Saturday 15 January 2011

Peggy Porschen's Parlour



Isn't it the most gorgeous cake shop you've ever seen? That shade of pink is enough to turn me into the girliest girl ever. I adore it.

Peggy Porschen's Parlour opened in Belgravia last autumn and today we finally got round to visiting. The location is rather odd - walk past perhaps the grimmest place in London, Victoria Coach Station, and you can see this gorgeous vision of pastel pink on the horizon. Like an oasis calling to you in the desert of scummyness.

As were were stomping towards it I had everything crossed we could get a seat inside, as although there were a couple of outdoor tables, it was freezing.

Inside the Parlour is small but perfectly formed. There are two smaller tables for two, and a larger one for about 5 or 6. Photography of the store wasn't allowed, but we could take photos of our gorgeous cakes. There was a choice of approximately 6 cupcakes, some layer cakes, macarons and some other baked goods. Of course we opted for cupcakes. I had a vanilla chiffon and Manny went for a chocolate heaven.


They also offer a selection of house blend teas, including a lovely sounding gingerbread one, but I was tempted by the lovely smelling coffee, and opted for a cappuccino. Manny had a divine smelling hot chocolate.




The vanilla cupcake was lush! The frosting was cream cheese vanilla which is quite unusual but it was absolutely delicious. The cake was moist and tasty, and incredibly fresh, the frosting was, well the icing on the cake. Really well flavoured and really moreish.



Manny's eyes lit up when he spotted the chocolate heaven cupcake. Look at the amount of frosting on there! Wow. And it was incredible. Seriously, delicious! I tried some, and the frosting was a velvety ganache and absolutely delicious. If ever there was a frosting I could have in shot form, this is it! The cake was, again, incredibly moist (I hate to harp on about moist cakes but a moist, fresh cupcake is so important - there are a couple of well known bakers out there I've sampled recently that could do with some lessons in injecting flavour into their cupcakes and about them  being fresh but that's a whole other blog post!). There were no such worries here, the cakes were simply magnificent.



As you can see we thoroughly enjoyed them, one of us ensuring we scraped off every last crumb of cake!

I had a little peruse around the shop before paying. As well as cakes and delicious iced cookies, there are Peggy Porschen homewares,  lovely home made preserves (including lemon and lemoncello, which I may have to return to buy), and Peggy's blends of teas. We decided we couldn't leave without trying one of her beautiful black forest cupcakes so got one to go, which was lovingly boxed up by the staff. Oh and the staff in the Parlour were really nice - checking we enjoyed everything and ensuring we didn't have any complaints.


Alas disaster struck as we had a long walk through a very windy Hyde Park after our scoffing, and the cake alas was a casualty of the elements.


Even though it was slightly squished, and way less pretty than when it had left the Parlour it still tasted lovely.  The rich, delicious chocolate cake cake is filled with some Griottine cherries inside and topped with a kirsch and vanilla frosting. I wished I'd bought two as I had to share it with Manny. Hurumpf.

I highly recommend popping along to Peggy's Parlour for tea and cupcakes. They also do afternoon tea and obviously takeaway. The cupcakes would make perfect little gifts for friends, if you don't want to make your own, and although slightly more than you would pay in other cupcake stores in London, they are worth every penny! I must go back to try the banana toffee asap! And a carrot one! Or I could dig out my copy of the Sainsbury's Magazine with her recipes in and make my own. That's next weekends baking taken care of!

Finally, you can see some photographs of inside the parlour here.

20 comments:

NicolaCupcake said...

Brilliant Anne
The shop looks super girly yet super sophisticated at the same time.
Thanks to you I know where to go (and not to) when I next get to London
Phew I need a cupcake now...

I heart cupcakes said...

Hi Nicola
Thanks for your comment. It is super girly but gorgeous. Even my husband liked it! Get in touch if you need any advice re London cupcakes - always happy to help!

Ice Maiden Cakes said...

It looks gorgeous - I'm so glad her cakes taste as good as they look :) Now I just need an excuse for a trip to London!!

I heart cupcakes said...

Julie - there is always that moment when you visit somewhere the first time, everything looks gorgeous and you are silently praying that the cake will taste as good as it looks or you'll be ultra disappointed! Thankfully our prayers were answers at Peggy's ;)
Come visit for research purposes, although your cakes are so pretty you don't need to do much research!

Baking Addict said...

I don't normally make resolutions but visiting various London cupcakeries definitely needs to be one for 2011 especially after reading all your reviews such as this lovely one. My friend lent me Peggy Porschen's book hoping to inspire me but I've not been brave enough with cake decorating!
The cakes look amazing, I can't wait to try them.

