this ottawa bakery’s new tarts are a sweet option for last-minute valentine’s day gifts
the heart-shaped desserts from tartelette bakery include cherry mousse with chocolate ganache, raspberry lemonade mousse, and tiramisu with espresso and mascarpone.
2 minute read
sanaz homa, baker-owner of tartelette on main street in ottawa.
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tartelette bakery & cafe
175 main st., unit 7, 613-233-0404, tartelette.ca
raspberry lemonade heart (l), cherry chocolate tart, tiramisu tart (r) of tartelette.
jean levac
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open: daily from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
prices: valentine’s tarts and danishes from $8 to $11
access: no steps to the front door
let’s just say you’re a procrastinator or absent-minded, like a certain food critic i know, and you still haven’t made a plan or a purchase to acknowledge your love on that fast-approaching most romantic day of the year.
i’ll do you a solid, then, and recommend you stop by tartelette bakery & cafe on main street before friday, february 14, or on valentine’s day itself.
chef-owner sanaz homa, a specialist in small and lovely, layered and delectable tarts, has crafted several valentine’s day treats that will only be available until february 17.
raspberry lemonade heart of tartelette.
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among them is a heart-shaped raspberry lemonade tart ($11), a multi-layered, multi-textured mousse cake that stars a red velvet coating, raspberry mousse, lemon cream and a sablé base.
if you read the last paragraph and thought, “but where’s the chocolate?” then there are two other options.
cherry chocolate tart of tartelette.
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the heart-shaped cherry chocolate tart ($10.30) features a glazed cherry mousse heart on top of a chocolate sablé filled with cocoa almond cream and chocolate ganache. for tiramisu lovers, the tiramisu tart ($8.60), a perennial here reshaped as a heart for valentine’s day, features a chocolate sablé, ladyfingers soaked in strong coffee syrup, mascarpone cream and more of that chocolate ganache.
tiramisu tart of tartelette.
jean levac
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visually, homa’s showstopper is the strawberry danish ($8.60), a crescent-shaped feat of laminated dough filled with pastry cream and strawberry confit. it won’t make its appearance in the tartelette showcase until friday.
a 2020 graduate of le cordon bleu ottawa culinary arts institute, homa opened tartelette in june 2023. she has built up a loyal clientele not only with the deliciousness and beauty of her french-inspired pastries but also because most of her items are halal, made with halal gelatin if required.
shirazi tart and cheesecakes from tartelette.
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some of the most popular items at tartelette nod to homa’s iranian heritage. the absolute best-seller is the pistachio-rose croissant ($8.80). named after a famous city in iran, the shirazi tart ($9.90) owes its eye-catching bright yellow colour to saffron, and its tastiness to a combination of saffron, pistachio, rosewater and cardamom that homa calls “shirazi flavour.”
these last two items are not pegged to valentine’s day. but there’s no reason why you can’t pop by tartelette for treats on the other 364 days of the year.
do you have a favourite place to get a little treat in ottawa? send peter hum an e-mail to share your picks.
other treats of the week:
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