Peggy Porchen Cakes is one of London's most photographed cafes, and I have been wanting to visit it for over two years. I finally got to after work one afternoon in the middle of November. I was then able to make another visit in mid-December early in the morning on a weekday. The attractive pink shop opened in late 2010 and is located on a corner on Elizabeth Street between Victoria and Sloane Square, on the fringe of London's Belgravia. Peggy Porschen go all out on their decorations, and the cakes and other treats are highly-decorated to look beautiful; their clients include celebrities and royalty. They have provided wedding and celebration cakes for a many celebrities.
This little pink cafe gets so much attention, and because it is so busy, I was put off going at the weekend because I'm not really a fan of crowds. The location is a bit out of the way for me as well, so I did not want to be disappointed. I thought that at 4:00 on a work night (I cannot get there any sooner than this really) would have been relatively quiet, but there was a pretty long queue when I arrived! The place is now massively popular with non-Londoners too as quite a lot of the people visiting were from out of town.
Anyway, my visit on a week night in the afternoon included a long queue to be seated, and I did not want to wait that long. I just got a few photographs and took a few items home with me.
My second visit happened very early on a Monday morning. Peggy Porschen Cakes opens at 8:00am, and I arrived close to ten minutes early. I took my time looking at the beautiful displays and windows on Elizabeth Street and then waited outside the shop for it to open. I was the first one there, which actually surprised me as I expected that it would be busy. However, not long after I arrived and placed my order, others started to turn up. I wanted to sit outside, and it was a little chilly but manageable, but three couples who turned up sat inside. I had the outside to myself.
What did I order? For starters, it was early for me and chilly, so I opted for the hot chocolate. This came with plenty of miniature marshmallows on the side and a lovely stencil design of snowflakes on top of the frothy cream. It looks very pretty, but it wasn't the best hot chocolate that I have had, but the warmth was satisfying.
I also had the snowman chocolate cupcake. I had had one earlier in the season, but I could not remember the flavour of it but did remember the gingerbread one was really good. As I couldn't remember what flavour I had last time, I opted for the snowman cupcake in chocolate. And, I found out that this is what I had last time. It was okay, but I preferred the gingerbread cupcake that I had previously.
To finish, I had the biscuit shaped like an ice skate. I took this home, and it came in its own little package, but I really wanted to photograph it here. I did enjoy this.
The cafe is gorgeous, and I just could not stop taking photographs of it all!
On my previous visit, I did not want to wait for a table because there was a long queue. I had no idea that it would be that popular on a weeknight just before 4:00, so I mentioned that I took a few items home with me. These are posted below as a part of my original write-up. I honestly did not believe that I would get around to visiting again so soon after it's taken me over two years to make my first visit. First up, I choose a couple of cupcakes. The one on the right is a "Christmas Cabin Speculoo" cupcake; I didn't know what this meant, but I believe it was a German-style gingerbread. The cupcake was a gingerbread-flavour and tasted light and was actually really good. It wasn't too heavy nor too sweet. The second one has a snowman decoration and is a chocolate cupcake.
They also had another cupcake with a snowman design on the top, but the cake is a different flavour. I did not try this one, but it is lemon and gingerbread. I bought the other gingerbread one, so I did not need to try this one.
I also got a slice of coconut cake; a photograph of the whole cake is below. I thought it looked very pretty. It had round orbs of different pastel colours (pink, cream, and green), snowfakes and smaller white and silvery orbs. The cake was very light and tasted like subtle coconut. I was not as keen on the icing. It was light as well but tasted a bit greasy.
They also had a cake with macaroons on it.
I would like to get to Peggy Porschen's Cakes bakery and cafe again next spring when it is decorated with floral displays. Also, they are launching a new venue in Chelsea on King's Road. I happened to see their new location when I went to check out the Christmas displays on The Ivy Garden Chelsea restaurant, and it is not far from there. Hopefully I will get to do visit Peggy Porschen Cakes again now that I have finally been, so watch this space.
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