Valentine's Day in Rome

I didn't have much opportunity to blog this week because I was enjoying a much-deserved Valentine's holiday. I did manage to write up a couple of chocolate themed posts, though:

Triple Chocolate Mouse Cake

Valentine Brownie Bites

Whilst in Rome, we visited two cupcake shops! It probably doesn't sound very exciting to most people, but in Tenerife I have yet to find a proper cupcake shop, so each time before we venture away, I always research any nearby cupcakeries.

We popped into Sweety Rome for a chocolate brownie with caramel frosting and a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting.

Unfortunately, neither of them was up to much and we were left really disappointed. The caramel frosting tasted very peculiar, the cupcake was heavy and the frosting was rock solid and looked like it had been put on with an ice-cream scoop.

However, we did visit another cupcake shop during our stay - The Perfect Bun. Everything about this place was amazing. As soon as we walked through the door we were welcomed by the amazing smell of freshly baked cupcakes coming just out of the oven.

We tried a Valentine's cupcake (chocolate cupcake with raspberry frosting) and a strawberry cupcake (chocolate cupcake with strawberry frosting) - both were fantastic. The cupcakes were soft and moist, whilst the frosting was creamy and fluffy.

We got to savour these great cupcakes in a cosy little corner filled with comfy furniture and cute baking pictures. There were many beautiful large cakes in addition to the cupcakes. Ian's favourite was a winter-themed igloo cake - he was shocked that everything down to the penguins were made out of cake and not plastic!

We enjoyed so much delicious food in Rome. Slices of pizza were cut from great big slabs - no round pizzas here! Every single cafe or pizzaria seemed to use only the freshest ingredients which made every bite fantastic.

I didn't think Nutella was much of a big thing in Europe - Rome definitely proved me wrong. Sandwich shops served it between bread, bakeries served it inside croissants, pizzarias served it between focaccia and cafes even served small tubs of it to eat on its own! I even found small jars of Nutella which were intended to be used as Christmas decorations!

Due to the snow, loads of the major tourist attractions were closed, but we did manage to visit:

The Trevi Fountain

The outside of the Colosseum - it was closed the whole time we were there!

St Peter's Basilica

Ian was brave enough to climb the 600+ stairs to the top! Even the photo of the view makes me feel dizzy.

I'm really glad to be home - I couldn't stand the cold temperatures any more. Instead of using the fridge in our room, we kept our drinks on the window-sill outside because it kept them colder! 

I hope you all have a great weekend!