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.

♥ Say it with Flour* ♥

Lola's suggest that their Valentines Love box is suitable for a loved one, someone special, colleagues or clients, but they've obviously never worked with colleagues like those the few normal humans (and I include myself in this) have to endure on a daily basis in my office!

However I do agree that they'd be perfect for a loved one or someone special! If you order a box from their online store, or buy one in Selfridges or Harrods they include flavours such as strawberry, red velvet, chocolate marshmallow and February's flavour of the month, pink champagne, which I've had before and loved:

LOLA’s new limited edition Pink Champagne cupcake is the perfect way to say 'I Love You'.
This latest flavour has a sumptuous fluffy cupcake sponge delicately infused with the finest Pink Champagne, topped with a heavenly butter cream icing and finished with a Champagne truffle for an intense chocolate burst.

Finally, their Kiss it Better cupcake (which I had last week and highly recommend) is available until March 29th with 30% of all proceeds going to GOSH to support the Kiss it Better appeal. Also 15% of the retail price of each LOVE box goes to the appeal.

*I've borrowed this slogan from Lola's - I just couldn't resist - it sums up this blog totally! Thanks also to Lola's for use of the photos.

Eating cupcakes for Charity

I didn't eat a single cupcake for a whole month! Yes that's right from the 25th of December till the 25th of Jan I was cupcake-free! So after some thought I decided to end my cupcake-fast at Lola's cafe in Selfridges (somewhere I've been meaning to visit for ages!) with a couple of their charity cupcakes.

I previously blogged about Lola's Kiss it Better cupcake, and Manny had expressed an interest in their Hazelnut Vanilla cupcake after I mentioned it on here. Since blogging about it, Lola's had announced that 100% of the retail price from their nutella cupcake was going to survivors of the Haiti earthquake - so we were not only stuffing ourselves but doing our bit for charity too.

The cafe is very small, with only enough seats for about a dozen or so people, and as its in Selfridges and looks rather inviting, its difficult to get a seat. This was my 3rd try at a sit down cupcake experience in Selfridges and we got lucky - grabbing a table being used by a member of staff, who kindly took her laptop elsewhere :)

We ordered our cupcakes and a cappuccino for me, mocha (with whipped cream) for tubby Manny. Firstly the coffee, provided by Vida e Caffe is amazing, some of the best I've tried - really flavoursome and well made, and they came with a little square of Lindt dark chocolate which made Manny even happier as he now had something to dunk in his whipped cream. I had seen him eyeing my flake and was guarding it from him.

So, the cupcakes. Last time I tried Lola's Christmas cupcakes I was a little over-whelmed by the amount of food colouring and a lacking of vanilla flavour, however there were no issues with these, they were wonderful. The base of mine was soft and flavoursome and the frosting was very tasty indeed. The smarties and flake worked really well - and I loved the fact that it was designed by a 4 year old - it looked and tasted like something a 4 year old would love! Having said that the 37 year old me loved it too, but then I'm a child at heart, especially when it comes to food! Manny's nutella frosting was fantastic (I took a little smidgen to try it). Oh and as well as the lovely cakes, you get proper mini-cutlery to eat your cupcake with, which is ideal as sometimes wooden forks impair the taste of your cupcake!

I'm not sure if you can still get these cupcakes in Lola's as tomorrow is February but I urge you to pop along and see - the money is going to good causes, and the cakes are definitely worth trying.

Lashings of Gingerbread men sprinkles

I must pop along to Lola's to try one of their Christmas gingerbread cupcakes - covered in little gingerbread men sprinkles. Hopefully I can also have a peak at the Cupcake Bar in Selfridges as I've still not been there!

Lola's Christmas Cupcakes

Are available to pre-order online now - I've mailed them to ask when they'll be available in store and will post dates as soon as I know. You can choose from the Ho, Ho, Ho box, the Snowflake box or the Giant cupcake.

Also available for November only is their rather yummy sounding Toblerone cupcake;

a limited edition delicious toblerone chocolate cupcake bursting with chewy honey-almond nougat pieces. It is finished with a heavenly white chocolate ganache and a generous chunk of toblerone.

Must get to Selfridges cupcake bar before the end of November!

The cupcake revival

Quite an interesting article from the BBC re cupcakes - I'm particularly interested in the idea of cupcakes gentrifying an area

... cupcakes are a clear cultural barometer. Academics in New York are constructing a map of emerging cupcake shops throughout the city. The theory is that these give a more accurate guide to gentrification than traditional demographic and housing surveys.

