Stamford Clandestine Cake Club does Christmas

Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin baked a cake... I recently wrote a guest post on the Clandestine Cake Club website about why we love Christmas cake - read it here! 

Christmas came early to the Stamford Clandestine Cake Club on December 9, as we gathered in the Tallington room at the Tobie Norris for our festive meeting. The theme was 'C is for Christmas, cake, and...' and we had 13 wonderful cakes to try. 

The venue was brilliant – really festive, with beams hung with holly, mistletoe, and evergreens, and there were lots of baubles, and some super mulled wine. The staff we really helpful when I panicked over the missing cake labels, and their eyes lit up when I presented them with a huge platter of cake to taste. 

The Tobie Norris is renowned amongst Stamfordians as being the best purveyor of home-made pizzas in the town. Although we didn't have room for any pizzas after all that cake, they certainly smelled excellent. We made the ladies in the room next door, eating their florentines, very jealous with all the cake. For more information, visit the Tobie Norris website. 

This month's meeting was relaxed and cheerful, and time flew past. We each introduced our cakes briefly, in an attempt to help us remember everyone's name, and also explaining a bit about our bakes. Newbie Celia made an apple crumble loaf, using a new type of apple, the Opal, which is grown locally in Wisbech. Vic's clementine loaf was so healthy and 'without' so many ingredients (flour, butter...) that we wondered what was left in – but there was plenty, as it was delicious. Becky's cake was a Yule log with a difference, featuring crunchy peanut butter. Rhoda's Carribean banana cake was fabulous, if a little difficult to slice up at the end (my apologies again, Rhoda, for slicing it up so that it looked like I'd kicked it!). The race for the cake trough at the end of the night was like bees round a honey pot. The icing Christmas tree atop my cake was made using skills I learned at the CCC 3rd birthday bash up in Liverpool, of which I was quite proud. 

It's been a fantastic year for the Stamford CCC, with some amazing cakes baked, and some real friendships formed. Here's to an equally brilliant 2014 for our club.

The cakes were:
Cranberry and pear loaf - SophieClementine cake - VicApple crumble loaf - CeliaCaribbean banana cake - RhodaCoca Cola cake - KerryChocolate yule log with peanut butter - BeckyCranberry and orange drizzle - VickyChocolate brownie cake - SarahChocolate caramel cake - AliceCranberry and orange stollen - KarenCranberry and marzipan cake - AliChristmas gingerspice cake - SamCourgette and chocolate cake - Katrina

Cranberry and pear loaf

For this month's Stamford Clandestine Cake Club, the theme was 'C is for Christmas, cake, and...' I couldn't help but want to share the recipe for cranberry and pear muffins with the group, but obviously couldn't make muffins. So I crossed my fingers, made the mix, bunged it all in a loaf tin and hoped for the best.

It turned out really well, very tasty, and everyone approved. It didn't have the lightness of the muffins, and I ran out of icing sugar so it didn't have as much as it should have, but I was quite pleased.

I also made a Christmas tree out of Renshaw's sugar paste. I learned this technique while at the CCC 3rd birthday bash up in Liverpool at the weekend. A lovely lady from Renshaw gave us a demonstration on how to make an icing Christmas tree and I was excited to try it out. Easier that I thought it would be, it made a cute addition to my cake. Thank you, Renshaw, for the skills!

The cake at the CCC birthday bash was amazing - featuring models of founder Lynn Hill and three other founding cake club organisers. It was a great afternoon, spent eating lots of cake and meeting other organisers and members from around the country.

Read my guest post on the CCC website: Why we love Christmas cake

Spicy pear cake

I baked this spicy pear cake to use up a glut of the fruit (read more about that here) and I was very pleased with the results. This is a recipe from the Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook, one of founder Lynn Hill's recipes from CCC Leeds. I served this cake warm with custard as a pudding - ingenious! Lynn has kindly agreed that I can post this on my little blog (thanks Lynn!).

