Jane Asher Party Cakes & Sugarcraft

Having lived in London for nearly 3 years I have no idea how I just learned of Jane Asher Sugarcraft.
Most of the supplies here are imported from the US. It’s a lot of Wilton. As an American, I found this a bit comforting in that I knew what I was looking at. The prices, however, are reflective of the fact that the company has bought, imported, paid customs, and is now selling at a profit with VAT. It is EXPENSIVE for tools and the like.
Colourings, sprinkles, iridescent dust, etc. were pretty fair market prices, however. And they have nice cake boxes for transporting baked goods (the reason I found the place was actually for some simple, inexpensive, cupcakes boxes).
Even though the prices are a bit on the high side, the store does have the upper hand in that it’s a bit of a monopoly for finding such things. So it can charge as it will. Still, I’ll be going back. There were some delicious-​looking candied lavender petals that need to find their way into a cake!

The only cake decorating supply store I know of in Central London that offers a pretty decent range of piping tips, food colouring, unusual cake tins, and other odds and ends related to sugar craft.
If you’re a serious cake decorator, however, the selection isn’t going to blow you away… just your basic (rather dusty) Wilton accessories and some of Ms. Asher’s own bakeware products. The best part was that the man minding the shop was very helpful and pleasant.
I came here because I’d commissioned to do a decorating job, and with the bulk of my equipment left behind in the States, I was in a serious bind… frankly, I was just grateful I found a store offering such products at all… though when I got there, the assortment was pretty disappointing and the prices were astronomically high compared to what I’ve paid in American craft stores.
If you’re in a pinch, Jane Asher will do, but if there’s any way that you can book a flight to the States and head to the local Michaels craft store… you’ll find yourself awash in an excessive variety of cake decorating and sugar craft paraphernalia — all at rock-​bottom prices — if you need a bunch of stuff, the entire trip might just be cheaper that shopping here… wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what Ms. Asher does herself!

This is the actress Jane Asher’s cake shop on Chelsea Green. It specialises in cake and sugarcrafts, so you can pick up all sorts of icing, decorations and food colouring for a home-​made birthday cake, or you can have a bespoke cake made. I ordered one for my son’s christening, and chose exactly what I wanted from a huge range of designs. I picked a vanilla sponge filled with butter cream which came beautfiully decorated and presented on a silver cake board. Great for a special occasion, but they don’t come cheap!