A few weeks ago I had a day off work. I had various errands to run, and calculated that I would be passing through Alton (Hampshire) at around lunch-time.
I actually went to sixth form college in Alton, and even worked there for a couple of years, but I hadn’t really been there for about 10 years, so thought I should check out what had changed when it came to food.
I’d like to pretend someone will remember my post of almost two years ago about fern tarts, but I’m not holding my breath.
Back then I had my first encounter with a fern tart, and as it was a rather unglamourous supermarket version I was hoping to find one in a bakery some time.
Fast-forward to my Maybole sweet treat hunt, and on scanning the shelves in Bakery Bites (11 – 13 High Street, Maybole), I spied an old chum.
One afternoon in Maybole I felt in need of a sweet treat.
My first port of call was a teeny bakery Delicious Delights (33 High Street). They used to be a wholly different tiny bakery, but at some point since I was last in Scotland they had changed hands.
Every now and again I like to daydream about having my own little cake shop. I’d mostly just be baking. And eating. And I probably wouldn’t have any customers, but I’d have an array of cakes to choose from.
If my fantasy ever became reality, I wouldn’t want it to be all that different from the Daisy Cupcake Cafe (15 High Street, Ayr).
Visiting a friend in Bristol recently, I meandered past a cupcake shop en route to lunch (Lilly and Boo’s Cupcakery, corner of Cotham Hill and Whiteladies Road), and immediately stopped and pressed my face up against the window. Rows of gorgeous cakes winked back at me, definitely insisting that my visit would not be complete without a cake stop.
An hour or so later I was in possession of a Velvet Elvis, for the princely sum of £2.20. The guy behind the counter was wonderfully friendly, and my cake was carefully packaged into a little plastic case shaped to protect its dome of icing.
