A rum do - the daiquiri cupcakes that taste of nothing

Last week while doing my usual trawl of the internet for cupcake goodies I discovered these beautiful cupcake cases from Hus and Hem and I just had to get them. As well as the gorgeous Snorkmaiden ones, I got green Moomin ones and some huge oriental cases - they are massive!! 

I also got, just seen in the top picture, Cake Days, the second book by Tarek Malouf of the Hummingbird Bakery and spent some time deciding what to bake with from it that was suitable for my moomin cases. 

Then I remembered that Moominpappa makes punch that includes strawberry liquer and decided to make some strawberry daiquiri cupcakes. In the book these are actually mini cupcakes, but they have different timings at the back in the extensive notes so I thought it'd be simple enough. 

We bought some rum and some strawberries and got baking. Well first we had to make some sugar syrup - with a load of rum in it, in which you basically boiled off all the alcohol from the rum making it a rather expensive sugar syrup. Hurumpf. Deciding I wanted a proper cocktail cupcake, I bunged in some more rum after the sugar syrup cooled - who wants a virgin cupcake? Once my strawberries were soaking in the boozy syrup I got to work on the cupcake. 

The recipe called for very little butter,  lots of sugar, and only one egg. When I started making it I really had some doubts about whether they'd work - the mix just looked and felt wrong. It's all pretty normal, you mix, you put into the cupcake cases with the boozy strawberries (drained from the syrup) and put them in the oven. The book says you will get 24 - 30 mini cupcakes which I assume to be half size(ish) - I got 8 or so quite measly sized normal cupcakes. 

I baked them till they were golden brown and springy to the touch - however there was a bit of a wrong feel about them. You know when you can just tell? Anyways, I carried on. I put the reserved alcoholic sugar syrup on the cakes, not realising that later in the recipe it tells you you should've reserved some. Double hurumpf. 

Apart from feeling wrong, they looked prettyish in their case and domed really well, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt and cracked on with the frosting. Of course I didn't have the reserved sugar syrup so I substituted it with a hefty glug of rum. The frosting worked quite well and had a nice fresh taste from the lime zest, however it didn't pipe very well as my beloved 1M nozzle got squished and kinda squirty out a bit funny. They did scrub up quite well though.

Alas they look much prettier than they tasted. I can only say they tasted overly sweet with a really unpleasant after-taste. The cake was sticky (could've been the sugar syrup cuz I used too much?) and also that cheap muffin like texture you get from bad cupcakes. Really not to my taste - I actually couldn't swallow more than one bite. Manny being the guzzly guts that he is decided to persevere and ate one, saying it was ok, but then he decided on the second one they really weren't and gave up.

I will try some other recipes from the book as they look really good - there are some lovely looking whoopies in there, but I may use the cupcakes for ideas only as these were incredibly disappointing.

Drowning my sorrows in cupcakes

Last weekend saw me descend into my last year of my 30's. Not only was I old(er) but to make matters worse my birthday was on a Sunday I couldn't get to my favourite cupcake emporium for some birthday goodies as I was in the wilds of the Highlands of Scotland visiting my mum as a surprise for her 60th so no Kooky for me!

We spent 5 days in Scotland and it wasn't until the 4th day that we discovered some cupcakes. We did find some other lovely cakes but no cupcakes. FYI Mohammed Al Fayed's cafe at Shin Falls does a wonderful meringue!

My first birthday cupcake was from the local bakers in Dingwall, Deas. They have two outlets on Dingwall High Street, including a cafe where you can sit with a cup of tea and the pie or cake of your choice. Manny went for a haggis, neeps and tatties pie (shudder) and we got the cupcakes to take away. The lovely girl serving gave us a free cupcake after deciding the pink one was too girlie for Manny. He has this effect on girls -they often give him free cake!

My cupcake was a vanilla sponge with some raspberry frosting. I didn't hold out much hope for it as it looked kinda blah (the holes on top worried me) if I'm honest but it was actually quite nice! It was moist and the frosting was really tasty - which is more than can be said for cupcakes from many of Time Outs recent list of the best cupcakes in London (more on that in another post!).

Manny's was plain vanilla and he seemed to enjoy it. Again it ended up in his belly rather than the bin so result. You can see the holes on the top of the cake in this pic - I think its from either over mixing of the oven being too hot? The cake underneath was moist though and the frosting wasn't just a lump of sugar or flavourless butter so all was good.

Our second cupcake in Scotland was from a small cafe inside Inverness Airport. This one looked a little prettier than Deas' offering but alas it was all style and no substance. My raspberry and white chocolate was overly sweet and didn't really taste of anything much. The middle raspberry jam made it slightly better but unfortunately I couldn't eat most of it. 

