A Cupcaking Round Up from Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Ironbridge!

So we've moved...again! back to North Wales where we lived two years ago for my husband to finish off his last year of Uni.  We've been here for 3 weeks now and we've had amazing weather so we've been out and about exploring daily, showing Ella the sights and with everything basking in golden sunlight and blue skies I'm wondering what I didn't like about living here the last time around?

Oh yeah...lack of cake!

So whilst I'm dreaming about better cake days, here's a round up of all the best baked treats I've been eating over the past year!   

In Leeds on the last Saturday of every month, Kirkstall Abbey (pictured at the top) hosts a very awesome food market!

It's worth going for the Yummy Yank's stall alone! because everything's baked by an American, so what more needs to be said! Think huge slabs of rocky road bars, peanut butter bars, pecan pie bars and...

chocolate nutella cheesecake cake!
Everything I've ever tried from here is amazing!

I was also SUPER excited to discover a stall selling only Nanaimo bars! which originate from Vancouver Island and are a truly Canadian confection! It's safe to say I ate my fair share whilst we lived over there...and whilst I came across all kinds of combos - raspberry, peanut butter, mint variations...I never came across an Oreo one!

They were so tasty, and I wanted to buy every variety on the stall!!

Heading up to Scotland next...here's my cakey round up of all things tartan and bagpipe like!

Cup is right in Glasgow's town centre, they have a cabinet filled with a good variety of cupcakes, and they also offer afternoon tea's which seemed quite popular. 

For me, their cupcakes were just okay - not particularly moist and the frosting was on the heavy side.

Just outside of the centre is Cushion & Cake, a little vintage style tearoom.  I was a little disappointed with their cake selection on the day I visited.  I had heard good things about this place but none of their flavours were that appealing to me...

until I heard them mention coconut and I was sold! It also came sandwiched with some pineapple jam, I asked them if it was homemade and they said it wasn't (insert stoney Mary Berry face here!) I would have expected a little place like this would have whipped everything up themselves! it was a pretty good cake!

My mom and sister shared the polenta cake and they weren't bowled over either! 

Next up was Cupcakery Bakehouse, whose cupcakes I really wanted to love! We went in when Ella was still a teeny tiny newborn to take away some cakes for a sweet treat! The owner would have chatted to us all day and was such a nice guy, he told us how he had gone down to London and sampled all the cupcakes down there before he opened up...so in my head I was thinking these are going to be good!

 My husband got the ferrero rocher one, and his chocolate frosting tasted of mint! It was so weird! I don't know whether it had been next to mint flavoured ones in the cabinet or if the wrong frosting had been put on but it was just a strange combo!

 My coconut frosting on the bounty cupcake was tasty but again the chocolate cupcake part was just dry, so Glasgow really didn't impress on the cake front!

but in Edinburgh it's a whole different story and the cake scene is a whole lot tastier!

Just off the main road is Bibi's Cake Boutique specialising in cupcakes, and what a variety of flavours they had!

It was a no brainer! and I had to pick the Nutella one! A nice moist chocolate cupcake with fluffy creaming Nutella frosting - you can't go wrong!

Now my very favourite find is Love Crumbs.  I love everything about it, from the piano you can sit at that acts as a table to the little window seat if lucky enough to score it where you literally sit in the window - like you're on display or something! to their unusual flavour combos, and most of all their creamy dreamy beautifully frosted layer cakes! This place is a total winner! 

 

My only complaint, is that both times I've gone have been late in the day and they display their cakes in an open cabinet (which looks very cool and hip admittedly) but I'm pretty sure their cakes would be way fresher if they were contained better...

Storage issues aside,

I present the peanut butter and jelly layer cake!

Any UK cakery that presents peanut butter baked goods makes my husband do a happy dance! He was loving it!

Cheesecake swirled brownie - it's a win win!