2 pears, peeled cored and quartered
Juice of 1/2 lemon
115g butter
115g light muscovado sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp buttermilk (I didn't have any, so used a bit of plain yogurt mixed with a little milk)
115g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp grated nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 190C (170C fan).
Prepare a 20cm round loose-bottomed tin.
Place the pears in a bowl with the lemon juice to prevent them from discolouring.
Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Combine the eggs and buttermilk, then add to the sugar and butter mix.
Add the flour and spices gradually until thoroughly combined.
Pour the batter into the tin. Pat the pears dry with kitchen towel, then place artfully on top of the batter.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Serve warm with lashing of custard. Perfect!

Cranberry and pear muffins

We went to a friend's 30th birthday party last month, where said friend got a little bit merry. At midnight, she decided we should pick some pears from the tree in their garden. In the pitch darkness, I managed to pick about 10 pears, but goodness know how. They weren't even ripe, and only became edible last week. They turned quite suddenly, so I needed to find a fun recipe to use some up. Cranberry and pear muffins sounded perfect. I'm entering these into the Calendar Cakes December blog challenge, hosted by the fabulous Dolly Bakes and Laura Loves Cakes.

These are quite festive and Christmassy, you could even decorate them with fresh cranberries and some foliage to look like holly.

300g self-raising flour
1/2tsp bicarb
150g caster sugar
2/3tsp mixed spice
2 eggs, beaten
100ml yoghurt
75ml milk
100g marg, melted and cooled a bit
3 pears, peeled, cored, and diced
60g dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan). Line a 12-hole muffin tin (I used some fancy muffin cases from last year's Good Food Show).
Mix the flour, bicar, sugar, and spice and sift into a big bowl
Combine eggs, yoghurt, milk, and butter. Add the pears and cranberries.
Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Spoon into the muffin cases
Bake for about 20 minutes.
Decorate with a little plain icing and a few dried cranberries.

Lemon meringue pie cake

I loved lemon meringue pie as a child, even though my mum used the packet mix for the lemon part - but that didn't bother me, and it still wouldn't today. This comes from the woman who loves Bird's custard and Paxo stuffing. Some things are just meant to be. 

I digress. For the November meeting of the Stamford Clandestine Cake Club, caker Louise (who admitted she doesn't actually like cake - the horror!) made a delicious lemon meringue cake. Here I share her recipe as it was absolutely fabulous. 

3 unwaxed lemons
200g softened butter
200g caster sugar
3 medium eggs
250g self-raising flour sifted
6 tbsp milk

For the meringue

2 egg whites

100g caster sugar

For the filling

250g tub mascarpone

2 tbsp sifted icing sugar 

Half a 450g jar of lemon curd

Preheat the oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 21⁄2. Line the bases of 2 x 20cm sandwich cake tins (about 5cm deep) with nonstick paper. Grate the zest from the lemons and put in a bowl with the other cake ingredients. Beat together with an electric hand whisk for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Spoon into the tins and level the tops.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then gradually whisk in the sugar until the meringue is stiff. Spoon half the meringue over each cake and spread to within 2cm of the edges. Swirl the meringue with the tip of a knife.

Bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes until the meringue is crisp and golden and the cake is firm. Test by inserting a fine skewer through the meringue – if just a few crumbs stick to the skewer, the cake is ready.

Allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then invert each cake on to a folded tea towel and then invert again on to a wire rack so the meringue is uppermost. (Alternatively, for loose-bottom tins, sit the tin on top of a can and gently push down the collar to free the cake.) Leave to cool completely. The cakes will keep for up to 2 days in a tin at this stage.

Beat together the mascarpone and sugar. Put spoonfuls of lemon curd over the mascarpone and swirl gently together. Set one cake on a serving plate and spread with the filling. Top with the other cake and dust lightly with icing sugar.

It's cake, but not as we know it

The Stamford CCC is now A YEAR OLD! Thanks to all members who've ever come to a meeting, it's such a brilliant club and I'm so happy we've reached our first birthday.

November's meeting of the Stamford Clandestine Cake Club was all about cakes masquerading as something else - or, perhaps vice versa. We had 16 cakes inspired by different flavours, puddings, and other sweet delights.