Heaven is a Cupcake said...

Wow! I have to go there!!

Sarah @Scrumptious Sally said...

The quantity of frosting on that chocolate cupcake is nuts! I took the tip of brushing sugar syrup over my cupcakes from Peggy Porschen's article in Sainsbury's Magazine and never looked back. I didn't realise she had a shop, so thanks for the heads-up.
BTW I think Victoria Coach Station is #3 Grimmest Place in London, topped by Elephant & Castle and the Highbury end of Upper Street.

The Caked Crusader said...

What a gorgeous shop! I know her name from books I've seen but didn't know she'd opened a parlour

That vanilla cupcake looks divine - I could really tuck into that creamy looking frosting

Archies Mum said...

Those cakes looked absolutely gorgeous. I'm guessing that the lovely flowers on top of each cake were also edible?

I heart cupcakes said...

@Baking Addict - her cakes do look a little out of my league. Am going to try her cupcake recipe on Saturday though! I hope you get to visit the Parlour soon and enjoy it - I'm going back to get more cake and have some tea!

@Heaven is a cupcake - let me know what you think if you go!

@Sarah - it was really, really nice frosting so having extra was a bonus. I've still not made her cupcakes (I am a bad baker) but plan to do them next weekend!
We live near the Elephant and Castle and I agree with you it's grim, and Upper St too - but there's something about Victoria Coach station - especially as it's so expensive to live round there!

@Samantha - the whole shop is a cake lovers dream. Manny was in 7th heaven! The layer cakes also looked lovely and we'll go back and try them asap!

@Archies Mum - they were indeed. So pretty and tasty too - very thin so not overly sweet

Unknown said...

Oh no what a shame! I got off at Sloane Square and had a lovely walk over to there. Victoria is so blah around the train station.

I can't wait to go back already!I love the polka dots on everything. What girl doesn't love pink and polka dots?

Sarah-Jane - SiliconeMoulds.com said...

That little shop looks gorgeous ! How delightful. Bonus that for once you got GOOD cakes too !

Do you remember by chance what month of Sainsburys mag the feature was in ?

Happy Baking x

I heart cupcakes said...

@Kelly - it was only a couple of minutes walk and much easier for us to get there from Victoria Coach Station.
I too loved the crockery but cannot fit any more in my house so resisted.
Looking forward to reading your blog about your visit!

@Sarah Jane - I know I was so happy they were tasty! The cakes were in the October 2009 issue of the magazine. I'm going to bake something from it this weekend :)

Manny said...

It was great to get a cake that tasted as good as it looked after some of the recent disappointments. I don't think I've ever had a nicer chocolate cupcake than that (except the ones Anne makes, obviously!) and the black forest one was brilliant too! I agree, we should have got more to take away, but we'll be going back soon for sure, so not to worry :)

Alison said...

Looks fabulous! I'm a little sad though because I used to live just around the corner from there (about 7 years ago). I would have lived in that shop had it been there then. I have a Peggy book and I really enjoy both looking through it and trying out different things. Thanks for the 'review' - I will make a mental note for when I'm in London next time xpol

I heart cupcakes said...

@Manny -thank you for taking me to the Parlour, it really was fabulous. And glad you loved the cake (and thanks for the nice words about my cakes!!)

@Alison - oh no!!! Just think it could've been your local! Which book have you got? I'm thinking of getting one

edith said...

We tried the banana toffee and the black forest and I have to agree, these cupcakes are above many. The banana toffee is a MUST.

The location is not that odd, basically it's on the exclusive shopping street of upmarket Belgravia. It's another matter that grim Victoria Station happens to be next door. You need to approach it from Sloane St Station to really see how lovely the location is.

I heart cupcakes said...

Edith - I shall have to go back for the banana toffee. Can't believe I didn't last time.
My reason for mentioning the location was, for me Victoria Coach Station is one of the grimmest areas in London - PP is like an oasis in a sea of grim!

Jane said...

I feel like I want to come to London now just for the experience of visiting this cupcake heaven. My only question is... is the topping sickly? It looks quite a lot! I made some this weekend with white chocolate ganache on which was delicious and not at all sickly. But then maybe I was a little bit mean with it cos the kids wanted to sample it as well!! lol

I heart cupcakes said...

Hi Jane - not the buttercream was really tasty, although there was a lot of it.
I'm not so keen on white frosting as I find it sweet so I'm sure you'd be ok :)