Another time went and got peanut butter and white chocolate tart and this utterly divine mint and white chocolate brownie - see those green pieces on top - they were like mint cracknel! which features inside one of my favourite South African chocolate bars, peppermint crisp, where they found them in the UK I will never know but the baked goods are consistently inventive and amazing here! I'm still hoping to make it there one day when they have made their brownie meringue pies because they always look amazing on their IG feed!

Over in Leith, Mimi's Bakehouse had been on my to visit list of a long time! I finally made it with my mom and sister shortly before we left Scotland, which was a shame because had I discovered it sooner I would have been back for sure!!

It was very cute inside, bunting galore!

and I adored the hanging rolling pins and whisks from the wall!

Clearly, Mimi and I think alike!

This coconut slice was the dreamiest creamiest slice to ever touch my lips! I am so desperate to recreate it! a chocolate biscuit base, covered in creamy coconut with tiny coconut shreds in and topped with milk chocolate and a piece of bounty - a coconut lover's dream!

Once back in England again, we couldn't stay in Shropshire without visiting my favourite Shropshire cake establishment - Queenie's Cupcakery.

I was so pleased to see their more out their flavour combos this time around, our first visit they mostly had traditional flavours but I loved that they had branched out!

This berry cupcake was covered in cream cheese frosting, and meringue pieces and was so amazingly delicious it almost made me regret my choice...

almost but not quite because this snickerlicious cupcake was the best cupcake I've eaten all year! Now that's some compliment! The frosting was oh so silky and creamy with a little layer of peanut nougatty goodness underneath and a MOIST chocolate cake! Finally!!

Byron was also super happy with his chocolate hazelnut combo and again we couldn't get over the creaminess of that frosting!!

We took a random daytrip to Liverpool! I googled cupcakeries as you do, and came across Cuthbert's Bakehouse.  I heard their Nutella Cupcakes were worth the visit alone, I tweeted to ask if they would have them on the day we were going and they said they would make them especially - now that's service!

It was all very quaint inside...but with no cupcakes in sight we were getting worried! I asked about the Nutella cupcakes and I was told they were just coming out the oven.  So we had to wait a while for them to cool down and be frosted...but when a fresh Nutella cupcake is headed my way I can find a lot of patience!

They were SO worth the wait! and so good, that we boxed up a whole load of them to take home too! That frosting was to die for!

Sooo silky smooth! if you are ever near Liverpool, you have to detour to try on of those!

 

 

My last caking adventure ended up in London where I hadn't been for nearly 2 years! which was painful for me! I love London with a passion! and the one thing I was desperate to do was try a Nutella duffin from Bea's of Bloomsbury.  I've tried their jam duffins, but as you all know I'm obsessed with Nutella and these little beauties weren't around on my last visit.  I especially tweeted and asked if they would be in the bakery when we visited, I was assured they were made Mon-Fri.  So off we headed to their St.Pauls location which was waaaay out of our way but man I wanted a Nutella duffin! It was bank holiday so they only opened at Midday, cue sitting around in the rain waiting for 30 minutes because no other shops were open either!

and then we get inside and not a duffin in sight! Apparently they only make them at their St.Pauls store on the weekends! I was SO upset to have missed out.  We weren't going to have time to go to their other store...so we picked up a few goodies to keep us going but I was too bitter about my poor Nutella duffin disaster to enjoy them!

The brownie was packed full of coconut and walnuts and was just the fudgy kind of delicious you expect from a brownie, and the monster peanut butter and jelly slice was pleasing my husband no end!

When I'm in a happier mood, I'm sure their key lime cupcake will hit the spot! with toasted meringue frosting and a key lime curd filling - yum!

So that's that...the one upside of a lack of tasty baked goods to buy around these parts is I will be making alot more so hopefully this blog will see more action! and you can bet it's going to be Nutella orientated ;)

The Little Round Cake Company saves the day!

It's official.  I've been in Wales for 4 weeks now and there are still no cupcakes in sight anywhere! This is more than slightly worrying.  So last weekend we went to Shropshire to visit my parents and I knew of exactly the place that could fill the cupcake sized hole in my stomach! 