If you look at the areas where cupcake cafes have sprung up in London I would agree this is certainly the case. They tend to be in the more exclusive areas, for example from the Kings Road area you can easily walk to 4 cupcake cafes. You'd have to be wearing some pretty sturdy walking shoes to walk to my local cupcake cafe - not many cupcakeries in the New Cross/Peckham area!

I also agree that the cupcake phenomenon has a lot to do with nostalgia. For Christmas I want one of these - something I remember using when baking with my mum/gran/aunt...

We're returning to things we've done in childhood, activities like baking, which gave us joy. It could be about the legacy of heritage. People are trying to hang on to a recipe that was sacred, that granny used to make."

Whatever gets people back into baking can only be a good thing surely so bring on the cupcake love :)

The picture is of last years Halloween cupcakes from Lolas (yes we tried a few different Halloween cupcakes)

Boo!

Halloween cupcakes available from Lola's - in store now (at Selfridges or Harrods) or you can order boxes online. If you order online you can choose pumpkin -not sure if they're available in store but will try and get to Selfridges on Friday to check, and check out the new cupcake bar.

Thanks to Lolas for the pics.

Cupcake Bar in Selfridges

Lola's opened a cupcake bar in Selfridges a few days ago and I've not had a chance to go check it out yet - will do soon though as it looks rather funky.

I do with they'd update their website a little more frequently - there's nothing about the cupcake bar on there except some "coming soon" pictures - also the flavour of the month is always a month behind :(

Oh yes and fellow Blogger Bellaphon should be happy to visit here as the coffees supplied by Vida e Caffe.

Celebrate the 4th of July

I shall be celebrating July 4th at the American Beer Fest at the White Horse a day early (so spending the 4th with a kool n soothe on my head, drinking diet coke feeling sorry for myself in other words) but you can celebrate with a red, white and blue cupcake from Lolas. If it wasn't so baking hot outside I'd go to Selfridges tomorrow to buy one as I have the day off, however the thought of Oxford Street when its 30+ degrees scares me! Too hot to travel for cupcakes..there's a first!

A fantastic gift....

I arrived at work last Tuesday after a wonderful "snow day" and found an email from Lola's in my in box - they were dismayed to read that I'd had a bad experience with their cupcake from Selfridges and wanted to send me a free box to show how great their cupcakes can be. Although never one to turn down a cupcake I replied and said it wasn't necessary to send me freebies as I was already aware they could be nice from Selfridges, however I'd just obviously got a bad one!

However on Wednesday my reception at work called me to tell me there was a "beautiful package" down there for me and lo and behold a huge be-ribboned box of gorgeous looking cupcakes were waiting for me! All 12 of them looked STUNNING and I shared some of them with some friends in the office and took some home and I have to say they were some of the tastiest cupcakes I've had - the base of all of them was moist (including the ones we saved for the next day), the flavours were really nice and the frosting was FANTASTIC!

Flavours we tried included carrot, chocolate, black and white, peanut butter and coconut. The pink ball covered one was one of the cutest cupcakes I've seen and Manny devoured all but one of the truffle-like balls himself...my chubby hubby indeed!

Thanks to Lola's for such a lovely gift - it was trully scrumptious! Oh and those I shared with in the office were definitely converted to cupcakes!

When cupcakes go bad...

So this weekend I didn't make it to either of Outsider Tart's cupcake days (but I WILL next month for sure) as I had to meet Dennis from Ann Arbour y'day and today I wasn't feeling well. Unfortunately I spent a great deal of y'day feeling unwell too and I think a cupcake had something to do with it...gasp!

Myself and Dennis popped into Selfridges while out yesterday and I bought a Lola's lemon cupcake for me and an Oreo for Manny. He loved his (as usual!) but mine was undercooked - the batter was a bit sticky, had a layer of what looked like raw batter and the frosting tasted like plain butter. Pout. I'm cutting back on my cupcake consumption and I really get pouty when one that I have isn't v.nice. I'll be thinking hard before I give Lola's another chance as the last one I had there wasn't that great either - the base always seems a bit stinky/wrong! Bring back the good old Lola's cupcakes please!

Lolas - yes we did

Lola's Kitchen have Obama cupcakes available at their on-line store now.

Barack Obama will officially become the 44th president of the United States.

LOLA's scrumptious cupcakes are baked fresh every day and make the perfect gift for clients, friends and family in the exciting run up to Obama's Inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009.

