Kensington Gardens - The Orangery

For my Mum's birthday she was treated by her colleagues to tea for two at Kensington Palace in London and my parents decided I could tag along and they'd buy me a cake and a drink (Side note: the home made lemonade was a mistake) Naturally I decided on a cupcake and I hesitated, nearly getting the chocolate but I decided to push the boat out and get toffee. This cupcake was I think £2.49, which is possibly the most I've ever paid for a cupcake (besides one so awful it shall remain nameless) needless to say, my expectations were high.

Presentation: 3.5/5 (could do better)

The piping on this cupcake is excellent, but I felt it was lacking some wow and although there is a pool of toffee in the middle, for the amount it cost I was expecting at least some sugar flowers. You may be thinking that this is a similar criticism of the Angel's Bakery but the main difference is the price. You pay £2 for a good cupcake, but that extra 50p suggests this should be a really special cupcake. I do however like that the paper case seems to compliment the colour of the cupcake - although I have no idea how intentional this was.

Frosting: 4/5 (yummy!)

This was almost a cross between Angel's and Rick Stein's, it certainly wasn't light, you really had to cut through it with a fork, but there was a certain mousse-y-ness too it which I liked. Plus it was quite clearly a toffee frosting, aided by the centre pool of toffee/caramel. Again the portion of frosting was just right, not too thin, not too thick in conjunction with the size and texture of the sponge.

Cake: 4/5 (pleasant)

I've very little to say about the sponge, mostly because, as usual, it wasn't memorable. I wasn't appalled by it, I remember it being nicely moist and had a lovely flavour. The cake was ... nice, it didn't leave me hungering for more. It was pretty much what I expected, a scaled down version of their usual cakes, which are I'm sure just as lovely. It, as a cupcake, received very little attention beyond how to make it taste of toffee - a feat which was executed beautifully.

Overall: 4/5 (nice, better than the lemonade)

I'll admit that there was an overall heaviness to the cupcake, it took me a good 15 minutes to finish it, as I took breaks between each bite. It was a perfectly lovely cupcake, which I would be glad to re-purchase, but it wasn't extraordinary. By this I'm not surprised, they don't specialise in cupcakes, they aren't a bakery, the main choice at the orangery is the scone and so it is understandable that the scone should be much more elaborate and amazing than their cupcake (which it was).

I worry that all my reviews - no matter how much I like the cake - come out sounding negative ... I don't mean too ....