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 

Chocolate raspberry fudgey cake

If you're in need of a decadent dinner party dessert, or just a delicious weekend bake, try this chocolate raspberry fudgey cake. It's much like a rich brownie, and is great served with fresh raspberries - it would also be brilliant warm with some vanilla ice cream. Rich, fudgey, delicious - I'll definitely be baking this again!

240g marg
5 tbsp raspberry jam
75g cocoa powder
300g caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
3 tsp kirsch
100g plain flour
Pinch of salt

This is an easy recipe. Melt the marg and jam in a large saucepan over a low heat. Remove from the heat, then sift in the sugar and cocoa. Beat the kirsch into the eggs, then add gradually into the mix. Sift in the flour and salt, and stir in.

Pour into a prepared tin (mine was a 20cm round loose-bottomed tin). Bake for 15 minutes at 180C, then turn down to 160C for another 40 minutes.

Leave to cool, then serve with a dusting of icing sugar and cocoa powder, with fresh raspberries on the side.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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 cake club saints and sinners

In an historical turn, the Stamford CCC met on Sunday, August 4, for a sermon, service, and slice of cake at St John's Church. This 15th-century church isn't active in the sense of regular services, but rather serves as an historical base for visitors and cake lovers alike. Once everyone arrived in the church and took a pew, standing with my notebook I did feel compelled to give a sermon - but, luckily for the members, I simply encourage some cake eating instead.

It was fascinating to learn about the history of this hidden Stamford gem while we scoffed down 12 cakes, all baked to the theme of 'Saints and sinners'. We had three new members, and three guests, giving a congregation of 15 altogether.

The group was evenly split between saints and sinners (I thought we'd have more sinners!) - six of each:

Saints:
'More tea vicar' Earl Grey cake - Sophie
Angel cake - Kelly F
Low-fat orange and poppyseed cake - Vic
Victoria sponge - Sarah G
Baked berry cheesecake - Katie
Strawberry and white chocolate cake - Anthea

Sinners:
Devil's food cake - Rhoda
Sticky toffee cake - Vicky
Red velvet cake - Katerina
Devil's food cake - Jane
Chocolate orange marble cake - Louise
Chocolate cake - Natalie

Poor Vic had a total caketastrophy - a mechanical failure of her cake tin meant her low-fat orange and poppyseed cake went all over the road 100 yards from the venue.... However, following a detailed risk assessment and in-depth warning sheet, several of us adhered to the motto 'a little bit of dirt won't hurt' and gave the cake a go - and it was delicious. My 10-minute warning from my stomach didn't kick in so we all assumed the 3-second rule on the floor had worked OK.

It was great to see Louise ventured into the realm of baking after coming as a guest a couple of times - long may your lovely cake baking continue! The new tin was worth it!

Despite the rain, everyone had a good natter and enjoyed all the cakes, filling our cake troughs to the brim at the end of the afternoon. Kelly missed out on a couple of cakes in her trough however, as she was chatting too much about the history of the church!

It was great to support the Church Conservation Trust while enjoying our cake and conversation. Giving something back to the community that supports our cake group feels as good as the baked goods in our stomachs.

I'm loving our cake club. I have to admit to being totally nerve-racked during the events, running around like a blue-arsed fly and talking to everyone without actually talking to anyone - I love the organising, and the write-ups afterwards, but I am so nervous and high on adrenalin that I don't enjoy the meetings themselves! I am getting better each month, though, and hopefully one month soon I'll be able to relax...

Pinwheel cookie fail

Steve and his brother went away mountain biking for the weekend. I thought it would be a nice idea to make them some cookies to take with them, and thought Mary Berry's pinwheel cookies would be fun to do. They were in the Children's section of her 'Baking Bible' cookery book so I thought I couldn't lose. A chocolate dough, rolled with a vanilla dough - easy stuff.

Mary Berry's easy creations

GOOD LORD these were dreadful!

I'm not going to repeat the recipe, as I wouldn't want to inflict them upon you all. It seemed quite basic and straightforward, so off I set. However, I soon realised that the 'dough' that needed rolling out in fact resembled 'batter' and in no world would ever be rolled anywhere. Even after chilling for 15 minutes the texture was far too loose. No rolling here.

Instead, I dolloped the mixture on to the baking tray, making an attempt to mix the two together in a bit of a swirly fashion. They did not look good.

Perfect. 

Once cooked, they tasted disgusting.

It's not often Steve won't eat something. That means they're really bad.

They went in the bin.

Mary Berry, you have failed me!

A definite candidate for CraftFail.

Cappuccino cake

For cake club this month, my boyfriend Steve made Mary Berry's cappuccino cake, from her 'Baking Bible'. However, her directions are to bung all the ingredients in the bowl together and mix, and I hate that method I'm afraid. I've done this cake before using her method and I found there were lumps of chocolate and it wasn't nice and smooth. So we altered it a bit.

