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!

Heaven sent cupcakes!!!!

I don't believe in angels but if I did they'd be working at Angel Food Bakery in Brighton sprinkling their fairy dust into the frosting I'd imagine!

After a recommendation from fellow cupcaker Consumed by Cake I'd been trying to get to Brighton for a few months now to check out Angel Food and finally made it on Halloween! And it was worth the wait!! We pretty much headed straight to the Bakery when we got there for a cupcake and a coffee as it was freezing (any excuse!!!). When we walked in it was quite busy, with people enjoying a cuppa and a cupcake AND with the smell of cupcakes baking!!! The place smelt GOOD!! I had a red velvet and Manny was persuaded that one was enough and had a chocolate cookie cupcake! My red velvet was up there in the top tasting and from the frenzy of scoffing next to me I know Manny enjoyed his! At this point I was a little disappointed as the only Halloween cupcakes were the display only however my frown was to be turned upside down later...

We resisted the temptation to scoff some more and had a good walk around Brighton for a few hours before heading back to get some cupcakes to take back to London! (You didn't really think we'd just have two cupcakes? Especially as this was our wedding anniversary - an excuse to eat cake if ever there was one!!!).

When we returned there was quite the queue (this place is popular!) and they'd replenished their stocks, including the Halloween cupcakes! Wuhu!! We got two devil cupcakes which were chocolate with cream cheese frosting (my memory has gone, I blame the cold drugs I'm taking!), a double chocolate for Manny and a vanilla for me! Excuse the pics of these being a bit squiffy but so were we after several drinks in the Evening Star before the last trian home! After a lot of Kriek nothing beats a yummy cupcake!

These were definitely some of the best cupcakes I've tried and if I lived closer I'd be a regular visitor! The batter on each cake was really moist and the frosting was to die for - I could've slapped the woman next to me who sat carefully removing her frosting before eating the cake...WHY?????!!!! With frosting this good its just sacrilege to waste it - especially in a place with such a heavenly name!!

Thanks Consumed by Cake for alerting me to this place! I'm definitely going to try and make it to the farmers market to try some of your cakes asap!

And another...

They are breeding like rabbits I tell you!

Ok that is it! No more looking for cupcake places in NY!

Number 33 is Lassen and Hennings in Brooklyn Heights which I've just read do FABULOUS red velvet cupcakes!

Oh yummy!

The NY Cupcake Tour continues to grow

We were already at a staggering THIRTY ONE cupcake places to try and visit when we go in March, when I happened upon a post I'd missed previously on one of my favourite blogs - Serious Eats New York. Now with the addition of Penny Licks in Williamsburg we are looking at 32 (aaaargh!!!) - to manage it we'll have to eat 4 cupcakes every day for the 8 days we're there!!!!

They do look too good to miss off the tour though don't they!!!?

Pic courtesy of Serious Eats - thank you :)

The ultimate guide to Red Velvet cupcakes

Good grief...Abby Denson of The City Sweet Tooth blog has been a busy bee! Her fantastic guide to the best red velvet cupcakes in NY appears in the L Magazine and is intended to be a "field guide and checklist to assist NYC's cupcake fiends on their quest for red velvety goodness"

Seriously, I think I heart Abby a little right now - not only has she provided me with a fab checklist but also even MORE cupcake places to add to my tour of NY!

The cupcake snuffling weekend continued

So today we ate the Hummingbird Cupcakes and oh my they were yummy!!!

Manny had a nutella and a red velvet (bottom pic) and I had a red velvet and a carrot (2nd pic). I think their red velvet is one of my favourite ever cupcakes and their carrot wouldn't be far behind! It was really nice, with a little bit of a kick to the batter - it had a ginger/cinnamon hint and was really soft and scrumptious!

Manny's nutella was really nice and from the Mmmmm Mmmmm MMMMM sounds coming from him while he snuffled it I think he enjoyed it LOTS!

I am so indecisive I can never say which is my favourite cupcake place but Hummingbird would deffo be in top three!! Luckily I don't live closer or I'd be even fatter!!!

Hummingbird, hummingbird yum yum yum

On our annual pilgrimage to all things beer, The Great British Beer Fest, at Earls Court, we decided to lunch at Hummingbird on cupcakes and coffee. However after spotting the humongous slices of cake we instead opted for cake for lunch (red velvet for me, devils chocolate for Manny) and got some cupcakes to take away!

The cake was absolutely delicious and the people in Hummingbird were really nice and friendly, as people should be if they work surrounded by frosting and fabulousness :)

We got four cupcakes to take away - a red velvet each (Manny had a chunk of my cake and fell in love), a black bottom and a vanilla. Manny decided that the black bottom is his favourite flavour ever and mine were yummy as usual! The bases are always really light and soft, and the frosting is absolutely melt in your mouth lovely, with lots of it but not so much that it gets sickly!As you can see from the pics they got a little squished at the beer fest and from my photography you can probably tell I got a little squiffy!!! I can safely say that cupcakes are a far better drunken late night snack than any kind of kebab!

