chocolate Banana Cake: Alternating layers of rich and moist chocolate and banana cake with whipped chocolate frosting.
Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake: Dark and moist sour cream chocolate cake with bittersweet chocolate icing.
$ 6 a slice is not value for the portions but I would say there is better dessert to be had elsewhere (and for a better price /​value).
I’m sorry for wasting the calorie count here on our brief visit to Toronto.

The carrot cake was amazing. The cake was moist and the icing was not too sweet, but just right. The slice they cut was pretty big for the price. Will come back again.

I technically still like Dufflet’s but am so put off by the «better than you» attitude now. Used to come here with my Dad for carrot cake slices way back in the day (like 15+ years ago) and it was such a fun experience. Now, I feel like an annoyance simply by walking through their door. For my birthday last year, my fiancé asked for them to do a black spiderweb design on my cake (I’m a Halloween baby) and they flat-​out refused because they said it would stain the icing. Even after he said he didn’t care and to just do the design anyways. Like, what happened to «the customer is always right»? It used to be a tradition to get a Dufflet cake for everyone in our family’s birthday but meh, I could take it or leave it now…

Very Yummy, the cake slices never disappoint! I find the best time of the day is to go during lunch, much more selection!

I love Dufflet Pastries.
Their pie crust is delicious. Their lemon meringue tarts are lovely. The brownie-s’mores bar is delicious.
This little shop will take requests/​orders if you submit them online or by the phone in advance. I suggest ordering 1 of everything for your next binge.
Inside, it is small and cozy. I have never stopped to eat my treat there, but instead have parked in front without paying, dashed in, then dashed out to pig out at home where no one can see me eating entire cakes on my own…
Ask for the day-​old stuff if you want delicious treats for cheap. Sure it is not as fresh, but if you need a fix of something good, it still hits the spot and doesn’t gouge your wallet as much.

Stop #3 on the Chocolate Tour by Great Food Tours.
Nice shop with beautiful looking cakes and squares. Small spot but could definitely stop here for a coffee and a treat.
The chocolate tour included THE BEST brownie that I have ever tasted!

I first discovered Dufflet’s about 17 years ago or so when I was a driver and I stopped in on a café in Roncesvalles to grab a drink when I saw these absolutely gorgeous key lime tarts. Anybody that knows me knows that I’m not a dessert person but there are certain desserts like cheesecake, or key lime pie that will make me make an exception to eating sweets.
Needless to say I returned to this café and one day bought a few of these tarts and took them home. My wife absolutely loved them too and she wanted to know where I had bought them so I told her. Well my wife has a way of finding out information. She can source a sweater worn by Rachel on Friends or shoes on some other celebrity on some other show or movie. It’s a rather scary and expensive talent she has. Anyway she had discovered that the tarts came from Dufflet’s bakery.
The original bakery location is near Niagara on Queen West. This is just a typical small non assuming store but what comes out of this place is really good stuff.
The purchases out of this location (unless things have changed) have no preservatives and are all made fresh. If you order a cake ahead of time it will be one of those. The other desserts in the glass are for in store purchase but big cakes and special orders can be picked up here. I’ve picked up many a cake and desserts here that were pre-​ordered in the past. If there’s a special occasion like mother’s day or something unless you pre-​ordered you’re not walking out with a cake etc.
There are a variety of mini cakes, tarts, etc that can be bought in store but still to this day my absolute favorites are the key lime tarts which come in small and large (and whole full sized pies).
While some grocery stores may carry some Dufflet’s items those are the ones made out of the mass production bakery. They have a shelf life while the stuff in store is made differently.
This original location on the southside of Queen just east of Niagara St is an institution.

Dufflets cakes are never disappointing.
Carrot, coconut and chocolate are all delicious!
Bonus points for them expanding to cater to the vegan market with both a vegan carrot cake and a vegan chocolate cake.
5 stars for consistently good product. A birthday is not a birthday without a dufflet cake!

