An Edible Quest for the Ultimate Cinnamon Bun
Imagine: the warm scent of cinnamon, heavenly soft dough, gooey brown sugar glaze, and melt-in-your-mouth cream cheese icing. Just writing that is enough to make me want to go buy a fresh cinnamon bun. But the question becomes, where should I go?
The Sunshine Coast
1) Nancy’s Bakery has been offering their specialty blackberry cinnamon buns for 30 years, which are filled with local blackberries primarily picked by members of the Tla'amin First Nation. While you’re on the Sunshine Coast, pop into 2) Rocky Mountain Pizza and Bakery. We forgive you if you find yourself distracted by the temptation of their popular pizza, but we say, life is short—why not a savoury pizza and a sweet, gooey cinnamon bun?
North Central Island
3) Steiner Bakery features European-style recipes and techniques to create their delicious pastry offerings; good luck leaving with only a cinnamon bun and not adding a few other delicacies to your order. 4) Honey Grove Bakery creates their cinnamon buns using croissant dough, which undergoes a long fermentation process, resulting in a complex flavour profile and flaky, buttery buns.
Central Island
The extremely popular cinnamon buns at 5) Wild Culture Artisan Bakery are created using a unique blend of white wheat flour, sourdough and their own milled red fife flour . 6) Sweet Spot Bake Shop used to be a food truck, but they grew into a brick-and-mortar business, so you’ll never have difficulty finding them for your cinnamon bun fix. Be careful not to get lost in the endless sticky swirl of the cinnamon buns at 7) Brazen Poppy Bakery Café Restaurant; with or without cream cheese icing, these big buns are sure to satisfy. 8) Bodhi’s Artisan Bakery is a great stop for a cinnamon bun year-round, but if you happen to stop by in the spring, you’ll also have the option of purchasing beautiful fresh-cut flowers grown on their farm. 9) Coco Cafe employs those with developmental disabilities, who are championed by trained support workers that also work in the café. They serve cinnamon buns, donuts and a variety of other fresh baking.
Cowichan
Geoff and Kate Cram own and operate 10) Old Town Bakery and have been known to bake upwards of 96 dozen of their extremely popular cinnamon buns on a Saturday morning. In 2013, the pair opened an additional business emphasizing gluten-free and vegan options called 11) Wild Poppy Market, where you can enjoy a fresh-baked, gluten-free cinnamon bun. 12) JVs Diner in Lake Cowichan doesn’t take long to sell their popular cinnamon buns each day, but if you’re too late for one of those sweet delights, they’ve got a huge menu of classic burgers, poutine, pasta, wraps and pizza to choose from instead.
South Island
When you pop by for a cinnamon bun at the bakery of 13) The Fickle Fig’s year-round farm market, prepare to be delighted by their welcoming committee, comprising rabbits, piglets and a trio of miniature goats! 14) Sidney Bakery has been selling their buns for 108 years and using the same family recipe since 1944, so they must know the secret to the perfect cinnamon bun. 15) Roost Farm Centre sources their kitchen and bakery ingredients from local farms nearby; try their cinnamon bun French toast with maple cream cheese for a twist on the classic cinnamon bun. The Mosi family of 16) Mosi Bakery – Café and Gelateria has been creating gelato for generations, and they take just as much pride in the rest of their menu—like their Italian family recipe cinnamon buns topped with vanilla custard. 17) Bunny’s Kitchen Café makes delicious vegan cinnamon buns created with organic flour—or, as Bunny so appropriately calls them, “Cinna-Bunnies.” 18) Royal Bay Organic Bakery takes their commitment to sustainability and the environment seriously, even using solar panels to help power the ovens that bake their delicious treats. 19) Little Vienna Bakery and Café is an authentic European bakery that makes a tasty German version of a sticky bun called a cinnamon “shnecke”—which is German for “snail” to represent the coiled shape of a cinnamon bun; and 20) Kelz Bakery bakes their pecan, raisin, and apple cinnamon buns daily from scratch
Victoria
21) Pâtisserie Daniel warns that their melt-in-your-mouth cinnamon buns sell out quickly every day, so it’s best to show up early or call to have some set aside. And you’d be remiss not to try the “Big Bad Cinnamon Bun” at 22) Fern Cafe and Bakery, which is a 100% vegan bakery café.
Gulf Islands
When we asked our social media followers to tell us their favourite cinnamon bun haunts, the 23) Hen and Hound Farm received an overwhelming number of votes—listen to the masses and book a trip to Salt Spring Island. While you’re exploring the Gulf Islands, visit 24) Sturdies Bay Bakery on Galiano Island. They offer cinnamon buns as large as your head, but what might draw you in first is their beautiful mural of a pod of southern resident killer whales. In fact, the owners love whales so much that you might find a note on the door that says “watching whales, be back when we can!”. And there’s only one place to go for cinnamon buns on Pender Island, but they are worth the trip; 25) Vanilla Leaf Bakery Café changed ownership in April 2020, when COVID-19 was beginning to wreak havoc on the restaurant industry—but the new owners’ love of the island and savvy business sense has created a thriving bakery.
Pacific Rim
If someone at 26) Zoe’s Bakery and Café asked you what kind of “Reedle Deet” you’d like to order, would you know what they were referring to? Their delicious cinnamon buns would fall into this category; Reedle Deets are “things sweet to the heart or the taste buds.”