Manny's mocha chocolate fared better and he said it was incredibly chocolaty. He scoffed the lot so it must've been ok.

The highlight of Inverness Airport for me wasn't the cupcake but spotting Danny Dyer there. I would've gone and said hello as I have a bit of a crush on him but he looked so hungover I couldn't bring myself to bother him!

Back in London we decided to have a little day after my birthday celebration with lunch and a cupcake. I choose Moolis as my lunch venue (yum) and we headed to Hummingbird to try one of their new daily specials. Monday's special is chocolate fondant; a rich chocolate sponge, with a decadent chocolate fondant centre, iced with a rich chocolate cream.

I don't know what to say really. This cake was nice but nothing that special. It was chocolaty but didn't really taste of chocolate. There was a depth of flavour that was missing - when I compare it to the Gü cupcake from Lola's it just wasn't in the same league. I found it a little dry and the fondant centre in mine appeared to have been forgotten. The frosting was ok but again not chocolaty enough somehow, yet, a little too rich for me. I'm not sure if its due to the chocolate they used or what - I'll be trying the recipe from the book Cake Days when it's out to see if it fares better when I bake it using Green and Blacks - my trusty baking chocolate of choice!  Manny of course scoffed it and some of mine, although he agreed the Gü cupcake was better!

I will be popping back to try Tuesday's flavour - S'moreAnne cupcake - how could I resist it! And perhaps on a Sunday for their Boston Cream Pie one, a cupcake I've been meaning to make forever!

The best thing about our visit was the cheesecake brownie we shared - we couldn't say no to it. And it's not every day you turn nearly 40!

Christmas cupcakes - the taste testing

Yesterday I had a chance to taste test a couple of Christmas Cupcakes from two of London's most popular cupcake cafes and thought I'd share them with you.

First up was Friday's Christmas Pudding Cupcake from the Wardour Street branch of Hummingbird. We lunched at nearby Mooli's (GO THERE if you like yummy, spicy, tasty food - was delish) and then went to pick up a couple of cakes for later.

In my previous post I'd said I wasn't fussed about the idea of the exotic fruits in the cupcake - well I'm the first to admit, I was wrong. This cupcake was delicious. The fruits worked really well and the kick of booze was noticeable but not overpowering. The almond frosting was very festive and very, very tasty. A definite winner. Even Manny, who's not keen on fruity cakes enjoyed the bit I shared with him, so it must be an all round winner!

Now I just need to find a way to get from my office in Borough to a branch of Hummingbird to try some of the other daily flavours before Christmas.

Of course Manny would never choose something fruity over chocolate, even if booze was involved, so instead opted for a black bottom. These are one of his all time  favourites and he devoured happily. I got to taste a smidgen and it was really very tasty.

We then wandered to Carnaby Street to see the lights which weren't as good as the last couple of years.

Then onto Selfridges to see the windows, including one full of cupcakes and macaroons and lashings of pink goodies.

We walked past Lola's and spotted a couple of seats and decided to warm up with a a hot drink and a cupcake. I know, I know, any excuse, but it was -2 out on the mean streets of London!

I opted for the Christmas special of gingerbread cupcake topped with cream cheese frosting and lots of little gingerbread men sprinkles covered in lots of cake glitter. The cake was moist and delicately spiced and the frosting was delicious. I can never get my cream cheese frosting to taste as good as Lola's, but I shall persevere and one day I will succeed. Talking of frosting, Lola's now have frosting shots for sale next to the cupcakes - I was very tempted but moved away from them before I bought some! This is definitely one of my favourite festive cupcakes - gingerbread is just so festive.

Manny got an Oreo cupcake, as they appeared to have stopped doing his favourite Lola's cupcake - the collaboration with Gü. Again the cupcake was nice and moist with oodles of delicious frosting. A couple of my gingerbread men sprinkles jumped cake from mine and ended up on his too - but tis the season for sharing so I let Manny keep them!

I'm hoping to get to some of the other London cupcakeries in the next couple of weeks to taste test some more for you, but remember keep checking back as I'll be featuring lots of other festive cupcakes (including outside of London), and gift ideas for cupcake lovers for the rest of the month.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Even though I'm in no way religious I do tend to get a little over-excited about Christmas. And what better way to celebrate Christmas than with cupcakes.

I plan to post a few blogs about the festive cupcakes out there so if you're reading this and you've got a range of Christmas cupcakes and would like them featured please let me know!

First up is Hummingbird. Hummingbird are one of my favourite cupcake places in London. They are doing a different daily special each day so if you fancy more than one of the cupcakes below you'll have to wander to one of their three branches more than once (or order online).

