116 Ebury Street, Belgravia, London, SW1W 9QQ
Telephone : 020 7730 1316
Located in a great location midway between London Victoria and Sloane Square, Peggy Porschen is pretty and perfectly pink!
You can sit in or outside and choose from an excellent selection of teas, coffees, cupcakes and, of course, pink lemonade.
We tasted : Sticky Toffee, Chocolate Heaven, Banoffee and Vanilla Chiffon
We drank : Latte and pink lemonade.
Price : £3.50 per cupcake
Staff : Absolutely lovely and very friendly, could not have been nicer....they even took my daughter into the back room to show her some special order cakes.
Verdict : Excellent all round, we would definitely go back and it would be a lovely place to take friends for a special tea or just to drop in if you're out and about in town one day. They serve Illy coffee which is always excellent and my latte was the best I tasted all week in town. The cupcakes weren't the biggest that we tasted but they were delicious and any bigger would have made them too rich. Definitely worth a visit.
Peggy Porschen made the beautiful wedding cake for Kate Moss and Jamie Hince, she has a a baking "academy" across the street and her books are for sale in the shop as are other treats.
Heals, 196 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7LQ
Telephone : 020 7580 3451
A small but very lovely shop nestled in the lobby of Heals and Habitat on London's Tottenham Court Road.
You can sit outside and choose from a very good selection of teas, coffees and cake.
We were there for the cupcakes though - cupcakes to go!
The shop assistant was very helpful and talked me through the range of flavours.
We tasted : Lemon Meringue, Toffee & Banana, Raspberry Surprise, Black Forest
Price : £2.50 each
Cakebox : excellent, we travelled home by public transport and the cakes were 100% intact.
Staff : excellent, very helpful.
Verdict : the toppings/frostings were delicious and the cupcakes (or fairy cakes as Peyton and Byrne call them) looked very impressive. The sponge of all four cakes was very disappointing though, rather dry - a real, and rather sad contrast, to the toppings which we all agreed were really good.
69 Gloucester Avenue, London, NW1 8LD
Telephone : 020 7482 4222
A gorgeous location, you can't not love Primrose Hill - it's also literally 4 minutes from Camden Lock too. A very small, colourful, fun shop....I have to confess to being a little underwhelmed though.
It was a Monday and even though they had lots of cupcakes - small and regular size - on display, there were not many flavours to choose from.
You can sit inside, although there are only 3 tables so you do feel a little like you are being watched the whole time....probably take away cupcakes are the best choice.
We had salted caramel cupcakes - the only other choice was lemon.
The topping was delicious, the cake itself a little dry.
Maybe at the week-end the choice of flavours is greater, I'd probably visit again if we were in the area but wouldn't head there specifically.
We tasted : Salted Caramel cupcakes & a chocolate brownie
Price : £1.85 each
Staff : very pleasant
155a Wardour Street.
Soho, London W1F 8WG
Telephone : 020 7851 1795
Hummingbird Bakery has several bakeries around London but it's the Soho store that I usually visit.
What I love is that the staff are always super-friendly and the cakes taste as though they've literally just been made.
They have a great range and you can take away in very pretty pink & brown boxes or sit in at the bar and order coffee.
They always have a "special of the day" - this month all the flavours are inspired by milkshakes & frappes.
They also carry a "Made Without" range which is gluten-free.
Would I visit again? Absolutely!
Thank goodness it wasn't there when I worked just around the corner though ;)
malted milkshake cupcake
We tasted : Malted Milkshakes Cupcake, Red Velvet and Chocolate with chocolate frosting
Price : £2.95/£2.65 & £2.25 respectively
Staff : lovely - attentive & helpful.
Boxes - boxes/bags of all sizes, including just one for 2 cupcakes (great idea & means you don't feel obliged to buy more!), perfect to give as a gift & also very secure, ours made it home totally intact.
Lola's Cupcake & Coffee Bar
The Food Hall, Selfridges,
London W1C 2BU
Telephone : 020 7483 3394
Located in Selfridges' wonderful food hall (and right next to Pierre Herme macarons), Lola's always has a large selection of mini and regular cupcakes.
They will personalise them, you can order online & you can also order coffee.
Lola's can also be found in Harrods, in Mayfair and in Top Shop Oxford Street.
We tasted : Peanut Butter, Vanilla & Chocolate
Price : £2.25
Staff : pleasant, helpful & patient - great choice of flavours, it's hard to choose!
Packaging : very nice box, our cakes made it home in perfect condition despite the heat & the train journey!
Verdict - excellent toppings, my vanilla cupcake was good - an 8 out of 10. My children absolutely loved theirs though. The Food Hall is very busy so not the place if you need 15 mins peace & quiet but actually the cafe at Lola's is clean & bright and looks like a fun place to stop.
So, in conclusion....
I am aware that there are many other places to buy great cupcakes in London.
Apart from Primrose Bakery, I visited all the above bakeries/cafes more than once.
My favourite was probably Peggy Porschen simply because everything was so lovely about it AND it served excellent coffee, it felt like a treat, an experience.
Hummingbird Bakery is always a favourite simply because a) the location is very convenient & I love Soho and b) the cupcakes have been excellent every time I've visited
My children liked Lola's the best - it certainly had the most flavours.
Not everyone can make a perfect cupcake.
Disclaimer
All the above views are my own and I paid for all the (many) cupcakes myself....
I took my research very seriously ;)
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