I got love in my tummy

I mentioned Yummy Boutique last month when their amazing whoopie pie saved the day after a disappointing Crumbs and Doilies cupcake. Since then I've been back. Twice. The first time I got possibly the most gorgeous whoopie pie yet - coconut. It was amazing. You can see a pic here but its rubbish as it was on my mobile and I took it very quickly as a pigeon was dying to peck it - a pigeon with good taste! I also got chatting to the lovely ladies behind Yummy Boutique and I mentioned I was hoping to try their cupcakes after last time, however they told me they're not allowed to sell cupcakes at Partridges which is unfortunate. As I couldn't buy them the ladies gifted me some and I have to say they are a must taste cupcake.

We had four flavours, all with a chocolate base except for the oreo. My favourite was the chocolate coconut - I'm a sucker for anything coconut and the frosting was so tasty - sweet but not too sweet and really flavoursome with a lot of coconut - just perfect. Manny's favourite was the double chocolate with the ferrero rocher on top and this was my second favourite. A moist chocolate cupcake base covered with lashings and I mean LASHINGS of decadent chocolate frosting - it was basically a pure ganache frosting! Third favourite was the Oreo - I could only manage about half as it was quite large, but the frosting was sublime. I've had a few Oreo cupcakes and this one is by far the best. Manny really liked the fourth flavour, which I think had cream cheese frosting on but it was a little sweet for me (But if it was cream cheese frosting I'm not keen on it as I find it too sweet so this explains it for me!)

Yummy Boutique are going to be selling their cupcakes and whoopies at the new Elephant and Castle Sunday food market or you can get their whoopies and cakes at Partridges Market on Saturdays.

Finally thanks to the lovely Yummy Boutique for the gift and I will be back for another whoopie very soon :)

Cupcake Milkshake

Have just found out via Twitter that Burger King in the US do a cupcake milkshake - how wicked. It is described as "tasting like you're drinking a cupcake...delish" DELISH indeed. I want to try!

Thanks to Donuts for Dinner for the pic

Primrose Bakery Chocolate cupcakes = home baked heaven

Firstly, I apologise for the pics, the light and my camera were working against me.

So last weekend, I finally got round to making the chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting from my Primrose Bakery book that I'd been planning since October.

Making the base used pretty much every bowl in my house -there was chocolate to melt, egg yolks to beat, sugar and butter to cream, egg whites to peak - then there was sifting, mixing and folding - all of which took ages. But once they were in the oven all my hard work seemed to be paying off as the smell of chocolate wafting through my house was making my mouth water. The frosting was also a first for me - when I've made chocolate frosting before it's called for cocoa powder, however this recipe called for lashings of freshly melted dark chocolate, which I had to stop Manny from drinking out of the pyrex jug I'd melted it in!

I could barely get them frosted quickly enough for Manny who was hovering round the kitchen waiting to lick the frosting bowl clean. No Maison Cupcake left-over frosting issues in my kitchen! I could use Manny standing eagerly waiting for me to finish as an excuse for my slap-dash approach to cupcake decorating but I really prefer them to look home-made rather than fancy, which is just as well as my attempts at fancy haven't really worked! Next time though I'd just leave them plain without sprinkles or use the chocolate sprinkles as I think the colour sprinkles look a bit odd on the chocolate frosting! The silver balls are for Manny as he loves them for some reason - I find they just hurt my teeth!

So, the important part - how did they taste? Firstly I'm not a fan of chocolate frosting (much to Manny's horror) and I found this frosting to be one of the nicest I've ever tasted. It was almost like a thick chocolate mousse and not too sweet (maybe due to the dark chocolate in it?). The base was really soft and very chocolaty - the denseness of the chocolate reminded me of a chocolate brownie, but the sponge was lighter. All in all one of the nicest cupcakes I've ever baked. If you're a fan of chocolate cupcakes, or know someone who is, I highly recommend the Primrose recipe - these would be perfect to give to friends or neighbours as a gift - especially if your decorating skills are better than mine!

Oh and I also highly recommend the Squires cupcake cases I bought some time ago - this is the second time I used them and they are by far the best.

Its cupcake weekend...wuhu

Its Outsider Tart's cupcake weekend this weekend and I hope to make it along to the new Chiswick store tomorrow - however there are a lot of road closures so I mightn't make it which is quite perturbing as this months selection looks GOOD - their theme this week is Nebraska :) 

Raspberry Polenta with raspberry buttercream

Gingerbread with lemon cream cheese frosting

Maple pecan with maple glaze

Peanut butter chocolate chip with peanut butter frosting

Chocolate Polenta with mocha cream frosting

Blackout

Banana Orange

Vanilla Vanilla (YUM...my fave)

I'm loving the gingerbread, the banana, the peanut butter and of course the vanilla! In fact (as usual) they all sound great!

