Travel with Emily

Here are my top three delicious snacks and the sweet moments that went along with them whilst travelling in Scotland.

No. 3 – Homemade sponge cake

No hike is complete without cake afterwards, at least, that’s my belief. and I just happened to find the best place in Scotland to combine both!

Most people know the legend of the Loch Ness Monster, and seeing the loch where it was supposedly sighted draws people nationally and internationally to Inverness. It’s the main hub on Loch Ness, but if you go 45 minutes further south along its banks to Alltsigh, you’ll find the Loch Ness – The Lochside Hostel.

This is a gorgeous place nestled on the edge of the loch and a true escape from the city. There’s no shops or restaurants around, the nearest is a 15 minute drive away, but the trade off is a cosy hostel that makes you think you’re in a cabin in the woods with views over the water. The common room is full of couches and tables that get shifted to the side for their weekly Ceilidh (traditional Scottish dancing) and line dancing evenings!

Directly from the hostel you can hike a short section of the Great Glen Way, it takes you up on the ridge where you have a great view over the loch.

It was about a 3.5-4hr walk, but at the end you’ll arrive at a small town called Invermoriston, and even more importantly, at an amazing cafe, the Glen Rowan Cafe. It was at this cafe that I had the most delicious cake! They have decadent homemade sponge cakes, chunky pieces of double layered cake, made fresh each day with incredible flavours.

The cake was so good that I went back there twice and tasted the biscoff sponge, and my favourite, the lemon Victorian sponge!

What I loved about this cafe was the down to earth atmosphere, good coffee and good cake, it’s a simple as that!

*Also, if you stay in the hostel, don’t worry they organise a group cake walk to the cafe about once a week!

No.2 – homemade salted caramel chocolate brownies

These brownies were my own creation, but I’m counting them because I made them while I was staying with a friend in Edinburgh!

It was so nice to be staying in a house after so long backpacking, but even more than that it was lovely to catch up with an old friend that I hadn’t seen in a year and a half!

I was excited to use a fully equiped kitchen, and despite eating some amazing sweat treats throughout my travels, I’ve also had some really average ones. So I was glad to take matters into my own hands and make a brownie, because really, you can’t go wrong!

We found a recipe online and made a whole afternoon out of it, buying the ingredients, making the caramel ourselves, and just chatting and baking. The brownies were dense, fudgy, still warm from the oven and so yummy that that were gobbled up in 2 days! They were so good that they also get the title of the best brownies I’ve ever made!

It would be rather rude if I didn’t give you the recipe after talking them up so much, so here you go, give them a try yourself! The best brownies ever!

No.1 – Fruit scones with jam and cream

My no.1 spot has to go to the best scones that I’ve ever eaten in my life. As someone that always goes for the scones option at maccas, I’m a bit scone obsessed. This obsession led me to trying at least 5 different scones in Scotland, some dry, some good, some with delicious jam. But funnily enough, the very first scone that I ate in Scotland, just days after landing in Glasgow, was the very best.

It was a classic fruit scone, slightly warmed up, with a generous helping of jam, and the star of the show; clotted cream. I piled this silky cream on top of my jam-slathered scone (jam first of course!) so much that it oozed off the edges.

If the consistency, flavour and richness of the scone wasn’t enough to sell you, then the charitable nature of the place will. The cafe I visited is called The Wild Olive Tree and it’s a non-for-profit, social enterprise who help some of the most vulnerable people in the community. They make and distribute meals, all while supporting local businesses – they even get their bread freshly made from the prison!

They also serve soup from midday and savoury scones too! Visiting here was definitely the highlight of my trip to Glasgow.

So there you have it, a few very delectable sweet treats, and even sweeter memories associated with them. Sometimes travel is about the big moments, the monuments, the landscapes and the activities. Other times, it’s about the time you take for yourself while enjoying a great dessert!

So I’d encourage everyone to go find a sweet treat near you and savour your moment!