How a beloved Toronto bakery forced to close is rising from the ashes

When she and her partner, Ry Lee, made the difficult decision to shutter their Upper Beaches bakery and chocolate shop venture, Bakerrae x Chachalate, Rae Abayan tells blogTO that she almost stopped baking for good.

"It was pretty tough, especially because, you know, like, this was something that I've been working towards. So, having put everything into the first location, and then having to close that down definitely takes a toll on you both emotionally and mentally," Abayan says.

Baking began as a pandemic hobby for Abayan, a way to explore and share her Filipino heritage through pastries, and culminated in the opening of her Main Street brick-and-mortar, alongside real-life partner (and Chachalate founder) Ry Lee, in 2023.

Quickly, Bakerrae and Chachalate became a local staple. Abayan's signature "Rae buns" drew fans from across the city but ultimately weren't enough to prevent the business from shutting down less than a year after it opened, due to forces beyond Abayan and Lee's control.

 "When it closed down, I just didn't want to bake because it kind of reminded me of everything that happened," Abayan tells blogTO. So, she took the months immediately following the closure to "get her life back," and rekindle the spark upon which Bakerrae was born in the first place.

Rae Abayan and Ry Lee, photographed at the former Bakerrae x Chachalate space in 2023.

Throughout that time, Abayan says, fans of the bakery continued to reach out to her. Not to ask why the bakery closed, or whether she'd be reopening, necessarily, but simply to express their love and support for Abayan and Lee as people, ensuring them that, if and when the time came to reopen the business, they'd be first in line.

"I think it was more so the connections that I made with customers and people in the industry that really helped me, like, pushed me to want to open up again," Abayan tells blogTO.

So, come March of 2025, Abayan and Lee inked a deal on a new, bigger space in East Chinatown, marking the beginning of a new chapter for Bakerrae and Chachalate: one that, Abayan tells blogTO, has created the opportunity for Bakerrae to become exactly what she always dreamt it could be.

"The bakery started as a passion project," Abayan says, "and that love is still there, but I also always wanted to open my cafe." Now, with the expansive Broadview property, both can exist under one roof, along with Lee's chocolate operation.

The new bakery will also allow Abayan to more fully explore and share the Filipino flavours that Bakerrae was built on, she explains.

"It's definitely grown in the past few years, but there's still a lot of, like, a lot of work to be done in terms of good representation for Filipino cuisine, and I feel like with bakery, I can definitely ride that wave of showcasing all these amazing flavours that we have," Abayan explains.

Rae's creations combine Filipino flavours and French pastry techniques.

"Because I know, like, when you think of Asian flavours, you don't necessarily think of Filipino, and I kind of want to show people that, yeah, it's more than just Ube."

Ube fanatics don't need to fear, though, that sweet, purple gold will still be well-represented at the bakery.

After months of permit delays, a complete buildout and bubbling excitement (largely stoked by Abayan's regular update videos on Instagram), opening day is finally on the horizon, and it's a day that Abayan looks to with a "mix of emotions."

"It's a lot of fear, a lot of excitement, where it's just been so long since I had a storefront," Abayan explains, "so there's that pressure of, like, once we do open, is everything going to go well? So I'm trying to take it a little bit easier on myself, because it is a whole new adventure, and I know that everyone's been pretty nice and loyal so far."

Still, she notes, her excitement for this new chapter far outweighs any nervousness.

While the official opening date has yet to be determined, Abayan tells blogTO that she anticipates the bakery will open its doors before Christmas.

"I can't wait to just bake again," she says.

Bakerrae will be located at 326 Broadview Ave.