Butter and Spice's plantain cake sells out mornings out of a single-door fridge in Little Portugal
The Little Portugal bakery's brown butter plantain cake went viral this summer. Owner Marchelle McKenzie is popping up at RD's Southern BBQ on Nov. 14.
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Butter and Spice runs out of a single-door fridge inside Little Portugal's Death in Venice Gelato, and its brown butter plantain cake has been selling out mornings since the summer, when it went viral on TikTok and drew crowds from across the Greater Toronto Area.
The dense slice is reminiscent of banana bread, layered with brown butter frosting and topped with caramel-coated plantain chips for a little crunch. Some online commenters called it overhyped. Owner Marchelle McKenzie says that comes with putting yourself and your business out there.
"I would say in the beginning it was very tough," McKenzie told Now Toronto, explaining that social media critics don't always see the 4 a.m. wake-ups, the content filming and the staff working behind the scenes.
McKenzie is Jamaican-descended and has spent years travelling and working in Michelin-starred kitchens, but keeps coming back to the flavours she knows best. "I've always been like, 'I don't want to be a Jamaican bakery. I don't want to do this.' But now that I am getting older, I am realizing that there is such a need for nostalgic food in a traditional way," she said.
The plantain brown butter cake and salted caramel carrot cake are permanent, and the menu rotates weekly otherwise. A sorrel-inspired cake is in the works for the holidays. Butter and Spice pops up at RD's Southern BBQ on Nov. 14.