The Chiswick shop will have a selection of the weekend cucpakes  and also some layer cakes, tarts and brownies...yum! And of course you can catch them at the markets - locations here. 

Thanks to Outsider Tart for use of their Twitpic of their blackout cupcakes being prepared...think Manny'll be trying to lick the screen when he sees it ;) 

I love Love Bakery

I've been meaning to check out Love Bakery for months but everything has conspired to keep me away from it but today we finally made it to the Kings Road to get some lovely cupcakes from them!

The shop is very cute with lots of lovely flavours to choose from and a couple of daily specials. We got a chocolate with chocolate frosting, a chocolate with cream cheese frosting (both for Manny), and a vanilla and a rose for me! The people working there were really nice and asked what decorations you wanted on your cake and the girl serving us agreed with me that it's all part of the fun of a cupcake to get to choose the decorations. As you can see I plumped for the butterfly covered in glitter - the girliest one they had there.

To the cakes...WOW! The base was soft and very fresh on both my cakes, and Manny's. The frosting was divine and melt in the mouth. Definitely straight into the top five for the Love Bakery!

Tea and cupcakes

Yesterday we made it to the Covent Garden food market, mainly to get our hands on the Crumbs and Doilies flavour of the month - earl grey.

C&D describe it as a subtle and slightly citrussy taste of the English summer, and I have to agree - the flavour was very subtle but very moreish and the frosting was fab! As usual Crumbs and Doilies make the perfect cupcake :) They're only available for June so make sure you go grab one asap!

Cupcake Stop - the best idea ever?

I spend most of my days wishing I was in New York (sad...but true), and reading about cool new NY stuff like Cupcake Stop just is not helping my "homesickness" for NY! pout

Started by a recent graduate that realised he wasn't going to get employed this year due to the ongoing credit crunch it sounds right up my street!

Our business concept is short and simple - Serve New Yorkers delicious cupcakes on THEIR terms.

We know how stressful and fast-paced this city can be, so we park our truck in easily accessible locations and always have fresh cupcakes waiting!

Our cupcakes are baked from scratch daily.

We are committed to using the freshest and highest quality ingredients, creating a taste you won’t find anywhere else. We take our commitment to quality seriously, so every cupcake that we sell is fresh and any unsold treats are donated to City Harvest to feed the less fortunate.

Our little cupcake shoppe’s menu features traditional and unique flavors that you’ll absolutely love. Our highly experienced pastry chef is never satisfied and constantly pushes the envelope with new scrumptious creations. Be sure to check our Menu regularly for our daily specials!

I love the whole NY food truck thing -they have a great choice (We kept meaning to check out Treats Truck but never managed to be in the right place at the right time!) of foodstuffs, and this sounds like an absolute winner! Check out their menu to see their fab range of flavours, including black and white cookie..yum!

I'd love to set up something similar in the UK - if only I could drive!

Thanks to Serious Eats NY for alerting me to the existence of Cupcake Stop and to Cupcake Stop for the pics - doesn't their tye dye cupcake look fab!

Buy cake

Yesterdays Sheerluxe email demanded that I buy cake, eat cake and after looking at Buy Cake's website I have to say I'd be very tempted if only I'd not been practicing cupcake recipes for the last couple of weeks and have now had my fill for a few days at least!

Michelle and I have been friends for a long time and share a passion for good quality and great tasting homemade cakes. Having baked over and above what any normal family could eat (in a lifetime) we decided to set up our homemade cake and cookie company.

If you want a delivery of cupcakes I reckon these are worth checking out!

Thanks to Buy Cake for the gorgeous pics of their cupcakes! I heart the buzzy bea one!

It's cupcake weekend

at Outsider Tart, and they have some delicious sounding treats on offer...

Honey cupcake with an apple honey frosting

Orange Poppy cupcake with orange frosting

Italian cream cupcake with cream cheese frosting

Chocolate caramel - chocolate cake with caramel ganache filling and chocolate frosting

Lemon Drop - lemon cake, lemon curd and lemon frosting

Peanutbutter cupcake with dark chocolate ganache and chocolate frosting
White chocolate cupcake with vanilla custard and vanilla frosting

I doubt I'm going to make it due to other commitments but I love the sound of the lemon drop cupcake...yummy!