First up is Monday's flavour - Candy Cane Cupcake. A light, peppermint scented sponge, swirled with red and white glittered frosting. I love the look and sound of this cupcake, so pretty and one I definitely want to try.

Tuesday is Eggnog Cupcake. Traditional Christmas flavours of rum and nutmeg, topped with an eggnog frosting. I really would like to try this - even though every time I hear the words egg nog I think of the Jackass egg nog challange and am not sure if I could actually eat one!

Wednesday's flavour is Chestnut. A subtle and light roasted chestnut sponge, finished with a caramelised chestnut frosting. I've never eaten a chestnut cake so shall aim to get to Hummingbird on a Wednesday to try one!

Thursday's Cinnamon and Raisin is a marbled cinnamon and raisin sponge, topped with a cinnamon frosting. This one doesn't appeal so much as I'm not very fond of raisins in cupcakes.

Friday's Christmas Pudding Cupcake is a twist on the traditional, a hearty cake laced with rum and brandy, exotic fruits and an almond scented frosting. Again not sure about the "exotic fruits" but love the rum and brandy. I know I'm a lush. We're in town tomorrow so may pop into Hummingbird to pick one of these up.

Saturday's flavour is Raspberry Trifle. A Christmas classic, light sponge filled with raspberry puree and topped with diplomat pastry cream. I like the sound of this as I'm a big fan of trifle, although I prefer mine with lashings of booze!

Sunday's Gingerbread Cupcake is my another that I really want to try. It's a heady mix of ginger and warm winter spices, finished with fresh lemon cream cheese frosting. Sounds, and looks delish. Although I do think they should've made their own gingerbread men rather than use sprinkles!

Look out for more Christmas cupcakes and Christmas gift ideas coming up over the next few days.

Thanks to Hummingbird for use of their photographs. 

Get busy with the fizzy

I haven't been to Hummingbird for what seems like years, but is actually seven months. Yes seven!!!! The horror.

I missed out on their Summer floral inspired cupcake range but I refuse to miss out on their soda range as they just sound and look too good to miss. The range includes your favourite sodas like cola and lemonade, and I must try a root beer and a cherry cola (pictured above). I wish they'd done an Irn Bru one, I'd have probably exploded with excitement mind you.

The full range is listed below and you can find more pictures of each cupcake on Hummingbird's facebook page.

Available at all Hummingbird Branches. Branch details can be found here.

Photographs are copyright Hummingbird Bakery.

Don't stop me now...

So I went a month without a cupcake..and then I ate two in one day. I was on holiday, my diet was already out the window after eating at Wahaca and Byron over the first couple of days of my holidays so what was the point of resisting the call of the new(ish) Hummingbird store in Wardour Street?

The new store is really cute (as usual), lots of pop art pics of cupcakes, with a few seats and really friendly helpful staff. It was a bit odd being back there as the store used to be my hairdressers and it was a bit strange seeing it in a different light - its certainly more welcoming than my hairdressers used to be, or maybe that's just because I have a phobia about hairdressers.

They didn't have any pink frosted vanilla cupcakes so I opted for one of their hand frosted vanilla creations, with gorgeous lilac frosting covered in glitter with a very pretty edible flower on top. Manny pondered for a few minutes, deciding between red velvet, double chocolate and black bottom - well if I'm honest he badgered me for a few minutes to see if I'd buy him two but I was trying to be good, so he decided upon the black bottom (Decadent, dark and dense chocolate sponge baked with a cheesecake centre, and frosted with cream cheese frosting) which is one of his favourite Hummingbird cupcakes. (I must make these from the Hummingbird Cookbook for him at some point).

I've said it before, but I'll repeat myself again - Hummingbird really do make some of the tastiest cupcakes around - I know some people think they're overly frosted (pah) but I think they are just divine - soft flavoursome base and frosting that oozes yummy-ness onto your tongue with every mouthful. There's little else to add, except to say if you've not had one, go try one - and if you're feeling really indulgent and they have them, grab a whoopie pie too - we had one a few months back and they're nearly as good as the cupcakes!

Finally, the store sells some of the Hummingbird merchandise I've mentioned on here previously.

Hummingbird Cupcakes new store details

I've just found out that the new Wardour Street branch of the fabulous Hummingbird Bakery is Lee Stafford's old Salon so I will be easily able to find it (used to get my hair cut there till they moved and upped their prices loads).

It's quite a little space - it did have a downstairs section as a salon, but I suppose they may use that as a kitchen? I can't wait to see what they've done to it - I know from their Twitter that their theme for the store is cupcake pop art! According to my sources it opens on the 9th December - I have a gig that night in Brixton but I'm hoping that my lovely hubby might leave work a bit early with me for a pre-gig cupcake :) Or maybe I should just take the day off and camp outside for the opening?

