The Cupcake Girls open their first Toronto shop

The Cupcake Girls open their first Toronto shop

(Images: Courtesy Cupcakes)

The first Toronto franchise of the popular Vancouver-based Cupcakes chain had its grand opening yesterday in Leaside, until now a relative cupcake desert. Heather White and Lori Joyce launched their original Denman Street shop in 2002 at the beginning of the current boom in frosted mini cakes, before turning themselves into an international brand with the drama-laden W Network series The Cupcake Girls (there’s even an episode about scouting for locations in Toronto). The Leaside store is in a new small-box shopping centre on the former Laird Drive railway lands. In addition to cupcakes, the shop also sells full-sized cakes, ice cream and, naturally, a full complement of Cupcakes-branded gear like t-shirts, aprons and flavoured lip balm.

Cupcakes, 85 Laird Dr., 416-287-2253, cupcakesonline.com, @cupcakesleaside