The Best Desserts in Downtown Toronto

Toronto is a great place to be if you love dessert. Dessert in Toronto is always reaching new heights with new places opening up and old favourites continuing to deliver quality treats. One of my favourite things about this city is that you can try food from almost every culture and country. It’s truly fantastic. In the world of dessert, this is a wonderful thing. I definitely lean towards enjoying French desserts but there really is something for everyone in Toronto.

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Finding the Best Dessert Places in Toronto

Toronto is a big city. If you’re looking for dessert places, it’s a great idea to just focus on one area and eat your way around it. These dessert places are all downtown and easily accessible using public transit. Many of them are located near iconic things to do while visiting Toronto that you are sure to want to snap a photo and post your favourite Toronto caption.

While this isn’t an exhaustive list, these are places that should be on your radar if you’re a sweet-tooth foodie visiting Toronto. Toronto is a great city for foodies, so there is a little something for everyone.

Best Macarons in Toronto

Delysèes

It’s all about the macarons here. This French bakeshop has the cutest and most delicious macarons in Toronto. With flavours that range from the usual like chocolate or vanilla, to the unusual like Earl Grey Blueberry and a blue Curacao inspired macaron, there is a macaron for everyone. For the summer they have a gelato macaron option which I haven’t tried yet but I am sure is top notch.

Delysees also sells amazing croissants, one of the best chocolate chip cookies in the city, and really cute mini cakes. I’ve tried several of the mini mousse cakes and all of the flavours are delicious. Their location on Ossington St has a cute sitting area so you don’t have to wait to try out these yummy desserts.

Location: 131 Ossington St.
Nearby Attractions: This strip of Ossington is great for restaurants

DaanGo Cake Lab

If you’re looking for the cutest macarons in Toronto, DaanGo is the place to visit. The macarons at DaanGo Cake Lab are baked and decorated to look like cartoon characters or cute animals. It’s impossible to say which of these macarons is the cutest.

In addition to being almost too adorable to eat, these macarons are delicious. With interesting flavour options like Vietnamese Coffee and Hong Kong Milk Coffee as well as classics like Chocolate Hazelnut and Strawberry, you can’t go wrong. These macarons are perfectly light and fluffy while packing a punch in the flavour department.

In addition to cute macarons, DaanGo Cake Lab sells stunning cakes and desserts. All of them are so artistically done and are truly works of art. There are five locations in Toronto and Scarborough to choose from. I recommend the one downtown as it’s closest to other tourist attractions.

Location: 241 Spadina St
Nearby Tourist Attraction: Kensington Market, Chinatown

Best Doughnuts

Best doughnuts in Toronto is a difficult category. I love all of these and for different reasons. I feel truly spoiled for choice in this city.

Dipped Donuts Inc.

Dipped Donuts knows what it’s doing with doughnuts. Every single doughnut here is made with premium ingredients and a lot of thought is put into the flavour combinations. The dough is soft and perfect. It’s my dream doughnut, and if you aren’t dreaming of doughnuts, are you really living? My favourites here are all of them but I love that they have mini-filled doughnuts as well as vegan options. Don’t miss the mini Boston Cream, it’s phenomenal, as is the Hazelnut Crunch which is filled with a hazelnut pudding. So good. If they have it, the Apple Fritter is the best I’ve ever had. The cinnamon glaze was amazing.

Location: 161 Baldwin St. in Kensington Market
Nearby Tourist Site: Kensington Market, Chinatown
Vegan Friendly

Cops Doughnuts

Cops Doughnuts are freshly made for you so they are served warm and are just perfect for that nostalgic kick of having fresh doughnuts from the county fair. The best here is the OG Sour Cream doughnuts, the glaze is perfect. They also serve up cinnamon sugar and a weekly rotating flavour to keep things fresh. They are open until 11 pm so you can get your late-night doughnut fix.

Location: 445 Adelaide St W
Nearby Tourist Site: Graffiti Alley, Queen St W

Harry and Heels California Donuts

Harry and Heels is in a bit of a tricky location, it’s located The Fourth Man in the Fire Pizzeria. The donuts they serve up are delicious. The apple fritter here is not to be missed. Fair warning, it’s enormous, so you may want to share.

Location: 832 Dundas St W
Nearby Tourist Site: Trinity Bellwoods Park

Best Ice Cream in Downtown Toronto

Bang Bang Ice Cream

This ice cream place on Ossington Ave. is easily my favourite ice cream in Toronto. No other has even come close to getting the top spot compared to here. Bang Bang Ice Cream doesn’t just serve up homemade ice cream in a cone. They also kick it up a notch by serving it in a freshly-made waffle, a cinnamon bun, or my favourite, as a cookie sandwich, which is unreal.

