Anyone who knows me will know that I LOVE to bake cupcakes. Although I have been known to invent a small amount of my own recipes, I tend to mostly bake from 'The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook' and 'Cupcakes From The Primrose Bakery'. Both of these are really great resources if you want to make a flavored cupcake with a matching icing. My favorite from the Hummingbird is defiantly the pumpkin with cream cheese icing (although I make my own pumpkin puree instead of using tinned) and the raspberry swirl with white chocolate butter cream icing from the Primrose.
One of the best things about these books is that if you're a massive fan like me, you can visit the actual bakeries to compare their cupcakes to your own. And today, I did exactly that.
Firstly, I visited the Primrose Bakery just off Covent Garden. The yellow outside of the shop with it's large windows and stripy shader was so cute and inviting. Inside, the smell was amazing, with the chef having just bought a new batch of chocolate cupcakes up from the basement kitchen. There was so much choice with most of the cakes featured in the book plus a few guest cakes, such as cookies and cream, which I was tempted to also try. I went for a lemon cupcake which was £1.85, and sat in on the leather 50s chairs and round diner tables to eat it. The cafe was so light and airy and the place had such a friendly feel about it, especially after the staff had made me feel so welcome. The cupcake itself was absolutely delicious: not too sweet and not to lemony, the sponge was divine and had just the right amount of zest for me. The icing was really light and fluffy and stayed stiff even though it was a relatively warm day outside. For me, the perfect cupcake. I'd give The Primrose Bakery a 9/10 overall, especially for the homely atmosphere and welcoming feel.
Next, I went off to find the Hummingbird bakery. I had not visited this branch before as it is the newest one to open, and was really surprised to see the spot which they had chosen. Although a little further down the street is busy Leicester Square, the street was quite quiet and the shop was extremely dark. I also spotted around four larger and busier bakeries down the street, which had huge window displays of gorgeous breads and cakes and looked much more enticing than the Hummingbird.
The layout of the shop was not very well thought out in my opinion. As you walk in, there is a long bench on the right filled with cakes which the staff stand behind. There is a small table at the back, and then the left hand side of the shop is a bench facing the wall with single seats. It was pretty impersonal to eat a cake staring at a wall, and I left the shop after eating my cupcake pretty quickly, which annoyed me, considering it was so expensive (£2.75!!!!) and really didn't taste that great. I chose a red velvet cupcake, which is supposed to be quite chocolaty, which unfortunately it wasn't. The cream cheese icing also seemed quite thin and not very creamy, which was disappointing. The best thing about the whole experience was the look of the cupcake, which was basically identical to the book. However there was not a large selection of cupcake available to choose from, mainly chocolate and vanilla, and the only differences where the icing colours. I really expected more from the Hummingbird, especially as I paid 90p less in the Primrose and got much better service and seating. A poor 3/10, with me wishing I'd spent my money in one of the other cafes on Wardour street as I walked back to the station.
