How is it Wednesday already? I fly home tomorrow for a long weekend and my baby brother is turning 23! I say baby but he towers over me. I did mean to blog sooner but I have had a mad weekend (I will reveal what I have been up to soon) then I came down with a nasty cold and ended up having Tuesday off work. Thankfully I seem to be over the worst of it now - it's amazing what a day in bed can do when you are feeling ill.

So... cake! I haven't told you about the cake I made for CCC almost 2 weeks ago (June, slow down!) Well every cake has a story and this ended up being cake number 2. As our theme was English Summer I originally planned to make a cake that looked like a summer pudding but that failed disastrously! Firstly I decided to colour the sponge a nice purple colour but something happened in the oven and that cake came out green! Then to make matters worse I made such a schoolboy error and took the cake out a few mins too soon and yup, you guessed it, it sunk. It was so bad it looked like I had created a bad bundt cake (I had baked the cake in a pyrex bowl). Now, thankfully I had made the cake on Tuesday and cake club wasn't until Thursday so I knew I had Wednesday evening to bake another cake.

So went to make the cake on Wednesday only to find I was all out of stork marg and would have to use butter. The batter seemed really tough when I was dividing it between the tins and when I took it out of the oven it didn't have as big a rise as normal. By this point I was at the end of my tether and it was too late to make another cake and I was all out of ingredients.

Out came the buttercream and frozen berries and this fab nozzle the Craft Company had sent me to review. I sandwiched the cake with buttercream and berries then using the nozzle piped a wavy line effect and built up the layers. To be honest I was making it up as I went along but it seemed to look quite effective. A handful more berries on top and cake was done.

Thanks to the Craft Company for sending me that nozzle to review. I was having serious cake block and it really gave a pretty finish.

To make the cake I made a normal Victoria Sponge using Mary Berry's recipe. One of these days I will remember to photograph the stages before the cake goes in the oven - sorry!

225g stork
225g caster sugar
225g self-raising flour
2tsp baking powder
4 eggs

Now Mary says this is an all in one mix but I prefer to cream the butter and sugar first. It's just personal preference.

• Grease and line two 20cm cake tins.

• Preheat the oven to 160C (fan)/180C (no fan)

• Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

• Crack eggs into a jug and give a quick beat with a fork.

• Mix the baking powder and flour in a bowl then add about half of this to the butter and sugar mixture.

• Mix this on a slow speed then add the egg mixture slowly.

• Mix in the end of the flour mixture and make sure you scrap the bottom of the bowl so it is all combined.

• Divide the mixture between the two tins and place in the oven for around 25mins until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

While the cake is cooling it's time to make the buttercream

500g icing sugar
160g unsalted butter (softened)
a few tbsp of milk
food colouring (optional) - I used Sugarflair Violet gel/paste colouring

Put everything in a bowl/mixer, cover with a teatowel and whisk until smooth.
Add more food colouring if required. 
Sandwich the cake with buttercream and some berries then pipe more buttercream on top of the sponge and drizzle with a few more berries and icing sugar.

Enjoy!

It's been almost a week since my last blog post. Meant to write this up over the weekend but at the moment I have lots going on, I need to make more time to blog! Got lots of stuff to share with you but give me time and I will get there.

Last Thursday (13th June) the Wharfedale Clandestine Cake Club held our English Summer event and it was a roaring success. Myself and Kathryn had been on the hunt for new venues in the area and came across this little gem of a place in Otley called the Victoria Plum Tea Room. It is so cute and twee and adorable. Vicky, the owner is so lovely and I'm telling you now that you must call in for some tea and cake.

Anyway back to the cakes - they were all amazing! I think my favourite was the lemonade cake. It actually seemed to have a bit of a fizzy taste yum! Everyone's cakes were truly outstanding even with the cries of "oh I don't want to take mine out, it doesn't look as good as the others!" (I think I heard that said more than once that evening). Honestly it is not a competition and it doesn't matter how the cakes look. Everyone put thought and effort into it and I enjoyed them all.
We also all had a few cake disaster stories to tell that evening. My cake was a second attempt, I'll tell you all about the disaster of the first in my next post. It's always reassuring to everyone when you discover that you aren't the only one who has cake wrecks at times.

Anyway, enough of my rambles... here are photos of the evening for you to enjoy. Apologies for the glare in some corners, my poor camera is starting to die a bit :(










Once again thank-you to Vicky and the staff at Victoria Plum, we all had a fantastic evening.

