Like so many young creatives growing up in Alberta’s capital, rapper same as me looked to the cultural mecca of Toronto as a more sure-fire path to a career in hip-hop. So, after graduation, that’s where she went.
It wasn’t until she’d been away from home for a few years that her sense of civic pride began to percolate, and it all started with the mention of an Edmonton bakery.
“I was living in Toronto and I was watching CTV’s The Social, and the owner of Duchess Bake Shop was on there,” same as me says. “I remember being so proud they were from Edmonton.”
Duchess Bake Shop opened its doors around the same time that same as me made her pilgrimage to Ontario, so it wasn’t until she returned to Edmonton at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that she could finally taste the confections that had stirred her so.
“When I came back, I went to Duchess and it was delicious. A lot of places are overhyped, but this wasn’t at all,” she says.
Now, she goes at least once every two weeks and her go-to order is always a cup of coffee with the macarons. If the red velvet is in season, she has those. If not, it’s salted caramel.
The flavours, she tells me, are imbued with a sense of community spirit — the same spirit she channelled in the music video for her song, “Just Right,” which she dropped shortly after returning to Edmonton.
“When I moved back, this was the inspiration for the music video I shot. It’s a song about having a crush and loving on someone and I brought all these sweets into the video and I was really inspired by Duchess for that,” she says.
Duchess Bake Shop
Westmount | 10718 124 St NW, Edmonton
Ritchie | 9570 76 Ave NW, Edmonton
780.488.4999 | duchessbakeshop.com
Hair and makeup by Tiiu Vuorensola
This article appears in the Jul/Aug 2024 issue of Edify
