Stamford cake club dodges the rain

This month, I risked the British summertime and planned an outdoors cake club in Stamford. I was watching the weather all week long, and it looked like it would be fine... There was the risk of rain at 4pm on Sunday but we should have been finished by then.

So, we all met on the Meadows in Stamford and scoffed a range of cakes baked to the theme 'A Novel Idea'. The bakers all found this theme a bit tricky - ironically, all the members who had requested this idea weren't able to make this meeting. But we had a good variety of cakes:

Bruce Bogtrotter's chocolate cake from Matilda by Roald Dahl
Chocolat by Joanne Harris cake
Harry Potter Butterbeer cake
Sponge cake shaped into 'Sophie's World' by Jostein Gaarder

We were surrounded by artists partaking in the Great Stamford Brush Off watercolour competition - I wonder how many of their artworks featured us in the background.

My cake was a simple Victoria Sponge traybake, covered in rolled icing and piped icing to look like a cake. It wasn't amazing, and reminded me why I normally focus on taste rather than decoration. But everyone enjoyed it, which is the main point.

Guinness fruit cake recipe

If you're a fan of sticky, rich fruit cakes, then this recipe for Guinness fruit cake will suit you. I made this for the last meeting of the Stamford Clandestine Cake Club - the theme was 'Boozy Bakes'. The recipe came from the CCC Cookbook although I adapted it slightly. This would make a good base for a Christmas cake I think - although I didn't make one this year, next year I might dust off this recipe.

300g mixed dried fruit - my mixture was sultanas, raisins, and dried cranberries
330ml Guinness or other stout
2 eggs, beaten
100g soft light brown sugar
100g dark muscovado sugar
270g self-raising flour
1tsp mixed spice

Marinate the dried fruit in the Guinness for a day if possible, or at least 3-4 hours to make the fruit plump and sticky.
Stir the beaten eggs into the fruit and Guinness mixture. Add the sugars, and then sieve in the flour and spice, and mix well. Be careful not to leave any big lumps of dark sugar.
Pour into a prepared loaf tin (900g).
Bake in a preheated oven at 180C (160C fan), for at least an hour, until a skewer comes out clean.

I think this would be really good served with a nice knob of butter spread over, a bit like a malt loaf. I might like to try it with icing on too. This is a rich and warming cake, with a lovely deep flavour from the Guinness.

I recently wrote about why we love Christmas cake over on the Clandestine Cake Club website - please have a read! Please comment below and tell me why you love Christmas cake, and what sort you've made this Christmas.

Stamford Clandestine Cake Club - Signature bakes at the William Cecil

We've all been loving the Great British Bake Off, and this month we were inspired by the show to make our Signature Bakes for our meeting of the Clandestine Cake Club. We visited The William Cecil and were hosted in the Darcy and Bennet rooms - how very Pride and Prejudice!

For my signature bake, I made Devil's Food Cake - and I got in a bit of trouble for announcing it to be my favourite of the month! However, once the ruckus had died down, everyone did admit that cake is a very personal thing and we all have our own preferences. And Devil's Food Cake is my preference.

Here's a list of the cakes we baked this month:

Devil's Food Cake - Sophie
Double Chocolate Loaf Cake - Vicky
Lemon Meringue Cake - Louise
Malteaser Cake - Kerry
Lemon Drizzle and Fizzle Cake - Sammy
Green Tea and White Chocolate Opera Cake - Simon
Sticky Marmalade Cake - Rhoda

We had a few absences this month due to work commitments and illness, which was a shame, but a smaller group always means a more intimate discussion. And it means you can try ALL of the cakes without feeling too sick. 

Read more about the Clandestine Cake Club 

Apple loaf cake for Stamford Cake Club

What to bake for a fairy tale-themed cake club... I decided upon a Snow White-inspired apple loaf cake for the latest meeting of the Stamford Clandestine Cake Club, finished off with Snow White icing and apples on top. We met at Burghley Park, with the wonderful Burghley House as the backdrop for our fairy tale cakes.

The recipe is quite simple and easy to knock together. I did worry about the look of the mixture before it was baked, as there seemed to be far too much apple and not enough cake - but it turned out great in the end. Fluffy and moist without being soggy, tart apples, and sweet icing on top.

