Restaurants

The Best Thing I Ate All Week: Beaucoup Bakery’s Pistachio Raspberry Cake

The new St. Regis location is serving up some real beauties.

By Alyssa Hirose /

The second location of Beaucoup Bakery has officially opened at 602 Dunsmuir St., inside the St. Regis hotel. Hold for applause.

And while the original Fir St. location is practical and pretty (especially the floral mural outside, something Beaucoupheads will be very familiar with thanks to the the queue that often snakes outside the building and into the street), the fresh downtown digs are gorgeous. Ste. Marie Studio handled the design—enough said, if you’re familiar with their work (Flourist, Como Taperia and Botanist are just a few stunners in their portfolio). The interior is delightfully pink, with elements of marble and brass throughout.

Photo: Rich Won

The beautiful design echoes the baked goods—owners Betty and Jacky Hung are artists themselves. The cakes, scones, croissants and chocolates on offer are meticulously magnificent: a treat for the eyes, for sure.

Some of the baked goods on offer at the new Beaucoup Bakery in downtown Vancouver. Photo: Rich Won.

Perhaps the most visually exciting is the pistachio raspberry dome—it immediately caught my eye when I visited the bakery last week. It’s bright green and glossy, with fuchsia petals and whole pistachios sprinkled on top. It’s not your classic, toasty-brown baked good. It’s bold and beautiful. But does it taste as good as it looks?

Photo: Beaucoup Bakery

Heck yeah. Don’t let that shiny outside fool you, the dome is super soft: it’s made with a pistachio mousse. Inside is both raspberry jam and raspberry ganache. The light, tart berries perfectly complement the rich pistachio flavours, and the almond cookie base adds more subtle nuttiness. It’s an awesome summer treat—no hate to chocolate, but it’s nice to have something that’s more on the refreshing than decadent side when you’re sweating your pants off.

Inside the pistachio raspberry dome.

In even better news, this dome is also available in cake form. The pistachio raspberry dome is just a smaller version of the pistachio raspberry cake, which I think I’ll be ordering for my next big occasion. Just need to find a reason to celebrate… making it through the week sounds like a good one.

Photo: Beaucoup Bakery

Beaucoup Bakery’s Pistachio Raspberry Cake

Dome $7.95, cake $39
602 Dunsmuir St. and 2150 Fir St. (availability may vary)
beaucoupbakery.com