50g cocoa powder
6 tablespoons boiling water
3 eggs
50ml milk
175g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
100g margarine
275g caster sugar

Pre-heat oven to 180C (160C fan) and prepare two 20cm cake tins.
Mix the cocoa powder with the hot water until it makes a smooth paste.
Cream the marg and sugar until fluffy.
Add the beaten eggs and milk, and a little flour if it starts to separate.
Mix in the cocoa paste.
Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix but don't overdo it.
Pour into the two baking tins and bake for 25-30 minutes.

To finish, whip 300ml double cream. Stir in one teaspoon of instant coffee that you've dissolved in two teaspoons of hot water.
Sandwich the layers with half the coffee cream, then spread the other half on the top. Dust with a little cocoa powder before serving.

I loved this cake. I was actually my favourite at cake club this month. It was light and fluffy, with the bitter coffee cream really setting off the sweetness of the chocolate sponge.

To find out more about Clandestine Cake Clubs, click here.

Mini muffin man

I bought a fabulous new Wilton mini muffin tin with some leftover Christmas vouchers, so this weekend I christened it by making some mini chocolate muffins. It would have been rude not to really.

I used a very simple batter:
4oz butter
4oz caster sugar
3oz self-raising sugar
1oz cocoa powder
2 eggs
A little milk

Cream together the butter and sugar until really fluffy.
Add the beaten eggs.
Mix in the sifted flour and cocoa.
Bake at 180C (160C fan) for about 12-14 minutes (keep an eye on them as they're so small).

To make the buttercream, mix 80g butter and 250g icing sugar with a little milk, for at least 5 minutes in a mixer.
Once really light and fluffy, mix in one tablespoon of Nutella by hand.

Amazing. But a warning - they're so small and moreish, you keep having more!

Brilliant Nutella buttercream

I made some wonderful cupcakes this week. I have been suffering under peer pressure at work to bake, bake BAKE! I succumbed and decided on a simple chocolate cupcake but jazz it up with Nutella buttercream.

This is the best buttercream in the world. I cannot stress this enough. These were, thanks to the buttercream, the best cupcakes I have ever made.

250g icing sugar
80g butter at room temperature (I warmed mine up in the microwave for a few seconds)
About 50ml milk
2 heaped tbsp Nutella (or other chocolate spread)

Place the butter in a mixer and mix for a couple of minutes. Add the sugar and mix, then add the milk. Mix for at least five minutes until it turns almost white. It should be really fluffy and creamy. Mix the Nutella in by hand until all incorporated.

The best buttercream ever (well, as long as you like Nutella).

I used my new Wilton 1M star icing nozzle - it is truly amazing. No wonder everyone raves about it. You should get one, if you haven't already.

Cola and chocolate cake

For this month's Stamford Clandestine Cake Club, the theme was 'Quench your thirst' - beverage bakes. I wanted to stay away from alcohol, knowing that a lot of my slightly alcoholic cake club members (not really! Well, maybe) would be using booze. Instead, I researched and found a recipe for a chocolate cake using cola.

Once this was baked, I was very worried that it would be really sickly and far too sweet. But I was surprised - it was sweet, but very moist and fluffy, and not sickly. It was rich, yes, but it a good way. It went down very well at cake club, with only one slice left by the end of the night.

250g self-raising flour
300g golden caster sugar
3 heaped tbsp cocoa
pinch bicarbonate of soda
250g margarine
250ml cola
125ml milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the topping

100g butter

2 tbsp cola drink

2 tbsp cocoa

200g icing sugar

Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan).Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl.Melt the butter and cola gently in a pan then add to the dry ingredients, together with the milk, eggs and vanilla.Mix gently but thoroughly and tip into a buttered, loose based cake tin (24cm/9½ in diameter).Bake for about 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.Remove from the oven and leave for about 15 minutes while you make the topping.Put the butter, cola, and cocoa into a pan and melt slowly. Bring the mixture to the boil and then pour on to the icing sugar. Beat until smooth and pour over the cake while still warm. Cool the cake in the tin.

I have to admit to a bit of a caketastrophy with this one. The batter was very runny, and after pouring it into my loose-bottomed cake tin, it promptly starting coming out of the bottom. I placed the tin on a baking tray, bunged it in the oven, and hoped for the best. Towards the end of baking time I started to smell that all-too recognisable burning smell. When I took the cake out of the oven, there was a thin layer of burnt cake filling the baking tray, going underneath the cake tin too. The cake itself was fine - albeit a little smaller than it should have been due to the spillage! I don't know whether this was because the mixture was too runny, or whether I need a new tin... I'll have to keep my eye on that. 

I decorated the cake with cola bottle sweets, which I think might have been more popular than the cake itself... 

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.