200g self-raising flour
75g marg
100g light brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Bramley apples, peeled and cored
3 eggs, beaten

Put the marg and flour together in your mixer, and blend until you have fine breadcrumbs (you can do this by hand too). Mix in the sugar and cinnamon.
Add the eggs, and the apples, and gently mix.
Tip into a large loaf tin (I think mine might be a 2lb tin).
Bake in a preheated oven at 180C (160C fan) for about an hour. You could also split this into two smaller tins, but bake for less time.
To finish, make normal icing with icing sugar and hot water - not too runny, but loose enough to drip down the sides a bit.
I made some apples out of Renshaws red paste, making one red and green for the poisoned apple.

I would recommend this cake heartily as it was really delicious.

It was a smaller group at Cake Club this month, with several drop-outs and a few no-shows, but the smaller groups are often my favourites. They give you a chance to talk as a group without feeling like you're holding court. And even if it was just me and one other baker at cake club, I'd still be happy. If you haven't signed up for the Clandestine Cake Club yet, why not!

Stamford cake club at Love Stamford

This month, I took the Stamford cake club to the new venue Love Stamford. This is a great community venture, mixing shops with a cafe, and a children's play area, plus craft, art, and allsorts of fun stuff. I love the atmosphere in this open-plan venue, and knew it would be perfect for our cake club.

The owner, Andraya, laid out her gorgeous unique armchairs and sofas around little tables for our cakes. It was a great afternoon and everyone enjoyed themselves. Not only did we get the chance to scoff 11 different cakes baked to a Stamford theme, but we also got to do a bit of shopping too - I came away with a new foxy scarf from The Little Scarf Co.

Cakes this month were:
Daniel Lambert Strawberry Roly-Poly Swiss Cake
Georgian vanilla baked cheesecake with almond biscuit base
Dundee cake
Chocolate mousse cake
Chocolate box church cake
Stamford Stone ginger cake
Scripture cake
Daniel Lambert chocolate cake with buttons and belt
Coconut cake with blackcurrant jam
Coffee and walnut cake
Gingerbread cake

All delicious. To find out more about Clandestine Cake Clubs click here

Strawberry Swiss Roll

The recent Stamford cake club theme was quite literally Stamford - find a recipe inspired by the Georgian town itself. I related to the fattest man in England, Daniel Lambert, who's a notorious character in Stamford. He died in 1809 weighing 52 stone. So, I thought, he was a bit roly-poly... Now, I couldn't make a Jam Roly Poly pudding for cake club, so instead I made a Strawberry Roly Poly Swiss Roll Cake.

A simple recipe:

4 eggs
100g caster sugar
100 self-raising flour
Dash of vanilla paste

Whisk the eggs and sugar together until very light and fluffy, leaving a trail when you lift up the whisk.
Carefully fold in the sifted flour, and drizzle in the vanilla paste.
Pour into a Swiss roll tin prepared with butter and greaseproof paper.
Bake at about 200C for 10 minutes, until nicely brown and coming away from the sides.
Turn out on to another piece of greaseproof paper dusted with more caster sugar. Peel off the greaseproof paper from the back, scour a line an inch in from a short end with a sharp knife.
Spread good-quality strawberry jam over the sponge while it's cooling, cover with chopped up fresh raspberries, and roll.
(NB don't leave it to cool for too long before rolling, as I mistakenly did, as then the outer layer will stick to the sugar and the greaseproof paper and will come off. However, if that happens, just cover it in icing sugar like I did!)

To find out more about Clandestine Cake Club click here

Pear Drops cake

For the latest Stamford Clandestine Cake Club meet, the theme was sweet shop, and I'd seen this cake on Dolly Bakes' blog a while ago and wanted to give it a go - Pear Drops cake. Rachel (aka Dolly) made this as a proper bundt in a 10 cup bundt tin, but my ring tin isn't a proper bundt tin and is about half the capacity - this means I get a nice big cake plus lots of little cakes too.

For the full recipe, please visit Dolly Bakes. The only difference I made when baking was to use just butter, rather than a mixture of butter and vegetable fat.

