Another Instagram-based bakery business has taken its online success to the streets, opening up a storefront in Etobicoke’s Mimico area on Lake Shore called Aster’s Refined Cakes.
Automotive quality engineer-turned-baker, Maria Lymarenko, is self-taught, learning different baking techniques and perfecting her skills via YouTube videos and a couple of classes. Whipping up stunning, celestial-themed cakes and other too-pretty-to-eat treats in her apartment quickly grew into a business only a year after moving to Toronto from the Ukraine back in 2018.
Her cakes caught the eye of Instagram followers all over, and she spent two and a half years fulfilling orders to friends and followers before making the plunge and securing a brick-and-mortar.
The cakes are exactly as the name of the bakery would suggest: refined. Lymarenko’s creations rely on high-quality ingredients and no added sugar paste or fondant to achieve ultimate decadence and a subtle sweetness. Her cakes are a textured combination of mousse and sponge cake, drenched in a maple syrup, chocolate and condensed milk glaze with the option to add a variety of toppings including berries, macarons and printed photos using sugar paper.
Pre-ordered cakes are fully customizable and come in a variety of flavours including best-seller Exotic Passion, a coconut sponge cake with a crunchy base filled with strawberry, mango and passionfruit coulis, white chocolate coconut mousse.
If you don’t want to commit to a full cake, smaller, but equally as delectable, treats are available in-store, including cake pops, hazelnut and cream caramel pecan brownies on a stick and a variety of macarons in fruity and chocolatey flavours.
You can swing by the 2358 Lake Shore Blvd. West spot for a sweet treat and a caffeine kick. That’s right, the bakery offers a full menu of espresso-based drinks, too.
Hours are Tuesday to Saturday 10:00a.m. – 7:00 p.m. and Sundays 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.