London’s bakeries and dearly-missed dessert destinations are slowly reopening, breathing new life into the city with treats to go. From big slabs of cake to marshmallow-topped hot chocolates and brand new ice creams, everything is served with a social distanced smile and packaged for you to enjoy elsewhere. Support these small London businesses and satisfy your sweet tooth at the same time…
The Apple Blue Patisserie
The Balham brunch-meets-sweet spot is back with a bang, offering a whole range of new treats to take away. A full fro-yo menu with sweet n’ salty popcorn, pretzels and caramel brownie bits (Movie Night), homemade meringue with frozen berries and blood orange (An Absolute Bloody Mess) or the option to choose your own dream combination, get it swirled into a tub or stick to Apple Blue’s comforting classics – the Russian honey cake is famous for good reason.
Address: 212 Balham High Rd, London SW12 9BS
Opening hours: Monday – Friday 8am-3pm; Saturday & Sunday 8am-4:30pm
Ottolenghi
For sophisticated bakes with Middle Eastern spices, Ottolenghi is your man. The jaw-dropping display of salads, pastries and cakes can be admired again in Notting Hill and Islington – with the other locations to hopefully follow suit soon. Spiced date cakes with tangy orange cream cheese, velvety-soft vanilla financiers and perfectly round cheesecakes, everything is topped with seasonal fruits for a natural burst of sweetness.
Address: 63 Ledbury Rd, London W11 2AD; 287 Upper St, London N1 2TZ
Opening hours: Monday – Saturday 9am-5pm; Sunday 9am-4pm
Bake St
A small café with cozy vibes, brunch plates and homemade cakes, Bake St is more about sitting in but rest assured the team has launched something exciting for take-away. Summer can only mean one thing – sorbets. And not just any sorbets – full of the ripest fruits with a minimal amount of single estate dairy, these tubs are made in small batches to bring you purely frozen scoops in lesser-known flavours such as lychee and kumquat, alphonso mango kulfi or custard apple. Grab your (tote)bag, it’s time to take your taste buds to the tropics.
Address: 58 Evering Rd, London N16 7SR
Opening hours: Wednesday-Friday 9am-3pm; Saturday & Sunday 9am-4pm
Flavourtown Bakery
Fulham’s favourite for American-style cakes and that award-winning salted caramel brownie, Flavourtown Bakery brings the same ray of sweetness in bright boxes to take away. Topping-heavy cupcakes and large slices filled with pockets of cheesecakes, the selection of cakes might be limited compared to the usual feast of choices but Flavourtown Bakery still manages to whip up their weekend specials. Peanut butter jelly, rhubarb and custard or chocolate with red velvet cookies as the base – oh it’s good to have these back.
Address: 771 Fulham Rd, London SW6 5HA
Opening hours: Daily 10am-6pm
Chin Chin
London’s liquid ice cream parlour Chin Chin is now open on the weekends, serving Soho and Camden babes with a so-called limited menu. The limit to indulgence does not exist here – banana jam cream pies, marshmallow-covered hot chocolates, brownie cookie sandwiches, grilled cookie dough and a new marshmallow waffle cup, get everything topped with ice cream and save a bag of fudgy white chocolate chunks for later.
Address: 54 Greek St, London W1D 3DS or 49-50 Camden Lock, London NW1 8AF
Opening hours: Saturday & Sunday 12pm-7pm
Victoria Yum
Attracting long social-distancing queues, Victoria Yum has now launched coffee and cake Fridays with a counter full of beautiful bakes. Dark fudgy brownies with swirls of rainbow or red velvet and the biggest slabs of cake crowned with flowers, fruits and flawless frostings – everything can be taken to go in Hackney Wick. If you’re not local, Victoria Yum also supplies the whole nation with cakes by post.
Address: Mainyard, Studio 31, 86b, Wallis Rd, London E9 5LN
Opening hours: Friday 10am-4pm
Blondies Kitchen
Situated inside Selfridges Food Hall, Blondies Kitchen specializes in sweet afternoon pick-me-ups to keep shoppers going. Cookie dough in tubs (full of chocolate buttons, not chips), thin cookies (chewy, buttery, soft and sweet), brownies (sandwiched with cookie dough) and jugs of cereal milk, everything has always been conveniently easy to take on the go – whether splurging in Selfridges fashion or not.
Address: W1 1AB, 400 Oxford St, London W1C 1JT
Opening hours: tba
