DIY is wonderful almost every day of the year, but when it's time to stop the show with a gorgeous dessert, forget homemade. Outsourcing can be a beautiful thing, especially when you have professionals across the country standing by to fulfill your sweetest Christmas wish.
Sweet tree
Crack open this unique chocolate sculpture and gather up the delicious sun-dried
Okanagan cherry and Marcona
almond pebbles hidden inside. Christmas Tree from Beta5 in Vancouver. $50.
604-669-3336, beta5chocolates.com
The royal treatment
Made from puff pastry and almond frangipane
paste, this Galette des Rois has a
couple of ceramic tiles baked inside. Find one and you’re king or queen for the
night. Galette des Rois from
Duchess Bakeshop in Edmonton. $24. 780-488-4999, duchessbakeshop.com
Yule never look back
A modern take on the yule log your mom struggled with, this one is made with
lime cream, wild strawberry coulis and a light mascarpone mousse. Tendance Rouge from Nadège in Toronto. $42. 416-368-2009, nadege-patisserie.com
Étienne Marquis
Peak performance
Elegant and snowy white, this cake seems simple until you cut into it and find
layers of almond dacquoise,
vanilla marscarpone, chestnut-rum cream
and ligonberry compote. Mont Blanc cake from Patisserie Rhubarbe in Montreal. $50. 514-903-3395, patisserierhubarbe.com
Cake with a kick
Made alongside the harbour that once brought millions of barrels of illicit
cargo to the East Coast, this golden pound cake is soaked in Cape Breton rum and
history. Topped with pecans and coconut. Original Rum Cake from Rum Runners
in Halifax. $21.95. 1-866-440-7867, theuncommongroup.com