This is the lovely Buttercup Cake Shop, located down some winding back streets near the Whole Foods market in Kensington. I’d read that the bakery was run by Americans, so I had high hopes for it. I bought four cupcakes, at the rather hefty price of £2.50 each: chocolate zucchini, peanut butter, vanilla piecrust, and sticky toffee.
The frostings were all excellent, creamy, and sweet, with none of this thick, hard icing the Brits seem to enjoy. The cakes themselves varied quite a bit, with the chocolate zucchini being the most moist and delectable; the sticky toffee cake was a bit too dry. The other two cakes were good and tender but not as moist as chocolate zucchini. I, personally, like an extremely moist cupcake, and I’ve frankly never had one from a bakery that is as good as what I can make at home (here’s a recipe that’s similar to what I use; mine, however, calls for all oil and buttermilk, rather than butter). The variety of cupcake flavors at Buttercup was really nice, and they have some cute café tables inside where you can sit down. I went around lunchtime and expected a mad crush of people, but it was quite calm. In fact, there was only one other woman sitting inside, and when I told the cashier (American) where I was from, the customer turned around and said: “Oh, you must miss Magnolia Bakery," and it’s true, I do, but I haven’t been there in a while, actually. They’ve become so hugely popular that there’s always a line around the block. Walking home from dinner at midnight on a Saturday, I would think, oh now will be a nice time to grab a few cupcakes, and then I see the all the people crowded on the corner and realize, no, I’ll just make them myself.
Unexpected bonus while searching for the Buttercup bakery: I stumbled upon the blue plaque for T. S. Eliot, which really made my day. For a moment, on a street corner, in the spring rain, by myself in London, I remembered discovering Eliot long ago in a South Carolina high school and feeling that I had found one of the wonders of the world. "Let us go, then, you and I / when the evening is spread out against the sky...."
6 comments:
so, isn't it interesting that a day after I posted the blurb from George Orwell's Down and out in Paris and London that you should have mentioned T.S. Eliot's plaque... look at this excerpt from Amazon.com's review of "[Orwell's book] - was rejected by that elitist publisher T.S. Eliot, perhaps because its close-up portrait of lowlife was too pungent for comfort." Just goes to show you that everything and everyone is connected somewhere
Oh, that is funny. Who would have thought Eliot could reject Orwell?
Have you tried Hummingbird in South Ken by the South Ken tube? A bit more frantic than Buttercup, but I think the end product is a bit more professional...(although there's something sweet about how homemade the Buttercup product feels)
Hi Krista,
No, I haven't tried Hummingbird, but I've heard a lot about it. I'll definitely add it to my to-do list! Thanks for the recommendation. (And for commenting, because now I have discovered your blog, which I'll have to add to my reading list. It looks like you're covering a lot of interesting territory.)
Can I recommend Peyton & Byrne cupcakes? Huge amounts of squishy icing in all different flavours. Try the very civilised café at the Wellcome Collection, Euston Road or at the newly gorgeous St Pancras Station. I love them.
Hi George. I have tried the Peyton and Byrne cupcakes, though not at the locations you mention, and I didn't love them, but I think I'll have to give them another go. I know that people rave about them. Thanks for tip about the locations: I didn't realize they were in St. Pancras. Good to know for train travel!
Post a Comment