The Hummingbird Bakery

The cakes can be on the expensive side, especially if you eat in (good luck with that, seating area is small), but they are consistently good when so many places in London will sell you good cake one day, then complete rubbish on the next. Also, you get a LOT of cake for your cash. The slices are not mean at all; nothing worse than tasting a yummy treat and see it gone after three mouthfuls. :) Tea would be better served in a proper pot, though. But then again, that isn’t exactly a tearoom. They want you to take your cake home or eat it asap then vacate your seat. Seats make for prime real state here. :)
The raspberry cake is my favourite, heard the malt chocolate one is good too — i’m not a choccie person, so I can’t attest. The red velvet is also quite acceptable, but the rainbow cake, albeit GORGEOUS looking, tastes of chewing gum. Obviously a cake whose actual flavour is «colours» was going to taste a bit synthetic. It’s quite edible, but I wouldn’t recommend it to traditionalists. Great for instagram shots, though. I found the salted caramel cupcake was a bit too sweet.
Unfortunately I will have to remove this location from my sunday cake route since on this day there’s no way to park there anymore. If you decide to visit on a sunday, then use public transport if possible.

Go for the black bottom (cheesecake, brownie and cupcake!) rather than the red velvet

I would give 0 star if it were possible.
It is unacceptable. I suffer from many food intolerances and went for their Made Without range (labeled as gluten free). Being also intolerant to corn, I asked the staff if there was any corn flour/​starch/​glucose, they didn’t even double check and told me there was only rice flour. I also checked on their website and no corn at all was mentioned. I bought two cupcakes to suffer from terrible consequences right after. Wrote to the customer service who confirmed the presence of corn ingredients though not listed on the website. Do they think they can get away saying «we handle gluten containing products therefore it isn’t a celiac friendly environment» while I did ask about CORN? This is irresponsible.

I’ve been here before many times. Their cupcakes ate legendary. And the lemon loaf is strangely comforting with a mug of tea. But today, I had their famous, and elusive, rainbow cake. You’ve to get it earlier in the day as by evening, it’s gone. The slice they give as a single serving is huge. Each layer is not just coloured differently, but is subtly different in taste too. The butter cream icing is not overpowering. This cake definitely deserves its place in the list of London’s top ten.

Beim letzten Londonbesuch stolperten wir eher zufällig über die Hummingbird Bakery. Zunächst stach uns der wirklich knallbunte Regenbogenkuchen ins Auge und lockte uns hinein.
Ich war über die wirklich moderaten Preise für die offensichtliche Handwerkskunst wirkliche rstaunt und ließ mich zu einer art «Red Velvet-​Sandwich» hinreißen. Dieser beheimatete eine zum niederknien leckere Käsekuchen-​Marshmallow-​Füllung zwischen zwei luftigen aber dennoch sättigenden Red-​Velvet-​Kuchenhälften (ähnlich einem Riesen-​Macaron).
Sündig ohne gleichen? Auf jeden Fall! Das Gesamtpaket aus toller Aufmachung, gutem Preis-​Leistungs-​Verhältnis und freundlicher Bedienung lassen mich dennoch sagen: Totally worth it! Ich komme gerne wieder.

not cheap but great fun and quite special — esp the rainbow cake with bubblegum flavouring!

Oh Hummingbird Bakery — how yummy and beautiful are your offerings! I’m going to say straight up that I’m not a huge fan of cupcakes. Sure, they’re pretty but they are often liking eating sugary nothingness. The cupcakes, here, however transcend this and are genuinely moist and tasty. The carrot cake, red velvet and black bottom are highly recommended. I’ve also tried the brownie with frosted topping — it’s more cakey in texture than other brownies but the frosting complements it perfectly.
There are a few tables to sit in and I’ve always found service to be friendly. It should be noted, though, that the coffee is not fantastic, so I’d recommend sticking to the sweets.
It’s worth keeping an eye on their Twitter feed for promotions and also monthly specials. I once indulged in an American brunch cupcake (bacon and maple syrup) — so wrong but oh-​so-​right!

