It's Love I Think - Pop-Up Cafe London review

On a lunchtime errand near London's Liverpool Street station, something unusual caught my eye across the road - a shop front filled with purple teddy bears. I crossed the street to have a closer look and realised it was a cafe - very pink, with cuddly toys and neon signs adorning the walls. Of course I had to go in and have a closer look.

It's Love I Think is both a pop-up cafe and an immersive art takeover by the artist Eve De Haan that claims to be a space for retreat, positivity, wellbeing and nostalgia. Inside you will find inspirational slogans on neon signs, comfy and slightly furry chairs and clear perspex coffee tables stuffed with pink teddy bears. Look up the stairs and you'll spot a cluster of large purple bears; look around and you'll also notice the vintage record player, a bookcase full of wellbeing books, a cutsey milk carton sign and the mystery surprise vending machine. It was only £1 so I popped in a coin and twisted the handle to get a surprise for my seven year old daughter - which turned out to be a fluffy creature of some kind on a key ring and a hairclip in the shape of a bean.

There was a wide selection of hot and cold drinks and some delicious looking bakes; being a hot day - and being in a thoroughly pink cafe - for me it had to be an iced pink chai latte. 

Open until December 2025, It's Love I Think is located at 57 Old Broad Street, and is open Tuesdays to Fridays from 8am to 4pm. Also, 10% of the profits go to Choose Love, a charity supporting women and children in need. So as if you even needed an excuse to grab a coffee and a selfie in this pink paradise, you'll know you are helping do some good at the same time.

How to make a Sugarpaste Teddy Bear

Making a cake for someone who is expecting or just had a baby is a lovely thing to do – and this teddy cake topper is really easy to make.  

This teddy was the result of a half-day course I took one Saturday at the Sutton College of Learning for Adults. The class was aimed at all levels, though everyone but me was an absolute beginner! Luckily, while I knew the techniques to make sugarpaste animals (you’ll see from this cow and this sheep that it is basically the same approach)

I hadn’t actually made a teddy bear before, so it was quite fun.

I made mine lilac as I thought that was fairly gender neutral, using the lilac Sugarflair paste, while most other people did pink or blue. A light caramel brown would also work nicely with darker brown perhaps on the ears and face.

You can either buy ready-coloured sugarpaste or colour your own (which is more cost-efficient), kneading a few drops of colour into the paste.

To make the teddy bear, take a ball of sugarpaste (also called fondant or roll-out icing) about the size of an egg, and roll in the palms of your hands to make it roughly the same shape as an egg. This is your body.

Take a smaller ball and roll into a circle – this is your head. To fix the head to the body, we used both edible glue and a cocktail stick – insert the stick into the body and if desired paint a little edible glue around it, and place the head on top so it is secure. If you use a cocktail stick you need to make sure the teddy bear isn’t eaten, or that it is dismantled first by someone who knows there is a cocktail stick in it! Personally I prefer to use the slight stickiness of the sugarpaste itself and a little edible glue to stick on parts, and do without cocktail sticks – but if you are worried about transporting it, then perhaps go for the added stability.

Roll two short sausages for the legs, and press one end together so it’s flat, and stick that to the side or underside of the body depending on where you want the legs to be placed.

Do the same with smaller sausages for the arms.

Using a small balling tool make an indentation in each paw. Using a cocktail stick or a cone modelling tool, make some small dots around the larger indentation for the marks on the bear’s paws. You can also flatten a tiny ball of white fondant, add this to the end of the paws and make the marks as described.

Make two small balls, press to flatten and shape so they are broadly triangular – fix to the head with edible glue for the ears. You can use the same small balling tool to make indentations in the ears.

Make a small ball of white fondant, flatten and stick onto the face to make the nose and mouth area. Make a tiny ball from black fondant or use a black edible ink pen to mark on the nose and mouth. You can also use the scallop modelling tool for the mouth.

Finally make two tiny balls from white, flatten them and stick to the head with edible glue for the eyes. Repeat with even tinier pieces of black for the pupils, or use the edible ink pen.

I gave my teddy bear a bow tie made by rolling thin sausages of fondant and shaping. You could also give your bear a hat, or a flower behind one ear, or anything you like!