Confession: I have a slight obsession with cupcakes! I know it’s all the rage and the hype is getting slightly old. In my defence I consider it a science experiment– how else is one to find the best cupcakes in the city?! I will gladly try every butter cream and cream cheese frosting out there for my fellow Unilocalers out there and hope that I stick to my running régime to combat my indulgences. Doing it for the people!
Passed this place many times and had to stop this time– cupcakes were calling my name! «You can’t have your cake and eat it» I’d like to think otherwise.
Service was great! Attentive and willing to put up with my indecisiveness– she deserves a medal! Described every single pastry down to the frosting, fillings, you name it.
Cupcakes:
Strawberry Shortcake– not too sweet with great flavours. Strawberry coulée housed in the middle of a soft vanilla cake. Topped with vanilla and strawberry swirled buttercream with shortcake crumble on top for some added texture. Really enjoyed this one. Even if you’re not a fan I say try it. A balanced cake without being sickly or artificial in taste as many are in other shops.
Chocolate Fudge Cupcake
Chocolate fudge cake with shiny chocolate glaze topped with crispy pearls. One word perfectly describes this one: DRY! The chocolate glaze on top was good but really how can you screw up chocolate. The rest is not worth mentioning– über dry– chocking hazard at best. Took a few bites and tossed the rest out.
Mixed reviews don’t think I would comeback for the cupcakes but would like to try the mini cakes.
I have heard they freeze their cakes and wonder if the cupcakes were either previously frozen or day old. A friend was cake testing for a wedding and was given a frozen batch to try after thawing of course. Don’t know how I feel about that. If I’m going to pay a premium for these goods I would hope they would be fresh.

Little cake shop down on Queen St. West. Wow. They do make amazing cakes. I got some mini cakes and also got a big chocolate truffle something. (I forgot the actual name). It was heaven! It was not too sweet and not too heavy. I couldn’t stop eating it. If you all get a chance. Go and try it!

Decent pastries, wasn’t too big a fan of the chocolate cupcakes, but their smores were amazing. Also had a red velvet cupcake that was good, and a date in some sort of crumble that I didn’t find all that great.

Blueberry cheese cake is amazing.
Cupcake is nice too.
Love this store.
Parking lot not sure, street parking available.

Love this cute little cake shop. Great selection of baked goods, dessert, and different sized cakes. My only complaint is that they can be very understaffed sometimes and the wait time can be long.
The cakes are amazing – not too sweet and they taste divine.

I bought some mini cakes and macaroons.
The classic New York cheese cake is great. The cheese cake texture is smooth and fluffy. The graham cracker layer was soft, crumbly, and not too dry. The chocolate mousse cake is great too. The mousse is rich, creamy, and not too sweet.
I loved the macaroons. They have an awesome deal of 3 macaroons for $ 1 for day old macaroons. Or $ 1.25 for fresh ones.
The nice thing is there is also seating if you want to grab coffee and have dessert.

Dufflet is a Toronto institution – even if you’ve never gone into the store, you’ve probably had a Dufflet pastry at some point (a catered work lunch, a friend’s baby shower, a pick-​me-​up as you leave Whole Foods).
The shop itself isn’t huge, but there’s charming art on the walls and it’s easy to strike up a conversation with other people in the shop. I chose a day-​old molten lava cake (day-​old pastries are discounted, and I am totally a sucker for that sort of thing) that was absolutely delicious. It’s a nice place to stop in while strolling that section of Queen, and if all you know of Dufflet are the pastries in the case at Whole Foods or that cake you had that one time, it’s worth a visit.

I’ve had worse, that’s why two stars. Have you ever tried those super market cakes, you expect those to be bad. With Dufflets what use to be a unique tasty treat has for the most part gone main stream and has become nothing more than sugar sweet that looks better than it taste. Typically too sweet to enjoy. You would be better off putting your straw in a bowl of sugar and sucking. Sorry to sound so negative, but that’s the way I see and taste it. The only thing worse is a grocery store birthday cake with blue sugar icing, wait a second, you will find Dufflets treats beside that blue icing cake… I rest my case. (Teasing, they are available in supermarkets but they are a notch above).

Taste: Great! Got the White and Dark chocolate Mousse minicake. It was soft and fluffy, not too sweet, and was delicate.
Looks: Average. It looked like I could get the same from loblaws or something. Also came apart when we put our fork in it!
Value: Average… came to 5 dollars and it was SMALL. My girfriend and I each got like 2 bites and it was already all gone… I would pay 3.50 for something equivlent anywher else but, oh well, at least it was tasty.

I am a sucker for bakeries. Rarely can I go into a bakery and not buy anything and Dufflet Pastries is not an exception! I got a hazelnut cakelet for I don’t remember the price but I do remember it was a very reasonable price. You’re suppose to keep this cake refrigerated but I left it in the trunk (inside a cooler) for almost the whole day and it was totally fine with I got it home.
Unfortunately, I had a stuffy nose when I ate the cake so I can’t say much on the taste. I can say that my parents really enjoyed it and from the little that I could taste, I enjoyed it too.
Side note: Pusateri’s (the high end grocery store) sells Dufflet cakes but I would highly suggest going to Dufflet to get a cake. (I’m not a huge fan of Pusateri’s.)

Drool.