A Cupcake Tour of London - bon appétit!

As I type this I'm aware that this is possibly my twee-est blog topic... but if knowing is half the battle, then I'm halfway there, right?

My dear friend Katrin, some might remember her as 'The German One' from The Schla La Las.  If you don't remember who The Schla La Las are, we were a blip on the London art-rock scene a few years ago, here we are on youtube, see?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jDI6oUkudw


Anyway, I digress... so Katrin kindly took me on this cupcake tour of London, it was a touristy sort-of outing.  I so rarely stop to enjoy the city I live in.  I'm always too busy rushing around, trying to take over the world!  So it was a much needed day out.



Here she is with a miniature cupcake at Lorraine Pascale's Cupcake Bakehouse in Covent Garden

We then went to the famous French macaroonerie Ladurée of which there are 2 in London and yes, we went to them both!

Our charming Scottish tour guide took us down the real alleyway that inspired Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter Books, which was conveniently near Sweet Coutoure


We walked through China Town and I was disappointed we didn't stop at any of the odd Chinese bakeries, but I can always go back to China Town.



We passed through Soho and our tour guide told us all sorts of facts about the old Soho, the new Soho and some of the rock 'n' rollers that passed through the historic region over the years.

We had more cupcakes at The Hummingbird Bakery which never disappoints.

Then we had more sweet treats, this time macaroons, at a blue place that looks like an Aquarium and these may have been the favourite sweet treats of the day in my book!  But this is not the end of our sugary plight.




We crossed Soho to Patisserie Valerie for more French fancies and then headed to Savile Row to see where The Beatles did their famous roof-top gig.

(Apparently, it's possible
to get a vegetarian version,
but I'm not very desperate
to try one.)

Last but not least we went to Fortnum and Mason which was established in 1707 and takes credit for inventing the Scotch Egg.

As a vegetarian, I have never tried a Scotch Egg.  For the fellow Americans of you, dear readers, I will explain that a Scotch Egg is  a hard boiled egg covered in sausage meat and breadcrumbs and then baked.  Sort of weird, huh?  But normal if you grew up over here in the UK post-1707.


We then bid our lovely Scottish host Adieu and hopped in a black cab for a sugar-fuelled adventure, an adventure for another blog post, as this is getting lengthy.  If you want to see more photos of our culinary adventures, the cakes we ate are all here for you to see...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/88986055@N00/sets/72157643524024644/

Meanwhile, don't forget to take some time out and enjoy the cake, the scenery, or whatever takes your fancy.  Bon appétit!

xx
Piney