Maple Castella Bakery

Restaurant: Maple Castella - Review for pumpkin bread
Cuisine: Bakery/Breads/Pastries/Desserts
Last visited: September 4, 09
Taiwanese bakery in RichmondSpecializes in Taiwanese buns/baked goods (sweet & savoury)
All breads/buns made on site dailyAmazing breads and buns - cookies not as great thoughMore on the sweeter/eggy side - everything is like eating an amazing brioche
Always busy, familiar to locals and ChineseTaiwanese bakery not Cantonese - so buns are different than Chinese bakeries like Maxim's
Closed Thursday
Smells absolutely delicious inside and outside the bakery**Recommendation: PUMPKIN BREAD

I dedicate this blog just for the pumpkin bread. Yes - it tastes just as good as it looks - and it looks pretty darn good! I have tried several of their other breads and buns as well and those are delicious - but this one is my favourite - so it gets its own space. The pumpkin bread has come up in the last year, and it's not always in stock, so make sure you call ahead and check first. I'll blog about their other breads on another day, when I have pictures to include.

Added note: The pumpkin loaf is about 2 slices bigger than the picture shown above - I already ate a couple slices...couldn't resist.

On the table:
**Pumpkin Bread 6/6
I have no idea what the ingredient list is - all I know is that it's freaking delicious. I've had pumpkin bread at European/American bakeries before - and this pumpkin bread is nothing like those. At those bakeries I often find it's a bread recipe with pumpkin puree thrown into the bread mixture - with some cinnamon and cloves...which is good, but also expected. The way Maple Castella makes pumpkin bread is so different! It's definitely the Asian/Chinese/Taiwanese way of making bread - heavier on the eggs and sugar, but super soft in the texture. It's less of a bread and more like pastry. Everything is sweeter and fluffier here. This is bread you can eat on its own, or even as a dessert.
Maple Castella makes this pumpkin bread so soft and there's swirls of pumpkin throughout the bread. It's so soft you need to cut thick slices. It's not even really pumpkin they use, they use Japanese Kaboocha squash. It's not a canned puree, it's a bright orange colour - not that canned brown pumpkin puree colour. This "pumpkin" puree is made in house and you can tell. They mash it rather than puree it, so there's texture too.
The base of the bread is definitely an egg bread and tastes like the softest brioche you've ever had. Then they put pumpkin seeds over the top of the bread. I serioulsy crave this thing, and am so excited when they have it in stock. You can only buy it in a loaf (about 8 slices), and you'll finish it in 1-2 days because it's so good. Just look at the picture!It's so fresh and usually sells out the day of...it's a hot item!Tasty Twist Idea
Use it to make french toast. Top it with a drizzle of maple syrup and toasted pecans. Truly decadent.