Welcome to the 2023 edition of London's festive and Christmas treats that I enjoyed this season. There's many more places that I did not cover, but below are a list of ones that I snapped this year and tried, including some firm favourites. Keep reading to see the list below of festive and Christmas treats in London.
Peggy Porschen Cakes: The popular cafe is a photograph spot because it decorates the cakery shops each year. There's one on Elizabeth Street around the corner from Victoria Bus Station and another one on King's Road in Chelsea. They had a large selection this year, including some favourites from past years but also some new recipes.
I had the Bailey's chocolate cupcake, which I washed down with a delicious pistachio hot chocolate. This hot chocolate came with a pistachio macaroon.
Crome: Crome is known for its French toast creations, and they also have croissants shaped like wheels and cubes. For Christmas, they had a festive French toast creation, which I had to try: the Gingerbread French Toast. It was delicious but very sweet, and I would have been more than happy to share as I could not finish it. It contained whipped cream, French toast, Gingerbread cream, ice cream, and a gingerbread biscuit. I washed this down with a toasted marshmallow hot chocolate.
Local Markets - Duck Pond Market in Ruislip: At any local market, buyers are likely to find festive creations like these cupcakes.
Whipped!: I've been a fan of Whipped! for several years now, since they had a cafe on Drury Lane. This was then moved to another location in Covent Garden before moving to Brixton for a few years. They reopened in a new area of Covent Garden. Cheesecake is the speciality, but cheesecake it's what I enjoy. For those looking for alternatives, the cakes and cookies are delicious. I also had the festive hot chocolate, which comes with a gingerbread and Christmas candies. I tried two of the creations, which were cookies and brownies and their (non-Christmas) pistachio cookie, which is one of my favourites ever. They had a large range of festive items.
Chin Chin Labs: There's two branches of Chin Chin Labs, famous for their ice cream. The original is in Camden, and they also have another in Soho. I purchased the toasted marshmallow hot chocolate and tried their new festive treat - Party Popper. It is a pinecone mousse dessert with lashings of chocolate and cone and served with two party poppers filled with powdered sugar. Popping these over the top of the dessert creates a snowy effect. Chin Chin Labs also had their Baked Alaska returned this year, and that's been my favourite so far.
Cakes and Bakes: There are different branches of this chain, and I visited in Ruislip Manor. The hot chocolate was creamy, and I had a cupcake. The cake was good; only downside is that the food colouring used does tend to stay on lips and tongue. However, a good lip scrub will remove the stain from lips.
Valentino Pink Hot Chocolate: All the rage on Instagram this year seemed to be the pink hot chocolate from pop-up Valentino outside of Harrods. Visitors could buy a pink hot chocolate from a pink van and drink it in front of a pink Valentino Christmas tree under pink covers.
Marchesi: This Italian cafe always has Italian Christmas desserts in the windows.
EL & N and Caffe Concertto: These cafes has a few branches and both (completely separate companies) serves up some festive treats.
Badiani Gelato: Located in Mercato in Mayfair, this ice cream shop makes ice cream festive treats.
L'eto: This dessert shop is filled with wonderful-looking festive treats.
Last year, I covered the treats in with the Christmas decorations, and you can read the posts here:
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