This month we met on November 11th at The Collyweston Slater, a lovely country pub just outside of Stamford that has recently undergone new management. It's a lovely big pub with different areas to enjoy. They do a great Sunday carvery and part of the pub is dog friendly, plus there's a great play area for children too. Fun tea towels on the walls added to the welcoming atmosphere. The owners, Helen and Kelvin, certainly welcomed the big plate of cake I gave them. For more info visit The Collyweston Slater website.

The featured cakes this month were:
Sausage breakfast cake - Mel
Banoffee pie cake - Vic
Strawberry shortbread cake - Kelly
Cinnamon crumble apple cake - Vicky
Lemon meringue cake - Louise
Cherry Bakewell Cake - Sarah L
Tiffin cake - Sarah G
Sticky toffee shortbread cake - Danielle
Cherry Bakewell - Alice
Mint choc chip cake - Ali
Chocolate peppermint cream cake - Sam
Victoria sponge pizza cake - Kerry
Almond and chocolate cake - Rhoda
Apricot couronne cake - Anthea
Toffee apple cake - Rachel
Spotted dick and custard cake - Deborah

All the cakes were brilliantly inspired by something else, well done to all bakers. A particular triumph was Mel's sausage breakfast cake, possibly the strangest combination we've every had at cake club, but which really impressed and tasted fab. Louise's lemon meringue cake was excellent, and had everyone talking. My personal favourite was Vic's banoffee pie cake, which was fluffy, delicious, and looked great too - but then I do love banoffee pie. Newcomer Ali's mint choc chip cake took us all back to childhood ice creams.

Sausage breakfast cake

This sounds a bit odd, I hear you say. Well, yes it does, but trust me it tastes delicious. You might not realise it had sausages in it if someone didn't tell you, but there's a hint of something meaty, spicy, and smokey that you can't quite put your finger on. It goes very well with a cup of coffee.

This was made by my good friend Mel for the November meeting of the Stamford Clandestine Cake Club, which was held at the lovely Collyweston Slater pub just outside Stamford. The theme was 'It's cake, but not as we know it'.

Apparently this smells particularly sausagey while cooking, but a couple of days later the smell isn't so strong and just tastes of cake. I would definitely recommend this one, especially if you want to confuse your guests a bit.

450g sausage (without skins)

325g dark brown soft sugar

300g caster sugar

2 eggs beaten

375g sifted plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

235ml brewed coffee

145g raisins

120g walnuts (chopped) and a few whole for decoration

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and flour a 23cm tin. Pour boiling water over raisins and let it stand for 5 mins then drain and dry.

In a large bowl combine sausage, brown sugar and caster sugar. Stir well until blended. Add eggs and beat well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, ginger, baking powder and spices.

Stir bicarbonate of soda into coffee.

Add flour mixture and coffee alternatively to sausage mixture, beating well after each addition. Fold in the raisins and walnuts in to the cake batter.

Pour the cake batter in to the greased tin. Bake the cake at 180C for 1 hour 30 minutes or until skewer comes out clear.

Cool in the tin for 15 minutes then turn out on to a wire rack.

Midnight cookes

I had a hankering for cookies at the weekend, so I rummaged through my recipe books and found an easy-looking chocolate cookie recipe, called Midnight cookies.

I can only assume they are so-called because they ought to be eaten at that time of night so that you can't see how rubbish they are, and are so sleepy that it doesn't matter that they're not like cookies at all, but more like flat cakes.

I thought the recipe sounded a bit odd as I was mixing anything together, and then when it came to rolling walnut-sized balls in my dampened hands, I was basically manhandling cake mix. Don't get me wrong, they taste lovely, but they really are just flat cakes. Odd. I won't share the recipe, as I wouldn't encourage such a wasted bake! But I will tell you the name of the book - '1001 Cupcakes, Cookies, and other Tempting Bakes', a Christmas present. I'll be sticking to good ol' Aztec cookies in future.

Only good thing about them is the new plate I bought from the antique shop.

Boyfriend's Bakewell Tart

I have been usurped. My kitchen has been taken over by an alien force and good things are coming from it. Steve appropriated my gadgetry this weekend and notched up quite a fantastic Bakewell Tart. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I love a good Bakewell Tart. Who doesn't? On the other hand...

