Flour power

LONDON LIFE contributors and friends of the magazine reveal where to find the capital's best baked goods

- Bryony Fripp

A FEW short years ago, if you lived within spitting distance of a branch of Waitrose, the value of your house went up; nowadays, it’s all about how close you live to a Gail’s or, better still, an independent bakery. Even Greggs is in on the action and its vegan sausage roll continues to make headlines. With so much choice, it can be tricky to know where to go when in search of your favourite pastry, so we asked the best people in the know for some recommendations.

Who? Emma Hughes

What? A blood-orange, chocolate and coffee Danish pastry from August Bakery, SW11

Queues maketh the London It-bakery: Jolene, Toad, Fortitude and The Dusty Knuckle have all built their reputations on fearsome ones. The phenomenon has now reached Clapham in the form of August—a new bakery that’s brightening up a hitherto unexciting section of Battersea Rise. It’s only been open since the start of the year, but is already exerting a planetary gravitational pull: there must have been 50 people in front of me on my last Sunday-morning visit.

The pastries are as beautiful and covetable as designer bags, but they never feel as if they’ve been designed chiefly to be photographed (the savoury swirl of Ogleshield cheese, fennel seeds and crispy serrano ham is a work of culinary genius). My current weekend go-to is the blood-orange, chocolate and coffee Danish, a grown-up treat with just enough of a hint of Terry’s to satisfy a nostalgic sweet tooth; it pairs perfectly with a flat white. If you're popping in after a dog walk on Clapham Common, look out for the jar of complimentary baked treats for four-legged friends.

Emma Hughes is an author and LONDON LIFE's restaurant reviewer

Who? David Ellis

What? A kanelbullar from Bageriet Swedish Bakery, WC2