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. 

Christmas Pudding Cupcake

Today was the first day of the run up to Christmas proper as the Starbucks red cups were launched!

My afternoon at work was a bit blah so I popped over to get a coffee and spotted a new addition to their cakes range - well two actually - a black forest cupcake and a Christmas pudding cupcake. I had the black forest one last year so opted for the Christmas pudding one. The base was really moist and fruity and the frosting was nice but a little sweet - I managed to eat it all though which I haven't always managed lately with other cupcakes. Recommended.