I'M THE BAKER IN THIS RELATIONSHIP!!!!

It almost feels like he applied to The Great British Bake Off, got accepted, and ended up winning it.

Anyway. I thought I would share photos as it was really rather good. Not a soggy bottom in sight. His icing was a little messy, but we'll let him off for that.

Speaking of The Great British Bake Off, I can't decide who I want to win. I think Frances, as she's the nicest, but I do think Kimberley has the most skill, even if it's not always spot on. Ruby I think wings it too much and does bake a lot of tosh. But the judges clearly have a soft spot for her.... Whichever of the three that wins, they've all done so well, and I give them all a big round of applause for being brave enough to go under such scrutiny!

Bacon maple cake

For this month's Stamford Clandestine Cake Club, the theme was 'Around the world in 80 cakes'. I wanted to do an American cake, as we'd been to California on holiday this summer. I thought back to our trip and considered what were the most common flavours that we encountered... I'm ashamed to say that the most obvious ones were waffles with bacon and maple syrup.

I scoured the internet for a maple and bacon cake recipe, not quite sure how it would work out. My brother had a maple and bacon cheesecake while we were there, and it was surprisingly good.

This had to be the most hilarious cake I've made - it looked like a perfectly normal sandwich cake with lovely buttercream swirls..... and then slices of bacon laid on top.

Before the bacon

If you have a very sweet tooth (there's a lot of maple syrup in this) and also love crispy bacon, give this a try.

450g plain flour
4 tsps baking powder
1 tsp bicarb
2 pinches salt
200g marg
200g soft light brown sugar
4 eggs
150ml plain yogurt
150ml maple syrup

Cream together the butter and sugar until really light and fluffy.
Mix together the dry ingredients.
Add half the eggs, then a bit of flour, then the rest of the eggs, followed by the remainder of dry ingredients sieved.
Mix the yogurt and maple syrup together, then add to the mixture.
Pour into two sandwich tins (I had some left over as this made quite enough for a few cupcakes too).
Bake in the oven at 180C (170C fan) for about 30 minutes.

Room for cupcakes too

When cool, make buttercream with 125g butter, 300g icing sugar, and 100ml maple syrup. Smooth on to one layer, top with the other layer, and swirl more buttercream on top.
Fry at least six rashers of smokey streaky bacon (no oil), with a few drops of maple syrup right before the end. The bacon will caramelise a bit - it's not burnt!
When the bacon is cool, place on the top of the cake. I laid mine in strips, but it would probably be better chopped up first.

It went down well at cake club, although people were a bit unsure about its looks. If you like a bit of sweet and salty, this works really well.

Around the world in 80 cakes

The location for the October gathering of the Stamford Clandestine Cake Club was called The Mess, which was quite apt considering the amount of cake crumbs we left behind… The Mess was located in The Cosy Club, Stamford, which was also very well-named – particularly cosy, comfortable, and a brilliant venue for our cake club. A big Art Deco-inspired room, with fantastic historical paintings and prints, antlers on the wall, candles, a long cake table with fabulously mismatched chairs, plus leather sofas and armchairs to sink into – we were spoilt for choice for where to sit and scoff our cakes.

Despite several cancellations, we had 18 enthusiastic cake clubbers and 14 cakes, all baked to our theme of ‘Around the world in 80 cakes’. This was more of a challenge this month, and our bakers impressed with all very different cakes. Everyone’s effort was outstanding. We had a delicious tour of the world with some great flavours and new recipes that many hadn’t tried before. My personal favourite was Sarah’s Black Forest Gateau. My bacon and maple cake (flavours of my summer trip to California, where all we seemed to eat was waffles with bacon and maple syrup!) turned a few heads – the strangest cake I’ve ever baked – it looked like a perfectly normal sandwich cake with buttercream, apart from the strips of bacon on the top! Victoria’s Hungarian Dobos torte had seven lovely layers, while Kat’s angel food cake really was angelic, it was so light. Kelly’s Mexican creation was light and moist, and reminded Steve of Milkybars – always a good thing.

