Christmas shopping drives me to cupcakes

I know I don't need any excuse to have a cupcake but seriously Oxford Street on a Friday afternoon was enough to drive me straight to the nearest cupcake outlet - Lola's cupcakes at Selfridges (Which resembled hell on earth at lunchtime on Friday!)

After deciding not to buy the bacon chocolate I keep reading about as it was £5.99 and I'm not sure if it would be eaten - I headed to the Lola's counter and although the Thanksgiving cupcakes looked a little bit cute I wasn't willing to pay an extra 60p for a vanilla cupcake with a leaf on (haven't these people heard of the credit crunch..lol) so opted instead for a couple of red velvets and a strawberries and cream for me and an Oreo and cream for Manny.

My strawberry cupcake was one of the moistest, best cupcakes EVER...seriously it was so soft it melted in my mouth, and the combination of strawberry and white chocolate was just divine! And the fresh strawberry frosting was yum-tastic, oh and it was glittery too!

Manny very much enjoyed his Oreo cupcake - and it kept him quiet (except for a few hmmm's) for a good few minutes, and seemed to go a long way to cure his Saturday am hangover, and prepare him for a Saturday trip to Ikea!

The red velvets were absolutely gorgeous - the frosting was just right and the base was really soft and tasty - my only grumble was that it wasn't as red as I like it to be! I know the red colour adds nothing much really but I do like them to be v.red! Bring on the food colour!

I pooped a cupcake?

Is it just me (and my sordid imagination!), or is this meant to be a poop frosted cupcake?

Whatever its frosted with its v.cute, although I'd not be quite so lapsidasical about it if I was going to eat it!

Pat a cake...

Pat a cake, baker girl....what an adorable tshirt from Ted Baker's Baker Girl range at Debenhams!

Ultra cute!

Cupcake purse and keyring set

I saw this in Debenhams the other day and would've bought it but all the stock they had looked REALLY dirty - will have to go to another store to see if it was just in the Oxford St one!

Perfect Christmas gift for the cupcake lover in your life ;)

Click here to buy online.

Battle of the GIANT cupcakes!

And it would seem that Angel Food Bakery in Brighton is going to win it!

Their website is finally up and running and their menu lists their giant cupcake (which we saw when we went to the bakery and I was VERY tempted!) at a very reasonable £16.95 which is a nearly a third of the price of Lola's Showgirl giant cupcake, which is the same size! That means I could go to Brighton on the train, buy Angel Food Bakery's giant cupcake and still have enough left for some small cupcakes, a cappuccino and a couple of pints of Kriek at the Evening Star! I feel a trip coming on!!

Check out Angel Food's website now - they really are worth the train journey!!! And if the giant cupcake tastes as good as their normal sized ones its a definite tastier alternative to the Christmas pud!

Oh and I love their "no fridge" logo - how cute!

Thanksgiving cupcakes!

Cupcakes Take The Cake have done a fab round up of Thanksgiving Cupcakes including this rather cute one by Caitder from her Flickr album!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, except my friend Dennis the apple!

Her name was Lola...

Finally Lola's got round to using the fantastic song as inspiration for one of their cupcakes!

The Showgirl is a whopper...

The SHOWGIRL giant cupcake Christmas edition will be iced in red, green and white with holly decoration. Choose from any of our scrumptious cupcake flavours and as always, it will be baked fresh on the day. It feeds approx 12 - 15 people. Please note that as our product is fresh every morning, cupcakes and cakes may differ from the images.

Would be a perfect end to a Christmas meal instead of a pud!!! Click here to buy.

Suri ♥s cupcakes

Today there was a little piece in the Daily Mail about Suri Cruise and Tom's take on the paparazzi shots of her, you can read about the worlds most influential tot here - where you can also see more pics of cupcake loving Suri, usually with frosting on her face!!

As an aside Suri also had cupcakes from the fantastic Cupcake in Berlin - where I had some of the yummiest prettiest cupcakes ever! She certainly has good taste, and v.cute hair!

Cupcake Tattoo and turkeys!

I've been planning a cupcake tattoo for a while now and am just waiting till I have enough money to do it and I have to decide where on my body I want it as I have plans for most of my bits already!


I read that Sweet Avenue in New Jersey are offering a free cupcake if you have a cupcake tattoo - maybe this is a sign I should have my tattoo before going to NY in March!!

So when I was checking out Sweet Avenue's site I noticed their cute slogan for Thanksgiving and their Thanksgiving menu - how fab do some of those cupcakes sound!

I'm not sure how far from NY it is but I'm going to check it out - anywhere with the motto "Sweet Avenue Bake Shop is dedicated to life, liberty and the pursuit of cupcakes", is worth checking out!

I MUST have one!!!

As sold in Magnolia Bakery in NY!!

Thanks to Cupcakes take the Cake for the pic!

Its like they know we're coming...

In 101 days we shall be arriving in New York and its like some cupcake fairy is watching out for us and opening new fantastic sounding cupcake stores JUST for us to try!!

