I broke with tradition: on Saturday I went to the Hummingbird Bakery in South Kensington. I was supposed to be meeting a friend at the V&A but her bus got stuck in a traffic jam. And what's a girl to do, especially when she's wearing high heels, it's cold outside & friend is going to be a good 20 -30 minutes.
At £1.55 this chocolate and vanilla cupcake was 25p cheaper than my usual cupcake at the Primrose Bakery. Slightly smaller, slightly different, slightly easier to eat with a fork. The seat was comfier too & the coffee was better. Although, the Primrose Bakery still has the distinct advantage that it is next door to the vintage shop where I assist on Sundays.
So good was my coffee & cupcake combo that when my friend arrived she immediately got herself one too. Although she chose Red Velvet {we debated whether it was just cake with food colouring in, us unenlightened English, we had no idea - can anyone help?}.
{Image by me, on my blackberry, in the Hummingbird Bakery}
3 comments:
Yes it is just sponge with some cocoa and a LOT of red food colouring! Tried to make some Red Velvet once with natural red food colouring, and the cupcakes just came out a murky pinky brown...think it has to be the synthetic stuff! Hope that helps!
looks good! Especially with a hot drink!
The red used to be due to a reaction between acid (vinegar/buttermilk) and the cocoa powder, but since the advent of alkali-processed cocoa, that reaction doesn't take place anymore. So it's been replaced with lots of food color (though I have been told that beet juice gives a nice, mellow reddish color). Since I moved to Texas, the locals have been schooling me on these things.
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