The Cosy Club was a great host, with lots of space and friendly, welcoming staff, who all devoured the platter of cake they received (in about 20 minutes, most of the 14 slices had been eaten!). I happened to eat dinner at The Cosy Club a couple of days before our cake event, and the menu is inviting – I’d definitely recommend visiting for a drink or dinner (or a cake club again, hopefully). The quirky decor and relaxed atmosphere make for a great time, whether you come in the day or night time.

The roll of cakey honour goes to:
Bacon and maple cake – USA – Sophie
Dobos torte – Hungary – Vic L
Tres leches (three milk) cake – Mexico – Kelly
Rum cake – Caribbean – Kerry
Red velvet cake – USA – Sarah L
Angel food cake – USA – Kat
Tarta de Almendras – Spain – Vicky R
Maple and pecan cake – Canada – Judith
Black Forest Gateau – Germany – Sarah G
Zebra cake – Africa – Jennifer
Hummingbird cake – USA – Danielle
Cappuccino cake – Italy – Deborah
Sachertorte – Austria – Alice
Donauwellen (Danube waves cake) – Germany – Katy

 

Stamp of approval for mini cakes

My mini chocolate cakes with Nutella buttercream got the ultimate seal of approval this week - a big thumbs up from my friend's daughter, the gorgeous Sydney!

You might recognise Syd from her modelling days with Kiddicare. Such a cutie.

For my mini chocolate cake with Nutella buttercream recipe, click here.

Tea at the Cemlyn Tea Shop, Harlech

After exploring Harlech Castle in Wales on our mini holiday, we had a lovely wander around Harlech town and discovered the Cemlyn Tea Shop. I was in my element - they served about 30 different types of tea. It's not often you find a tea shop that has anything other than English Breakfast and Earl Grey, but this wonderful tea shop even had some I'd not heard of.

We sat in the window seat to people watch out on to the street, but you can also sit at the back with views over the bay.

The Cemlyn Tea Shop proudly shows off its certificates from The Tea Guild, having won the Award of Excellence every year since 2003.

Steve enjoyed a Keemun tea, which was smokey, while I had a medium-bodied Nilgiri Thiashola (I hadn't heard of either!). We also had very light and fluffy scones with strawberry jam (we have to eat scones, wherever we go). You can buy packets of tea there too, and they also sell teapots. A must visit to anyone who loves tea! Visit the Cemlyn Tea Shop website for more info!

Harlech Castle

Cake at The Ugly House

On our mini holiday to Wales, we stumbled upon The Ugly House - Ty Hyll - in Capel Curig, near Betws-Y-Coed. We were on our way back from the National Slate Museum and saw it on the drive up - the name caught our eye, and we couldn't see why it was so-called - it looked so cute.

The history of the house is fascinating, mainly because no one is entirely sure how The Ugly House came to be. It is thought it was partly built overnight, with the fire burning in the morning, meaning it belonged to the builder. But the house is made with such massive boulders that it must have been the most basic shell, as the whole building must have taken an age to build.

The name might have come from it being made from the 'ugly' leftover stones that weren't good enough to build the nearby walls, or perhaps due to the name of the nearby river, the Llugwy. Or, as it was thought to have been used by robbers and thieves - 'ugly' people. But the house itself is full of charm, small but perfectly formed, now with a five-acre garden and wood at the back.

The house is owned and managed by the Snowdonia Society, which is doing a great job of taking care of such an interesting piece of history that no one can really explain.

The cafe in The Ugly House was run by a friendly and knowledgeable lady, happy to chat to a couple of travellers. Steve had Lapsong tea, and I had Earl Grey, both to wash down massive slices of coffee cake. The slices were huge! "You have to go away knowing you had some" said the lady. It served us well after a day of walking and exploring.

To find out more, visit The Ugly House website, or the Snowdonia Society website.

Squidgy chocolate brownies

One of my favourite, most popular, and most frequent things to bake is chocolate brownies. I love them, Steve loves them, and everyone else who tries them loves them. These chocolate brownies are rich and squidgy, with an excellent crack on the top, plenty of moistness, and real chocolateyness.

