The Sweet Counter
Victoria sponges, empire biscuits, eccles cakes and custard horns — the sweet things that taste like a British afternoon, made fresh in Ontario.
There’s a particular kind of longing that a British bakery window sets off — the glass case of iced buns and cream-filled horns, the wedge of sponge with jam peeking out the side, the tray of biscuits sandwiched with buttercream and topped with a single glacé cherry. If you grew up with it, you know it in an instant. If you didn’t, you’re about to.
Our sweet counter is built on the things that actually turned up at British tea tables and corner bakeries — not a generic dessert case, but the proper articles, made the way they should be. Some you’ll recognise on sight. Others might be new to you, so we’ll explain as we go, because everyone deserves to know what a custard horn is before they fall for it.
Nostalgia, baked
Victoria sponge, empire biscuits, eccles cakes, custard horns, eclairs and the whole nostalgic cabinet.
The whole Victoria sponge, sized for one.
All the pleasure of a full Victoria sponge in one neat, single-serve size: light butter sponge, raspberry jam and fresh cream. Perfect when you want the classic without cutting a whole cake. Just right with a cup of tea and no sharing required.
Choux, fresh cream, chocolate on top. Simple joy.
A soft choux pastry shell piped full of fresh cream and finished with a glossy layer of chocolate. Light, rich and gone in a few happy bites. A patisserie-counter favourite that never goes out of fashion.
Crisp pastry, cool custard, pure nostalgia.
A crisp, sweet pastry cone filled with smooth, cool custard. A nostalgic bakery treat that takes many people straight back to the corner shop of their childhood. Light, sweet and made for eating on the spot.
Big, soft and freshly baked. Flavours vary.
Big, soft, freshly baked muffins in a rotating choice of flavours. Tender crumb, generous size and the kind of everyday treat that goes just as well with a morning coffee as an afternoon break. Flavours vary, so there is always a reason to come back.
Shortbread, jam and icing, topped with a cherry.
Two rounds of buttery shortbread sandwiched with raspberry jam, topped with smooth royal icing and crowned with a single glace cherry. Sweet, tender and instantly recognisable to anyone raised on a Scottish bakery counter. A wee treat that always disappears first.
What it is: An empire biscuit is a classic Scottish treat of two shortbread biscuits sandwiched with jam, iced on top and finished with a cherry.
Proper pastry tarts, a new flavour each visit.
Traditional sweet pastry tarts in a changing choice of fillings, baked the proper old-fashioned way. Crisp shell, generous filling and a different favourite depending on the day. Simple, comforting and made to go with a cup of tea.
Custard, strawberry and a glossy glaze in one bite.
A crisp sweet pastry shell filled with smooth custard, topped with a strawberry and finished under a bright glaze. Small, fresh and just the right size for one. A pretty little classic that looks as good as it tastes.
Flaky pastry, sweet currants. Small and moreish.
Flaky, buttery pastry wrapped around a sweet, spiced currant filling and baked until golden. Small, nostalgic and exactly the sort of thing people come back for. A proper Lancashire classic that has earned its place on the bakery counter.
What it is: An Eccles cake is a small round English pastry from Lancashire, filled with sweet spiced currants and made with flaky butter pastry.
The tea-table classic, jam and cream and all.
Two light layers of butter sponge sandwiching a generous seam of raspberry jam and fresh cream. Simple, classic and quietly indulgent, it is the cake that has ended a thousand British afternoon teas. Made the way it should be, with nothing dressed up and nothing left out.
Chocolate cake under a coat of milk chocolate.
A moist chocolate cake wrapped in a generous coat of milk chocolate. Rich, unfussy and deeply satisfying for anyone who takes their chocolate seriously. The sort of slice that pairs perfectly with a strong cup of tea.
Jam, cream and coconut. A retro tea-time gem.
A soft round of white sponge layered with raspberry jam and fresh cream, then rolled in coconut. Sweet, pretty and a little bit retro, it is a British tea-time favourite with a soft coconut finish. Familiar to anyone who grew up with a cake tin in the house.
Soft sweet dough, a different flavour each time.
Soft sweet dough baked into a comforting tart, offered in a changing choice of flavours. Homely, generous and made for people who like their baking a little more old-fashioned. There is usually a favourite waiting, whatever the day.
Chocolate cornflake crunch, topped with mini eggs.
Crunchy cornflakes bound in rich chocolate and topped with mini eggs. A no-bake treat that every British child made at some point, and every adult still secretly loves. Sweet, crisp and unmistakably nostalgic.
The Victoria sponge is the quiet queen of British baking — two light layers of sponge with raspberry or strawberry jam and a whisper of cream between them, a dusting of sugar on top, and nothing to hide behind. It’s a cake about balance, and we bake it that way.
Alongside it you’ll find our chocolate block — a generous slab of proper chocolate sponge, rich and unfussy, cut the way a bakery cuts it rather than a patisserie. It’s the cake for a real appetite and a pot of strong tea.
Empire biscuits are two shortbread rounds sandwiched with jam, iced smooth on top and finished with a single cherry — a Scottish tea-time staple that disappears fast in this country too. Cornflake cakes are exactly the homely treat they sound like: cornflakes bound in melted chocolate and syrup, set into little golden clusters, the first thing many a British child ever ’baked’.
They’re the sort of small, unpretentious sweets that live in a memory rather than on a menu — and they’re back on the counter where they belong.
This is the row that stops people in their tracks. Custard horns are flaky pastry rolled into a cone and filled with proper custard — crisp on the outside, cool and golden inside. Eccles cakes, from the town of the same name near Manchester, are round pastries packed with buttery currants and a hint of spice, their tops split and glinting with sugar; northerners will tell you they’re best slightly warm.
Then there are eclairs — long choux buns filled with cream and finished in chocolate — and our tarts and strawberry tarts, sweet pastry cases filled and topped so the fruit and cream do the talking. Sweet dough tarts round it off: soft, enriched dough baked into a homely, lightly sweet tart with a comforting, old-fashioned character.
Not everything on the counter is for a special occasion. Our muffins are the proper bakery kind — tall, tender and generous, the sort you pick up with a coffee on the way through the door.
They’re the small daily indulgence that makes a Tuesday feel a little more like a treat.
All of this is baked for our counters across Ontario, so you can see it, choose it and carry it home the same day. Trays change through the week, and the best sellers go early — the Victoria sponge and custard horns especially.
Come in, have a proper look, and let the window do what a British bakery window has always done.
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