Feature Friday: Cristina’s Tortina Shop

01/20/2017

Hey Mamas! It’s time for my first Feature Friday. Before I get into my trip across Brampton, let’s start this off with something all mommies can relate to: my tiniest man cub decided that sleep was optional Wednesday night. You know where I’m going with this right? We played sleep roulette all night and somewhere around 5:00 a.m. he decided that he was good and ready to sleep, only to have my diva threenager wake up an hour later. It was in that moment I decided to proclaimeth Thursday, January 19th, 2017 Mommy Needs a Cupcake Day (feel free to choose a special day of your own).

I have a list of very awesome places in Brampton I can’t wait to visit but this wonderful haven jumped out at me during a 3 a.m. scroll session on Twitter (follow me if you’re not already, I have a wonderful new series of #zombiemom tweets that are sure to increase in the coming months with the sleep strike my children are on).

But I digress…

I found this amazing little gem that is already quite popular with West end Brampton residents. I know this, because when I walked into the store at 11:30 a.m. yesterday morning the cases looked like this:

There were 10 left! I, of course, being the cupcake queen I am decided that I needed 6 of them… so 6 I bought.

I tried 5 flavours and doubled up on one because when one hears the word sangria, one always order 2! In my defense, I bought them to share with my husband and the kids. I only took a bite of each for quality control.

The sangria cupcake had a fruity frosting but I couldn’t put my finger on what the actual taste was. I liked that the sweetness wasn’t overwhelming. There wasn’t any actual alcohol in the cupcake but I wouldn’t be mad at them if they found a way to sneak some in!

The other alcohol themed cupcake was the amaretto flavoured one. This one tasted exactly like amaretto liqueur. I also enjoyed what I assume were amaretti cookies sprinkled on top!

The classic chocolate was everything I needed in a chocolate cupcake; it was soft and full of delicious chocolate flavour… you really can’t go wrong with chocolate.

Their classico cupcake was a traditional vanilla cupcake with a beautiful rose piped pink and white flower. My threenager ate this one up and then told me a 10 minute story about how much she loves cupcakes and cake and ice cream and all dessert *insert eye roll here*. Do you think she was trying to tell me something?

And last but not least, my personal favourite (so far), Creamy Dreamy Cookie. I will inhale cookies and cream style anything. I absolutely loved that both the cake itself and the icing both had little bits of cookie mixed in. It was AMAZING.

One thing I really liked about each cupcake is that none of them were overly sweet. They didn’t leave you with that sick-to-your-stomach-I-need-a-dental-appointment-now feeling!

So where is the magical land that they make these delicious cupcakes. None other than…

Cristina’s Tortina Shop! I cannot say enough good things about this place. When I walked in Mary (the owner), greeted me so nicely and came out from behind the counter to see baby bear. She had no clue who I was and I didn’t mention a blog post, or social media shout out, or anything. This leads me to believe she is just like this with all of her customers. We spent a good 10 minutes just talking and instantly bonded over our love of Bruno Mars and old school R&B!

What I love most about Cristina’s Tortina Shop is that, as their website states:

We are a unique cupcakery Showcasing the Capabilities and creating equal employment opportunities for individuals with Down Syndrome, Autism and other Special Needs!

You can tell that there is a whole lot of love flowing in and out of this shop and Mary’s purpose shines through the entire store.