Treacle

Excellent cake shop with a great variety of pastries and lots of cupcakes to choose from. The last time I got two dozens of cupcakes and brought them to the office. (it’s a big office :)
They were literally devoured in no-​time and everyone just loved them. They were moist enough and each of them was individually decorated with imagination and creativity.
Loved the EAT CAKE AND CARRY ON poster :)

The fairy cakes are pretty but inedible. I like the vibe of the place and sometimes they have a lovely fresh elderflower presse but far too over priced overall.

Today was a bad day. It started full of promise with a clear blue sky and the likelihood of a lazy Sunday moseying down Columbia Road. Then tragedy struck. It wasn’t Treacle’s fault, although it was intimately involved.
Four cakes had been purchased, a glorious sticky and unctuous Guinness & Chocolate cake, a raspberry & lemon meringue pie which with had a good sharpness which cut through the sweetness of the topping and two mini Victoria sponges with cream and raspberry jam beckoning me like some kind of irresistible temptress. I would love to report that the sponge was soft and the raspberry jam sweet and fruity. However, in slow motion, the box in which had hitherto kept the sponges safe was knocked off its perch by a careless hand, the sponges spinning and tumbling to the floor. Tragedy indeed.
I must admit that I did consider eating the cakes anyway. There was no danger that the ‘3 second rule’ had been breached. However, with bits of grit lodged in the cream filling I thought better of it and consigned the sponges to the bin. Would these have been cakes that would have passed the ‘grit test’ and will I ever have the opportunity to taste their like again? Who can say. However, there is no doubt I will return to Treacle to buy some more cakes to erase today’s memory.

I went to this shop last Sunday, while visiting the flower market on Columbia Rd. It was around 12pm, so they still had plenty of cupcakes, which looked tasty (but I’d had breakfast less than 2 hours before). I asked the two ladies behind the counter if I could take some photos inside and they didn’t have any problem with that. They were really kind and friendly.
Treacle stocks all sorts of vintage kitchen utensils, crockery and china, together with some stationary. Everything is super lovely but a bit pricey. If I were rich and I had a kitchen in London to fill with pretty things, this would be one of the places I’d come to.

FAIL!!!
The counterperson pulled a long hair off of a cupcake and then put the cupcake into my bag. Can you believe that? Somehow she thought that I didn’t see her do it. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t think that she would go through with it. But she did!
I didn’t say anything because the store was completely packed and I didn’t want to call them out in front of everyone and run them out of business. Plus it was a mini cupcake and only cost a pound.
A few minutes later I pulled the cupcake out of the bag to examine it and it was HARD AS A ROCK. Yes, on top of there being a hair on the cupcake, it was totally stale.
This place is a disgusting joke.

I should really like this shop. But I was bored. I was armed with my camera on a «taking photos of Columbia Road» trip (I should warn my friends in advance about my plans, it gets quite dull for them), but I didn’t snap a single thing.
If you’re a cake shop, don’t run out of a cake halfway through Sunday. You’ve been here a while now, you know the score. It wasn’t even that sunny outside so tourists weren’t exactly flocking.
The décor is interesting enough, and I love the old fashioned scales. But I couldn’t tell what was for sale and what wasn’t. So it’s a shop that I can’t shop in (albeit a fairly pretty one) and a cupcakery that I can’t buy cake in. Not impressed. Probably teetering between two and three stars.

Needing some sugar and cupcakes? This cute little shop on Columbia Road is a great place to pop in and pick up some goodies. Along with the baked goods, there are also teas, gifts and vintage house décor available for purchase. I picked up a gorgeous garden basket at their winter market at an amazingly low price. They also have a whimsical window display to celebrate the celebrate the current seasons. (photos above)

Cuteness! An amazing branding success I must say. A charming and playful cupcake boutique showcasing a variety of beautiful tiny weeny cupcakes on vintage dressers. They’re so small they can fit in between your teeth. Everything is so carefully designed. I spent so much time in here but didn’t end up buying anything (well, I’m not a huge cupcake fan for one). They even have a big board that tells you not to say the «C-​word» because they’re actually selling tea. It’s definitely a shop worth visiting!

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* coffee
Treacle doesn’t tolerate coffee, so don’t ask… you’ll only get stern looks. It’s strictly tea and cakes here — fairycakes — small, light, cute and cheap cakes that are a size down from cupcakes but a step up in fun and deliciousness. Sure, you could make some yourself at home for ¹⁄₆^th the price with a Disney-​themed kit from Tescos, but Treacle do it better and besides… it’s more about the experience here.
The shop is a world of fun, packed with an array of different fairycakes, some great designer touches and lovely slogans. The staff are a lot of fun and the whole thing feels like a humorous cabaret or an ironic modern-​art installation.
The tea is great too — but be warned that choice is not what you get here. It’s Builder’s Tea only… strong and milky. Better than that c***ee crap.

