I never thought I’d be adding my own reviews to this blog but after reading so many cake related blogs myself, I thought it only fair that I share my own experiences.
Anyone who knows me knows I’m baking mad. I love making cupcakes, layer cakes, bread, cookies etc, especially when I’m hungover. It occured to me that I’ve never visited London’s very own cupcakeries so I decided to start with Hummingbird Bakery.
My sister and I arrived at the South Kensington location at around half past three on a Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks ago. We were greeted by a queue out the door, which was expected. Once we had made it inside to the counter, we couldn’t make out which flavours were available as the small descriptions in front of each batch of cupcakes were completely hidden by the other 10 people still in front of us. We started to fee a bit flustered, especially since there were no menu boards anywhere apart from an A4 sign describing daily flavours, Saturday’s being Nutella. Behind the counter the staff bustled around loading cupcakes into boxes, shouting over each other. Not once did anyone bother to ask if we needed help or if we were ready to order.
A male member of staff appeared in front of us pinching his tongs impatiently. By this point my sister and I had gone from feeling a little flustered to feeling completely frustrated. We frantically chose 4 cupcakes within eye shot and despite my sister requesting a yellow one 3 times, he promptly picked up a blue one and ignored her request completely. We were past caring by this point so away he went to box them up. Five minutes later he handed over a bag instructing us to go and pay at the register and to inform the cashier we had 3 singles and a red velvet before disappearing to attend to the next confused customer in line.
Where the register was, we didn’t know. The separate queue we thought was for coffee appeared to double up as the pay point. I couldn’t stand to be in there any longer so my sister paid whilst I fought my way outside. On my way out I noticed that every seat (and inch of standing space) was full but why anyone would want to stay inside bumping elbows with one another I don’t know.
We took our cakes home in order to enjoy them with a cup of tea hoping that the quality would redeem the overall experience.
Vanilla cake with vanilla butter cream - This cake was lovely and moist and quite dense. The frosting was really good and overall we really enjoyed this cake. If you like light fluffy sponge this isn’t for you.
Chocolate Cake with chocolate butter cream - The cake was really dry and not at all chocolaty, however, the chocolate butter cream really was so it balanced it out. Disappointing.
Red Velvet – One word – D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S – Thank goodness for this cupcake. It almost made me forget the whole sordid experience of getting hold of it in the first place. The frosting was just the right consistency and not overly sweet. The trademark red cake was moist and combined with the frosting it was so good I think it took me 2 mouthfuls to finish it.
Overall, we had a terrible experience but the red velvet made up for it. Would I go again? Probably not unless I had a craving for cream cheese.
Good Points:
-
Cute window display.
-
Amazing red velvet cupcake.
-
Good buzz about the place.
Bad Points:
-
Staff had no customer service skills.
-
You had to queue yet again just to pay.
-
The whole experience had a ‘get in, get out’ feel about it almost like a factory line.
-
We couldn’t see any menu boards so you have seconds to decide what you want when you reach the counter.
