It's not all about eating yummy cupcakes

This post is a round up of some cupcakes scoffed (or not, as the case may be unfortunately) over the last few months that don't really warrant a post themselves.


First up is April's flavour of the month from the usually fabulous Crumbs and Doilies. I am usually a fan of their cakes, and think they are some of the prettiest you can get (they have a vast collection of sprinkles!), however the Mexican Chilli Chocolate was a big let down. It was incredibly dry and rather flavourless, there was a little kick from the ancho chilli on top which I made a point of eating even though the rest of the cake wasn't for me and I only managed a couple of bites. Disappointing. Lets hope May's Cardamom and white chocolate flavour is much better!

The same day we went to Partridges Market for the Chilli Chocolate cupcake we also picked up a whoopie pie from two newcomers to Partridges, Yummy Boutique. They also did cupcakes, which I foolishly didn't buy as we had some C&D ones. I regretted it as the whoopie was amazing - definitely one to check out in the future. And the two ladies running it were lovely!

The window picture is another reason we didn't opt for cupcakes from Yummy Boutique - our plan was to walk down the Kings Road to Love Bakery as I was keen to try their Easter range - alas they were closed but we did ooh and ahhh over their lovely window and worked off some calories on the walk!
Next up another unfortunately disappointing cupcake - this time from Primrose Bakery. The cupcake on the left is their banana chocolate which unfortunately was inedible and seemed to be lacking any bananas, instead full of really huge raisins which were highly unpleasant against a very, very dry crumb-like sponge. Manny's double chocolate didn't let him down however and he scoffed the lot. Mine went in the bin - minus the frosting which was yummy.

In compassion these rather squished efforts from Clapham's Bread Stall, on Northcote Road were really tasty, flavoursome and had a lovely homemade taste to them. Alas they got a bit squished on our travels but they did start out looking rather nicer!

The Banoffee cupcake from Cafe Nero was perhaps one of the sweetest most unpleasant things I've ever put in my mouth. I recommend neither this or their coffee.

Alas this post is full of dry cupcakes - this one from Tina We Salute You was a bit of a letdown as their cupcakes are usually fabulous. Still worth giving them a go though as previous cakes have been really nice, and their coffee is worth travelling for.

Another coffee shop cupcake, another mouthful of sugar - this strawberry one from Costa's was edible but not that tasty. Really didn't live up to their advertising of "all other cupcakes stand aside" why are you going to send them into a diabetic coma? Very, very sweet and not recommended. And their coffee isn't nice either!

Finally, I can't find the picture but we popped into Buttercup at Westfield after we watched Alice in Wonderland there and got one of the worst cupcakes of my life. Dry, flavourless, smelly and totally inedible. This is a company that has gone from being one of my favourites to one I am actively telling readers of this blog to avoid - I wasted nearly £3 on a vanilla cupcake that I don't believe had seen vanilla, but do believe had been baked a few days earlier from the smell and texture of the cake. I'm still mortified I bought some of these cupcakes last year for a friends birthday and all of them were stale. I gave it one last chance as everyone can make mistakes but unfortunately it just reinforced their quality is nowhere near as good as before. Avoid at all costs unless you like stale flavourless cupcakes. See previous posts about their greatness here and here, their fall from my favourites here.

Testing the Primrose Bakery book

Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery arrived on Thursday am at work and it was SOOO beautiful I left as early as possible to test out the vanilla cupcake recipe!

The recipe was quite different to the usual Hummingbird one I use - using self raising and plain flour and more eggs but apart from that it was the usual suspects of the cupcake recipe. I was quite concerned that the recipe kept telling me to mix lots as I'm used to not over-mixing being the norm for my cupcake baking. It was all quite easy except I was a bit worried when I went to fill my cupcake cases and there seemed to be LOADS of mixture! I divided it between the 12 cases recommended and put them in the oven to bake.

Firstly can I say the smell was heavenly - cakes baking always smell good but these ones wafted a gorgeous smell throughout my house. I had a peek half way through cooking time (through the glass door, don't worry!) and they seemed to be doing well, 5 minutes later I looked again and they were rising into MONSTERS!! When they were fully cooked they were HUGE!

I left them to cool and started to make the frosting. It was only then I realised the frosting recipe was for 15-20 cupcakes - which I find quite annoying when the recipes are for 12 cupcakes. What am I going to do with the extra frosting? I know I could eat it but I eat enough frosting without making extra for goodness sake! So I halved the ingredients and thought if there wasn't enough I'd deal with the consequences later. As it turned out there was just enough to cover all the cakes - I think they could've used a smidge more frosting but then that's just because the frosting was TO DIE FOR! Seriously - it was FAB. Very tasty and very much like you get in their shops :)

When it came to frosting them they were quite difficult as they were a bit bumpy on top (and I can never bring myself to cut off the extra cake on top to make a flat surface as I've read some people do!). Next time I'll follow their easy (looking) guide on how to frost a cupcake the Primrose way which calls for lots of frosting!

So the frosting was gorge - the cakes were a little dense, which I think was to do with the over-mixing - next time I'll be a bit more conscious of the mixing. Also I'd have added a wee bit more vanilla to the base - maybe fresh rather than the good quality extract I use. I was a little disappointed on the day with their dense texture however the next day they tasted really good - still a little dense but still much better than some I've had by professionals so I was quite chuffed.

The book is full of really gorgeous sounding recipes including the lovely rose cupcakes I like so much from Primrose - and lots of festive and seasonal cupcakes - I may try out their Halloween suggestions. As well as cupcakes it features a few of their layer cake recipes but none of their yummy biscuits which is a shame. The book photography is pure food porn - just looking at it makes you want to slap on a pinny and get baking - or pop to one of their shops if you don't fancy baking!

Finally as you can see in the pics they're not the prettiest looking cupcakes ever - a bit lumpy and bumpy but the lovely cases do help them look prettier I think. They're from Squires Kitchen and I highly recommend them - the best cupcake cases I've used!

I am a master baker

Well not quite but I did manage to make some exceptionally yummy cupcakes tonight following the recipe from my gorgeous Hummingbird Bakery cookbook.

I think that perhaps the cupcake cafes of London should be worrying about the downturn in their profits following my discovery that I can bake 12 yummy cupcakes for the price of a couple, although if I continue to home bake, and eat, then any money I save on cupcakes will be spent in the clothes shops of London as my girth expands..lol

I highly recommend the book -the cake is very moist and melt in the mouth -and the frosting is simply divine!!! And it's not just me blowing my own trumpet honest...I'd be the first to admit if they tasted ropey!

More Sex and the City..and cupcakes!

I'm sure the obsession between cupcakes and SATC will end soon - however for the moment they're everywhere. Selfridges have finally put the cupcakes up on their site - I shall pop in tomorrow to see if they're still doing them, purely for research purposes of course :)

I hope they have some rampant rabbit and boys ones if they're in stock :)

I'll have to pick up some of the limited edition SATC Diet Coke bottles when I'm there too!