I added white chocolate chunks to this batch, to make them a bit special. I made them for our recent day out at Rockingham, to watch the British Touring Car Championship, with Steve, his brother, and my brother. They went down a treat! I love to people watch, and I was amazed by the amount of burgers, pizzas, hot dogs, and other meat-related things were being scoffed at the event - at 9am! Nothing could beat these brownies.

200g dark chocolate - I use a 75% cocoa bar
175g butter
325g caster sugar
130g plain flour
3 eggs, beaten
100g white chocolate (I used good ol' Milkybar)

Preheat the oven to 170C (160C fan oven).
Melt the chocolate and butter over a pan of simmering water until all melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.
Add the chocolate and butter mix to the sugar, and mix, but don't overwork.
Sift in the flour and stir, but again don't overwork.
Add the beaten eggs and mix, but be careful - if you mix for too long, it will start to look a bit weird and may separate a bit. Be gentle.
Chop the white chocolate into chunks - I found half a square to be a good size chunk - any smaller and they melt a little while being cooked, while half a chunk stays chunky. Stir into the mix.
Pour into a prepared baking tray. Bake for about 35 minutes. The top needs to feel hard and crisp, but don't use a skewer, as it will seem undone - but you want it to be squidgy.

Allow to cool in the tin. To serve, slice into squares, and dust with icing sugar.

For Christmas, I'm planning to try orange-flavoured chocolate with dried cranberries :) 

Stamford Clandestine Cake Club's harvest festival

Who needs the Great British Bake Off when you could be at the Stamford Clandestine Cake Club? 

Combine harvesters in the fields, children going back to school, the time is nigh for mists and mellow fruitfulness... And in the spirit of all those wonderful autumnal themes, the Stamford Clandestine Cake Club met at The Bull and Swan at Burghley for a 'Cracking crop of cakes'. We missed the third episode of GBBO to meet up, but I'm pretty sure we all watched it on iPlayer when we got home afterwards. 

The pub provided us with our most sumptuous surroundings to date. We holed up in their dining room, on a spectacular T-shaped table, with gorgeous cutlery, cake stand and presentation boards, candles, and the most magnificent cake knives we've ever seen. Decorations in the room alluded to it being the base for an historical drinking society – how appropriate!

The staff at The Bull and Swan looked after us brilliantly, and we may even have a couple of new recruits... They certainly appreciated the plate of cake we provided them with, served on the biggest plate I have ever seen – apparently it is what they serve their Sunday roast on, which means I'm definitely going there for Sunday lunch soon.  

We considered ordering the evening with a Mad-Hatter type change of seats every five minutes, but we decided this was too much exercise when so much cake was to be eaten. There were 16 cakes to be tried and tested: 

Spiced pumpkin cake with orange icing - Me

Marrow cake - Mel

Tractor cake - Jon (with the registration plate Crap1, it was renamed the Craptor)

Pear, honey, and walnut cake - Vic L

Chunky apple cake - Kelly F

Plum and cardamom cake, without the cardamom - Judith 

Carrot cake - Anthea

Courgette cake - Vicky R 

Apple upside-down cake - Louise 

Parsnip cake - Kerry 

Apple and ginger wine cake - Kelly M 

Apple and pecan cake - Kat 

Berry crumble cake - Jennifer

Sticky lemon cake - Danielle 

Apple cake - Sarah

Apple cake - Amanda 

Well done to the two bakers, Amanda and Sarah, who managed to bake a cake with only a few hours' notice, due to a couple of cancellations. Judith's cake was a star of the night, despite not being able to find ground cardamom in the local shops. Congratulations to Jon, who graduated from long-term guest and taster to fully fledged baker with his tractor cake. Kudos to me for decorating my cake with some corn, hastily nabbed out of a local farmer's field (thanks, Mr Farmer). 

A couple of quotes from the evening included "This would be good with a cup of tea" and "I've got a sharper knife if you need it" - you have to love the self-deprecation of bakers and their cakes. 

It was good to have a couple of new faces, plus a couple who haven't been able to make a few meetings. We're enjoying how each month the different venues change the dynamics of the group, meaning no two cake clubs are the same.