Who knew that amid warehouses and loading docks would sit one of the best places for dessert? Beta5 Chocolates has quickly become one of my favourite places for all things chocolate, sweet, and baked. Not only do their products taste amazing, they are unique and unexpected.

First, the creampuffs: perfectly baked choux puffs, filled to order with creams and custards ranging from vanilla to salted caramel, creamsicle and pistachio. They also do sweet rings, which are rings of 6 choux puffs filled with your choice of custards. When I stopped in on Sunday, they were doing a special tropical ring, filled alternately with vanilla and coconut custards, and topped with pickled pineapple, mangos, and crushed macadamias.

They were also featuring a kouign amann, which you know I die for. It was everything I look for in a kouign amann, buttery, caramelized, with supple and sugary croissant-like layers. I wish I had bought a dozen.

And then we have to talk about their desserts in a jar. These are well thought-out (and perfectly executed) plays on desserts we all know and love like black & tan cake, red velvet cake, chocolate mousse and pannacotta. The red velvet, for example, features a beet sponge cake and goat’s cheesecake. I particularly like the black & tan cake, but on Sunday they had two features, one that had a coconut rice pudding, and another that was some sort of crème brûlée deal with raspberries. Show me anything with coconut or raspberries, and there’s no way I’m walking away. So the former was a coconut rice pudding, layered over a rum jelly, and topped with pickled pineapple and mango, and the latter, vanilla custard topped with cacao fruit, raspberries and white chocolate. Heaven in two little jars.

Beta5 Chocolates
413 Industrial Ave.
Vancouver, BC