Cinnaholic

Multiple Locations: Scarborough, Thornhill, Toronto

Website: https://www.cinnaholic.ca/

Category: Dessert

 

Cinnaholic – a 100% Vegan Bake Shop that got its start on ABC’s television show Shark Tank – has opened its fifth Canadian location in Thornhill’s Promenade Mall (followed by its newest location in Scarborough!). The plant-based dessert shop drew one of the longest lines the Promenade mall has seen in a long time (rivaled only by line ups to take a picture with Santa around Christmas, according to our recent memory).

Cinnaholic has replaced Rocky Mountain Chocolates beside Lids and Peoples Jewelers at the very beginning of the food court within the mall. Inside the cozy space is a long counter and display window showcasing some of the topping combinations for cinnamon rolls and cookie dough scoops. One of the best things about the interior is that there is an outlet at every table, which makes it a great place to study. We also love the amazing service we have gotten every time we went, regardless of how busy they were. The staff are knowledgable, friendly, and accommodating.

This spot is best known for its cinnamon rolls. The rolls come in two sizes: one that is standard cinnamon bun size and one that is bite size. One of the regular-sized plant-based goodies will only set you back about $5.50. This includes the roll along with your choice of vegan frosting, which comes in 20 different flavors! Our favourites are marshmallow, cake batter, and banana cream. Toppings will cost you $0.75 each, which can make your roll a bit pricy, but is worth a little splurging. Their brownies and peanut butter cups are made in-house, so if any, we recommend that you try those. With the cinnamon buns, you have the option of customizing your own roll (see below for ours!), or ordering one of Cinnaholic’s original creations.

The taste of the cinnamon rolls was such a pleasant surprise. One can’t even tell by biting into the warm, gooey, cinnamon goodness of the roll that it is made without dairy or eggs! It tastes just like a classic cinnamon roll with perfect soft and fluffy dough and a perfect balance of cinnamon and sugar between every layer. We went for a lot of toppings our first time, but these rolls would be excellent even on their own.

If you’re a bit overwhelmed by the variety of toppings and frostings available to you, don’t sweat it. Cinnaholic also has a ton of super yummy flavors they’ve dreamt up for you! Below, we’ll show you a few.

First up is triple chocolate – a roll topped with chocolate frosting, chocolate sauce, and chocolate chips. How could you go wrong?!

Next up is the Strawberry Cheesecake roll, which is topped with strawberries and strawberry sauce on top of the original cream cheese frosting.

Another solid option for those looking to top their roll with fruit is the Berry Blast, which has strawberry frosting, strawberries, blueberries, and chocolate sauce. It’s healthy because there’s fruit on it. #Science.

Other times, we’re craving another dessert altogether. This Blueberry Pie roll has fresh bluebs, pie crust crumble, and original frosting over that delicious cinnamon roll.

Cinnaholic may have excellent rolls, but they are not a one-trick pony. Cinnaholic also has vegan cookie dough, which they sell by the scoop (starting at $3.50) or in plastic containers ($5). You can get your scoop of cookie dough topped with your choice of frostings and other garnishes (the same ones that are offered for the rolls) and craft a custom creation, or choose from one of the pre-designed flavors. We tried the s’mores flavor, which was an excellent dessert all around. The marshmallow-flavoured frosting, marshmallows, and cookie pieces did not distract from the cookie dough, and the cookie dough did not drown out the flavor of the aforementioned toppings. In particular, we enjoyed the addition of the crunchy cookie as a topping, as it provided an excellent texture to our cookie dough scoop. It was also not sickeningly sweet as one may expect of cookie dough in general, let alone cookie dough topped with other sweet items. Our only suggestion would be to serve the cookie dough a bit more chilled, but that is just personal preference perhaps. These scoops will only cost you around $3, and we think it’s an excellent value for what you get.

Along with raw cookie dough, Cinnaholic also has baked cookies and brownies. The baked cookies were excellent! Like the cinnamon rolls, treat-seekers will not even be able to tell that it is not made with butter and eggs like a classic cookie. They have two flavors, a chocolate chip cookie (pictured) and a cinnadoodle cookie (cinnamon sugar coated, like a snickerdoodle!). The brownies were surprisingly moist for a vegan treat, but the top was a bit thick and crunchy for our liking. The flaky, glossy surface that we like in a traditional brownie comes from perfectly timed egg beating, which is difficult to achieve when using plant-based ingredients. It was still a nice treat though, and would be really good for those with dietary restrictions.

Their coffees are wonderful as well, cold or hot. They offer a variety of non-dairy milks as well, including almond, coconut, soy, and oat. If you sign up for their rewards program, you are entered to win free points and also get a complimentary cold brew or mini roll. Definitely worth it!

 

 

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