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.
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.
There is a new cupcake stall at the farmers market, Duke of York Square, it's called Peggy's. I tried the violet flavour which was very nice.
ReplyDeleteI definately agree about the Clapham Bread Stall, their cakes were great. I think a return visit is called for :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Edith - If its the same Peggy's that sells in Greenwich/The Brunswick I've had a few cakes. They started out well but the last ones I had were very dry. This was about a year ago though so maybe I should give them another try! thanks :)
ReplyDeleteManny - is that because you want to scoff cupcakes or go to the Draught House!
Both, the cakes and the food at the Draught House were both great! I may have a beer when we go back too :)
ReplyDeleteI love your green plastic grass! I want some!
ReplyDeleteMy last Buttercup Cake was rubbish too.
Anne, I didn't know you were making your Iron Cupcake debut!! otherwise I would have said Hi...not that I knew what you look like! (I do now cause I remember seeing your cuppies plated up and ogling your purple cases which were awesome! and I also noticed you cause of your polka dot bag!) Glad you enjoyed it, I always love it and like you can't wait for the next!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the Tayberry ones so much too and was pleased they won, and I only just worked out that my two favourite from last months contest were also baked by Eloise so she must be my fave Iron cupcake baker!I loved the icing swirls on yours, they were so neat and uniform on each one! and I really enjoyed the toffee flavour...I like you thought there would be lots of banoffees so didn't do that and then I couldn't believe there weren't any!
I was very happy halfway through your post to discover you liked my coconut hi-hats! thanks for your lovely compliments and I will certainly let you know the recipe, Samantha wants it too so I just have to stop being lazy and type it up and then I'll post it on my blog! I enjoyed your comprehensive write up!! gem :)
Hey Gem
ReplyDeleteI thought I recognised your from your pic but wasn't 100% sure -sorry! I had meant to get in touch and say we'd be making our IC debut ;)
The cases I bought from Eloise - and several people complimented them - they really are the best cases I've ever bought!
I'm so glad it turned out to be someone I (kinda) know that made those coconut ones - honestly they were so yummy. I'm a total coconut fan and my friend from the states loved them very much also!
Eloises tayberrys were gorgeous - those and the strawberry vegan ones were my favourite of the professionals!
Looking forward to your recipe and hopefully will say hi at the next one :)