Wedding anniversary at Peggy Porschen's Parlour

Halloween was our 11th wedding anniversary and of course we needed cake and where better than my favourite cake parlour in London - Peggy Porschen. If people ask where to go for tea and cake in London I always suggest Peggy's - who can fail to fall in love with such a beautiful pink parlour? This is the colour everything in my house would be if Manny would allow it! 

We opted for a cupcake each - Manny going for Chocolate Heaven and I opted for Sticky Toffee - one of their range I've wanted to try for some time. 

Manny's Chocolate Heaven cake was delicious. I'm sometimes put off chocolate cake by bad frosting - this one was as light as a feather. As was the cake.

My Sticky Toffee one was fabulous. The addition of walnuts was a little strange at first but I think it added some good texture to the cake. Again the frosting was divine.

When we finished Manny went and got the Halloween special - a pumpkin and cream cheese cupcake which we shared while finishing our coffees. I'm not that fond of pumpkin - sometimes I find it makes me gag - but this one was lovely. And the cream cheese frosting was again lovely. The cake itself was heavily spiced which I really liked. 

We left clutching two take away cupcakes (I know we're fatties but we just couldn't resist), for our trip around Brompton Cemetery where we snuggled, fed squirrels and crows, and had a lovely day. There are no photos of the second lot of cupcakes alas as when we were taking some photographs in the Cemetery I put the cakes down and the box blew over. We still ate them obviously! Manny had a Black Forest and I had a Banoffee - Manny loved his (I tried a bit and it was really flavoursome), however my Banoffee wasn't my favourite cupcake ever I have to admit - the banana flavour wasn't that strong but it was moist and fresh so better than a lot of cupcakes I've had previously. 

The perfect anniversary day out in London. 

And the sky was all violet

There's a new cupcakery in town. Well in East London. Violet have opened their first shop near Hackney (just a few stops on the (air-conditioned) Overground for me - yay!).

I've had Violet cakes a few times and loved them (but wasn't so keen on their famous salted caramel) so cannot wait to visit the store.

You can check out some pics of the store and some info about upcoming events (including a promised Whoopie pie weekend!) on their blog and their shop can be found at:

47 Wilton Way, E8 3ED, London - map (and a beautifully hand drawn map on their blog)

Opening times: Wednesday to Saturday 10:30–6:00 Soon to open on Sundays.

Look out for a blog post about our upcoming visit soon :)

The Chelsea Teapot

Manny and I spend quite a few weekends in the Sloane Square/Kings Road area - mainly because its a way for me to get him out of the house on a Saturday by bribing him with curry from The Indian Kitchen Co at Partridges Market and a chili for dinner with the fabulous beef I can get from the lovely Woodwards Farm stall. And lets not forget Yummy Boutique, Sobo Chocolate and Crumbs and Doilies. Oh, and Love Bakery and Hummingbird Bakery are not that far away either! It's a little bit of food heaven in SW London! And it's such a nice area of London to spend a Saturday in!

Yesterday we had a new place to check out - The Chelsea Teapot. It's been right down the other end of the King's Road for a while (a year or so if my googling is to be believed) and is well worth the walk (or you can jump on a bus to World's End if you prefer).

It's a really cute pastel painted cafe with a couple of seats outside and a window full of cakes to tempt you. Once inside there are lots of lovely cupcake and other items for sale as well as teas, coffees, soft drinks (including the Fentimans), ice cream and of course - cake!

We opted for a vanilla cupcake and cappuccino for me, and a chocolate cupcake and peppermint tea for Manny and got a seat. There's room for about10-15ish people inside and more room out in the secret garden at the back!

Lots of the crockery is cupcake themed, including Manny's teapot of peppermint tea, and the walls are covered in lovely pastel framed prints or vintage plates and there's a gorgeous chandelier. It's a very pretty and quaint cafe. You probably can't tell from my pic below however as I didn't want to use the flash in the cafe as it was peaceful and relaxing and I'd have disturbed others.

The cupcakes were really tasty and fresh. My vanilla one had a hint of almond but it didn't detract from the fact it tasted lovely and was very flavoursome. Manny tells me his cake was incredibly chocolaty and there was lots of hmm'ing so I think he enjoyed it! The coffee was good and Manny's huge pot of tea for under £2 was a bargain!

The staff were as welcoming as the cafe and we shall definitely be making a return visit - we usually end up in Starbucks or Peter Jones for a drink after shopping but this is a much nicer alternative!

Oh and finally - the loos were so pretty I could've stayed there for some time. Again lots of cupcake/cake prints and a teapot rug at the bottom of the stairs. I believe they hold children's cake decorating skills downstairs in the large mirrored area, and there were adverts for tarot evenings. Hopefully their website will be up and running soon to keep up to date with what is going on.

I couldn't resist photographing the whimsical sign on the kitchen entrance

MyChelle's Baketique

It seems I've mentioned Cakespy lots recently but I can't help it - she just keeps tweeting fabulous news that I have to share.

Today I was sitting on the bus catching up on recent tweets when I spotted this:

in London, MyChelle's Baketique has a cupcake bar with frosting shots. Wonderful London!

Along with this message was a link to their website, so I just had to click and read more about it - alas the website is infact just a front page with some basic details about what they offer, all in all not very inspiring.

Then when I got to work I got my daily Daily Candy email and lo and behold it was about MyChelle's Baketique;

We’ve found a better way to rack up green credentials.