Hummingbird definitely is in my top cupcake places in London :)

Craving cupcakes...Daisy Cakes to the rescue

So today I was home alone and craving cupcakes - I have gone nearly 2 weeks without a "fix" so I woke up thinking FROSTING! Then I realised I really wasn't in a 'getting on the bus and listening to each stop being announced then jostling with a zillion people' mood so I decided to ditch my idea of going to Buttercup and went to Daisy Cakes Bake Shop in Greenwich instead.

As soon as I walked into Daisy Cakes and smelt the fresh cupcakes baking I knew it had been a good idea - I quickly got a red velvet and a vanilla and headed home to enjoy a people free Saturday!!

Both cupcakes were gorgeous (I liked the red velvet base best and the vanilla frosting...go figure!) and my people free day has been great :)

I wish every day was cupcake day!!

I made it over to Richmond early on Saturday - mainly cuz I left a very hungover Manny in bed feeling sorry for himself so was able to get out of the house without too much faffing, and this early start paid off as they still had a full range of cupcakes left when I arrived!! I had been drooling since reading their flavours for "cupcake day" and they were worth every second I spent drooling!

I bought 4 - strawberry vanilla and red velvet for me and brownie chunk and Boston cream pie for Manny and all 4 of them were utterly fantastic! The strawberry one was SO good I didn't want it to end - each bite of frosting was like having a zillion of the yummiest, juiciest strawberries you've ever eaten exploding in your mouth all at once! Seriously it was THAT good! My red velvet was utterly fabulous too, nice and soft with a really moreish frosting! Manny seemed to enjoy his also (I swiped a fingerful of his filing from his cream pie one and it was very good and a nibble of his chocolate frosting which was incredibly tasty!)...there were no complaints and lots of yummy noises and it seemed to help cure his hangover - see cupcakes can heal!

The guys from Outsider Tart were really friendly and gave me a gorgeous jute bag to carry my goodies home safely!! I really hope their business grows and grows, like I would if it was cupcake day every day ;)

Go buy their cupcakes ASAP - if you don't you'll only regret it! My only regret - I was so eager to get stuck into eating them my pictures suck..sorry guys!

Hummingbird Bakery Portobello Road

Last Wednesday was another day off work so I went for a wander down Westbourne Grove, via Whiteleys/Hyde Park, checking out Food Inc @ Whiteleys on the way - they had cupcakes but I didn't try them this time as I wanted to go to Hummingbird, but will try them next time - they actually looked like cupcakes from Cake Hole in Columbia Road. I also popped into Tom's Deli in Westbourne Grove and saw their lovely display of goodies including Primrose Bakery cupcakes.

When I've gone to Hummingbird in Portobello Road before there's been such a HUGE queue to get in I've not bothered but at 11.30am on a sunny Wednesday they were quiet :) I got a chocolate for me and a vanilla for Manny and a little cute single container with a vanilla one for my friend Helen! I couldn't resist having a cupcake for my lunch so sat outside with a coffee and a scrumptious red velvet cupcake :) Hummingbird is definitely one of my favourite cupcakeries in London and as usual their cakes were lovely and moist, their frosting thick and yummy :) The shop is v.small but had a good range of flavours (including lemon curd which I must try next time if they have it!) and a few big cakes for sale, whole or by the slice! They had a poster up advertising Thursday as meringue topped cupcake day so I must pop over one Thursday to try those!

What I really loved about my trip there, apart from sitting outside watching the world go by while scoffing a yummy cupcake - when I was sitting outside a couple of Big Issue sellers came over and asked me to watch their dog while they went in and bought a big bag of cupcakes to scoff - they reckoned it's their weekly treat, they were followed into the shop by an obviously wealthy "yummy mummy" with her designer clad kids, while the 4x4 was left outside complete with designer little doggie...cupcakes bring everyone together, they REALLY are magical :)

Just in from our Boston Correspondent

Yes I heart cupcakes has gone International....

My lovely friend Kellie sent me this pic at work today of a red velvet cupcake she bought in a newly opened bakery named Sweet Tooth in her hometown of Boston, MA. She met the owner and bought this HUGE cupcake in my honour - she's so sweet! Bet the cupcake was sweet too, it looks absolutely stunning! I absolutely adore the decoration and the huge amount of frosting on there was making me drool at my desk! I seriously need to get back to the States - the land of the cupcake :)

The bakery looks fab - I love the sound of the "make a wish" cupcake - would it be wrong to wish for "more cupcakes"? Manny would probably drool over the chocolate truffle cupcake - sounds rather scrummy doesn't it!

Thanks Kellie - you rock :)