Are cupcakes the New Emperors Clothes? I only ask because there has to be some rational reason why grown adults will patiently queue (and queue for a loooong time), for something that is essentially flour, water and sugar.
And don’t think that my pointing finger at you all is not pointing back at me! On a Sunday morning I am eagerly making up part of the queue, passing the time by debating on the choice of cupcake — traditional vanilla? Zest lemon? Chocolate? (a bit too rich for me at 11am on a Sunday morning)
I usually settle on the Vanilla. And then the toppings! Oooh, what kind of sprinkles shall I get? Hang on, am I 30, or 7 years old? Once I have got my deliciously sweet, but not cloyingly so piece of cupcake heaven, I wander around the rest of the shop in a bid to rid myself of the overwhelming sense of ridiculousness that I have just spent 10 minutes being excited about a cupcake.
The rest of the shop, by the way, is worth a look. It is like stepping into a Devonshire farmhouse from the 50’s. Cute and slightly kitchy tea pots and mugs, tea towels and cushions; everything in this shop is covetable. But don’t even think about coming here without picking up a cupcake. Go one, be part of the cupcake mania.

When it comes to cake I am a girl of very simple tastes. Give me a Victoria Sponge over a Chocolate Gâteau any day of the week. Treacle shares this philosophy and its shop at the end of the Columbia Road flower market only stocks the truest of British baking. Treacle cupcakes are the big sellers here and it’s little wonder when they’re decorated this beautifully. I almost don’t want to eat them they’re that pretty. I say almost, this hesitation only ever lasts for a few seconds before I’ve scoffed the whole thing.
Bigger cakes, my beloved Victoria Sponge for example, are very expensive (around £30) but absolutely delicious. Treacle claims this will make twelve servings– they should see me get through it in three. I reckon this would make a far better house warming present than a boring set of pots and pans or an ornamental vase. You can’t eat a vase after all!
Sadly Treacle is only open on market days but this almost adds to the greatness of their cakes, knowing that they are a rare treat only makes you want them more! A great shop and well recommended to all those sweet tooth’s out there.

A pure delight. This shop is nothing short of that. But the real miracle of this is that really, there’s not much to it. A waist-​high wooden countertop with a variety of cupcakes on display under the glass (get there early! they run out most flavours before the day is through!), a chalk board announcing that they *only* sell tea, and a smattering of old-​fashioned cake stands for sale… and that’s pretty much it. The rest is open space — just a wood floor with a rather coarse finish.
But there is loveliness in this simplicity… in being confident that the cupcakes are the main event and there needn’t be any trappings or clutter to distract customers from the sponge cake topped with pastel swirls of butter cream. Even the fact that they run out of cupcakes is part of its charm (as an American with an MBA, I generally consider this a bad business practice) — as if to say, «this is what we made, and when they’re gone, well, they’re gone…»
Come here to feel as if you’ve been thrown back to a more straightforward and uncomplicated time. When the floors were bare, when shops were workshops of expert artisans — selling their wares sans gimmickry, and when butter and sugar combinations were a truly rare and special treat.
P. S. For one of the other reviewers that asked… Treacle is definitely never open on weekdays… only on Sundays during the flower market…

Eat cake and carry on, the simple philosophy of Treacle is just heart melting and suits me just well, a matter of fact I could just live with sugar.
This shop is the prettiest with the old fashioned furniture and decoration and the cupcakes with all the colors, glitter and candy on top, just irresistible.
The only sad thing is this place seems to be open only on Sundays or at least on a Monday afternoon I was left standing behind closed doors, and without cupcakes. I am still on a mission to find out the exact times as I have been unable to get hold of anyone.mystery.

A lovely place… this vintage-​meets-​modern bakery/​tea house fills me with a happiness I rarely experience in a cake shop that doesn’t serve coffee. I think it’s the traditional simplicity that does it for me — a very minimal interior (intentionally a memorial to British functionalism) accented with basic wood furniture, some cool crockery and of course, the gorgeous cakes.
While I’ve only tried a mini vanilla cupcake (should have ordered up for a proper verdict), I did take bring one of their big layer cakes to a dinner party… and it went down a treat.

As an unadulterated fan of good old fashioned cupcakes and great vintage homeware, Treacle is, to hazard a pun, just my cup of tea.
Selling the most beautiful cupcakes I’ve ever seen, some fabulous post-​war furniture and bits and bobs for the home, Treacle’s philosophy is underpinned by a desire to celebrate good British baking and great contemporary design.
Its cupcakes are sublime — all glittery and jewel-​like year round with special Christmas editions at this time of year — and are just about the only cakes I’d give as a gift.
In addition, Treacle is possibly the best place in East London to pick up an original Kitchen Queen from the fifties in fab condition. All in all a little gem of a shop.