Friday, May 25, 2012

London bakeries and cake decorating

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I got to visit just two bakeries so far, though London obviously has more. With all its amazing street food options it's hard to cover everything. But there could be no holiday without a good bakery in the capital of five o'clock tea.

I especially loved Bea's of Bloomsbury, which is an American style bakery. I visited the branch next to St. Paul's cathedral (one of the two). It is tiny, very pretty and comfortable to sit inside. The tea (Earl Grey) tasted great to me. I was biased though - it was very cold outside which makes me grateful for any hot drink.


Chocolate cakes look really good. I had the one with Bailey's buttercream. The sponge and chocolate ganache were great, but I'd prefer something different instead of buttercream.

I took some brownies and blondies away. The classic brownie was OK. The blondie (white chocolate brownie) was really good. See more pictures of my visit to Bea's of Bloomsbury.

I also got to visit Hummingbird bakery, which is located on Portobello road. I was glad I came there, because Portobello road and its antiques road market is very much worth visiting anyway, even if you are not into antiques.

The bakery is also American style. This branch has virtually no sitting space, so it is more suitable for take aways. They have their own nice style of cupcake decorating. We tried their grasshopper cupcake (chocolate cake with green grasshopper cream inside), which was good. Carrot cupcake was also fine.


Red velvet cupcake I didn't particularly enjoy, because I couldn't help comparing it to the one at Moscow Upside down cake bakery. The one at UDC tastes better (it is less sweet and the frosting is more about cream cheese than about butter).

Brownie cheesecake is quite interesting. Worth trying. See more pictures of my visit to Hummingbird bakery.

If I go back to eating cupcakes in London, I'll probably visit these bakeries next: Ms Cupcake (vegan only cupcake bakery), Bake-a-booCrumbs & DoiliesVioletButtercup Cake Shop

As I'm one of those who really like home baking I couldn't miss an opportunity to visit some of London's cake decorating shops and ended up at Jane Asher Party Cakes and Sugarcraft. Moscow doesn't have anything at all close to that, so it was a true paradise for me.


All the baking pans, palettes, cookies shapes and decor I could ever dream of were there, reachable with my hand. I did indeed reach with my hand to quite some of those, which had its effect on the budget of my trip. See more pictures of my visit to Jane Asher.

I was also looking at Cakes 4 Fun cake decorating shop and classes but didn't yet make it this time.

Related:

London food: a personal guide
London street food and casual eating
London gastronomy markets and shopping


British / American food in Moscow: Upside down cake bakery, Montalto (NY style pizza), Corner BurgerCoffee bean cafe

More recipes for British / American food

2 comments:

  1. I like bakeries very much, they are so cosy and so many sweet things are served there. It was quite interesting reading your post. Thank you

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    Replies
    1. Me too, bakeries always make me comfortable and happy! Great that you enjoyed the post. Thank you

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