Continued from (part one)
Little City Farm is a 1/3 acre vegetarian Bed & Breakfast that feels like an oasis in the middle of Kitchener, Ontario. It’s run by a small family – Karin, Greg and their daughter Maya. Where, in addition to being a bed & breakfast, they also run community workshops on living sustainably and events.
Their goal is to self-sufficiently provide most of their own basic needs, and also reduce their impact on the environment. And I think they do a pretty great job.
Prairie Girl Bakery opened it’s first location on King and Victoria in 2011, the same year I moved to Toronto… from the Prairies. The owner is originally from Saskatoon, where I lived for several years, and I appreciate that she takes pride in her Prairie roots, because so do I. Since that time, they have added two more locations, one in First Canadian Place, and one in Yorkville.
So when Prairie Girl Bakery reached out last week and said they were launching a line of vegan cupcakes, I couldn’t wait to try them. I really couldn’t. They offered me a free sample pack of mini cupcakes to try, (and full disclosure: I’m totally taking advantage of that offer next week) BUT, I also picked up a half dozen cupcakes this morning to share with friends (because I’m nice like that.)
I walked over to their First Canadian Place location (lower level), and thankfully got there before the lunch rush. Their counter person was very friendly and helpful, and the whole process probably only took 4-5 minutes. Conveniently, they had 6 different varieties of vegan cupcakes to choose from; so I got one of each and waited patiently to try them. And when I did, my only complaint was that they were too big (…for me to effectively stuff in my mouth.)
Prairie Girl Bakery has made something great, and it’s nice to see a commercial non-vegan bakery take on vegan baking, and do it so well. There are other non-veg bakeries around the city that have made the attempt, but I was never as impressed. I think this might actually the best example of a vegan cupcake from a non-vegan bakery I can remember – and I have eaten a lot of cupcakes.
That’s where my comparisons end however, because we are lucky enough to have some really solid vegan cupcake options in Toronto. Prairie Girl Bakery is up against some serious competition, and I feel their cupcakes hold up really well for anyone looking for traditional cupcake flavours like Vanilla Chocolate, Red Velvet, Chocolate, etc, but I’m curious to see if they’ll be doing any of their extra creative “Treats of the Week” cupcakes in vegan form. For me, that would really kick things up a notch.
At the moment, the ones I’ve crossed out are the ones not available vegan (according to the website – please check to confirm) but that leaves us vegos with a pretty awesome selection.
Now on with the cupcakes. One friend tried the Red Velvet Chocolate: a beautiful cupcake with rich red moist chocolate cake covered in a fluffy whipped chocolate and vanilla icing. While the red velvet cupcake was delicious, it was also very moist, and fell apart quite easily.
There was a difference between the vanilla and chocolate ones in this respect, as the chocolate based ones seemed extra moist (though unlike the red velvet – all the other chocolate ones we tried held together quite well), while the vanilla ones were spongy and kept their shape.
My first bite started with the Vanilla Coconut. If you are expecting a lot of coconut flavour, like I did, don’t. It’s actually the regular vanilla icing topped with toasted coconut, but the cake was tasty and paired well with the thick vanilla icing with coconut shavings.
Like I mentioned before, these aren’t tiny cupcakes. They are not a “healthy vegan muffin,” they are sweet, they contain sugar, and they are most definitely a treat. You might want to share with a friend or several like I did… but then again, you might not.
They will have regular sized vegan cupcakes available at all of their locations, and they’ll also have mini varieties available for pre-order. (you can also order online)
Ultimately, I think Prairie Girl Bakery has done a great job, and I look forward to trying more from them in the future. It’s nice to see another player on the vegan cupcake scene.
Things to be aware of:
Locations:
King/Victoria (main)
Unit 106, 18 King Street E, Toronto, ON
First Canadian Place
100 King Street West, Toronto, ON
(p.s. & while you’re there you can check out Kupfert & Kim)
Yorkville
150 Bloor Street West – Unit 14A – Toronto, ON
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No cats ate cupcakes in the making of this photo
The weekend before last was one of those weekends where you make a small plan, that grows and sets in motion several other events, which all end up wonderful, and you realize just how much you needed the time away.
It all began a few weeks ago when Sarina, of Earthgiven Kitchen invited us to a vegan potluck in Waterloo. Then JC asked if we were going to Niagara VegFest. Well of course, yes to both.
Then I started thinking… why not stay in Waterloo or Kitchener. Sarina suggested we stay at a little vegetarian B&B called Little City Farm… so we did, and made a cohesive weekend get-away out of all of our food related events.
Other than the awesome veg related events happening in the Niagara Region this weekend, we also had contractors painting, and fixing up our townhouse to get it up for sale, so it was even nicer to get out of the house and out of the city.
The drive was only about an hour and a half, but green and lush. It was nice to finally meet Sarina for the first time. The funny thing about connecting with people online, is that sometimes you never actually introduce yourself in real life.
After being introduced via (the vegan)Lisa, & the Vegan Food Swap nearly a year ago, it was nice to put a voice to the face. Also, we got to meet her absolutely lovely inspiring children (and husband.)
My ambitious plans for the Vegan Potluck Brunch were foiled when our kitchen was taken over by the painter a little earlier than initially planned. So instead, I brought along one of my favourite things to have for brunch at home, tasty, but also very simple, Daiya cheese biscuits.
A slightly modified version of Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s drop biscuits from the 30-Day Vegan Challenge recipe book.
Sarina made a whole bunch of awesome delicious stuff (as did the other potluck guests.) You can read about everything in detail here on Sarina’s blog. But I just need to give an extra shout out to the delicious earl grey tea cookies Ms. Earthgiven Kitchen made. The recipe came from Cèst La Vegan, and they were so so so awesome. I’m going to have to try and make them at home sometime.
JC and I had a great time meeting everyone and eating delicious food. Sincere thanks to Sarina for organizing such an awesome event.
Before heading to the B&B we stocked up at Zevia (seriously – we bought a flat of it…) at an great health food/grocery store in Waterloo called Healthy Foods & More. They specialize in allergy friendly foods, and they are also full of vegan-friendly stuff, and gluten free too. It reminded me a lot of Earth’s General Store. Aisles were wide and well organized, and I found a bunch of products I haven’t seen in Toronto. (Like these tiny containers of rawtella!)
I’ll have to talk about our stops at Thrive, Little City Farm, and Cafe Pyrus in a future post, but we had a truly lovely time in the area.
To find out about future vegan potlucks in the Kitchener-Waterloo area follow Earthgiven Kitchen on facebook.
Sign up for the Canadian Vegan Food Swap!