Stamford Clandestine Cake Club - beverage bakes

On Monday, April 8th, 22 members of the Stamford CCC met with 19 cakes based on the theme 'Quench your thirst'.

This month's event, held at the Bertie Arms country pub, in Uffington, just outside Stamford, was sponsored by Yorkshire Tea. We were privileged to receive Yorkshire Tea tablecloths, a teapot, lots of cups, and a massive bag of teabags. What better way to celebrate a beverage-based bake than with a refreshing cup of tea!

Our beverage bakes were a triumph. We might have shown ourselves as somewhat alcoholic bakers (there were 11 alcohol-based cakes versus 8 non-alcoholic) but each and every baker put a lot of effort into their cakes. Here's a list of our bakes:

Coke and chocolate cake - Sophie
Ginger and lager cake - Steve
Stout cake - Mel
Cider cake - Anthea
Green tea and white chocolate opera cake - Simon
Beehive black cake (Guinness) - Rhoda
Mocha marble cake - Vic
Amaretto cake - Amanda
Cider fruit cake - Vicky
Margarita cake - Lisa
Snake bite and black cake - Johannah
Earl Grey and orange cake - Lucie
Raspberry milkshake cake - Judith
Pina Colada cake - Becky
Earl Grey and lemon cake - Esme
Red wine chocolate cake - Kelly
Lemonade cake - Natalie
Coffee cake - Sarah
Coconut and rum cake - Monika

Highlights of the evening had to be Simon's spectacular many-layered green tea and white chocolate opera cake, Lisa's margarita cake (if you had a whole slice you'd be over the limit, thanks to the delicious tequila frosting!), and Amanda's amaretto cake was a popular choice, despite her thinking it was a complete disaster. Comedy moments were shared by Mel's delicious creation of 'cake fudge' (you can make that again Mel!) and Vic's beautiful mocha marble 'biscuit cake' - "It's really nice dunked in a cup of tea!" said Vic.

We all shared disaster stories, a bit of a Q&A session for those caketastrophies we've all had, and much cake was eaten by all. As enjoyable as the night itself is the morning after, catching up with everyone's Twitter feeds about 'cake hangovers'.

Thanks to everyone who came and shared the Stamford cake love. It's a brilliant place for turning strangers into friends, for finding new recipes, and taking lots of delicious cake home.

Click here for more about Clandestine Cake Clubs.