Tomorrow will be the second anniversary of the passing of my Great Aunt Nellie. I can't believe its been 2 years since we said goodbye (update, it has now been 6 years). I'll never forget the time leading to her dying. She was diagnosed with cancer on the 18th March and she died on the 27th April, exactly 4 months after my cousin died. I was already struggling with the loss of my cousin the previous December and to have another family bereavement in such a short space of time was horrendous. The end of 2010 and he first half of 2011 was a pretty wretched time for my family.

She was a special lady and was my Granny's sister. My Granny died before I was born so my Aunt Nellie was like a surrogate grandmother to me and my brothers.

She always had a story to tell and I remember phoning her one time when I was at uni and we ended up being on the phone for over 2 hours! She loved a natter as much as the rest of us. It was a running joke in our family that when her and my Uncle Jackie called in that she always brought an apple pie with her to have with a cup of tea. When you served her tea it had to be in a china cup, never in a mug! For me there was just something special about her that I struggle to put into words.

It's odd, people say time is a healer but I don't think it is. You just have to find a new normal. I am just glad she lived a fairly long and happy life. At the wake my brother sang Robbie William's Nan's Song. At first I found it hard to listen to the words but now I find a great comfort in them.

I still miss her, the whole family does but over this weekend I want to remember her and the happy times.

L-R Aunt Nellie, Uncle Jackie, Granny, Granda

On her wedding day

Enjoying a boat trip with my mum

I just love this photo of me, Nellie and Mum

I miss you Aunt Nellie xxx

I had planned to post my banana muffin recipe today but the photos are on my phone and the stupid thing isn't connecting right to my computer grrr!

Instead I thought I would tell you about another Clandestine Cake event that took place on Sunday 14th April. My blog is starting to look at bit CCC obsessed but I find the events are like buses, there isn't one for a while then a few come along at once. It probably doesn't help that I belong to more than one group so this is bound to happen!

Anyway, back to the event! As I said it took place 2 weeks ago and it was for the Wharfedale group which covers Otley, Ilkley and all the surrounding villages. It was my first time going to this group as I joined it when we moved to Otley to help to meet some new people. I also helped Kathryn to organise this event which I found myself really enjoying - I love organising things!

So on that Sunday afternoon we all met at the Cheerful Chilli on the outskirts of Otley. It's a fab wee venue and has a real rustic feel to it. It really felt like a secret club were meeting cos I was directed up a set of stairs that you could easily miss. One person described it as "going up the secret stairs to the secret meeting."

The theme was Literary Divine and there was such an amazing variety of cakes. I baked a lemon yoghurt cake from Mary Berry's Baking Bible and everyone there was so creative in their flavours and design. I really loved an apple cake, I can't remember the flavour exactly but I did have more than one slice. Oh and there was a Rhubarb and Custard cake too - that was amazing!

God, I really do go on a bit don't I? Sorry, it's the Irish in me!

Anyway, here are the photos from the day.









Oh a before I forget a special thank-you to Kathryn not only for organising it but also for letting us use her adorable china crockery!

Hello there!

Apologies for the lack of blog posts last week but life just got in the way and I didnt have a chance to write anything.

Anyway, one of the things I had intended to blog about was the Headingley Clandestine Cake Club event that took place almost two weeks ago now (time really does fly!). It was held at Sebby's Deli in Headingley and if you haven't been before you should really go. It's such a cute wee place, I really need to visit it more often. Helen, the owner, is also a fellow CCC member and organiser so Sebby's was an ideal venue for the event.

Such a lovely venue!

The theme was "Favourite Flours" which could have been interpreted any way - flours or flowers? I decided to make a chocolate and rose cake. I used my trusty old choc cake recipe and added some rosewater to the buttercream icing.

All the cakes were amazing but the one I was most impressed by was made by a young girl, no older than 10/11. I was so amazed to see such cakey talent at such a young age.

It was such a lovely evening and a great way to wind down after a busy day at work.

All the amazing cakes

Its so girly, love it!

Love the design of this wee carrot cake

The cake I made, got slightly battered in transit - buses and cake don't mix!

Choc and ginger cake, yum!

Stunning bundt cake - I really need to have a go at this!

Cake made by the young girl - told you it was really good!

Now all these cakey photos are making me want cake but that will have to wait til tomorrow!

I have had lots of requests for the recipe for my chocolate salted caramel cake that I submitted in the Clandestine Cake Club Competition at the Cake and Bake Show in Manchester just over a week ago. Thankfully I had photographed the making of the cake previously as I had thought about blogging about it.

The chocolate sponge is a recipe I was given by my employer during my placement year at university but I have changed it a bit to suit my tastebuds. The recipe was given to me in cups but I've just never gotten round to converting it into weight. If you don't have any measuring cups all the major supermarkets sell them with their baking equipment. I have found this cake recipe is now my go to for chocolate cake. It's so easy and you just throw it all in a bowl and whisk.

The chocolate salted caramel is an adaption of Edd Kimbers recipe for his Sweet and Salty Cake but once again I have changed the recipe to suit my taste.

Chocolate Cake Recipe

2.5 cups of self-raising flour
2 cups caster sugar
1 cup of cocoa
1 cup of sunflower or vegetable oil
1.5 cups of milk
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs



Firstly preheat your oven to 160c if its fan assisted. Im guessing its 180c if its non-fan and to be honest I have no idea of the gas equivalent sorry!

