Drama at Stamford clandestine cake club

The venue for the Stamford CCC on March 3, 2014, was the Stamford Corn Exchange, in the Green Room of the Lounge Bar. With such a theatrical location, our theme reflecting the dramatic nature of the building – and our fabulous bakers didn’t disappoint. It was a tricky theme but the range of inspiration was brilliant – from Murder She Wrote, to opera, to Macbeth, Mamma Mia, and razmataz.

We snuck into our little room past the Stamford elderlies playing bingo – they didn’t know what had hit them! – and had a great close-knit meeting. With several last-minute cancellations out of our control, we made the most of our more intimate group this month and had a good natter. It was great having a smaller group as we could all join in discussions together!

We shared a range of baking disaster stories this month, from my new-found hatred of French buttercream and staggering lack of raspberries, to Simon’s Yorkshire-pudding-esque creation, Vic’s flatness, and Rhoda’s not-enough-Drambuie-ness. But despite our concerns all the cakes were as delicious as ever!

Much gravitas goes to Vic, for her Angela Lansbury cake (“Don’t cut her head off!”), Sammy, for her amazing cauldron of delights, complete with black lace and jelly snakes, and Alice’s brilliant popcorn box. A warm welcome was given to Ros with her fab chocolate theatre masks.

The cake roll of honour:
Chocolate and raspberry opera cake – Sophie
‘Sticky situation’ date cake – Vic
‘To BEE or not to BEE’ or ‘Honey, Honey’ cake – Vicky
Razzle dazzle lemon roulade – Anthea
Green tea kasutera cake – Simon
Popcorn box cake – Alice
‘Hubble bubble, toil and trouble, fire burn and chocolate cauldron’ Macbeth cake – Sammy
Passion(fruit) and Drama(buie) cake – Rhoda
Madame butterfly cake – Sarah
Chocolate and raspberry theatre cake – Ros

To find out more about the Clandestine Cake Club, click here.