Pies. I needed some.
A lovely gal pal of mine was hosting a belated Thanksgiving dinner, and my only responsibility was to pick up a few assorted pies to contribute. Pumpkin, of course… and I thought, another for good measure to round things out.
On short notice, the only bakery nearby that I could find with a passable Pumpkin was Hummingbird. I’d heard great things, and lots of «ooos» and «ahhhhs» about the cupcakes and such, so I thought this was a safe bet!
It is. At a price.
1 Pumpkin Pie = £31.95
1 Mississippi Mud Pie = £33.95
Holy wow.
Peter Peter Pumpkin (PIE) Eater
had a wife but couldn’t keep her…
(probably because he couldn’t afford to)
He put her in a pumpkin shell
(how much will THAT cost!?)
And there he kept her very well.
Peter, Peter pumpkin (PIE) eater,
Had another and didn’t love her;
(she probably splurged on the Mud Pie)
Peter learned to read and spell,
And then he loved her very well.
(Good thing he didn’t learn to count, he’d be pissed.).
So yes, about £70 for two pretty normal sized pies (if anything sort of small). They tasted delightful, but how on earth does any pie cost over £15? Beyond me. Perhaps I am uneducated…
Need to put in the order the day before, I did so. Requested that it be done by 1pm, and they emailed to confirm it would be. I showed up at 2pm… and then waited 30 minutes. First they were «just putting the finishing touches on it» — so I had a coffee and some cake (not that impressed, should’ve gone cupcake, really) — and seriously, 30 minutes later no one thought to say «oh, they are ready!»
I had to wait in line with a bunch of sugar craving ladies to get someone’s attention to get me the pies I had already inquired about. The service was a bit lacking. And at that pricepoint, I find it a bit unforgivable.
So, there you have it. If you need a pumpkin pie and have unlimited budget and time to dedicate, this is your place.

There is diabetes to be had at Hummingbird Bakery. Being as it is an authentic, ‘American-​style bakery,’ this seems quite appropriate… after all, the typical American consumes 42 – 45 kgs of sugar per year, and I’ve not yet gotten my 2013 fix in London.
But seriously, there are a lot of sweet things here.
After hearing some pretty positive chatter about the place, my friends and I decided to try Hummingbird just this past weekend. We entered the shop on a rainy Saturday afternoon, to find that it was… empty. Even the employees were nowhere to be seen when we stepped in, and it took a few minutes of speaking to each other loudly, while pacing around and hoping they’d hear our footsteps, to lure them out of their mysterious (and probably cake-​scented) back room.
When the shop girls did eventually emerge, we ordered a red velvet whoopie pie and a slice of carrot cake to share between three of us. We only ordered two items because a) they were massive, and b) they were massively expensive (£5.40 for a slice of cake… what).
The whoopie pie was wholly unremarkable, as it was a little too cakey and not quite cookie-​ish enough for my liking. It was also dry and crumbly by the time we cut into it, which didn’t really bode well on the freshness scene. Completely and totally ‘meh.‘
On the other hand, what really saved Hummingbird for me was the carrot cake. Moist, rich, and chock-​a-​block with nutty and carroty goodness, I would probably be okay with making this the main vegetable player in my five-​a-​day, every day. Though it was a little heavy-​handed on the cream cheese frosting (I am frosting obsessed, so this is not an easy feat for a bakery to accomplish), I enjoyed every, single bite of this cake. It was so good, I wanted to lick the plate and free it of all its crumbs when I was done (so I did).
British or American, I suppose it was necessary for me to have tried Hummingbird, based on all the hype (it’s sort of overrated, in my opinion). Seeing as I’m returning to America in a few weeks for a quick trip, I might just have to stock up on cupcakes there so I don’t have to go back to Hummingbird to get my sugar fix.

