Cake or no cake; that is the question…

I LOVE food!!! I don’t think this statement comes as a surprise to my friends and family (hence the name of the blog).  You all know this to be true and while we are being truthful, I will add that I may have a slight preference for all things sweet (although I would not say no to a good steak, prawns...).

My particular interest and passion is with coffee shops and cafés.  This love affair started during high school when I spent many an afternoon with friends, at the coffee shop called Friends, catching up over a cuppa coffee or two or three and a slice of cake.  

This trend continued during university, where we mainly still went to Friends but expanded a little, well as much as our student budget would allow, and we tried other places like Dulcè (Greek chocolate cake...yum) and whatever place was open at the Shark Rock Pier under Barneys (this place has changed ownership and names many times so I lose track of what it was called when).

Then came the good old faithful Mugg & Bean.  First it was reserved for the bigger cities and then little PE got one and know we have few.  You basically get what it says on the tin, decent food in big portions. I have to admit that I don’t think I have ever had a slice of cake from Mugg & Bean, those enormous slices scare even me.  I do enjoy their giant muffins though!

When I moved to England and started exploring our little town of Leatherhead, I sadly stated to Hubby that there were no good coffee shops.  It took some time but now, six years later, there are a couple of chain, Costa Coffee and even a Starbucks (good? bad?).  There is also an Italian coffee shop called Amici (http://www.simplyamici.com/caff-3-w.asp).  They make lovely lunches including paninis, salads and pasta but the best is their chocolate fudge cake. I honestly think it is the best chocolate cake I have had in a very long time, if not ever and that is saying a lot!

I have tried many other places in London and Hubby and I even ventured to the Portobello Market to visit the Hummingbird Bakery (http://hummingbirdbakery.com/) so we could try their famous cupcakes. All I can say is it was well worth the trip.

As children, my Sister and I always baked cakes and biscuits with my Mom and always fought about who could lick out the bowl with the cake mixture.  So maybe that is where my love of cake actually began!  Towards the end of our stay in England I started trying to bake myself again. I had made cupcakes for our birthdays but I wanted to learn some new techniques and decided to do a baking class at Cakes 4 Fun (http://www.cakes4fun.co.uk/).  I decided on the Baking Masterclass 2: Famous Cakes. This was a day long course from 10am to 4pm and we made a Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, a Swiss Roll and a Sachertorte. It was great fun and I am sorry I did not discover their courses sooner as I would have loved to have done many more.

The Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting I baked at Cakes 4 Fun

So after being here in Genève for a month now I have tried a few coffee shops in the area and at the moment my favourite is Le Pain Quotidien (http://www.lepainquotidien.ch/). The direct translation to English means “the daily bread”.  

At Le Pain Quotidien

 

Waiting for our order

Hubby and I have gone there a few times and tried a few different options. We had a breakfast there where I selected muesli and yogurt and Hubby had some pastries. We have also tried a few lunch options, including a salmon and philadelphia open sandwich, a club sandwich and a hummus and chicken open sandwich. We have also tried their chocolate muffin which has a nutella soft chocolate centre. Their coffee is also good and is served in a cup without a handle.

Salmon and Philadelphia open sandwich

Club sandwich

Hummus and chicken open sandwich

Coffee and Nutella filled Chocolate Muffin

All in all we have enjoyed all the food we have sampled there so far and at the moment it is my fav!

We are jetting off to SA this week for Jess and Gareth’s wedding. We can’t wait to see our family and friends (and eat all the SA food we miss).  So excited...