There are so many options for your ice cream sandwich. Cookie flavours include the RoCocoa, birthday cake, and chocolate chip. You also get to choose one or two kinds of the 20 or so flavours of ice cream they sell. They have vegan options, seasonal flavours, and some unusual flavours you won’t find many places including London Fog, Totaro, and the Bees Knees. My favourite ice cream here is the Cinnamon Toast because it tastes a bit like heaven and is slightly addictive. The biggest downside to Bang Bang is that it isn’t a secret there can be quite the lineup. It’s totally worth it though.

Location: 93A Ossington Ave 
Nearby Tourist Site: Queen St.W., Trinity Bellwoods Park.
Vegan-Friendly

Nani’s Gelato

Nani’s Gelato is Italian-style gelato with Asian-inspired flavours. While you will also find classic standards on the menu like chocolate and vanilla, you will also find Mango Kulfi, Sweet Banana Pie, Punjabi Milk Cake, and Biscoff Cookie. They are always rotating flavours and introducing seasonal gelatos so you have plenty of excuses to return. My favourite here are any of the gelatos that include Biscoff Cookies but you can’t go wrong.

They are very generous with their flavourings so if you order something like pistachio, expect lots of pieces of pistachio. They also have soft serve during the summer, which is very yummy and also rotates flavours. There are also a few vegan flavours as well as sorbettos.

Location: 6 Charles St E and Liberty Village
Nearby Tourist Site: Yorkville, Royal Ontario Museum
Vegan-Friendly

Best French Bakery Experience

Castle and Coal

Castle and Coal is just outside of downtown Toronto but I promise you, it is so worth it. I’ve sampled a good number of pastries from Castle and Coal and every single one has been fantastic.

The absolute best thing you can do is book a dessert-tasting menu here. I didn’t know that this was what I was missing in my life. It might sound a bit over the top to do an entire tasting menu at a bakery, and yes it is, but in the best possible way. First of all, Junelle, co-owner and pastry chef, is super passionate and talented at what she does. Her menu is inspired by the seasons and feels innovative and fun. Secondly, the tasting menu is well-balanced so you don’t have to worry about a sugar-rush. When I did the dessert tasting, there were also savory courses.

The tasting menu spaces go fast so if there aren’t any available, try the Kouign Amann or the Opera Cake, they often have seasonal flavours.

Location: 108 Dovercourt Rd
Nearby Tourist Site: Trinity Bellwoods Park, Ossington Strip

Roselle Desserts

Roselle Desserts has a cute storefront located in Toronto’s Corktown. It’s hard to pick just one thing from here that is the best because everything is delicious. One of the signature desserts is the canneles that they make on weekends. With a thick caramelized exterior and a beautifully moist custard vanilla-rum interior, this cake is unlike any other. Just based on that dessert alone, Roselle makes the list. But add on the cake, cookies, and caramels and it’s a total knockout of a dessert place. I don’t think you can make a wrong choice at this shop

The caramels here were the highlight for me because I have not found anything else like it in this city. These are not your grandmother’s purse-caramels. It’s not overdramatic to say these are life-changing. These caramels are freshly made and are soft with a melt-in-your-mouth texture. Each bite into one of these bits of perfection is a burst of flavour. If you make it out to Roselle, I highly recommend trying a caramel in every flavour they have. The current storefront only has a few seats so don’t count on being able to sit here and eat.

Location: 362 King St. E
Nearby Tourist Site: The Distillery District for its events, bars, and walkable charm

Best Cookies in Toronto

Le Gourmand

Who doesn’t love a good chocolate chip cookie? Le Gourmand has arguably the best chocolate chip cookie in Toronto. After hearing Le Gourmand’s name come up more than once in best cookies in the city discussions, I had to try it. I was not disappointed. Wow. The chocolate chip cookies here are to die for. I would say these cookies are about double the size of most bakery cookies. Nice and chewy and with lots of chocolate. I love that this cookie has this perfect golden colour without being crunchy. It ups the flavour profile like crazy. Definitely stop into Le Gourmand if you are near Chinatown or after a walk through Graffiti Alley.

Le Gourmand also sells lots of other bakery items at their cafe but honestly, I only had eyes for the cookies.

Location: 152 Spadina Ave
Nearby Tourist Attraction: Toronto’s Chinatown, Graffiti Alley

Nadege Patisserie

Nadege Patisserie is the place to go if you are looking for the perfect crunchy hazelnut chocolate chip cookie. I don’t know how it stayed off my radar for so long but this cookie is seriously delicious.

