Coffee & Treats in Etobicoke

Scents of sugar and fresh fruit waft over the sleek chocolate-brown booths at Spin Dessert Cafe. On plates, scoops of ice cream, made fresh daily from all-natural ingredients, melt down the sides of belgian waffles, flaky pie crusts, and golden-brown crepes. At lunch, staffers also serve up less sweet fare: plates heaped high with savoury crepes or goat-cheese topped pizzas top tables beneath strawberry-pink hanging lamps.

The Designer Cookie blends fresh, high-quality ingredients into a slate of gourmet sweet eats. Load a miniature trebuchet with artfully crafted gourmet cupcakes ($2.75) or encourage the banana cake and chocolate frosting of the Dolce & Banana to sashay down the catwalk of the esophagi. The Michael S'Mores cupcake offers a tempting triumvirate of roasted marshmallows, graham cracker, and chocolate, and gourmet cookies contend for taste buds' affections in flavours such as Guy LeCrunch, laden with Hershey's Skor bits, chocolate covered pretzels, and chocolate chips ($2.75). Customers can also opt to custom design cookies that sprinkle a choice of dough with up to 25 different mix-ins ($2.75+ each, minimum 12 cookies/order). The Designer Cookie whips up celebratory treats as well: birthday cakes in flavours such as lemon meringue, mud pie, and banana caramel maple ($59–$69 for a 10") make delightful sugar-laced centrepieces for birthdays, anniversaries, and hot air balloon capers.

For the Love of Cake, helmed by cupcake countess Genevieve Griffin, offers dessert desirers freshly baked cupcakes made with quality ingredients. The bakery's 4-dimensional cupcake particularly stands out, with its multi-layered melding of cake, filling, topping, and garnish selected and arranged to yield a cohesive, complementary, and Facebook ready flavour profile. The decadent treats come in more than 20 flavours, and the bakery offers at least nine of those flavours each day. (Check the sweet spot's Twitter feed for daily offerings.) The Strawberry Shortcake cupcake injects juicy strawberry purée into its angel-food-cake fluff and tops it off with whipped cream and a strawberry slice, and the Crazy Carrot cupcake puts a pit of pineapple filling under a crowd of cream-cheese frosting and a candied carrot. Suffocate sweet teeth with the chocolate overload of the Death by Chocolate cupcake, or freshen up a frosted feast with the mint overtones, moist chocolate, and icy wit of the Grasshopper.

The Green Grind marries eco-friendliness to enticing coffee and tea selections through its sustainable practices and by offering fair-trade-certified and organic brews. Java junkies can satisfy crippling caffeine addictions with a large cup of locally roasted coffee ($2.20), a large espresso ($2.50), or a single-shot cappuccino ($3.20), and sensitive-tongued taste fiends can coolly sip on a Kombucha Wonder Drink ($3.50). Sail seas of tea from a pot ($3.75) of loose-leaf such as Earl Grey or blueberry rooibos, or sidle up to a glass of iced tea ($2.50), made fresh daily and available in a fruity peach, blueberry, or lemon flavour. Lattes, mochachinos, steamers, and hot chocolates are also available for drinking or dipping celery stalks into.

The Marshmallow Factory, born after an inspiring marshmallow landed in a fateful latte, invites guests to create their own airy desserts from a bounty of flavoured marshmallow creams. Within the technicolor, sweet-smelling shop, guests can select a base for their dessert composition, filling a cup, tart, biscuit, or chocolate shell with flavoured fluff before layering on a choice of 20 toppings such as sprinkles, gummy bears, or powered sugar. The sweet cream can also coat fresh fruit or foam down in a coffee or hot chocolate.

What began as a single store with a single recipe in 1983 has since expanded to coat tongues across Canada with its handcrafted, always-fresh repertoire of premium ice cream. The aroma of freshly baked waffle cones roams freely throughout each Marble Slab Creamery location, luring customers counterside to watch staff members blend nuts, fruits, and candies into a variety of ice-cream flavours atop a frozen slab. Ultra-fresh ingredients, including dairy products from local farms, vanilla from Madagascar, and fine European chocolates with up-to-date passports join forces to infuse each bite with an extra punch of sweetness. In addition to standard cones, Marble Slab Creamery's daily-made ice cream can also be savoured in the form of ice-cream cakes, milkshakes, and floats, and low-fat yogourts offer a lighter, equally delicious alternative.