Love is ... The Pudding Parlour

As my social media slowly fills up with people posting photos of their big bunches of flowers and expensive jewellery whilst announcing to the world that they are "blessed", I've decided to come and talk to you all about my second great love - CAKE!

So far, my Valentines has consisted of getting my mop chopped, a mooch round the shops and battling round Tescos - whilst poor old Simon has been sitting on the couch recovering from Man Flu.

We don't really make a big fuss out of Valentines Day and, as with every other day, the highlight for us is spending time together and eating food. 

Our plan for this evening is to lounge about watching films - one chosen by him (something very geeky) and something chosen by me (some awful Rom Com) whilst feasting on sugar.  We decided we needed a special kind of treat and in the spirit of Valentines we decided to support local and get some cake from the Pudding Parlour.

The Pudding Parlour is a decadent dessert company based in Northumberland with stores in Hexham and Morpeth.  Living in Newcastle (and without a car .. sob!) I'd had to admire the delicious looking cakes from afar, knowing that it would probably be a good long while before I could try any.   So imagine how happy I was when the Pudding Parlour opened a counter in the Food Hall at Fenwick.

I popped along this afternoon to pick something out for our Valentines evening and was shocked by the amount of cakes on offer.   From British classic cakes to American desserts and a few unique treats invented in the Parlour, there were so many to look at I had to phone Simon from the counter just to read out some of them to him so he could make a decision - I didn't want to get it wrong!

In the end I chose the Black Forest Layer Cake and Simon went for the Caramel Cake.  It wasn't the easiest of decisions and I urge anyone living near Newcastle to head to Fenwick and take a look at the counter for yourselves.   I know I will definitely be back - I have my eye on the Custard Cream Cake and the Toblerone Cheesecake!

Whilst we're here, I'll let you into a little secret.  There is also somewhere else you can get Pudding Parlour goodies in  Newcastle.   The recently opened Longhorns Barbecue Smokehouse are serving up a variety of the American inspired treats so if you find yourself there make sure you save some room for dessert.

The Pudding Parlour also make rather spectacular cakes for special occasions and offer a variety of cake decorating and baking classes which I really want to check out some time.

Let me know if you've been to the Pudding Parlour and if you have any recommendations of which cakes I should try next.