I have visited The Little Round Cake Company once before, it was in the first few weeks of coming back from the Caribbean when we were staying with my parents and exploring the cupcakes Shropshire had to offer.  You may recall alot of the cupcakes we ate didn't get the best reviews and so The Little Round Cake Company came up trumps with their yummy flavour combos and edible decorations on top! 

For me...I'm not a fan of fondant or random fussy decorations that don't add anything to the cupcake...if you've made a raspberry cupcake I expect a fresh raspberry on top and TLRCC definitely do this right!

I found out they were hosting a stall at a farmers market in Whitchurch the Saturday we were there so we made a special trip to the market just to get some of their delicious goodies! 

Their stall was full to the brim with yummy treats! including 'Tweeners' which are essentially cupcakes cut in half and filled with more frosting! I think this is a great idea because have you ever thought the bottom half of your cupcake was lacking in frosting:cake ratio...I know I have! so these combat that problem! Since I knew we were going to buy a whole bag of treats we didn't get any of these this time, because unfortunately I do have to draw the line (calories wise) somewhere! but next time I want to try these for sure! 

and look at those giant meringues! never have there been so many temptations packed into one little stall! 

but I was definitely there for the cupcakes! so we went with a box of 4.  Oreo, Blackberry and Vanilla, Rocky Road and Banoffee.  All four cupcakes were delicious, and were enjoyed by the whole family (don't worry I share the calories around!) and all of the frostings were creamy and very moreish.  They definitely helped me get my cupcake fix...if anything, being the frosting lover I am, I could have done with a little more frosting but otherwise they were great! 

and being the brownie lovers we are we couldn't pass by this lovely looking white choc brownie.  It was gooey and fudgy in the middle and crisp on top - just how brownies should be! and I even enjoyed mine with a few scoops of mint ice cream for pudding later that evening!!! but for me the star of the show was the beautifully presented white chocolate tart you see before you.  I have never tried a white chocolate tart before and that little drizzle of raspberry was drawing me in so I had to snap one up.  Once you cut inside there was a layer of jam underneath the white chocolate and it was the most dreamy yummy tart I've ever had...I wished as we drove back to Wales (and the land of NO yummy baked treats apparently) that I'd stocked up on enough of those babies to last me the whole week! 

A Cupcake round up!

So you knew it was coming...I'd been out of the country for 8 months and on a cupcake-less Island so you knew when I returned to England I would be cupcaking it up to the max! Here's a little roundup of what I've been indulging in....

Fresh off the plane the day I arrived back in London...my sister, Mara, and I headed straight for Selfridge's.  Lola's has always been a London favourite of mine.  It was the 1st April, we were eagerly anticipating what their flavour of the month would be.  Mara had not been overly impressed with their peppermint hot chocolate flavour for March so we were excited to see what April had to offer.  On the underground we were all guessing what we thought the flavour would be, I said it would probably be coffee or something like that since we don't eat anything with coffee in for religious reasons and of course it turned out it was espresso flavour so we didn't try that! I went with an Oreo one and Mara went with the Red Velvet.

We decided to eat them with a little view of Big Ben in the background (courtesy of a Selfridge's window display!) I was actually quite surprised, Lola's used to be one of my go to cupcakes that I knew would always taste good but I was disappointed, the frosting was so sweet!! Perhaps I've just been spoilt since I was able to try the amazing cupcakes of Crumbs bakery whilst in the Caribbean and now nothing will ever compare! 

After that we headed to Covent Garden.  I had wanted to go and check out Sweet Couture, but I got as far as the front door and it wasn't very inspiring - the flavours were pretty normal and nothing really looked too amazing so we gave it a miss and decided Ella's Bakehouse would offer something far yummier.  I got the banoffee, by this point of the day jetlag had set in and I was so tired I forgot to take pics! 

A few days later, we headed to Cheshire Oaks (an awesome outlet shopping centre about 45 minutes from where I'm living in Shropshire).  Mara had said at Christmas she'd remembered seeing a cupcake stall so I was pretty excited.  When we came across The Cupcake Compartment, it was located across from a Krispy Kremes stand.  

