Golden Gate Cake Shop

My fiance and I were just leaving Chinatown after an enormous 3 course meal when I saw a line of people pouring out of a cake shop. 

Golden Gate Cake Shop

London Chinatown storefront

Cake display case

Mousse cake slices

The display cake had me.  We started snapping photos before we even went inside to see what they had.  I had a good feeling.

The inside was very, very small.  There were several people in and out of the shop as well as workers coming through to restock big trays of buns and cakes.  Right at the entrance is a stack of trays and a pair of tongs to choose your items with.  Once you have chosen your items you bring them to the counter and they ring you up and box your items. It all happens very fast.

Sponge, Coconut Pandan, Rainbow, Marble, Coffee, Chocolate, & Yam Rolls
Melon Cake, Custard Pastry, Red Bean Pastry

Sausage & Cheese Chilli Bun and Pandan Lotus Seed Baby Pig

Chestnut Roll & Cappuccino Roll

Green Tea Mousse Cake, Cheesecake, Pandan Layer Cake 

Unlabeled "swiss rolls" with strawberry faces

It's as happy to see me as I it. 

When I got home I opened the box to see how everything was packaged. And also to taste the little strawberry guy.

His eye got a little messed up in transit but it was still delicious.

Inside the swiss roll

I call it a swiss roll because it tasted just like one.  It had a firm chocolate on top to support the strawberry face and buttercream grass.

Banana Mousse Cake

I love the plastic wrapping.

The mousse cake was my favorite.  It reminded me of banana pudding with vanilla wafers; the cake acted as the wafer and the mousse as the pudding.  I will be back to try the other flavors they had, specifically the kiwi mousse cake. And probably the green tea mousse cake for the fiance.  And maybe one of those little piggies. And a chestnut roll.

BB's Coffee & Muffins

bbs coffee & muffins

"because because because... any excuse will do"

And because I'm pretty into baked goods.

Dope lounge area

The Savory

The Sweet

Almond Muffin

Chocolate Chunk Muffin

Polka Dot Muffin

When I asked the counter-person what their favorite muffin was she replied" Apple-Raspberry" I thought long and hard about whether I was the type of person to order a" healthy" muffin 26 days from their wedding or am I about to get the tasty looking raspberry and coconut slice pictured below.

Mince Pies and Raspberry Coconut Slice

Mini Muffins, Toasted Tea Cakes and an unknown delicious looking treat.

In the end I chose double chocolate because of who I am as a person. I used to be pretty addicted to chocolate chip muffins in high school until I discovered chocolate muffins. I never looked back. The chocolate curls on top of this muffin sold me.  I ate it the next day after wrapping it in saran wrap; and again split it with my significant other.  If you split something it's "just a little treat" and then it doesn't count against you. 

The merch. 

I like that they put a little window in the bag so you can watch your muffin lol.

Double Chocolate Muffin

It was divine.  Very moist, but firm in all the right places ;)  The muffin top was the best as is typically the case.  This is the first muffin I have had in the UK and I have to say I'm digging the wrapping on the outside.  It made unwrapping the muffin much easier and less messy and there was minimal "muffin loss" on the liner. Minimal muffin loss is pretty important to me.  Because of who I am as a person.

Genuine Cakes

One of the things I can truly appreciate about the UK is their commitment to tea time.  

A midday stop for treats sounds like something I have been doing on the DL for years.
When I first arrived in Hertfordshire there were menus at our hotel for tea time.  Beautifully decorated lounges dedicated to where people take their tea.  And shops that sell treats to be enjoyed specifically with tea.  I even took a class on how to make petit fours.  Now being an American I am of course more familiar with the quick and dirty coffee break.  Possibly a muffin to accompany it.  And then I saw this:

Genuine Cakes: Cake & Prosecco Bar

Why are we not funding this?

Genuine Cakes makes special event cakes as well as caters packages for afternoon tea time.

Macarons, cake pops, cakes and cupcakes.

Display cupcake

Nutella, Carrot & Walnut, Chocolate, & Oreo Cupcakes

Egg-less & Gluten Free Cupcakes with Vanilla buttercream

 I was taking many photographs of the cakes and the woman behind the counter handed me a sample of the carrot & walnut cupcake. I have recently been recovering from an illness and it took everything I had not to stop what I was doing for mid-day booze and treats.

Oreo Cupcake 

But I did get an Oreo cupcake to go. It was a very dense cake, not as sweet as cupcakes you might find in the US.  But that meant you could really taste the Oreo cookies in the cake and buttercream which I liked. A lot.  I split it with my fiance which made me regret not getting the 4 pack. 

Millie's Cookies

I was on my way to the gym and so I tried to walk right by this place. But my will power is what it is: 

Millie's Cookies storefront at Intu Mall in Watford  

The goods.

Mini Bites

Cookie Slices

They also make giant cookies in case a slice just won't cut it.  Get it?  Slice? Cut? You get it. 

"Giant" Cookies (or individual size we don't judge here)

For when you don't want to get your paws dirty.

Cookie Pops

I knew I would choose a cookie even though thy also have delightful looking cupcakes.

Cupcakes

They apparently also sell Baskin-Robbins ice cream, which I could not be bothered with as I had already scoped out the word "toffee" on cookie signage. For a brief moment I almost got the mini bites as it offered a variety of cookie flavors, but then I would eat 12 mini bites on my way to the gym so....

Milk Chocolate & Toffee Cookie

One cookie :(

PS. A very good cookie at that.  The toffee chunks melted through the cookie kind of like caramel but firmer.  And there was plenty of it.  None of that "toffee bits" nonsense.