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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

Stamford Clandestine Cake Club - Treat yourself tea party

Following a balmy Bank Holiday Monday, the Stamford Clandestine Cake Club met on Tuesday, May 7th, at the Garden House Hotel in Stamford for a delectable tea party. The hotel is one of the best-kept secrets in the Georgian town of Stamford, and dates back in part to the 17th century. We met in a charming room with a beautiful mural on the wall. The hotel has a beautiful hidden walled garden (which would make an excellent meeting place for a summer CCC get together!). I’m already planning to go back for dinner in the restaurant soon – the conservatory room looked really romantic. For more about the hotel click here.

15 bakers with 3 added guests met with cakes baked to the theme of ‘Treat yourself tea party’. Surprisingly we had no Victoria Sponges and no Battenburgs – but never mind, as those 15 cakes were all absolutely delicious.

The list comprised:
Raspberry and blueberry lime drizzle
Cappuccino cake
Raspberry and lemon sponge
Chocolate Crunchie cake
Sultana cake
Carrot cake
Raspberry and lemon polenta cake
Cream tea cake
Chocolate fudge cake
Deliah’s dark Jamaican gingerbread cake
Ginger and lemon curd cake
Pineapple and sultana cake
Rhubarb and custard cake
Chocolate and coffee meringue cake
Lemon drizzle

A couple of members were worried about certain disaster – Vic’s Cream Tea Cake was her third attempt that day, but was divine, with macerated strawberries and clotted cream. Kelly was panicked her sultana cake, baked a few days prior due to a weekend working in Keswick, was lovely. And Vicky’s chocolate fudge cake was yummy, even though it didn’t rise much.

It was great to see a couple of new members who seemed to enjoy our chatter and banter about all things cake.All the bakers put so much effort into their cakes yet again, thank you all for your hard work – everyone enjoyed them so much that there wasn’t much left to take home in our cake troughs this time. I turned my back for a moment, and when I returned to the table there was only one lonely slice of my cake left – I quickly grabbed it!

Thanks to the venue for entertaining us for the evening and kindly allowing us to play host. The evening was also a Blue Cross tea party and we raised some much-needed funds for this worthy animal charity – thanks to all the members for their kind voluntary donations. The next event is on June 2nd, with the theme 'Perfect for a picnic'. For more info about Clandestine Cake Clubs, click here.

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... 

Cake Club absence and a review of Ragdale Hall

After only one meeting of the Market Deeping Clandestine Cake Club, I had to be excused from the second inaugural get-together. I was distraught, as this meeting's theme was 'Death by chocolate - no calories spared'. Now that's my kind of theme. I planned a chocolate Devil's Food Cake, with a double cream and melted chocolate filling which could double up as the icing, to be finished off with dark and white chocolate curls. However, my chocolate feast was not to be, as the meeting date had to be changed and I was unable to go.

But, I still made cake...

It was deliciously dark and moist, and just scrumptious, if I do say so myself. Possibly the best cake I've made in a long time. I didn't bother with the double cream and melted chocolate filling in the end, as that required a trip to the shops - instead I went for a buttercream standby. Which did the job, and did it well.

50g cocoa powder

225ml water
100g marg
275g caster sugar
2 large eggs
175g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb

Blend the cocoa powder and water - I suggest using a mini whisk to make sure there's no lumps.
Beat together the sugar and butter until fluffy.
Whisk the eggs together, then add to the mixture - I needed to gently add a little flour at this point to stop the mixute separating.
Sift in half the flour, bicarb, and baking powder mixture, then stir in half the chocoaltey water, then the rest of the flour, and the rest of the liquid.
Divide into two prepared tins.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 35 minutes until springy.

Once cooled, sandwich together with filling - which was butter and icing sugar blended until smooth and creamy. I never measure ingredients for my buttercream, I just rely on a little finger dipped in to taste.

I missed Cake Club as I was staying at Ragdale Hall Health Hydro for two nights. This was a special treat to myself, using the money I saved up from making quilts over the last two years. I went by myself and simply spent the time relaxing, reading, getting pampered, and spending time doing nothing.

In these days of non-stop hectic stress and pressure, we've forgotten the importance of doing nothing. Of appreciating silence, time to think, time to stop and let our minds wander. It was really hard to concentrate on relaxing, which is such a contradiction - it was hard work. I have so much on my mind, so much to fret and worry about, that it was almost impossible to relax. But I enjoyed the time to myself, away from reality, away from everything for just a couple of days.

The spa itself is amazing. There are several lounge areas to relax in with a book (I finally finished Sophie's Choice by William Styron, and also read Switched by Amanda Hocking), plus two main pools, a steam room, jacuzzi, sanarium... and the thermal spa area. This is a circular glass-roofed area filled with ferns and plants, surrounded by a variety of spa rooms: the rose sauna, the scent room, volcanic salt bath, thought zone, candle pool, colourflow cave, and the waterfall pool which flows outside - this was wonderful in the rain, as the warm water steamed upwards... Every possible way to relax is catered for. Dinner, lunch, and breakfast was all of a five-star hotel quality, every member of staff was brilliant, and the mud wrap dry floatation treatment was devine. I could stay there forever.... The weather was dreadful, and rained pretty much constantly - but I was cocooned away from the world and didn't care how much it bucketed it down.