REVIEW | Hodo Kwaja / 호도과자 - Toronto's first walnut cake bakery offering korean redbean desserts

If you're familiar with many Asian cultures, they tend to have a lot of dessert with redbean paste, such as red bean flavoured ice cream, red bean sherbet, and so forth.  One of the most popular Korean dessert using red bean is none other than walnut cakes.  The First walnut cake bakery in Canada is Hodo Kwaja, located in the Bloor Street and Christie area, which we like to visit often!

So what exactly are walnut cakes? They're little pasties shaped like walnuts with red bean paste filling and mashed potato filling with pieces of walnuts or almonds inside.  These might sound very foreign to you, but I can assure you that these are sweet little treats that you'll quickly fall in love with!

As the very first walnut cake bakery in Canada, Hodo Kwaja has been in service since 1992.  What's great about visiting this bakery is that you'll see the process of the employees making the walnut cakes right in front of your eyes!

In addition to the traditional walnut cakes, they also offer red bean sherbet (shaved ice, milk, yogurt, fruits, and red bean, perfect for the summer), madeleines, coffee tea, and ho-dduk (Korean pancakes).

Walnut Cake with Mashed Potato Filling

Packages of Madeleines

Madeleines are French inspired pastries made with almond powder.  They're soft and tasty, perfect with a cup of coffee!

Hodduk / Korean Pancakes

Hodduk (Korean Pancake) is a pancake made with yeast & cornflower and filled with a mixture of brown sugar, peanuts, sunflower seeds and cinnamon.  These hot, chewy, doughy and sweet treats are perfect for the cold winter days in Toronto!

If you're a fan of sweets, definitely pay a visit to Hodo Kwaja at Bloor and Christie.  You'll soon be addicted to these Korean desserts!