The Cheesecake Conundrum

It all started with a craving for cheesecake.

I wrote my statistics term exam on Friday morning, and spent the rest of my evening polishing up my final assignment for the same class. For those of you who don’t already know, my stats course has been the bane of my existence for the past 3 months, and I have another 4 months of it to look forward to L. Anyways, while I was studying for my exam on Thursday, I told myself that as a reward for getting through the first half of my course, I would indulge in some cheesecake on the weekend. Another friend of mine who’s in Toronto, J, had taken me to Future’s (on Brunswick and Bloor) for cheesecake a few weeks before, and I announced plans (on Facebook, where else?) that this would be my caloric poison for the weekend.

I almost immediately got a response that I should “skip the mundane cakes at Future’s” and try out Dessert Trends (on Brunswick and Harbord, two blocks south of Future’s) instead. J was quite outraged at the derogation of Future’s and insisted that there was no possible way the Dessert Trends could be superior. A mutual friend suggested that we do a blind taste test of the desserts from both stores before passing verdict.

I picked up two cakes from Dessert Trends (the Bailey’s cheesecake and the dulce de leche chocolate cake, $6 per minicake) and one slice of cheesecake from Future’s (crème brulée cheesecake, $6).

In retrospect, I should have chosen the same kinds of cheesecakes from both stores (maybe we need to do this test again?). J then proceeded to submit to blindfolding and randomly sampled all three cakes. Our test revealed that she ranked the cakes in the following order (from best to worst): the crème brulée cheesecake, the dulce de leche cake, and the Bailey’s cheesecake.

So, what’s the verdict?

For J, there’s no question that Future’s reigns supreme. I’d also say that next time I want cheesecake in particular, I’m probably going to be heading to Future’s. The vibe there is more casual. The word that comes to mind is café-pub; they do serve food and beer at a counter across the way from the cake display. The lighting is dim, and there’s always a constant buzz of activity. They have a ridiculous variety of cheesecakes to choose from, all equally rich and delicious, as well as a good selection of tortes, cakes, and pies (which I have yet to try). I would be comfortable going there with a book or some articles to work through while I enjoyed my cake.

Dessert Trends feels a little more like a trendy bistro. The restaurant is well-lit with big windows, and the cake display really wows you when you walk in: there’s no doubt that a highly skilled pastry chef is at work here. I personally really enjoyed the dulce de leche chocolate cake that I tried with J; it was incredibly rich and creamy. All of the pastries at Dessert Trends are absolutely gorgeous, but it’s obvious that their focus is not on cheesecakes. Overall, it felt like a more formal setting; I’d rather go there with company than linger over coffee and cake by myself. I’d rather go here than Future’s for a nice coffee and chat, just because it’s so crowded in Future’s, I can sometimes feel like I just want to get out of there.

I did return the next day with my friend, C, for brunch. The brunch menu ranged from $11-$14 for most items. I had their coconut waffles with blueberry compote and lemon curd; she ordered the lemon dill scramble with smoked salmon. We were both quite pleased with our selections; my waffle was light and fluffy, and all the flavors worked together quite well to leave my tummy very satisfied.

We agreed to try the raspberry chocolate tart, and I have to say I was less impressed with it than the cakes I had from there the day before. Furthermore, they seem to charge more for desserts that you eat in-house (rather than you take to go)—it was $7.50 for the tart, perhaps due to the plating? It was good, but I wasn’t really wowed. But, I’d still go back to try some more of their food menu, as well as sample some more of their pastry creations… although I may stick to cakes, and skip the tarts next time.