The pics are from the last cupcake weekend which I've only just realised I never posted the pics of...sorry! As usual they were gorgeous and Manny od'd on chocolate :)

Crumbs and Doilies in Covent Garden...YAY!

As of yesterday, one of our favourite cupcake bakers will have a stall in Covent Garden on Thursdays from midday (end times vary depending on dates -click here for further info) as part of the Real Food Festival which runs until September!!

I popped by yesterday and picked up some mini cupcakes, including two of their flavour of the month, cherry and almond. All I can say is YUM! After the "wrong" taste of the M&S cakes these were just what the doctor order- utterly melt in the mouth scrummy :) I may have to pop to their stall at Partridges Market tomorrow to see if I can get a full size one!

Punks love the pink cupcakes!

They look quite similar to the last lot and tasted just as good - although I think my frosting was even nicer this time - I whipped it for 8mins rather than 5 so it was even fluffier! Nothing better after a bad week at work than licking the frosting bowl!

Currently winging their way down to Plymouth with Terminal Decline and Dirty Love in a pink transit van!

The next lot will be a different colour I promise!

Hmmmmmmmm cupcakes....drool

Although still showing a release date of March 12th on Amazon, my Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook arrived yesterday and I cannot stop drooling over it - it is GORGEOUS! Seriously it is perhaps the most gorgeous cookbook I've ever seen! Honest!

There are tonnes of cupcake recipes, including their fabulous red velvet and green tea (and the usual suspects, vanilla, chocolate and Manny's fave - black bottom!). But it's not all cupcakes, there are recipes for layer cakes, including Hummingbird and a Brooklyn Blackout cake that I think if Manny spots the pic will have him licking the page! There are muffins, savoury and sweet, cookies and brownies, including their frosted version.

I'm hoping to get some time this weekend to make the vanilla cupcakes as the book is just too gorgeous not to!

Go buy the book now!! Available on Amazon and in Hummingbird Bakeries!

Oh and Gwyneth Paltow endorses the book on the front but please don't let that put you off!

GIANT cupcake alert

This was posted today on the "Friends of Parklife" Facebook group - its sights like this that put a smile on my face! Its so glittery and yummy looking!

A trip to Parklife is called for v.soon....(hint hint Manny!)

Fair Cake cupcakes

I have wanted to try Fair Cake's cupcakes for some time and on this lovely snowy day I finally got to!!

Shakhita from Fair Cake had emailed me earlier this week to alert me that a new cafe in Greenwich, Biscuit, was selling her cakes at weekends. Unfortunately I couldn't make this weekend but as we had a "snow day" off work today we plodded through the snow to Greenwich Park (via the Deptford Project for coffee and cake for sustenance - I walked over 13 miles so needed it!) and on the way back noticed Biscuit was across the road - we ventured through the slush and wuhu there were cupcakes! I got a vanilla, Manny a chocolate and they were GREAT. Really moist, yummy and full of flavour - the frosting on both was melt in your mouth. My camera seems to have been affected by the cold weather (or my hands were shaking) so the pictures are pants I'm afraid - you can check out some official website pics here to see how great they usually look! This just means that I'll have to go back to get some more cupcakes to get some better pics - also next time they wont be squished in a snowy back-pack on the stomp home!

Also if you're artistic and fancy painting some crockery you can paint your own ceramic cupcake pot at Biscuit!

Finally, if you're in the area go visit the Deptford Project - its fab and the usually have cupcakes but didn't today due to the snow! Our coffees were great, as was our cake - especially Manny's chocolate one which was HUGE and v.yummy!

Cupcakes and bakes

Another new cupcake discovery today - Cupcakes and Bakes in Greenwich's newly launched weekly food market. They will be there Wednesdays and Thursdays so pop along and try some of their lovely cupcakes. We had a vanilla and a chocolate with vanilla frosting and they were very yummy with lovely frosting! I loved the home made taste of the cakes as well - I really do like it when cakes TASTE homemade rather than churned out in a factory!

I shall be returning!!

Sorry the pic isn't the best - my cameras being a pain and also the cakes were in my bag for a while and got a wee bit squished - still tasted fab though!

Typical!

I'm always hunting for cupcake items (seriously I'm always on blogs and other cupcake sites!!) and I HATE it when I find something and its out of stock :(

I love this bag from http://www.tokyojazzpanda.co.uk - it looks so good I could lick the frosting