Primrose Bakery Review

In hindsight, it was a mistake for me to write a review of a cupcake recipe app shortly before lunch. The fact that I have a dozen cupcakes baking in the oven now obviously has nothing to do with my hunger or this app. Pure coincidence, honest. This does happen to be a glorious app for cupcake fans, though.

As a Brit, I'm not too sure how well travelled the Primrose Bakery is. It's a bakery in London that has grown increasingly popular, to the point that it now supplies Selfridges Food Hall, Fortnum and Mason as well as numerous celebrities such as U2, Kate Moss and Jude Law. There's a reason for its success: the cupcakes are divinely tasty.

While there's a recipe book out there, the app serves to provide iOS users with a plentiful supply of delicious cupcake recipes, as well as a bunch of loaves, biscuits/cookies and cake recipes. With 70 recipes in all, there's a lot to enjoy here.

Beneath each category is a list of all the recipes available along with an attractive photo of the results. In the case of the cupcakes, once a recipe has been selected, a suggestion for the ideal icing/frosting is provided too. It's not essential though, with separate recipes for the icing/frosting meaning that chefs can mix and match to their heart's content. All the useful information possible is provided with time and difficulty immediately accessible, followed by measurements of the ingredients (in an UK friendly format - no cups here), and the ever vital step by step instructions. It's simple, clear and works perfectly for a recipe app.

Cupcakes range from the hugely indulgent and traditional such as Triple Chocolate Cupcakes to the quirky and seasonal like the Christmas Pudding Cupcake. There's something for everyone. Layer cakes, Biscuits/Cookies and Loaves and Slices offer similar variety. In each case, everything looks delicious. Tips deciphering all the complexities such as how to ice a cake correctly, plus a Shopping List feature are also bundled in but the stars of the app are undoubtedly the cakes themselves.

There's only really one pivotal problem behind Primrose Bakery and that's a geographical one. As mentioned, there are no US measurements to be seen here which is fine for Europeans. Expecting US owners to convert all 70 recipes having already paid for the app is very unfair however, and I'd like to see an update rectify this and offer both forms of measurements. Other than that, this is a cake fan's dream.