Out of the Park

On Tuesday night we had supper at the Wildflower Grill with J and his Mom. She was visiting for a week and we thought we’d take the opportunity to go there for the first time. I also took the opportunity to review the place for CBC. And it hit the ball out of the park, delivering up one of the best restaurant meals I’ve had in Edmonton. For this price level, I only have Zinc to compare it too so far, but it is many notches beyond.

No photos (I try to go incognito when I’m reviewing), but the best dishes were the beef carpaccio – stunningly soft, creamy and flavourful – and the chocolate tasting. Oh. my. god. If you like chocolate at all you must try it. But what impressed me most was the overall package. Wonderful atmosphere, fantastic service and original, high-quality food.

For more details listen to my review Friday morning on Edmonton AM (93.9 fm) at 7:50. If you miss it you can listen here.

Wildflower Grill
wildfloweredmonton.com
10009 107 st.

A very important wedding cake

I have an announcement to make: I am baking a wedding cake!

Not just any wedding cake. The cake for my sister Claire’s wedding. The same sister who is as obsessed with food as I am. The same one who is a passionate vegan and baker extraordinaire. That sister.

There might be a wee bit of pressure involved in this project.

But the prospect of fun and excitement far outweigh any nerves I may have. I’m no professional baker, and most cakes I bake aren’t even frosted, but I want this to be the best. wedding. cake. ever. Which is partly why I’m sharing this news here.

First up, the details:

- the wedding is on July 10 in Halifax.
- the cake will have to serve about 175 guests (eep!). This means at least three tiers, possibly four.
- there is to be no chocolate involved (groom’s request) and also no nuts (just in case people have allergies). Flavours such as coconut and mocha have also been vetoed. For now, the flavour palette involves some kind of fruit, most likely citrus.
- of course, it must be vegan!

The fondant/buttercream debate continues. We are thinking fondant would be a neater, cleaner-looking cake (see above about not being a professional cake baker), and there is no risk of melting frosting (the reception is indoors, but you never know). The downside is it doesn’t taste so hot, and doesn’t look so natural. I’ve never worked with it and don’t remember ever eating it either.

So far I’ve baked one test cake – the one you see here in the photos. It was an orange cake with lemon buttercream (both recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World – a must-have book in vegan baking circles). J took it to a party where it was a huge hit. I like it too, but I’m not convinced it’s the one. I used the buttercream to fill and frost it, but I thought that made it too sweet – this was likely also because I made the filling too thick. Ideally I’d like to have a filling different from the frosting (if we end up using frosting and not fondant).

There’s a lot I need to learn about construction and decorating a cake this big, and a lot of supplies to buy – dowels, cardboard cake rounds, a turntable, tinting colours, and if the frosting option prevails, palette knives and tinting colours. For preparation, I plan on baking the cake once I get to Halifax and freezing the layers. The morning of the wedding I’ll frost and fill each tier, then transport them to the venue to assemble and add final decorations. Did I mention I’m also the maid of honour? It’s going to be quite the day.

Tomorrow I’m going to buy a vegan desserts cookbook that looks promising, and I’m hoping it has some inspiring cake and filling recipes in it. I’m thinking of testing a lemon cake or vanilla cake next, and possibly experimenting with some kind of strawberry filling. I’m planning for several more test cakes before I head to Halifax July 1st.

So now I appeal to you, dear readers. Any advice for the first-time wedding cake baker? Fondant or buttercream? Flavours, decorating techniques, words of wisdom?? I am beyond excited about this, but a little guidance would not hurt at all.

St. Lawrence Market - Toronto

Visiting food markets in new cities is something I love to do when I’m traveling. Sadly I haven’t had many opportunities. I’m hoping to take in a market or two when we visit Europe this summer – so excited! I’ve heard so much about the Pike Place market in Seattle and the Ferry Building market in San Francisco. I really hope I get a chance to visit them someday. When we were in Vancouver last March I loved the Granville Island Public Market, and it immediately reminded me of the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto.