According to the experts at Cupcakes Take the Cake the cupcakes at the newly opened Butter Lane cupcakes are "one of the best cupcakes in NYC"....AND the store is about 4 minutes walk from where we are staying in NY...its fate I tell you :)

Thanks to Rachel from Cupcakes Take the Cake for her pics - they look fantastic! If you listen carefully you can hear Manny drool over the chocolate ones ;)

Baby its cold outside...

So let some cupcake goodies keep you warm!

The scarf costs £12, the earmuffs £6, and come in hot pink and lilac, and the mittens are £8 - all from Heidi Seeker

Cute as a button!

Hooray for Oreo cupcakes!

After a long walk through St James Park to Partridges Market we bought a massive feast of Crumbs and Doilies goodies including 4 mini Oreo cupcakes and 2 lemon cupcakes :) As usual they were utterly fantastic - I managed to snarfle one of the Oreo cupcakes while Manny ate the rest (tubby!) and it was really nice and the Oreo frosting was fantastically chocolaty! The lemon one was really nice as well - soft base and lovely lemony frosting - they really are in the top 5 cupcake makers in London! And they definitely have the best sprinkles - today we had some cow ones on one of the Oreo cupcakes, and on Manny's lemon cupcake we had little fishes! Ultra cute and sprinkletastic!

The pink cupcake was bought from outside Partridges store - I think it was part of the store, but I didn't care I just spotted the pink cupcake and had to have it! It was really tasty and the frosting was raspberry flavoured - it tasted very homemade and had a tonne of frosting on!! Luckily we walked LOTS today so it made up for all the frosting :)

I'm the proud mother of...

an Ocado delivery van weighing in at a rather hefty three and a half tonnes, named Strawberry Cupcake!

Let me explain - a few weeks ago I got an email from Ocado , (THE best on-line grocery delivery service EVER!), with a competition to name an Ocado van and I choose the rather spiffy Strawberry Cupcake ...and it won (out of over 5,000 possible strawberry names I'm told!) so my adopted van is now driving around London delivering shopping - how great is that!!!?

AND I got a cute little certificate of adoption to prove it and I get a little model van with my next order!

If you spot my van please let me know -I've been looking but no luck yet!

I heart Tiffany cupcakes :)

We went to the Tiffany pop up shop at Somerset House and got the last two Hummingbird Tiffany cakes!

They were yummy and I'm happy!!!

Sorry about the pics - it was dark when we got there and when we got home to eat the cakes my hands were so cold (we'd been to the Slow Food/Christmas Market at the South Bank - go its GREAT! And Chocstar were there making ever fabulous hot choclate and a really rather gorgeous millionaire shortbread...YUM!!) I couldn't hold the camera! And I need a new camera - my one isn't focusing properly at all ...it's old!

Anyways for scrummy Tiffany blue cupcakes run along to Somerset House - I've got to go back to get some more pics of the inside of the little cafe, its very festive :)

Crumbs and Doilies Christmas cupcakes unveiled!

The pictures of the Crumbs and Doilies Christmas cupcakes are out! If you signed up for their VIP Christmas email you'll have been sent a pre-order link to buy them, if not they'll be available to all on their website as of next Monday! I can't wait to hear what the December flavour is!!!

This year we’ll be offering two sizes of Christmas cupcake selections - Gift Boxes (15 mini cupcakes, £15) and Party Boxes (40 mini cupcakes, £36). Each comes beautifully wrapped and with a mix of flavours, including our very special December Flavour of the Month.

Boxes are available for delivery in central and SW London or collection from the C&D grotto in Wandsworth on Wednesday 17th, Thursday 18th and Friday 19th December. We’ll also be taking advance orders for a limited number of collections on Saturday 20th December from our Kings Road market stall.

Cupcakes at Tiffany's!

You can even have breakfast there!! How fab!! And how cute is the "box" cafe!!!? Too cute!!

Tiffany & Co. Tuck Shop
What: Iconic jeweller launches giant blue pop-up box at Somerset House ice rink serving Hummingbird Bakery cupcakes, candy canes, gingerbread men and more.
Why: You skipped breakfast.
When: Thurs.-25 Jan. Daily, 9:30 a.m.-10:45 p.m.
Where: Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 1LA (020 7845 4600).

The Breakfast with Tiffany special offer includes cupcakes for the kids...boo I'd want cupcakes rather than booze!

Breakfast with Tiffany will take place each Saturday in December from 08.45 to 09.45.Bask in the glamour of Tiffany & Co. at these exclusive ticketed events for parents and children, providing families with a leisurely morning of festive fun and sparkle.Breakfast with Tiffany includes complimentary access to the rink for a child with every adult ticket purchased, a Tiffany Cupcake, hot drink for children and a post-skate glass of champagne for the grown-ups.

However the special Hummingbird Tiffany cupcakes are available to all in the Skate Cafe for £2.50 so no need to skate (which I find scary!). I shall try and drag Manny there tomorrow on our way to Slow Food Market for a cupcake...well its cheaper than the Tiffany cupcake jewellery I want!!