Each cupcake is hand iced in red, white and blue icing and matching sprinkles. They will also have the USA flag and an image of Obama.

Available in any selection of LOLA’s flavours, your order is hand delivered with a personal gift note.

I have emailed them to ask if they are available at their concession in Selfridges also.

Happy National Cupcake day!!

National Cupcake Day was yesterday and I missed wishing you all a happy one as I was out on a Christmas date with my hubby looking at the Christmas lights and windows in the West End and then stuffing him with meaty goodness at Bodeans as a thank you for schleping round the west end with me getting overly excited about giant snowmen on Carnaby Street!

We did however take time to pop into Selfridges and pick up a Lola's 12 days of Christmas cupcake for me (I got the last one - yesterday was 3 French Hens) and Manny had a double chocolate - surprise!

Check out the size difference on those cup cakes - Manny's chocolate one is nearly as big as the huge snowmen!!

Christmas shopping drives me to cupcakes

I know I don't need any excuse to have a cupcake but seriously Oxford Street on a Friday afternoon was enough to drive me straight to the nearest cupcake outlet - Lola's cupcakes at Selfridges (Which resembled hell on earth at lunchtime on Friday!)

After deciding not to buy the bacon chocolate I keep reading about as it was £5.99 and I'm not sure if it would be eaten - I headed to the Lola's counter and although the Thanksgiving cupcakes looked a little bit cute I wasn't willing to pay an extra 60p for a vanilla cupcake with a leaf on (haven't these people heard of the credit crunch..lol) so opted instead for a couple of red velvets and a strawberries and cream for me and an Oreo and cream for Manny.

My strawberry cupcake was one of the moistest, best cupcakes EVER...seriously it was so soft it melted in my mouth, and the combination of strawberry and white chocolate was just divine! And the fresh strawberry frosting was yum-tastic, oh and it was glittery too!

Manny very much enjoyed his Oreo cupcake - and it kept him quiet (except for a few hmmm's) for a good few minutes, and seemed to go a long way to cure his Saturday am hangover, and prepare him for a Saturday trip to Ikea!

The red velvets were absolutely gorgeous - the frosting was just right and the base was really soft and tasty - my only grumble was that it wasn't as red as I like it to be! I know the red colour adds nothing much really but I do like them to be v.red! Bring on the food colour!

Her name was Lola...

Finally Lola's got round to using the fantastic song as inspiration for one of their cupcakes!

The Showgirl is a whopper...

The SHOWGIRL giant cupcake Christmas edition will be iced in red, green and white with holly decoration. Choose from any of our scrumptious cupcake flavours and as always, it will be baked fresh on the day. It feeds approx 12 - 15 people. Please note that as our product is fresh every morning, cupcakes and cakes may differ from the images.

Would be a perfect end to a Christmas meal instead of a pud!!! Click here to buy.

Christmas is coming...

and Anne is getting fat(ter!)...Well I will be if I eat all the Christmas cupcakes on offer!

As well as the adorable 12 days of Christmas range, Lola's are REALLY spoiling us as they are offering TWO other boxes of cupcakes for Christmas!

The HO HO HO or the Snowflake Box are both available to order now on the Lola's website!!!

I think my favourite is the snowflake...They're decorated in stunning natural white and chocolate decoration with crushed candy cane, snowballs and lots of glitter.

Maybe its because they look so cute and white and like they'd taste of yummy vanilla :) They really do look like they're covered in snow!!!

Really, Lola's with these cupcakes you are spoiling us!!!

The twelve days of Christmas

Finally news re Lola's 12 days of Christmas cupcakes are on line!!! I kept reading about them in magazines and I was beginning to think I was imagining it!!

LOLA's Twelve Days of Christmas begins on the 12th Dec and runs up until the 23rd Dec *. Our vanilla or boozy fun chocolate cupcake flavour can be beautifully hand decorated with an image depicting each of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

*ok - so we know that officially the Twelve Days of Christmas, and the associated evenings of those twelve days (Twelve-tide), are the festive days beginning the evening of Christmas Day (December 25) through the morning of Epiphany (January 6). This just didn't work from a gift giving point of view - hence why we have created our own!

You can read about ordering the cupcakes here, and I've emailed them to check if they'll be available in store in Selfridges for those who'd rather go in to pick them up themselves!

They look very cute don't they although for 3.50 each (sorry my pound sign isn't working!!) they should look good!!!