Duchess Bake Shop, Edmonton Alberta

A day late and 365 dollars short.

One word: every.

And I do mean every food blogger in Edmonton has already covered this place.

Hell, a friend messaged me the other day saying he took the fam-damily to Duchess and it was soooo amazing, don’t you think?

Listen.

I am not a foodie.

I am not a food blogger.

You can’t label me,  man,  I am a free spirit. I am The Kitchen Magpie. Hear me roar. Or chatter at you incessantly.

Half of the things I post on this site are not about food and the other half don’t many any sense. The remaining third is recipes.

So as you can see, I clearly am not a food blogger and I suck at fractions.

But when I want, I write about places that real food bloggers visit. Like Chris at Eating is the Hard Part. When I am looking for somewhere to take Mr Magpie and eat a dinner sans the magpie fledglings and their incessant chatter, I head to his site to see what Edmonton restaurants have to offer. I’ve been cruising it lately to see where we are going out on our hot date coming up the 20th. I still can’t decide and the pressure is making me want to cry with a bottle of wine in hand.

Anyway.

I have been meaning to get to the Duchess Bake Shop for a while now, because how can anyone resist an excellent bakery?

Not moi.

These pictures are from my second visit, I popped in to place an order for Valentine’s Day morning and pick up a couple things.

The decor is adorable.

The light in this area?

A food photographers dream. Gorgeous.

And that’s the other thing, I feel like a weirdo taking pictures. Like a creep or something.

The Foodie Paparazzi.

Limited seating and it was packed the last time I went in, with a line almost to the door.

And I take pictures of things that completely aren’t food.

Just pretty things that catch my magpie eye.

Orchids in water…I had a lovely conversation with the woman in line behind me how my children would destroy this in mere seconds.

But on to the very pretty eye candy.

Galletes and pie and cookies, oh my!

Scones and meringues and pain au chocolat, yes sir!

And then this shot again of the main display case of the cakes and macarons.

Amazing.

Mouthwatering.

Macaron’s run $1.50 each, which to me, since I find them just good, is steep pricing.

But a mini cake for $6-$7?

Sign me up baby!

I think Stanley Townsend from the Culinary Arts Program Nait just had a conniption. I told him at the Chili Cook-Off that I usually wasn’t that fond of Creme Brulee.  (ever had a bad one? I have and it turns you off for years) Already he thinks I am nuts, now I just admitted that macarons are not the top of my decadence list.

Another reason why I can’t be a food blogger.

Oh! But the raspberry passionfruit tart? That was tart and sweet all at once with an incredibly unique flavor? The tart zinged your tastbuds then the sweet calmed them down. Tastebud highs and lows. That was worth it.

The banana cream pie?

Heaven. Loaded with real banana, of course, creamy textured and lightly flavored instead of slamming you with fake banana flavor made it definitely a non-sharer. But share I did.

And that was only what I picked up on Saturday, there’s more to come yet!

Even macarons.