Hummingbird Bakery – one of the largest bakery chains in London. The bakeries tend to be cute, quaint, and small with their traditional pink and brown decorations. Over several visits, we’ve tried many things here, some better than others, but overall, the quality is pretty good.
Some highlights include the brooklyn blackout cupcake, based on the traditional New York specialty: the brooklyn blackout cake. The brooklyn blackout cake is impossible to find in London (and in most places outside of NYC), except for at the few New Yorker run bakeries in town. The brooklyn blackout cake happens to be my favorite cake in the entire world, so I’m a hugely harsh judge of it and in Hummingbird’s case, it doesn’t help that it’s a cupcake and not a cake. But despite the odds being stacked against it, the brooklyn blackout cupcake is pretty good and I’d recommend it. It’s a dark chocolate sponge topped with a dark chocolate custard (a.k.a. pudding) and is delightfully unsweet. No frosting/icing anywhere to be found which makes me so super happy! The cake could be a bit less dry, but the flavors are there.
Cheesecake – they have a brownie cheesecake, which is served in individual, circular portions. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s not my idea of a good cheesecake in that it’s not very tart and doesn’t have that sour punch that cheesecakes should have. It’s pretty sweet, though not particularly chocolatey tasting despite the fact that it has brownies baked into it. I wouldn’t recommend it as a particularly good cheesecake, but it’s not bad.
Malt cake – cool concept. It’s a chocolate cake with malt frosting and malt flavoring in the sponge. It’s no longer one of the daily cakes available in store, but you can still order it online.
Red velvet – haven’t tried it, but it’s their best selling cake and their best selling cupcake. Though this doesn’t necessary speak to the quality of hummingbird bakery’s red velvet since people will eat anything and everything that is labeled red velvet for no discernible reason. I will never understand his unending trend.
Brooklyn White Out Cake – I am very glad to say that they now have a brooklyn white out (a twist on the brooklyn black out) available in-store as a chocolate cake replacement to the malt cake. It’s a dark chocolate sponge with dark chocolate custard in the layers and white marshmallow meringue on top. It’s pretty good, not too sweet, generally adheres pretty closely to the traditional recipe (save the marshmallow part), and I’d go back to get it again. It’s not NYC level, but then again, it’s not in NYC. I will take this cake over no brooklyn blackout cake!
Rainbow Cake – oh.my.god. please don’t eat this. I mean I guess you can because so many people do. I think they just love the fact that it looks cool and colorful, but what very few people know is that this is actually a bubblegum flavored cake and tastes ALL kinds of wrong. At least, in our opinion. Not everyone agrees since it still sells pretty well, but it literally tastes like medicine. It’s a pretty big slice and we threw the entire thing away after a few bites.
