Best Kept Secret: Dlish Cupcakes in Toronto

"But I thought the cupcakes were like, over?" One of my fellow travellers said as we stood inside Dlish, a cupcake boutique in Toronto's West Queen West.

I then slapped her around the face and told her to stop this crazy talk, right now!

No, I didn't do that. But I should have done, right?

So what if frozen yoghurt is whetting everyone's appetite from London's SoHo to Melbourne's St Kilda, and big deal if mini pies are the new craze or if cheesecake is seeing a revival as a worthy cup of tea accompaniment, there is and always will be time and space in my stomach for cupcakes. Dlsih confirmed this for me by bringing a real flair and understated appreciation for cupcakes by focusing on luxurious ingredients (Belgian chocolate, vanilla from Madagascar) and mastering the classics as well as they come up with unusual but brilliant limited edition combinations.
Not being one to stray too far from what I know, I selected a red velvet cupcake. I perched myself on a stool by the window and unwrapped the case watching the world stroll along West Queen West. My, what a lot of doggies being walked, I thought and gosh the young parents here are all jolly trendy with their striped T-shirts and...

JEEPERS PEEPERS CREEPERS this cupcake is amazing.
It really was. As fresh as could be, as light and bouncy sponge as you'd wish and it took all I had in me not to smash my face in to the cream cheese frosting and attempt drowning. Because to drown in that delicious (sorry, dlish-ous) icing would be a fine way to go.

As this bizarre fantasy played out in my head I noticed my companions had gone strangely quiet, all preoccupied by their own pleasure: almond and salted caramel, nutella, dark chocolate. We were a happy group of cupcake eaters.
The last bite firmly swallowed, I popped back into reality and saw that a group of happy girls had taken our place in line for their pleasure. They were being helpfully guided through the flavours and options available. Dlish alternates which days many of their cupcake flavours are available on their daily menus with stalwarts like dark chocholate, vanilla and the ridiculously good red velvet cupcakes making appearances every day. I wanted to swap places with those girls to relive my cupcake all over again, though truly I knew my stomach wouldn't have coped. It was time to head off and walk off that cupcake.
Now let me let you into another secret. Dlish cupcakes aren't a secret. Local media have been going nuts for Dlish for quite some time, but for this to be the case and the quality not be compromised I can only applaud them more.

And another little secret for you. I still dream about drowning in that cream cheese frosting... that's not normal is it?

Find out more about Dlish here and read more about my time in Toronto here.