Unintentional Swinky Sweets trip on Monday. I met a friend for a lunchtime Nando’s fix, and talking about Bristol Bites over our chicken led to cupcake-related chats (you’ll find out why next week with the next Local Spotlight post). Unfortunately for my waistline, I struggle to talk about cupcakes for ten minutes without starting to crave one…so we headed down to Swinky’s for an early afternoon sugar rush.
If you haven’t already visited Park Street’s sweet shop, you’re missing out (check out my original blog post for more info). The place is a godsend for anyone with a sweet tooth, selling cakes, cookies, fudge, marshmallows, retro sweets and all manner of US products (from Lucky Charms to Hershey’s chocolate) alongside the cupcakes for which they are best known.
In addition to their core cupcake range – which includes varieties such as Carrot Cake, White Chocolate & Horseradish, and Dark Chocolate, Orange and Chilli – Swinky’s do a great job of keeping our tastebuds satisfied with seasonal and themed varieties. In May, for example, Gareth and the team launched a range of Sex And The City cupcakes to coincide with the film launch, with each of the four new flavours representing one of the girls.
Now, as I discovered on Monday, their Autumn-Winter range has hit the shelves. Three of the new flavours were on the shelves when we visited: Marvelous Mint (which my friend opted for), Toasted Marshmallow, and Spiced Pumpkin. I went for the latter: a deliciously moist cupcake with the sweet pumpkin enhanced by the addition of Swinky’s five spice mix and orange zest.
I’ll definitely be heading back next week, as Gareth tells me that they’ll be baking their new Parsnip and Maple Syrup cups, and I’m definitely keen to try something that original! There’ll be a whole host of other new varieties on the baking schedule from now on, namely:
- Mocha
- Apple and Pear Cider
- Cinder Toffee
- Winter Scrumble
Swinky’s will also be baking a few new vegan options, in the form of a vanilla cupcake, and an apple and ginger cake…along with homemade cakes, chocolate and hazelnut biscotti, rocky road cake, and the intriguing sounding “More-White-Chocolate-Than-Blueberry-Blondie”, described as:
Not a Brownie, but a Blondie! Light clouds of white chocolate toffee goodness float over your tongue, interjected by lightning bolts of blueberry.
I’m quite glad that it’s payday on Thursday…well, it would be rude not to sample them all, wouldn’t it…? 