In other Hummingbird news Tarek will be at Heals in the Kings Road signing copies of the Hummingbird cookbook this Saturday from 1.30-3.30, and some cupcake demo's and a baking Q&A are promised. There are several cupcake outlets within walking distance of Heals if you want to make a cupcake day of it including Crumbs and Doilies, Love Bakery and Hummingbird - Buttercup is also less than 30mins walk away but after the last time I'd give it a miss. Oh and if you walk to Harrods you can have a Lola's cupcake or if you're all cupcake'd out a Laduree macaroon.

On a non-cupcake note - Paul A Young and Hope and Greenwood will also be signing their books at Heals on Saturday

Lots of cupcake stationery gift ideas from Hummingbird

Hummingbird Bakery make some of the best cupcakes in London (actually the world!) and their cakes are always gorgeous, as well as tasty. They are the kind of cakes that even people who don't like cupcakes (odd people) drool over. And if you, or someone you're buying a gift for is a fan there is a whole range of stationery available with their cakes on from Amazon (and from Waterstones (thanks Sarah)).

There are approx 10 items available in all but I've put a few of my faves on here for you - the full range is available here from Amazon or from the Waterstones link above. My favourite is the mini notebook and the notecards I think, but they're all just make your mouth water!

Also I noticed that a Hummingbird Cupcake Kit is available for pre-order (due out Feb 2010) which includes a cookbook and 100 cupcake cases - I'm assuming the cookbook is a edited down version of the original as it only includes 25 recipes.

And on a final Hummingbird note, don't forget their third store, in Wardour St, Soho, will be opening early December - perfect for a pre-Xmas shop treat :)

Happy National Chocolate Cupcake day

And to think I didn't even have a cupcake this weekend...pah!

Thought I'd share some pics of chocolate cupcakes Manny's enjoyed over the years seeing as I tend not to have chocolate ones!

From top to bottom - my chocolate rolo cupcakes, Hummingbird's bling chocolate cupcake, Primroses chocolate cupcake, Love Bakery's glittery chocolate cupcake and finally a behemoth from Magnolia in NY :)

New London Cupcakery

Another cupcakery has opened in Kensington High Street - meaning you can now enjoy cupcakes in 3 different locations within walking distance of the tube station - Buttercup, Hummingbird and the new kid on the block, The Cupcake Company.

Not a lot more to say at the moment - I may try and pop over there next week to get some pics, more info if I can but I'm cutting back on cupcake consumption at the mo...however if I walk through the park to there I'm sure I'm allowed one :) And they do look rather yummy.

Post beer festival cupcakes

As mentioned in the previous post we bought some take-away cupcakes at Hummingbird to relieve the post-beer fest hangover - these were a black bottom and a chocolate for Manny and a red velvet and a pear and cinammon (Friday's cupcake of the day) for me (which got a bit squished in the cloakrooms at the beer fest)

I really liked the pear and cinammon, not sure I'd have it again though as there wasn't much pear in it. Also I heart red velvet but I seem not to enjoy the cheese frosting so much anymore - I think its since I made red velvet I've gone off them....the horror! 

Next time I got to Hummingbird I shall try to ensure it's a Sunday when the cupcake of the day is black forest which sounds gorge!

Cupcakes, and whoopie pie for lunch at Hummingbird

On Friday we went along to the Great British Beer fest and I took the chance to pop into the Brompton Road branch of Hummingbird Bakery for a spot of pre-beer lunch, which would then be walked off by stomping up to Earls Court. 

As usual I opted for a pink vanilla and Manny opted for a chocolate and a whoopie pie  which he just couldn't resist! There's not a lot to write about Hummingbird that I've not said before - the cakes were lovely, moist and very tasty, the frosting to die for! They really should offer a frosting shot! As you can see from the top pic another cupcake was eaten as well - I couldn't resist a second one and opted for a carrot cupcake, which I don't think I've had from Hummingbird before and it was one of the best carrot cakes I've had - very rich, lots of fruit and nuts and a gorgeous frosting which didn't overwhelm the cake! 

We also got 4 to take-away to help with the post-gbbf hangover...pics will be posted in anther post! 

Finally, I know its not a cupcake but I highly recommend the whoopie pies! Manny allowed me a couple of bites and it was really tasty - like a cross between a cupcake and cookie held together with a really lovely middle frosting it was v.nice! I asked if they have them every day but the guy serving wasn't sure - he thought maybe only on Friday - Sunday so if you want one best to ring ahead I'd say - all contact numbers are on their website.