Wednesday 18 April 2012

I Heart Cupcakes on Tour - Brighton


The third and final part of my recent travels takes us to the lovely coastal town of Brighton. I know not quite as glamorous as Paris but I love Brighton.

Alas I did not love their cakes - this final part is the 'downright ugly' of the trilogy.

I had wanted to visit Choccywoccydoodah for years. Every time we went to Brighton we seemed to get swayed by other things - usually the pub - however we finally made it on Valentines day this year. I really wished I hadn't bothered.

First we visited the chocolate store.


The cakes in the window were amazing and the shop has some lovely things in it but I'm afraid I find myself unable to justify paying £20 for a chocolate kitten or a tenner for a pair of chocolate lips. I actually toyed with buying a small cake but decided to go to the Bar du Chocolat first. Thank f**k I did.

I'd read online about the intimate boudoir where sumptuous hot chocolate is served - however when walking in we were faced with a modern looking cafe which smelt a lot of cheese and oil. We were shown to the back room, aka the boudoir, which was very cramped and rather shabby.


We ordered their luxury (sumptuous?) hot chocolate and some cakes; a chocolate coconut cupcake for me and for Manny lemon cake as strangely they had no chocolate cake available. Not a great start for a chocolate cafe.


Our hot chocolate was ok - nothing luxury or sumptuous about it though. It tasted less chocolate'y than a Starbucks hot chocolate, was covered in masses of cream and contained a LOT of really cheap tasting marshmallows which added nothing to it at all and made it all gloopy. If I was to guess I'd say no real chocolate was involved in the making of this hot chocolate. It tasted like it was from a packet. My home made hot chocolate is nicer than this and, even using expensive chocolate, cheaper.


Manny liked his cake with ice cream. I tried some and it was quite nice, nothing spectacular.


My cupcake was in fact a cake covered in melted chocolate with some dessicated coconut on top. The cake itself was rock hard and tasted of nothing. The chocolate was hard and rather unpleasant. But nothing was unpleasant as taking a bite and finding....a hair. A longish curly hair that did not belong to me.

Vile.

Now normally I would've pointed this out to staff, however we had a charming couple and their children squashed into the area next to us - he was threatening to beat the crap out of her for not eating any of their, frankly disgusting looking Rocky Road, and being incredibly unpleasant to the staff who were young and I felt had enough on their plate. However I did email Choccywoccydodah afterwards and tell them I was disappointed to find hair in their cakes and mention how old/stale the cakes were but received no response.

Next time I'm in Brighton I'll stick to the pub.

13 comments:

Denise said...

ooo how disappointing about Choccy..I follow their shows on the telly, amazed by their cakes. Maybe it was an off day?

Unknown said...

I went to the one in London the other week. The cake is definitely not cakey tasting if that makes any sense.

They were very friendly when I went in though.

Manny said...

Yeah, it was a bit of a let-down, as a chocolate lover I was expecting great things. My cake was OK, but not a patch on a Starbucks choccy cake, let alone one of yours! At least we went to the cafe before you splashed out on something from the shop :)

Manny said...

p.s. I meant to say, I LOVE the picture!!

Katie said...

Oh dear. No one wants a hiar in their cakes!

There is a cupcake bakery in The Lanes in Brighton. Called Angel bakery (I think) Not tried them myself, but my sister said they were nice

Anonymous said...

Love the blog. Always interesting posts and I learn something new every time I visit you. The baked goods from Brighton look fantastic!

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Anonymous said...

Have you ever been to the Angelfood bakery in the Lanes? I've been a couple of times and their cupcakes are delicious, though no room for eating in really.

Cupcakes Betty said...

So tasty chocolate cupcakes, nom nom nom. Great looking cakes! Cake envy.

Swirls Cup~Cakes said...

I really enjoyed reading the first bit of your blog and will be back for more as time allows!

There's not many things more disappointing to me than a 'substandard' cupcake ;o(

I just began my blog 'Swirls Cup~Cakes' almost for the same reasons your began your journey! I LOVE baking cupcakes and hope to make a living at it. I love photography too, so I'm just having too much fun doing both! Stop in for a visit, would love your opinion(s)... http://www.swirls-cup-cakes.blogspot.com/

Take care and have lot's of fun~
Holly E.

Unknown said...

Oh dear oh dear, good job I've not made a special trip to go there, I was quite intrigued after seeing the TV show. It does sound a big disappointment - I'll check out the London one instead I think.

Made With Pink said...

I've never been that impressed with the cakes and chocolate on show at ChoccyWDD. When watching their show something kinda stuck out to me that their cakes wouldn't be that good - I just think there are so many others that look better out there. With regards to the Angelfood bakery - I've tried them before and wasn't very impressed. It was a few years ago, but they're swiss meringue buttercream just tasted slimy. I've been told the same thing by my friends, so would be interested to hear your thoughts on it whenever you do try them.

I heart cupcakes said...

Denise - I have to say watching the show I've often thought that the cakes looked incredibly dry.

Kelly - our staff were nice at the Brighton one (not in the choc shop) but the place was so dingy and smelt of old oil. I've heard the cake in London isn't very good

Manny - so true!

Katie/Anon - I've been to Angel Food - first time was quite nice, but last time the cake was greasy. Thanks though

Cupcakes Betty - I'm not sure you meant to comment here - unless you like dry hairy cake?

Sarah - yeah best to pop to the London one. I've not been yet but may pop by on Monday as am going into town.

MWP - yeah I had a good cake at Angel Food years ago but recent visits were rubbish so we never went back. The cake we had last time was days old for sure! I agree re the show - the cakes always looked overcooked. I hate cakes that are all decoration not about flavour - unfortunately a lot of people seem to fall for pretty cakes that taste like crap!

SWfashion said...

Erghh that cupcake does NOT look good!! I thought it would have been amazing watching the show!

Your blog is a GODSEND! I've spent waaay too long on here!

www.sw-fashion.net