Most wonderful cupcake of the year

The end (of the year) is nigh and I was going to do a round up of my favourite cupcakes I've bake this year but I don't have time as I have a birds nest of over-dyed hair to sort out and make up to slap on so instead have decided to post about my favourite cupcakes I've bought this year. It was a close run thing - I LOVED quite a few cupcakes.

First up the runners up.

Best international cupcake goes to, Cupcake Berlin.

Truly DELICIOUS cupcakes with the nicest peanut butter frosting I've ever tasted. Also a lovely little cafe full of lovely treats, including tonnes of vegan friendly goodies.

Next. Best UK cupcake out of London goes to Swallow Bakery.

GREAT cakes, shame about the service. I plan to go back in 2011 and check it out again.

Runner up in the London cupcake of the year goes to Love Bakery.

Not only have I never had a bad cupcake from them, they released my favourite cupcake book ever, Love Bakery: Cupcakes from the Heart, this year. I've baked loads from it since I received it, and I hope to bake loads more next year. It is a fantastic book and I highly recommend it to all my readers.

An honourable mention must go to Ms Cupcake and her vegan cakes that still confound me. How can you make a cake taste soooooo good without butter? I just don't know. But Ms Cupcake and her team of vegan bakers know the secrets and they should be applauded. Also Mellissa is one of the loveliest people you could meet on the cupcake scene.

Her vegan bounty cupcake was one of the highlights of Cupcake Camp for me! Absolutely delicious and more chocolaty than some ultra expensive vile cupcakes that pertain to be loaded with Valrhona. (If I was doing worst cupcake of the year btw Cox, Cookies and Cake would be the winner - this place doesn't deserve to exist, and I feel probably wouldn't it if it wasn't fronted by two 'celebs').

The fabulous bounty cupcake however leads me on nicely to my favourite cupcake event of the year. There can only be one winner. Cupcake Camp, organised by the amazing Daisy. I am already thinking of cakes to bake at next year's event! It was an awesome day out and really showed how many great bakers there are out there.

And now, for the winner of my best cupcake/best bakery of 2010.

For me there could only be one winner. I've only had their cakes twice but the first time was enough to convince me that they were fabulous. And the winner is, *drum roll*, Kooky Bakes.

I first tried Scott's baking in July and was so overwhelmed by the selection I barely ate a cupcake! When faced with the Snickers Slice my brain just went into a peanut butter zombie trance and could think of nothing else. Hmmm peanuts. The SS incidentally probably wins my non-cupcake baked good of the year. How could it not - look at it, behold its beauty! My first visit wasn't cupcake free however and I did try a delicious black forest gateau cupcake.

We visited Upmarket the weekend before Christmas to pick up a box of cupcakes from Kooky to ensure we ended the year on a cupcake high, and we were not disappointed.

Although there was a slight, Anne based, disaster getting the cupcakes home in one piece (I blame it being so cold I had to keep swinging my arms to keep warm - poor Scott was dressed up like he was Scott of the Antarctic when we visited the stall!), the cakes slight squishedness in no way detracted from the AMAZING flavour of each and every cake.

Each cake was moist and incredibly flavoursome, each frosting a bite of heaven, as they were so light. Manny was awestruck by the Chocotecture cupcake - dark chocolate sponge injected with a white chocolate ganache,  topped with a ring of white chocolate and a ring of milk chocolate mouse buttercreme. After scoffing many chocolate cupcakes I finally think Manny has found his favourite. Every cake we had was delicious. I had a raspberry and white chocolate and a red velvet. I think I have finally found the best red velvet ever. Utterly amazing.

My plan for next year is to go to Kooky Bakes and get some cakes home in one piece so I can finally show you all how beautiful they look pre me getting my ham-fisted hands on them!

Finally, I wanted to wish all the people who follow my blog and leave such nice comments, and send me such lovely messages of support, a incredibly Happy New Year. I hope you all have a wonderful cupcake-filled 2011.

Kuchen ist sehr gut

Thursday was our first day in Berlin and after some breakfast at the local butchers and a loooooong walk to a record store, in the rain, that wasn't open (grrrr),  we headed to Cupcake for some sustenance, a sit down and a hot drink.

This was my 3rd visit to Cupcake in Berlin and it certainly won't be my last as every time I visit I fall in love with it a little more.

I opted for the Elvis - a double chocolate cake topped with peanut butter (and banana?) frosting. The cupcake was amazingly moist and the frosting was some of the tastiest I've had. I'm not sure how they made the frosting taste so incredibly light when its peanut butter, which can be a bit  heavy, but it was awesome. Which is good as the cupcake was slathered in lashings of the frosting! Not that I was complaining!

hmmmmm lashings of delish frosting

Cookies n Cream - magnificent

Manny as usual was tempted by the chocolatey'ist cupcake he spotted, the Hot Chocolate, but resisted and went for something different, the cookies 'n' cream. I tried a smidgen of the frosting, as much as I could grab before losing a finger and it was really nice and again very light and tasty.

Manny looks rather happy considering he's not slept in 24 hours!

We stayed about 10 minutes walk away from Cupcake for 5 days and had planned to make it back again to sample some more of their lovely cakes, but alas too much of this...,

Usurper of Proclamation*

Schofferhofer, and this...

Glühwein at AlexanderPlatz Berlin

We didn't get time to pop by for more of these...

Damn it! I really wanted to try a Raspberry Beret, and maybe a Peppermint Party!

We will however be back, probably next year for Nuclear War Now festival. If you're in Berlin I highly recommend popping into Cupcake! Not on do they do cupcakes, but cheesecakes, brownies and a selection of vegan goodies too. Also where else in Berlin can you buy Heinz beans on toast?

*In my opinion an hour staring at Usurper from Proclamation makes up for the lack of cupcakes, however others may disagree!

I ♥ Cupcake

On our trip to Berlin last week for the Nuclear War Now Festival we managed to squeeze in a trip to one of my favourite cupcake cafes, Cupcake. The cupcakes were just as I remembered, moist, flavoursome, moreish and HUGE. The cafe is ultra cute, and as well as cupcakes does brownies, cheesecakes and has vegan options on cupcakes as well. Oh and they do savoury food too, including beans on toast..hurrah!

We had planned to visit again on the Sunday and pick up some cupcakes for the long wait at the airport (we were flying Easyjet so there's always a looooong wait) but after what was meant to be a quick after-show drink at the Halford bar, that turned into a very late night and us paying for an extra few hours sleep in the hotel, I wasn't even in a fit state to walk the 10mins from our hotel to Cupcake -which is a shame as I really wanted to try another flavour or two! However I am hoping we're going back to Berlin in May - and if the hotel will have us back we'll be staying within walking distance again, and this time no tequilla!

If you're in Berlin, or the surrounding area I highly recommend a visit to Cupcake, the cakes are great and Dawn and everyone in the cafe is really friendly and welcoming. Also the area is really nice (reminds me of the Lower East Side in New York) with great bars and really good food nearby and some nice stores as well. Sorry about my pics - as I said I was planning to go back and I didn't really get any good ones on my visit - we'd not slept in about 28 hours and I was shaking after having 2 large coffees in about 10mins!

Kiss Kupcakes ROCK

One of my fave ever cupcakerys, Cupcake in Berlin posted this fab picture of their Kiss cupcakes on their Myspace and I just had to share!

I cannot wait to go back to Berlin in November!

Thanks to Cupcake for the pic

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!

The perfect marriage proposal?

Seriously could anyone say no to this magnificent proposal?

From the superb Cupcake in Berlin (which I visited last October and MUST write up and post some pics soon!)