There's a new cupcakery in town!!

A second branch of Primrose Bakery has opened in Covent Garden at 42 Tavistock Street. It's not yet listed on their site but I popped by today and its definitely open and selling cupcakes!!!

It's a really cute little store, pretty much the same as the Primrose Hill branch, except the counter is bigger, therefore letting them display MUCH more cupcakes, and their yummy looking layer cakes, and I think the seating area is a little bigger!! I didn't have the camera to take pics but will be going back asap! It looks very much like the pic above of the first branch, just in case you're looking for it :)

I got 2 cupcakes - a vanilla and a chocolate and both were utterly gorgeous - I didn't eat both, one was for Manny!!! The base of my vanilla was really soft and the frosting was utterly delicious as usual, and as usual there were no complaints from Manny!

I was especially happy to find the newly opened Primrose today (it opened on Monday) as at lunchtime today I noticed a new bakery/deli, Fraiche, opened today just near my work and I popped in to check it out and was seduced by a cute looking cupcake - unfortunately it only looked cute - when I tried the frosting it had a fish taste, and unfortunately the second bite only confirmed it, it DID taste of fish, so it went straight into my bin!

Gobble up those cupcakes!

According to Sprinkles, nothing completes a Thanksgiving meal of turkey and stuffing like cranberry cupcakes!

Flavours in their special Thanksgiving range include Ginger Maple, Pumpkin, Orange Cranberry and Dark Chocolate all adorned with either their signature dot or a rather fetching turkey sprinkle :)

More Christmas cupcakes...

coming soon!

You can sign up to get advance info re the Crumbs and Doilies Christmas cupcakes here now! Oh its just all too much for me - so many choices!!!

And don't forget their flavour of the month for November is Oreo - soon to be one of Manny's favourite cupcakes by the looks of them!! I MUST get over there before the end of November to get some for him!

Christmas is coming...

and Anne is getting fat(ter!)...Well I will be if I eat all the Christmas cupcakes on offer!

As well as the adorable 12 days of Christmas range, Lola's are REALLY spoiling us as they are offering TWO other boxes of cupcakes for Christmas!

The HO HO HO or the Snowflake Box are both available to order now on the Lola's website!!!

I think my favourite is the snowflake...They're decorated in stunning natural white and chocolate decoration with crushed candy cane, snowballs and lots of glitter.

Maybe its because they look so cute and white and like they'd taste of yummy vanilla :) They really do look like they're covered in snow!!!

Really, Lola's with these cupcakes you are spoiling us!!!

The twelve days of Christmas

Finally news re Lola's 12 days of Christmas cupcakes are on line!!! I kept reading about them in magazines and I was beginning to think I was imagining it!!

LOLA's Twelve Days of Christmas begins on the 12th Dec and runs up until the 23rd Dec *. Our vanilla or boozy fun chocolate cupcake flavour can be beautifully hand decorated with an image depicting each of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

*ok - so we know that officially the Twelve Days of Christmas, and the associated evenings of those twelve days (Twelve-tide), are the festive days beginning the evening of Christmas Day (December 25) through the morning of Epiphany (January 6). This just didn't work from a gift giving point of view - hence why we have created our own!

You can read about ordering the cupcakes here, and I've emailed them to check if they'll be available in store in Selfridges for those who'd rather go in to pick them up themselves!

They look very cute don't they although for 3.50 each (sorry my pound sign isn't working!!) they should look good!!!

Quick ....escaped cupcakes expected 22 November!

From the Great Cake Escapes latest email....

The Great Cake Escape celebrates its 1st birthday next week and we'd love you, cake takers and cake crusaders, to join us in celebrating a whole year of guerrilla cake-dropping mischief.

On Saturday 22nd November, we'll be doing a special commemorative cake drop:

The Great Cake Escape 1st Birthday Cake Drop & Secret Street Tea Party

Location: Hoxton Square and Shoreditch streets

Date: Saturday 22nd November, starting at 12 noon and throughout the afternoon

To commemorate the inaugural cake drop that took place a year ago and the thousands of cakes that have escaped onto the street since, Cherry Bakewell and Fondant Fancy will be releasing hundreds of special birthday cakes onto the streets of Shoreditch. The cakes will be left in mystery locations for curious cake-takers to find and there will be one extra special cake, "the golden cupcake", for people to keep their eyes peeled for...whoever finds this one will be able to claim a special mystery prize! After the hard work of cake-dropping, Cherry Bakewell and Fondant Fancy will be celebrating the project's 1st birthday with a little street tea party in the middle of Hoxton Square that afternoon and invite everyone to join them for a cup of tea and a sweet treat. Follow the trail of cakes and look out for birthday balloons to find them! Fingers crossed it doesn't rain...

I plan on dragging Manny up to Hoxton for this (beer as a bribe should persuade him and cake of course!) Hopefully can report back on this next weekend!