Molly Bakes…Cupcakes!

What happened to the start of the week?  One minute it was Sunday night and I was sitting down with a cup of tea bemoaning the fact that Monday was just a few hours away and now suddenly we’re fast approaching Thursday!  At least there is one constant, tonight, much like Sunday night I’m savouring a tasty cupcake from Molly Bakes, life is pretty damn good!

As you’ll recall from my earlier blog on the Art for Kunst launch night, Molly Bakes is a purveyor of cupcakes; nothing more, nothing less.  If you’re old skool like me you’d call them fancy fairy cakes but it seems we Brits have adopted the American term for them so like a sheep I too now refer to them as cupcakes.   However, who cares what you call them, it’s how they taste that is important and Molly Bakes cupcakes that are far too delectable to be sold to minors. 

After munching 3 on Thursday night I decided to go visit Molly at her stall in the Sunday Upmarket in the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane to see what other flavours she had in addition to vanilla.  Sunday came with plenty of rain and I was torn, do I go out in the rain to buy some cupcakes or do I stay home in the warmth and watch Arsenal play Chelsea on illegal TV?  To help make up my mind I sent Molly a tweet on Twitter to find out if she had any chocolate cherry cupcakes left, she replied that she did so I asked her to keep them for me and I got myself wrapped up warm and headed out into the torrential rain.  Yes, the cupcakes that Molly Bakes are that good!

Luckily for me I found Molly’s stall within minutes of entering, just as well really as all I could see were lots of empty cake stands where once sat cupcakes but true to her word she had kept the last 2 chocolate cherry ones for me.  I decided to add a carrot and red velvet one to my order and chatted briefly with Molly as I watched a steady succession of people come to buy cupcake after cupcake, thank goodness Twitter saved me mine!

Interestingly I had a quick wander around the market and found another cupcake stall which was laden down with quite unappealing looking cupcakes, they looked like they might have come from Tesco  and even tho they were a little cheaper than Molly’s it was obvious that people in the know were passing them by.  Why was this I wondered?  As I didn’t buy one I can’t comment on the taste but I can comment on Molly’s cupcakes.

Firstly, there’s the look.  They look amazing, like little works of edible art, even if they tasted of cardboard (which they didn’t) I’d probably have enjoyed eating them anyway.  The sponge base was nicely moist (what a great word!) the texture was just right, not too light, not too heavy.  If the base were a bed it would belong to Baby Bear.  As for the toppings, Mmmm where to begin?  at first sight you might expect it to be heavy but it too was surprisingly light, yet rich and full of flavour.  I do have a confession to make.  As I stood chatting with Molly, watching her stock of cakes rapidly deplete to around 6 or 7 I told her to box them up as they were coming home with me.  If it wasn’t for the slightly inconvenient fact that Molly has a boyfriend I would have taken her home too and insisted we got messy in the kitchen…making cupcakes of course!

As it happens Molly is running a Christmas cupcake decorating class on Thursday 17 December 2009 (8pm-10pm) at Tea Party.  In 2 hours she’ll show you 4 decorating techniques and you’ll leave with 8 cupcakes to show off to family and friends, assuming you don’t eat them all yourself.  Spaces are limited so drop her a line at info@mollybakes.co.uk to secure your spot.  The cost is £35 and includes all materials as well as tea and scones.

Sadly I’ve just finished the last of Molly’s cupcakes and now can’t wait for Sunday to roll around, yes, you’ve guessed it, I’m heading back down to Brick Lane to see my dealer Molly to stock up on more cupcakes.  Here are a few photos of before and during eating!