London bakery visit 1: Hummingbird Bakery

My first taste of London's cupcakes was from Hummingbird Bakery, the one located at 47 Old Brompton Road, South Kensington. The shop was very sweet and girlie, and for about the dozenth time, I found that their t-shirt colors were pink and brown. Is that the universal colors of cupcakes?



These rocky road cupcakes, one of their weekly specials, looked appealing. After all, who doesn't like chocolate and marshmallows?



Well, let me just state that while I do love those things, and indeed, all the treats that were included in these desserts, such as Snickers bars, maltesers, mini marshmallows, dried fruit, and chocolate chips, I do not think they qualify as a cupcake. Why? Because there was no cake! It was just chocolate and candy smushed into the shape of a cupcake. What's up with that? I had to use a fork to break it apart, and this is what it looked like at the end:



My friend Frank chose a little more wisely with the cappuccino cupcake:



I tasted it, and the frosting was creamy and sweet and coffee-like, not to heavy, and the cake was spongy and light.



I really liked the atmosphere, with cupcake art on the walls and a relaxing environment; there were some families with kids, but also plenty of people just there for coffee and a piece of cake.



We couldn't finish them all, so took the pink one with dragees (or, to British readers, hundreds and thousands) home for later:



They also sell cupcakes cards and postcards, and larger cakes, and told me that red velvet is their bestselling cupcake.

All in all, it was a nice shop, but not necessarily somewhere I'd rush to return to. Perhaps it's like the Magnolia Bakery of London? Anyone have any opinions on this? Next up is my trip to Buttercup. And I do plan to return probably in the fall so will have a chance to taste some others and hopefully meet up with some of our British readers.

We took lots of photos. See them all here (if you can't view them, it's because of my Flickr account moderation - set your Safesearch to off and they should appear)