My advice to you would be choose a Krispy Kreme every time, the cupcakes were really uninspiring, the majority were just chocolate or vanilla sponges with different coloured frostings on top.  

For example Mara opted for the Rolo cupcake which was just a straight forward chocolate sponge with chocolate frosting and a Rolo on top! I would have at least expected a caramel filling or something that would tie the cupcake to the actual name rather than just a Rolo on top! I went for a mint cupcake which again was pretty standard - chocolate sponge, mint flavoured frosting with a bit of an after eight style chocolate on top which was rather tasteless. 

After a few days of cupcakes not really hitting the spot, I was excited to roadtrip to Oswestry (about an hour from where I am now) in search of two cupcakeries I had read about online.

My first mistake was underestimating how big Oswestry is! I was expecting it to be some little village where I could easily stroll down the street and spot some cupcake shops! but it's actually a pretty big town so we walked around for about 20 minutes before we came across either of the shops.  

The first one we came to was Icing on the Cake.  The shop was very modern and nicely done out inside, with cake stands all over the place full of goodies, however they were mostly tray bakes, cake slices, loaves etc... and their cupcake range wasn't really the star of the show.  They do a whole range of baked goods such as rocky road, millionaire shortbread, carrot cake, shortbread etc but they just had one main cake stand in the middle of the shop filled with chocolate, vanilla and some lemon cupcakes.  

I must say at £1 a cupcake it was definitely the cheapest I've ever purchased! but they were just really standard cupcakes, the chocolate frosting did have a lovely rich taste but I felt they could have done more with the decorations rather than just throw a sprinkling of white choc chips on.

I was more excited about the second place we were planning to visit, Crumblicious - they actually have a proper website and I had read up about them.  My mom and sister have also visited them before and said I would like their cupcakes.  My husband was going to visit them for me on my behalf last Saturday when he popped to Oswestry but they close at midday on a Saturday so he wasn't able too.  I even called them before we left the house today to check they would still be open when they arrived and they said they would.  I knew the second I walked through the door something was wrong, there was not a cupcake in sight! They are not solely a cupcake business,  they do occasion cakes too and as luck would have it they were baking a fruit cake for a 50th wedding celebration at a low temperature and so that had prevented them from doing any more cupcake baking this afternoon! so they didn't have any cupcakes left! I explained how I'd travelled for an hour just to visit them and was planning to review them on my blog so the lady quickly offered to post me some to try if I left her my address - I was pretty impressed with this offer and will wait next week to see what materialises! 

Just when I was about to give up hope on the West Midlands' offerings in cupcakes...we paid a visit to The Little Round Cake Company.  They have a cupcake stall in the Darwin Centre in Shrewsbury High St but I was also excited to learn they have a storefront known as The Little Round Bakery.  

It was in a residential area and I wasn't really sure what to expect.  So I was relieved when we walked in to find a counter filled with a whole variety of cupcakes...I knew we were in for a treat! 

There were so many I didn't know how to narrow down my selection! We shared a carrot and a banoffee cupcake.  The carrot cake was the most moist and delicious cupcake, even with raisins in (and we're not really raisin fans at all) but they somehow added to the moistness.  It also had a delicious cream cheese frosting which tasted like it could have been flavoured with orange too.  The banoffee cupcake was a banana flavoured cake with banana frosting topped off with a trickle of toffee and some toffee chunks! 

At £1.50 a cupcake they certainly don't break the bank, but for someone who is currently unemployed two was all I could afford! I had my eye on the white chocolate and raspberry...I guess it's a good reason to return soon! 

So after this week of cupcake hunting my verdict is if you happen to find yourself Shropshire way the only cupcakery I can recommend to you is The Little Round Cake Company, and Queenie's has always been a firm favourite...I just haven't managed to justify a special trip to Ironbridge yet but I'm sure we'll find ourselves there soon enough - with my cupcake loving family it won't take us long!