Grease and line three 20cm cake tins.

Put all your ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Honestly this really is the easiest chocolate cake recipe.


Once smooth divide the mixture between the tins and bake in the oven for 20-25 mins. This time can vary depending on your oven.

Now you can make a start on your salted caramel and the chocolate caramel ganache. Honestly making caramel is easy, trust me! Just make sure you invest in a sugar thermometer. I think I paid about £3 for mine off ebay and I now need to replace it cos I broke it by throwing it in the sink after I finished making the caramel for the cake comp.

Salted Caramel and Chocolate Caramel Ganache

400ml double cream
1 tbsp sea salt
300g caster sugar
3 tbsp golden syrup
300g unsalted butter (softened)
100g Galaxy
200g milk chocolate
90ml water



In a deep, heavy bottomed pan add the water, sugar and golden syrup. Stir until combined and then boil over a medium heat until the temperature reaches 170C on a sugar thermometer. Once it reaches that temp take it off the heat immediately. Don't just turn off the ring, put the pan on an unused ring on the cooker. While that pan is boiling away gently heat the cream until its warm but not bubbling. Make sure you stir it cos it will burn and you will end up with nasty black burnt bits in your cream. So once the sugar mix has reached 170 pour the cream into the pan but take care as it is VERY hot and will bubble up for a few seconds. Keep stirring until its all combined and you will have a yummy looking but very hot pan of caramel.

Before boiling

Caramel at 170c

Now pour all the mixture into a measuring jug and then pour half of that back into the pan. Add the chocolate into the mix in the pan and stir until the chocolate melts. Now if you have a mixer pour this into the bowl, start whisking on a low speed and add the butter to it. Turn up the speed and keep mixing until the bowl is cool to the touch. This can take 5-10mins but don't leave it unattended incase your mixer decides to move across the counter. Now if you don't have a mixer you will need to do all of this with an electric whisk, so your arms might be a wee bit tired by the end.





 While the mixer is doing its thing go back to the leftover jug of caramel and add the salt to it and give it a mix. Leave in on the side to cool and once cool add more salt a wee bit at a time if you find you would like it saltier. Remember you can always add but not take away!


I've just realised I have forgotten about the cake. Now your timer has probably gone off while the mixer is doing its thing so pop the cakes out of their tins and onto a wire rack to cool.



Once the bowl of the chocolate caramel ganache is cool to the touch pop it in the fridge for about 30mins.

Chocolate caramel ganche - heaven!

 Now go have a well earned cup of tea!

30mins later hopefully the cakes are cool but if not just leave them a bit longer. Now take the caramel ganache out of the fridge and give it a quick whisk. Don't leave it in there any more that 30mins or it will go too hard.



Once the sponge and caramel are cool you can start assembling the cake.

Spread a nice amount of ganache ontop of the first layer then add the salted caramel. Repeat this process for the next layer then cover the cake in the remaining ganache and drizzle over more salted caramel.




Chill the cake for about 30mins and then enjoy a nice slice, you have earned it!

Final post on the Cake and Bake show that I went to in Manchester last weekend. I know I have went on about it a lot but so much went on that I felt I needed to write more than one post on it.

One of the best parts of the show (apart from the CCC comp) was looking at all of the beautifully decorated cakes and sugarcraft, in particular the flowers. They were all stunning and truly works of art! I really loved the cakes that had sugarveil on them. Himself thought it was fabric and was fascinated to see it was in fact made from sugar!

One day I would love to be as talented as these cake decorators.












I hope you have enjoyed reading these past few posts on the show as much as I enjoyed being there.

Have a lovely weekend!

After my previous and extremely long post about the Clandestine Cake Club competition at the Cake and Bake Show I am sticking with the trend and here is another long post about the show itself. If you can't be bothered with my ramblings just scroll down and look at the pics instead.

So.... after we had left my cake at the CCC stand the show had just opened so we started wandering round the different stalls. Honestly there were so many I didn't know which way to turn. Lots of places were giving out free samples so I tried some pizza, the most amazing steak and cheese pie from the New Zealand Gourmet Pie Company and heavenly marshmallows from The Marshmallowists. I think I will have to order from both these companies soon. We meant to go back and get pie for lunch but the queue was mental and then I forgot to go get the marshmallows which I was so dissapointed about. The Raspberry and Champagne flavour was divine!

We also saw so many amazing works of art in the sugarcraft flowers and decorated cakes but I am going to save those photos for the next post cos there are so many that I want to share with you.

As for buying cake/bake related goods well the options were endless! I found the cheapest place was the Wilton cake craft stand (well I think that's what it was called) and I got some lovely little goodies. I haven't even photographed those cos I have been so busy these past couple of days all the stuff I bought is still in carrier bags in the living room! Need to go through it this evening after cake club.

There were lots of star speakers too from Eric Lanlard, Mitch Turner, Peter Sidwell, Loads of GBBO contestants and honestly the list just goes on and on. They were all doing lots of demonstrations which we got glimpses of while walking round the show. It was like celeb baking heaven!

You know what? I've nattered on enough here so I'll just let the photos do the talking.

Eric Lanlard

Mich Turner

Peter Sidwell

This is amazing!

Marshmallows!