They also have excellent croissants and macarons but the star for me here are the cookies. There are a few locations around Toronto so it’s a convenient stop if you are looking for sweets.

Location: 780 Queen St W (next to Trinity Bellwoods), Richmond Adelaide Centre
Nearby Tourist Attraction: Trinity Bellwoods, Nathan Phillips Square

Best Pastry in Toronto

Uncle Tetsu’s Japanese Cheesecake

Cheese tarts are a Japanese import and I am so happy they exist. It’s basically cheesecake in a tart form. My favourite cheese tart in Toronto is Uncle Tetsu’s.

Uncle Tetsu’s was a huge hit when it first opened up in Toronto a few years ago. Like, huge lineups and running out of stock hit. The hype has died down so you won’t have to deal with the masses to get a cheesecake anymore. The cheesecake is super yummy and light and fluffy. It isn’t like a traditional New York Style cheesecake at all. But guys. The cheese tarts. This is what you should lose your mind over. They are out of this world amazing. They come in plain, chocolate, and matcha. The chocolate cheese tart is to die for. They often have seasonal flavours of the tart as well that are well worth trying.

There is also a shop in Union Station that sells whole cheesecakes so you can easily grab one before catching your train or streetcar home.

Location: 595 Bay St., Union Station, The Well
Nearby Tourist Site: Yonge-Dundas Square, Eaton Centre, Ed Mirvish Theatre

Hiya Scone and Coffee

Hiya Scone is the most charming little bakery. Specializing in scones, they also serve up a super yummy Basque Cheesecake. Every scone I’ve tried from here has been delicious but my favourite is the butter caramel scone. They do sell out of this one pretty often so go earlier in the day for the best selection. There is a good amount of indoor seating as well as outdoor seating at the back of the shop. The hojicha lattes here are also delicious.

Location: 1389 Dundas St W
Nearby Tourist Site: Dundas St W, Trinity Bellwoods Park

Sweetie Pie

There are multiple Sweetie Pie locations around Toronto, including downtown. I’m in love with the butter tarts here. I’ve long been wondering where to get a good butter tart in the city and it definitely scratches that itch. Perfect pastry, gooey butter tart filling.

If you aren’t Canadian or new to the area, I get how strange a butter tart sounds, but I promise, it’s something you should try once while you’re visiting this part of the country. And then keep trying because they are addictive.

Location: The Well, First Canadian Place

Wanda’s Pie in the Sky

The pies from here are seriously delicious. Any flavour of pie you want, Wanda’s has it. From fruit pies, to cream pies, and custard and nut pies, all your pie dreams can be fulfilled. Best of all, most of the pies come in slices or as 6″ pies which means, you can sample lots of flavours. My favourite here is the raspberry rhubarb but I don’t think there is a wrong choice as every pie I’ve had from here is delicious, and honestly, it’s probably more than the socially acceptable number of pies. The crust is flaky and perfect and just absolutely delicious. Best of all, it’s in Kensington Market so its the perfect after exploring the food options available there.

Location: 287 Augusta Ave in Kensington Market
Nearby Tourist Site: Kensington Market, Chinatown

Mabel’s Bakery

Mabel’s Bakery does some seriously amazing pies. The crust on these is so flakey and has an amazing texture. You can get all the classic flavours of pie here including pumpkin, blueberry, pecan, apple, and cherry. They do have seasonal flavours of pie as well like raspberry. I love that they sell both full-sized pies and mini pies that serve 1-2 people. My favourite here is the wild blueberry pie, the filling is delicious.

In addition to great pastry, Mabel’s also serves up some of the best fresh bread and cookies and squares. It’s an all-around great bakery to stop into to grab a treat or even a sandwich for a picnic. The location on Queen Street West is just a shop with no seating.

Location: 1156 Queen St West and 323 Roncesvalles Avenue
Nearby Tourist Site: Queen St West and Trinity Bellwoods Park

Other Desserts to Try in Toronto

Banana Pudding at Rosie’s Burgers

It might seem odd that a burger place is on a best-of dessert list but Rosie’s Burgers serves up an amazing banana pudding. If you’ve got a craving for it or it’s your first time, this rich dessert is worth it. Layers of pudding, whipped cream, graham crackers and banana are the perfect way to finish off any meal.

Location: 573 Queen St W, The Well, also locations outside of downtown
Nearby Tourist Site: Queen St West and Trinity Bellwoods Park

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