CAKE MASTERS LONDON CAKE CRAWL
2012
By Bakes-A-Lot
Today I have
eaten clouds, met a host of cake mad women and if only I’d had a pedometer
would have been able to convince people my thighs were thinner despite having
consumed sweetie goodness for much of the day!
What did we do?
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We did a bit
of this...
a bit of this...
and even a bit of this!
Where have I
been? What have I been doing?
I’ve been on
THE LONDON CAKE CRAWL 2012!!!!
The first
stop was The Hummingbird Bakery which I missed as at that time I was sobbing
quietly and being consoled by a lovely tea shop lady at Newark station after
missing my train.
Tip No. 1 –
Apply to go on the London Cake Crawl
Tip No. 2 –
If you see a sign for your train station ignore the sat nav and follow sign...
Tip No. 3 –
Text Rosie or Clare for meet up place and run like the clappers to meet up with
the rest of the Crawlers donning silly hat as you go!
Wow, stop
two at Jane Asher Party Cakes and a whole group of ladies toting Cake Crawl goodie
bags, printed in pink with a great heart mould, cupcake cases,
non-scratch knife, lustres AND Bake-O-Glide inside!! They were listening to a fab presentation and
Q & A session on cake. How good
could it get? Better, as we then got a
lovely free cupcake and the chance to trawl and purchase around the great sugarcraft
section of the shop and on top of that the lovely Zak(ia) (of Zazzabella’s) had
made us all a Cake Crawl themed cake pop!
The last of
us were teased away from purchasing supplies and we walked briskly to the next
venue, a food market on the King’s Road where we were introduced to the lovely
Crumbs and Doilies girls and their cupcake stand of deliciousness. As well as standard cupcakes they had
beautiful mini ones and we all got to choose a favourite on the house! I bought two extra because how can a girl
choose just one when there are flavours like Cinnamon, Eton Mess, Caramel
Popcorn and Rose? Some of us spotted the
very recognisable Gizzi Erskine doing a bit of filming at the other end of the
market and as we pottered off to see where all the other great foodie smells
were coming from one of us became a film star!
Some of bought something savoury from the amazing variety of cuisine
available including Cheese and Leek pies and Jamaican style roasted sweet
potato and pumpkin patties, can you tell what I had for lunch and tea? We were mostly gathered together for the off
when a small group lured us back to the great stall run by Rummanco who deserve
a very special mention for their friendly sharing out of tasters of their
fantastically delicious rum cakes to a small horde of cake crazed bakers!
EVENTUALLY...
Clare and Rosie managed to drag us away to follow the magic pink balloons to
our next surprise – wait, hold your breath - Peggy Porschen Cakes’ pink
parlour, sigh... Although we’re all chatting and swopping our details as we go
we still all seem to speed up and wedge ourselves unglamorously through the
door after posing for pics outside.
Sorry Sloanes and posh Belgravia ladies but we’re in! We took some photos of the pristine and pretty
cakes and display and then a sweet young lady, who looked very familiar, tried
her best to answer our questions, it was only as we were ushered out into the
lemony sponge aroma of the shop, so that little groups of us could take better
pictures of the stunningly gorgeous display cakes in the wedding consulting
room, that someone pointed out that our hostess looked and had the mannerisms
of a Harry Potter Hermione, I thought she’d looked familiar! I bought a pink
lemonade (what else?), got a pink
receipt, and had to give my tired legs
and feet a wee sit down outside as some of us bought beautifully boxed and
daringly priced cupcakes with flavours like champagne and strawberry. As befitted
the occasion of the Cake Crawl we were then honoured with a dramatic flypast
which included the Red Arrows – or maybe that was for the Queen and the
Trooping of the Colour...
Lola’s was
next where we chose a real sized freebie cupcake from a delicious assortment of
flavours like Mojito, Red Velvet and Lemon with some of us opting for a
carry-home tub as our cake consumption speed was slowing down! We got out of the way and sat at pretty blue
tables and chairs outside as it was Saturday and “business as usual” was trying
to continue inside. We then had a chance
to wander off for a sandwich or coffee after arranging to meet in a nearby park
for the next stage. It was lovely to
have a chance for a proper natter and get-to-know of some of some of the other
crawlers, we turned out to have plenty in common and some amazing tales between
us as well as being fellow cake nuts.
Now cake
doesn’t get much more decadent than Choccywoccydoodah and suddenly we were
there!!! Glorious chocolate madness
everywhere and we didn’t know where to start looking so we went for a sit
down! We all trooped out again when
David gave us an al-fresco talk on how Choccy started and we got to ask
questions, all this being translated
into sign language at great speed for one of our ladies just added to the
flamboyant enjoyment of the moment. We
had to go back in though, SO many things to photograph everywhere you turned,
but free samples were there none.
Then we were
off on the bus again, no – the tube, no - the bus! Ok there was a glitch as traffic appeared to
have been stopped for an accident - we wish you well whoever - and a large
group of us couldn’t squeeze onto the first bus but a short sprint and we’d
commandeered most of the next ones top deck for the ride which because of the
traffic issue was considerably longer than planned but some of us remember that
bits of the view en-route were rather enjoyable!!! Sadly a couple of our gang had to leave us
here as things were running a bit late for them to risk missing transport, sad
face :o(
I hate to
say it for those that missed out but the team certainly saved the best ‘til
last and from the moment we paraded, in between more photos and a glimpse of St
Pauls, into Bea’s of Bloomsbury, the warm welcome, our lovely hostess and the
perfectly planned and mouth-watering tasting session upstairs definitely
revived us all, weary and caked-out though we thought we were! I think our collective eyes lit up as the
tiny portions of everything were beautifully described and served to us on proper
plates with cake forks and the chance to buy a cup of tea or similar brought us
all together in a collective sigh of satisfaction. We ate Passionfruit Marshmallows the texture
of a melting cloud on your tongue and pieces of Chocolate Brownie with a
delicate crust and an explosion of dark choccy flavour and.. and...
During this
delicious ending to a fabulous, leg wearying day, some of our group started to
drift off for trains or arranged meetings and it wasn’t much later that thank yous
said and a few more business cards exchanged between us all, it was time for
home and to say goodbye to a lot of new friends.
Not everything
went according to plan, everyone didn’t enjoy the flavour of everything, but we
were all there to meet other bakers, decorators and cake fans, to talk cake all
day and swap tips, which we did, to eat cake, which we did, to explore the
London cake world, which we did, so thank you Cake Masters, I came, I crawled,
I ate and talked cake – Heaven!
When do our
applications have to be in for next year?
Find more pics here! https://www.facebook.com/#!/CakeMasters/photos
