London’s first openly queer bakery opens in Hackney Wick
Gingerbread in drag, kinky cakes and sexual slices, the baked goods you can find at Ru Paul’s go-to erotic bakery in the East End.
London’s first openly queer bakery making overtly erotic cakes has opened in Hackney Wick, serving the LGBTQ+ community and beyond from Hearth Bakery’s kitchen.
Grow studio’s newest resident Kween Kream started out setting up pop-up stalls at drag shows and queer venues, and is now bringing its bespoke bakes and inclusive work environment to Hackney Wick on the weekends.
Head ‘dough-manatrix’ Aisha Wrigglesworth established Kween Kream in 2019, filling doughnut holes and customising cookies from her home in Walthamstow to be delivered to her online customers.
Not your everyday baked-good delivery service, word about Kween Kream’s unique treats has spread, and she once had an order for one hundred nipple-tassel cupcakes for the popular reality TV series, RuPaul’s Drag Race.
‘I wanted to be more creative with my baking and celebrate sexuality and the naughty stuff. That’s what I’m about.’
Aisha Wrigglesworth
But Wrigglesworth says it is her customers from her early days catering for the grassroots drag scene that are still her most loyal supporters.
‘Some businesses can be so tame, but then a really filthy order will come along and surprise you,’ Wrigglesworth laughs: ‘But we don’t kink shame here.’
Wrigglesworth worked in the Hummingbird Bakery and other London kitchens for ten years, but the misogyny she experienced and homophobia she witnessed made her want to create a more inclusive kitchen where people are comfortable to use whatever pronouns they want, and to be themselves in the workplace.
‘I also wanted to be more creative with my baking and celebrate sexuality and the naughty stuff. That’s what I’m about,’ says Wrigglesworth: ‘And all the other bakeries were making the same dull drip cakes,’ she laughs.
And thus, Kween Kream was born: Hackney Wick’s all-inclusive confectionery where the bakes are anything but boring.
Head to Kween Kream’s Instagram for the uncensored selection of treats, you’ll be sure to find something to tickle your taste buds.
Kween Kream is based in Hearth Bakery, Unit 30, 86B Wallis Rd, E9 5LN.
If you enjoyed this piece, read our article about fifty years of Pride in Tower Hamlets.
