Hummingbird Bakery - Kensington

(Her)
Today we went on a trip to the V&A then to the Science Museum, in between we stopped off for a coffee in Starbucks & a cake from the (in)famous Hummingbird Bakery.

Before I review the cakes from the Hummingbird, can I just say that if you have any interest in computers or codebreaking the Alan Turing exhibition at the Science Museum is well worth a visit - both of us were fascinated by the history and life of Turing - in particular I was amazed to learn that only 60 years ago homosexuality was considered to be a crime and was 'treated' with estrogen to suppress sexual urges. Considering all the debate about 'gay marriage' in the news lately, it amazes me how far we've come in the last few decades and hope that we can continue to make progress in tolerance of each other!

Anyway, we've both heard great things about the Hummingbird Bakery and, as an amateur baker, I was particularly interested in their cupcakes. We walked into the tiny cafe and were greeted with an array of stunning cakes and treats ranging from cheesecake slices to brownies amongst a variety of elegantly decorated, but quite pricey cakes- a whole red velvet large cake was £32, and individual cakes ranged from about £2.30 to £4. He immediately went for the daily special which was a 'chocolate chip cookie' cake and eventually I asked the waitress which was the best choice between red velvet and black bottom cupcake - her answer was that the red velvet was the best seller, but the black bottom was the staff favourite, so my decision was made.

The Black Bottom Cupcake - the cake itself was very rich and thick, with a delicious cream cheese icing. We had decided to share half of each cake and by about halfway through I was done anyway - it was really tasty, but just too sweet for me. Unfortunately, it was just as I took my last bite I got a mouthful of the 'cheesecake' in the middle, which was enjoyed enthusiastically by him.

The Chocolate Cookie Cupcake - this cake was much less thick than the black bottom, in fact, it tasted much like a bog standard chocolate victoria sponge to me - the icing on top was rich and creamy, but didn't stand out as being anything amazing and the cookies sprinkled on top could just as easily have been left off without affecting the taste. There wasn't anything wrong with this cake, it's just that there also wasn't anything particularly right about it either.

So the Black Bottom won the cake-off, but considering we'd spent over £5 on two cakes, neither of us felt like winners and He immediately decided he much preferred the cakes I make at home - tbh I felt the same way because although the BB was rich and tasty, a normal person wouldn't be able to eat a whole one, let alone several, whereas when I make a couple of dozen cakes at home, the two boys I live with have nearly finished them off by the next morning.

One interesting point that He couldn't resist pointing out, was that ALL of the staff in the bakery were so thin as to be almost insignificant, which was amazing considering the decadence they were surrounded by, however our waitress just laughed it off and claimed that she must 'walk off' all the cakes she eats.