Energy-efficient MyChelle’s Baketique — the adorable cupcake shop inside new ecofriendly hotel...

uses farm-fresh ingredients and recyclable packaging. New Yorker Michelle Husserl bakes delicious cakes and cupcakes in gourmet flavours like margarita, lemon meringue, carrot, fig, and peanut butter and jelly with an oozing centre. A cupcake bar serves icing shots — perfect for a quick, intense sugar high.

Hmm sounds more and more interesting, so I checked out the Hotel Rafayel blog;

Founded by Michelle Husserl, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute, Mychelle’s Baketique offers a full range of pastries and sweets for any occasion. Located in the lobby of Hotel Rafayel, the Baketique will be an irresistible diversion for anyone who passes its appetising window display.

Imagine tables stacked high with beautifully designed cupcakes decorated in the brightest Bollywood colours. Then imagine a row of delicious ice cream cones....wait, that won’t work. They’d melt. But, no. These are no ordinary ice cream cones. These are Mychelle’s utterly divine ice cream cone cupcakes. They have to be seen (and tasted) to be believed

So - margarita cupcakes, ice cream cone cupcakes, frosting shots, cupcakes - I'm sold!! I must go there soon! I was thinking about dragging Manny there on Monday as we have the day off but it depends on how keen he is about going to Battersea - although there is a brewery there so he may be up for it! I also read in BMI Voyager magazine that the cupcake shots are only 90p! Bargain, for that price you can have a couple!

Thanks to Hotel Rafayel and MyChelle's Baketique for use of the pics.

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!

Cupcakes in Brixton

According to the 50 Coolest Places to Eat in last weeks Observer Food Monthly, Rosies Deli Cafe in Brixton Market is a fab place to visit for cupcakes so I shall be going asap! I've been trying to persuade Manny to take me to Franco Manco for pizza for sometime, and we have a few days off next week so I'm hoping we can maybe make it then!

You can read more about Rosie's deli cafe here.

That's how the cupcake crumbles...

A cupcake really shouldn't crumble...should it??

This was unfortunately the scenario that faced us yesterday at the much anticipated (by me) Cupcake Emporium near Hyde Park. I'd first read about it a couple of weeks ago via my usual cupcake Google search (I often sit and go through the first 50 or so pages of searches via Google...see I work hard for this blog!).

About themselves Cupcake Emporium had this to say...

We take pride in using all natural ingredients where we can an also trying to make these devilish desserts as low in calories as we can but still maintaining the amazing taste.

The recipes we use have been handed down through generations and accumulated through years of baking

When you visit us you will not only be amazed by the range of cupcakes and coffees we offer but also the surroundings, we are nestled in a quiet street just off Hyde Park where you can sit and enjoy people watching or just relaxing in a lovely atmosphere.

About it myself and Manny mainly had to say "Why does our cupcake have the texture of an overbaked cookie".

Yep I think these could possibly take the prize for the oddest cupcake we've tasted.

When they first arrived they were a bit disappointing to look at but I knew they weren't going to be all swirly from the pictures on their website (please note their is a pic of a swirly frosted cupcake on their site..NONE of their cupcakes look like this, they're all flatly frosted), however nothing had prepared me for the disappointing first taste. Actually it came before the first taste - when I tried to put my spoon into the cake and it kinda bounced back...it was HARD....I persevered (in the name of cupcake research) and bejesus it took some effort to get through it...and then it tasted of overcooked cookie as previously mentioned. It was v.v.v.v.v.odd - I thought it was just mine, so I waited for Manny to wrestle his way into this double chocolate sin cupcake and alas it was the same story...hard, cookie-like and not much taste. My vanilla sundae was completely flavourless, no taste of vanilla, nothing. I honestly have never tasted a cake like it - it wasn't stale, it was just not a cake - it really was a cookie!

It's a real shame as the people who run the place seemed really sweet and the cafe is quite adorable with its 50s diner decor, however I really cannot agree with the comments on their Trusted Places site which claims they are the best cupcakes in London. Maybe we got them on an off day - please get in touch if you've tried them and loved them as I'd love to hear...I however wont be paying 2.75 a go to try another one anytime soon. Thankfully the trip wasn't a total disaster - we found a lovely pub, The Mitre, which served Erdinger, real ale and what looked and smelt like rather fab food!

Sorry some of the reviews may seem a bit negative lately but I aim to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth on my blog!

Love Bakery - a new cupcakery in London

Today's Daily Candy alerted me to a new cupcake store in London...wu hu

Being in love feels like walking into a world of candy-coloured cupcakes.
No, really it does.
Take a trip to Love Bakery — Chelsea’s newest cupcake shop — and see for yourself. This adorable little store is owned by fashion PR-turned-mother Samantha Parkes, whose home-baked cakes regularly resulted in a mob scene at her children’s school fairs.
She now offers a selection of red velvet, chocolate, vanilla, lemon or rose-flavoured cupcakes in her very own hot pink and green shop, where each treat gets a finishing touch like a chocolate-dipped strawberry, icing rose, butterfly or sprinkles.
Everything is made by Parkes and a small team of helpers on site in domestic ovens and using the same ingredients you’d find in your own kitchen.
Just one will leave you wanting amour.
Love Bakery, 319 Kings Road, SW3 5EP (020 7352 3191)

I would've gone to check it out tonight after work but we popped along to the chocolate fest instead (lots of choc, no cupcakes). I'd go tomorrow but of course its cupcake day at Outsider Tart so I shall have to go next week instead! I shall blog about it asap!