Lido Bakery

s, it truly is amazing. The first time my mom and I wandered into the very tiny Lido bakery on the recommendation of several friends from MB, we mentioned to the shopgirl that I was getting married and interested in doing a cake tasting. Already having been discouraged by other bakers and frustrated by advance appointments and rules, I was shocked, when she smiled brilliantly and said, "Oh! Congratulations! We LOOOOOOVE cake tastings here! If you have time now, I'll get the slices ready for you. Would you like anything? Tea, coffee, water?" What a turn around! And WHAT a tasting! The girl shouldered a giant silver platter and set it down between us (it barely fit on the table!) My mom and I giggled our way through a baker's dozen of cake slices; it was like being in Willy Wonka's Factory, but for adults! Once we got through as much as we could, the girl packed up the rest to go home to my fiance at the time, so he could taste everything, even though we already had some clear favorites. Then she invited us to meet the lead baker and designer, Ernesto. Ernesto, this guy is an artist in the true sense of the word. He knows his medium and understands its strengths and limitations in a way I never will. We thanked him profusely for doing a tasting on such short notice and we talked about the possibility of doing our wedding. During this, he cut two HUGE slices of the cake we were leaning toward and boxed them up. We went to pay, but he REFUSED to take any money and sent us off to eat cake and muddle. It took my fiance approximate one and a half bites to get me back on the phone to Ernesto, but with a request: would he make his mom's Pineapple Carrot cake recipe? And not only that, but could he make sure that he used pecans and NOT walnuts? (I have a terrible allergy). Not only was Ernesto happy to do it, he was enthusiastic about the challenge. Needless to say, the cake came out phenomenally. We ordered on the spot, and made up extra portions in sheet cake, so we could have other flavors (and less expensive than more tiers!) And we only gave him general guidelines for the design work, so we had no idea what we were really going to get until we walked into the reception. It was breathtaking: three ivory buttercream tiers with light gold "ship rope" fondant as tier separators, then two toned (aqua/indigo) scroll work throughout the three tiers. It was beyond belief. We even turned some carrot cake haters into lovers (and oh yeah, pineapple carrot cake is now a regular item on Lido's menu - haha)

so much easier! Ernesto is the owner of the bakery and he a fantastic job! The cake was the perfect and I have told many of my family members and friends to go visit Ernesto at Lido Bakery! THANKS ERNESTO!

nter. They make a very good red velvet cake. The prices were also very fair.