Cupcakes in Amsterdam!

Well hello!

I just thought I'd share with you a little trip to Amsterdam for a friend's 40th birthday.

Before I left I Googled 'cupcakes amsterdam' and didn'g get much back other than a few reports that they were hard to come by because of the ingredients not being readily available?? Within a few hours of walking the streets I had eaten 3 cupcakes, 1 slice of apple pie, half a slice of carrot cake and half a cookie... we were getting a bit 'caked out' so decided to share the last two!

Just 10 minutes after dropping our bags at the hotel we found this little place where I indulged in a coconut cupcake. The cake was actually chocolate while the creamy white frosting was very coconut-y and had more coconut sprinkled on top. I was disappointed with the cake, much too dry, but the frosting was lovely and I could have eaten more!

Next stop was Winkel! We had read about this amazing apple pie they did so had to check it out... This was a totally unassuming place with a load of crammed in chairs, benches at the bar and little corners stuffed with more chairs and tables. Everyone seemed to share space just to get a seat... I loved it!!  Looking at the menu there was no apple pie listed so had we not read about it we might never have got to try it.

The only place I had read about was De Drie Graefjes where 'Dan the cookie man' (a native American using American recipes) prepared pastries, cakes, cheesecakes, cookies and cupcakes.  So we sat down in the lunchroom and had fresh mint tea and a delicious carrot cake. This is where the cookie bit comes in, on the side of my tea you see a mini cookie. The cake was lovely and moist, one of the best carrot cakes I've ever tried. On leaving we checked out the bakery next door and I bought 2 cupcakes to go! A Vanilla and a Black Bottom. The vanilla was good, not amazing, but good. The frosting on this was a bit tasteless so I didn't finish it. The Black Bottom however was amazing.... I loved the frosting which I think had mascarpone in it. This one I finished and I could definitely have eaten some more of that delicious frosting.

Before leaving we wanted to visit the Eastern Docklands and in particular the Lloyd Hotel, a revamped 1920's building.  A lot of the orginal features of the building have been reused and mixed with newer features from some top Dutch designers. I know where I want to stay next time we visit.... We decided to have something a little more substantial as our flight home was a few hours away. We picked the tomato and basil soup with a bowl of chips and mayonnaise! We weren't disappointed!!  Just as we were tucking in the staff started to appear with plates of morsels for the bar... apparently at 5pm everyday they bring out a selection of tapas. If only I'd known this first, I would have waited to eat!

A couple of hours later we were back home eating toast and drinking tea!