The Great British Cake Crawl
Photography by Mahnoor Mahmood
The UCL Baking Society recommends their top four bakeries in London for a sugar-filled day of café hopping.
The Baking Society held their annual Cake Crawl last Saturday, similar to a pub crawl but consists of hopping from one café to another. So much better, right? This year the society went to four different bakeries, aiming to introduce its members to a range of cakes – not just your traditional cupcakes with icing.
The first stop was Kahve Dunyasi. A Turkish café located right in the heart of Piccadilly, Kahve Dunyasi offers both savory and sweet items, and their Chocolate Biscuit cake deserve a special mention. It is actually more of an icebox cake with layers of chocolate ganache sandwiched between biscuits. It’s quite decadent and needless to say, was a favourite among the chocolate-lovers.
The next café, Cutter and Squidge, was a committee favourite from last year and equally well received this year. Cutter and Squidge is a small bakery famous for its ‘biskies’, aka cookie sandwiches. However, their cakes are just as stunning and each of us stood admiring them when they caught our eye. The bakery is proud to use all natural ingredients, right down to the colouring for their icing, which really came through from the fresh flavours. The matcha and raspberry was an unexpected delight and their carrot cake looked and tasted just like autumn.
The next café on the crawl was the Hummingbird Bakery. This bakery is famous all over London, and whether or not you’ve tried their cakes, you’ve probably heard of them. As many of the society’s members are affiliate students from across the world, this spot was a tick on the bucket list for more than a few. The café is quite small but the atmosphere makes up for it, not to mention the huge selection of iced cupcakes, cakes and whoopie pies. Their red velvet cupcake is particularly famous, along with their whoopie pies. Both are wonderful but be warned, this bakery is truly for lovers of all things sugary.
Our last stop for the day was Nordic Bakery. This is a small Scandinavian bakery and quite the opposite to the Hummingbird Bakery, so it’s perfect for those who love pastries and cakes that aren’t too sweet. Nordic Bakery is famous for its cinnamon buns and we were lucky enough to arrive just as they were coming out of the oven. Needless to say, that was a strong highlight of the day. Their blueberry buns and almonds bun are also worth a mention and after a day of eating so much sugar, these relatively light pastries were a welcome treat.
Naturally, everyone left quite happy, partly thanks to good company, but mostly because of the sugar high. This is an annual event by the Baking Society, but if you missed it, it’s definitely worth taking a trip independently.