Cake Club success!

The first meeting of the Market Deeping Cake Club was a resounding success!

There were 7 members altogether, and hopefully more will join as the group gains momentum. To put it simply, we baked cakes, took cakes to the pub, ate cakes, talked about cakes, and took cakes home. The perfect sort of club...

Rhubarb & lemon curd cake

The first meeting's theme was 'Step into Spring'. There was lemon drizzle cake, spiced apple & raisin cake with a pastry base, vanilla sponge with chocolate buttercream, blueberry and lemon bundt cake, chocolate cake, and orange cake... Oh, and my rhubarb and lemon curd cake. All delicious! We sampled each cake in turn, just a small piece of each (so that we didn't all roll out of the pub and gain a stone in weight during that hour and a half...)

It was great to meet some really different people, a mix of ages, backgrounds, and interests, but to all have this one yummy thing in common. There was a variety of cake textures, flavours, and styles, and it was inspiring to hear how other people baked, the problems they come up against, and the ideas and advice they had about new approaches and problematic areas I talked about.

Me & my cake

I felt confident to talk about something I was passionate about, even though I didn't know these people... Never having been part of a group or club before, I was incredibly nervous beforehand. Nervous about the cake, nervous about my 'performance', worried about what people would think of me. But in the end, everyone was so friendly and approachable, and accepted me as a fellow baker - just as I accepted them in the same way. It was refreshing, to say the least, and I felt happy to share my enjoyment of something as simple as cake.

But cake isn't always just 'simple' - neither in terms of the science behind the bake, nor the emotional attachment I and other people have with baking. For me, baking calms me, gives me a sense of purpose, gives me something to learn and create, and a product to be proud of.

My rhubarb & lemon curd cake went down well. I was more worried about this one cake than any other (except, perhaps, the Christening cake for my godson, George). It was different to what I normally bake, as I haven't often cooked using fruit. Such a wet and unpredictable fruit as rhubarb certainly created a nervousness and critical element in my mind. But it was moist and fluffy, with a delicate but definite flavour, although not quite enough of the tang of rhubarb as I'd like. It seemed to go down well, although I think the whipped double cream and lemon curd topping was everyone's favourite part of the cake.

The Cake Club spread

So here's to the next Cake Club - it'll be held once a month, and the next theme is 'chocolate'. Perfect! 

If you want to join a Cake Club, check out the Clandestine Cake Club website and see whether there's a local club you could become a member of.

Practice cake

I'm going to be godmother to little baby George at the end of the month, and his mum's asked me to bake the cake too. The pressure! I got Mary Berry's 'Baking Bible' for Christmas....

 

...and in it there is a recipe for a Christening cake...

Rather than just making a normal sponge, I thought it would be worth a try to make this, so it would be extra-special. I thought it best to practice now, before the big day. The method was very different to any I've done before - it's always just been creaming the sugar and butter, add egg, add flour, type of recipe. But this one required me to whisk the sugar and egg over hot water for about 10 minutes, then away from the hot water for a further 5 minutes, then fold in half the flour, half the melted butter poured round the edge of the bowl, then more flour and more butter. It was quite complicated, and I was so nervous before letting my friend try it. Luckily it worked, despite smelling somewhat of scrambled eggs while I was making it. It was incredibly light while still very stable and firm (which it needs to be, for the icing).

It was filled with whipped cream mixed with lemon curd - devine.

I was so pleased with it - it scored thumbs up from everyone, so the Christening cake has been chosen :)