Unexpected Love at Bobbette & Belle

When I heard Bobbette & Belle had opened up a shop in Leslieville, I quickly made plans to make my way over and check things out. While they are well known for their cakes, I was homing in on their macarons. You see, among many, there is the never-ending quest to find “the best” macaron (for Toronto), and I’m happy to count myself in on the hunt. But it wasn’t their macarons that had me swooning in the end…

Taking up the large space left by Hogar Home Decor, Bobbette & Belle has done it up simply in whites and with a rustic elegance. Cakes are show-cased along one wall and treats of all kinds are on the opposite side. Two groupings for seating are available, but you can tell it’s meant only for occasional (and small) parties. I move toward the counter at back of the shop where other treats beckon.

Cakes, cupcakes, and macarons are kept on a counter exposed to open-air – attractive, but not practical. Ask when things were put out, as my first just-before-closing run was a bit of a bust with dry whoopie cakes and stale macarons. The redeeming item of the night was the package of raspberry marshmallows. Lightly tart and not too sweet, I thought these were fantastic and pondered when I could next snag another bag.

The answer to my pondering: a week later. I decided to get more marshmallows and give the macarons another shot. Much better results from my midday visit, as the macaron was quite good with a nice chew. I’m a fan of salted caramel, and that happens to be my favourite flavour from Bobbette & Belle. I thought the vanilla (teal) and passionfruit  (yellow) were also quite good.

On my way in, I spied salted caramels and passionfruit marshmallows and added those to the pile. The caramels were buttery and chewy, though I felt that they could have used a bit more salt. Passionfruit marshmallows were also really nice… but raspberry was still better!

And so we come back to the primary reason for visiting the store: the raspberry marshmallows. There was only one bag left, so I grabbed it despite the sweating that had occurred inside the bag. Not pretty, but it wasn’t of great concern, as they were slated to become part of something else.

That something? Raspberry marshmallows… in hot chocolate.

After securing the requisite number of hot chocolates from Grinder 2 (2 blocks up at 1021 Gerrard Street East, Toronto), the marshmallows were cut down into smaller cubes and added. The combination of chocolate and slowly-melting marshmallows with the hint of raspberry dancing around the tongue was really, really, good. Everyone I served this to as an afternoon treat was quite in love with the combo, myself included.

Pondering when I can go again…

• Bobbette & Belle, 1121 Queen Street East, Toronto

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More at Bobbette & Belle

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