I first visited the St. Lawrence Market about a year ago, and I went back when I was in Toronto recently. It’s a pretty cool place, and just like the one on Granville Island, makes me wish we could have a market that was open during the week in Edmonton. It’s in a big old warehouse building downtown on Front street, and covers two floors. The top floor is mostly food and some kitchen-related items. When you head downstairs there is more food but also some arts and crafts mixed in.

There is so much to see.

Tantalizing cheese – big creamy wheels of it.

Lots of meat too.

Many varieties of shellfish.

Several bakeries (my mouth is watering at that Challah…).

Fresh Montreal bagels.

There’s a store on the lower level that has an astonishing array of bulk items – nuts, beans, all kinds of weird candies I’ve never heard of. They also sell different kinds of bulk salt, like Himalayan pink salt and smoked salt. It’s a great way to try new kinds of salt without paying an arm and a leg for a whole box. Last year I bought a small container of fleur de sel that’s not quite gone, and this year I bought Maldon salt. I haven’t tested them side by side yet to see if I can taste a big difference, but they’re both fantastic for sprinkling onto your food right before you eat.

The market also has many produce stands, both organic and non. When I was there in mid-May, they already had local berries. Jealous!

I can’t wait to discover more markets on my travels. Where are your favourite markets?

Soma Chocolatemaker – Toronto

Whenever I visit my friend emily in Toronto, our activities revolve around food. When I was there around this time last year, I spent almost a week hanging out with her, and the days went something like this: walk, eat, walk some more, eat again, walk a bit more, eat another treat. It was fantastic.

I visited emily again last week, but this time I could only stay for a few days. Not to worry: we still managed to fit in some good eatin’. It has become a tradition for us to visit the Soma chocolate shop whenever I come to Toronto. I first discovered it about four years ago when I was studying at a chamber music program in nearby Oakville. My group came into the city to see a concert in the Distillery District, a small neighbourhood near downtown where all the distilleries used to be. Full of old, brick buildings and pedestrian cobblestoned streets, it doesn’t feel like you’re in the city. Near the concert hall was this chocolate shop, and my friends and I stopped in. It was incredible. If you like good chocolate and you go to Toronto, Soma is a requisite stop.

Soma is a shop, a cafe, and a mini chocolate factory. It sits in a beautiful Victorian industrial brick building, with high ceilings and a sophisticated, breezy atmosphere. It is what’s known as a bean-to-bar chocolate maker – one of only a few in Canada (including Choklat in Calgary).  They buy cocoa beans directly from plantations and make the chocolate themselves. The variety of products they create is astounding, and includes single-origin bars made from beans from the Ivory Coast, Masagascar, Peru and other countries.

They roast the cocoa beans and make all of their chocolate products on-site. There are large glass windows looking from the cafe into the production area so you can watch the chocolate artisans at work. Unfortunately when I was there last week the area was dead, but it was still interesting to look at the machines and wonder what they do. I don’t know if Soma offers tours but I would definitely go on one.

As for the products themselves, whenever I am there I pretty much want to buy everything. Along with their plain bars, they make small bars with added flavours, such as candied lemon and orange peel, almonds, and candied ginger. (I always pick up a ginger bar for J – they’re his favourite). They also create a similar product with large round discs of chocolate. I like the way the flavours are in large chunks or whole nuts and show through the chocolate – it has great visual appeal.

They also make various other sweet treats with combinations of nuts, dried fruit and chocolate, such as chocolate-covered nuts and coffee beans, and many types of cookies.

In the cafe you can order handmade truffles that beckon like jewels from the display case. If you’re in the mood for a hot drink there is a great variety of hot chocolate, including Mayan with spices, Italian hazelnut, “dark side of the mug”, and even a single chocolate shot (emily’s choice).

And to top it all off they make their own gelato.  This time around I chose a double scoop of coconut and mango. Both flavours tasted like the essential nature of the ingredient in a cold, creamy package. It was definitely some of the best gelato I’ve ever had. 

There is a lot of great chocolate in Edmonton, and Kerstin’s Chocolates is one of my favourite shops in the city. But Soma is something completely different. If you are in Toronto I highly recommend it.

SOMA Chocolatemaker
55 Mill St.
Toronto, ON
www.somachocolate.com