Seeing that I’m British and been living in California this Bakery is an interesting one to try and was keen to see if the items are ”authentic American”. Well. They come pretty close! Can’t say I am all that impressed though.
Red Velvet Cupcake — The frosting is so sweet and the Cake a little on the dry side. I like my Cakes to be moist. They’re pricey too at £2.65 a pop. I thought paying the equivalent of £1.90 — £2.20 a Cupcake was a lot in California but I can’t say I didn’t expect it here in Britain as everything is more expensive.
I do like the location of the Bakery, right near where my Hubby used to work and less than a mile from our beloved Thai Van (best Yellow Chicken Curry in The City btw!).
Aside from the regular sized Cupcakes they also sell mini Cupcakes (£1.35) Brownies (£2.50-$ 3.75) and Whoopie Pies (£3.25) as well as whole Cakes from Sponge (£22 upwards) to Cheesecake (£26) and Pies (Pumpkin, Pecan, Mississippi Mud (£32-£36) ect.
*There are also 3 other locations around London with the newest being in Islington in the Angel Building as well as a Food Truck (look at me becoming all ”American”). or Van I guess I should be calling it that serves local Festivals.

Absolutely amazing! My mom called them to deliver cakes to my place of work on my birthday (she’s in the US). They were very accommodating and the cake and cupcakes were absolutely delicious. Usually cupcakes can be less moist than a larger cake, but these cupcakes were mouthfuls of heaven. The carrot cake was my favorite!!! I’d definitely recommend Hummingbird to everyone!

Absolutely fabulous!
I was treated to my very first hummingbird cupcake gorgeousness on Valentine’s Day by my good boyfriend, who appropriately understood my (huge) hints at wanting to try their cupcakes!
Wow… Red Velvet– frankly, if my boyfriend’s not in town, this will be his replacement! (yes, it’s that good!)
I also, tried a chocolately brandy flavoured one which was also lovely.
Shame about the lack of seating at this branch but perfect for popping in for a quick fix!

i’m obsessed with their cupcakes, but this location disappointed me :[ they had a big sign out in the street telling you which way to the bakery, and for about 30 minutes i wandered around, wondering where the fuck the sign was pointing me to. finally, i asked somebody where the bakery was and they told me it was in the opposite direction of the way the sign told you to walk. when i got to hummingbird and told them about the sign pointing the wrong way the guy behind the counter shook his head and made a sad face about it but didn’t give enough of a fuck to have somebody go fix it or give me a free cupcake for my troubles. he even said he knew the sign was backwards, but it just hadn’t been fixed. fuuuucckkk that!
PLUS i ordered 6 cupcakes and the box they gave me was so big that it was embarrassing. it looked like i’d ordered 24 or something, and they wouldn’t give me a smaller box. overall, the cupcakes are amazing here and at every other location and definitely worth getting lost for. still, i wouldn’t come back to this location if i had to pick a fave

The newest location for the famous Hummingbird Bakery brand! Located just between the heart of the City and Spitalfields market, the Frying Pan alley location is perfect for a work mid-​week treat!
I spoke with the staff and they said that some days are very busy, usually during the week, and the weekends had been a bit slow. I really hope that the traffic starts to even out as word starts to get out about this spectacular sugar banquet!
I’ve made two trips already since its opening once for a special treat for my co-worker’s birthday and once as a special treat for a night out with some friends. We devoured a Blackbottom cupcake, a Red Velvet cupcake, and vanilla and chocolate cupcakes for my friend’s birthday party and everyone went quiet while we inhaled our desserts!
For a night out with friends I got 2 vanilla cupcakes, 2 brownies (one with frosting, one without), a carrot cake cupcake and 2 savoury muffins with spinach and peppers. The biggest surprise was how yummy the savoury muffins were, it was a perfect tummy liner before some serious cocktails.
If you have a gluten-​allergy make sure you check out their gluten free range as well.
Please check out this location, it’s an absolute gem in the city!
Suggestion: Make a trip on a Saturday after a shopping trip at Spitalfields Market!