The M&S Pear Drops fizzy pop is definitely worth a try if you're a fan of these retro sweets - but be warned, you might need dentures after a glass of this sugary treat.

Click here for more information about the Clandestine Cake Clubs.

Stamford cake club at the sweet shop

The gorgeous cricket pavilion of Burghley Cricket Club, in the grounds of stunning Burghley House, Stamford, played host to the Stamford CCC on May 12. The venue was especially clandestine this month, as most members couldn’t find it – I had to act as traffic steward, waving everyone the right way. At the end of the night, the park gates had been locked so we couldn’t leave… We thought of knocking on the door of Burghley House to ask for a few beds for the night, before we were rescued by the cricket captain. As member Sarah said, “It all adds to the magic and excitement that is cake club!”

Our theme this month was a diabetes-inducing ‘Sweet Shop’ and we had an amazing array of sugary cakes. Everyone really pushed the boat out this month with some great flavours, imaginative ideas, and super decorations.

The roll of honour was:

Pear Drops cake – Sophie

Fruit Salad battenburg – Anthea

Confetti cake – Kat

Kit Kat and Smartie cake – Celia

Coconut mushroom cake – Rhoda

Sweet treats cake – Jo

Rhubarb and custard – Alice

Pineapple cube cake – Lisa

Curly Wurly cake – Sarah

Walnut whip cake – Deborah

Coconut cake – Kerry

Rhoda’s coconut mushroom cake was brilliant. Actually made up of lemon sponge and carrot cake, the bottom stalk of the mushroom was likened to Nora Batty’s tights, but (luckily) didn’t taste of them. Deborah’s Walnut Whip was full of fantastic marshmallow, and we urged her to enter it into the CCC Book 2 – Lynn, keep your eye out for that one. Top trumps to Alice’s rhubarb and custard cake, which everyone loved, and we all agreed it would be really good warm with a bit of cream.  I think everyone needed dentures after the sugar attack of my Pear Drops cake (made with Pear Drops fizzy pop from M&S). All the cakes looked brilliant and thanks to all the bakers for their hard work.

The setting was beautiful, looking over the cricket green into Burghley Park, surrounded by grazing sheep (we had to stay on ‘sheep watch’ to make sure they didn’t get on to the wicket), and managed to miss the monsoon downpour happening nearby but instead were treated to a lovely pink sunset over the Georgian rooftops of Stamford. Oh, how I love our cake club…

To find out more about Clandestine Cake Clubs click here. 

Stamford Clandestine Cake Club Spring Fling

Just as Spring has been springing into life in our gardens, so too did the Stamford Clandestine Cake Club, with our Spring Fling themed event on Monday, April 7. We had 12 tasty Spring cakes to sample in the upstairs room at The Crown Hotel, Stamford. We met here just over a year ago when there were only 7 members; this month, we had 15 attendees with 12 cakes, ranging from a chocolate orange marble cake to two lemon and poppyseed bundts.

Unfortunately I couldn’t taste the two chocolate cakes we had this month, as I gave up all things chocolate for Lent. Stupid idea! I did accidentally lick my finger on which was resting a smidge of chocolate cream but we’ll overlook that indiscretion. I have told member Victoria Sponge that she needs to make me her chocolate nest cake with Cadbury Mini Eggs for Easter!

The roll of honour was as follows:

Two lemon and poppyseed bundts – Sophie and Louise

Flourless chocolate nest cake – Vic

Lemon sherbet cake – Anthea

Ginger and lime layer cake – Simon

Citrus sunbeam cake – Kerry

Lemon parsnip and hazelnut cake – Vicky

Violet and orange posy cake – Lisa

Apricot and almond cake – Sarah

Lemon meringue cake – Alice

Chocolate orange marble cake – Celia

Lemon sponge with lemon curd – Ros

Lots of lovely lemon cakes but no lemon drizzles – hurrah! I’m always impressed at how hard the Stamford members try to bake a new and different recipe, and everyone says it’s great to have a challenge of a theme.

We enjoyed a lovely evening of chat and cake in The Crown and the bar staff really loved the plates of cake we provided. Looking forward to the next event, on May 12th. 

For information about the Clandestine Cake Club click here. 

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.

Chocolate mocha fat-free cake

The latest theme of the Stamford Clandestine Cake Club was 'On a health kick' - our task was to bake healthy cakes, or rather healthier than normal. I plumped for a fat-free chocolate mocha cake, which was a great success - it only has about 180 calories per slice, and serves 8, so that's quite a large slice for your calories. It was really easy to make and I'll definitely be doing this again.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
85g caster sugar
70g plain flour
1 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder

For the filling:
100g lightest cream cheese (I used Philadelphia Lightest)
100g 0% fat Greek yogurt
25g dark chocolate
2 tbsp strong coffee
2 tbsp icing sugar

Beat the sugar and eggs, for about 5 minutes in a table-top mixer such as a Kitchenaid mixer, until the volume has increased four-fold (ish) and it leaves a trail when you take the whisk out.
Sift in the dry ingredients and fold in carefully with a large metal spoon.
Carefully divide into two prepared cake tins about 18cm.
Bake at 180C (160C fan) for about 20 minutes.
Beware, once you take the cakes out of the oven, they will collapse quite a bit, but that's OK!

To make the filling, melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water, with the coffee. Mix until smooth.
Mix together the cream cheese and yogurt, and sift in the icing sugar, and whisk together to get any lumps out. Divide into two bowls.
Add the chocolate and coffee mixture into one bowl of filling.
Sandwich the cakes with the plain filling, then smooth the chocolate filling over the top of the cake. Decorate with a few chocolate flakes.

The filling on this is delicious - really moreish and tangy. You wouldn't think it was so light on calories - a definite must-bake-again. It went down well at cake club - there wasn't much left at the end, which is always a good sign.

For more information about cake club, visit the Clandestine Cake Club website. Join today for cake and friendship - and more cake. And a bit more cake.

Stamford Clandestine Cake Club - healthy cakes

Can cakes be healthy? Probably not, but they can be healthier. This month's meeting of the Stamford Clandestine Cake Club was full of slightly-better-for-you-than-normal cakes, featuring plenty of your 5-a-day, lacking in sugar and fat, and generally feel-good baking.

On January 27, we met in the Melbourn Brothers pub in Stamford, also known as the All Saints Brewery. It's also called 'the secret pub' by many Stamfordians, as it doesn't really have a signpost and goes unnoticed by many tourists and locals alike. A secret pub befits the secret cake club. It's a fun pub full of character and charm, old dusty beams and charming nooks and crannies. We holed up in the top room, a perfect size for our group. The staff were really attentive and helped me set the room up well, providing us with lots of cutlery and plates, and in return they loved the plate of treats from us. For more information, visit the Melbourn Brothers Facebook page.

We had 15 members with 12 healthy cakes this month. The roll of honour was:
Chocolate mocha fat-free cake - Sophie
Apricot oatmeal cake - Sam
Mashed potato lemon drizzle (gluten-free) - Alice
Fat-free Angel cake with passionfruit coulis (a change to my label, which says mango!) - Simon
Apple and ginger cake - Anthea
Sweetcorn, lime and coconut cake - Kerry
Low-fat lemon roulade - Vic
Fat-free fruit sponge - Sarah
Banana bread - Karen
Low-fat pumpkin loaf - Ali
Swiss roll with home-made apple and blackberry jam - Celia
Mango and lime yoghurt cake - Vicky

The surprise of the night was Alice's mashed potato lemon drizzle - you would never have guessed the ingredient, it was a lovely, light lemon drizzle. Definitely one for the recipe books should you have gluten-intolerant guests round. Anthea's apple and ginger cake was delicious with a great ginger tang, and also included squash (extra healthiness). Vic and Sarah filled us with fat-free cake and lots of fresh fruit, while Celia impressed with her lovely jam filling, coupled with her broken arm - heaven knows how she managed to roll her roll up with one arm, well done Celia! Altogether the cakes were delicious and healthy (sort of), a great start to our cake club year.

For more information about why Clandestine Cake Clubs are so amazing, visit the CCC website.