Eton Mess Cake.... it's the cake that gained me first place in the Vintage category of the Great Leeds Bake Off :) :) :) (Still buzzing from that news yay!)

It really is a surprisingly easy cake to make but the muppet that I am I forgot to photograph the stages of me making it. I hope my instructions are clear enough but if you are confused please do get in touch!

The cake consists of a layer of Victoria sponge, a layer of buttercream, a layer of jam, a layer of meringue pieces and white chocolate chips, another layer of Victoria sponge, a layer of homemade meringue, a big load of berries mixed with buttercream then sprinkled on top with more meringue pieces. Reading over that it really is calorie overload but then again it is cake!

Start with your sponge cake first. I used Mary Berry's recipe as its always so light and fluffy. I did think about creating my own but let's be honest, Mary Berry is the Queen of cakes, so if it aint broke why fix it? This sponge will not let you down!

225g stork
225g caster sugar
225g self-raising flour
2tsp baking powder
4 eggs

Now Mary says this is an all in one mix but I prefer to cream the butter and sugar first. It's just personal preference.

• Grease and line two 20cm cake tins.

• Preheat the oven to 160C (fan)/180C (no fan)

• Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

• Crack eggs into a jug and give a quick beat with a fork.

• Mix the baking powder and flour in a bowl then add about half of this to the butter and sugar mixture.

• Mix this on a slow speed then add the egg mixture slowly.

• Mix in the end of the flour mixture and make sure you scrap the bottom of the bowl so it is all combined.

• Divide the mixture between the two tins and place in the oven for around 25mins until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Now while the sponge is baking you can make a start on the meringue. Once again I used a Mary Berry recipe but I reduced as few of the quantities cos I didn't need as much meringue.

3 eggs whites
170g caster sugar
1.5 tsp cornflour
1.5 tsp white wine vinegar

• Preheat the oven to 160C/140C Fan

• Lay a sheet of baking parchment on a tray and draw round the shape of your 20cm cake tin

• Put the egg whites in a bowl and whisk until stiff

• Add the sugar to the mixture a teaspoon at a time while whisking at the same time

• Stir the cornflour and vinegar in a dish and whisk the the meringue mixture

• Fill a piping bag with the meringue mixture and snip off the end.

• Pipe a series of blobs within the circle shape you have drawn but give the outer edge a bit more height (basically pipe it as if you were making the meringue for a pavlova).

• Also pipe a series of random blobs around the other bits of the greaseproof paper (these can be any shape or size as they will be broken into pieces later)

• Place the meringue in the oven and turn it down to 130C (fan) for one hour.

• Once cooked the meringue should be a creamy/very light brown in colour and the shell will be form to the touch.

• Leave to cool in the oven with the door closed for an hour or two for a chewier meringue.

Now everything had cooled it's time to make the buttercream. You could use fresh cream but I worry about it going off.

160g unsalted butter softened
500g icing sugar
A few tbsp of milk

• Place everything in a bowl/mixer, cover with a tea tower to avoid an icing sugar cloud and beat until smooth - this usually takes a good 5 mins.

Cake assembly time!

• Take one layer of sponge, spread some buttercream on top, then add some jam.

• Remember the random wee bits of meringue from before? Well pop them in a sandwich bag and give them a quick bash with a rolling pin. Not too much cos you do want some nice chunks.

• Sprinkle over the meringue pieces and white choc chip pieces (the choc chip is optional!) then add another later of sponge.

• Spread some jam or buttercream on top of this but not too much, just enough for the large meringue to stick.

• Add a mixture of chopped strawberries, raspberries and the meringue pieces to the buttercream. The amount is entirely up to depending on your buttercream to fruit ratio preference. 

• Stir the fruit in gently as you don't want the raspberries to turn into a pulp.

• Add this mixture to the top of the meringe, add a few more bits of fruit on top sprinkle more meringue pieces over it and if like me you are a chocoholic I added some white choc chips.

And that's it - Eton Mess Cake!

I know the instructions are long but I forgot to photo the stages and I promise you it really it is a pretty simple cake to make.

Enjoy!

On Saturday 8th June I took part in the Great Leeds Bake Off as part of the Leeds Loves Food Festival and to raise funds for Age UK.

As you all know I love any excuse to bake and I love it even more when it is for charity. Last year I abseiled off City Island in Leeds for charity, this year baking a cake was much more up my street and in my comfort zone.

Anyway the competition was divided into three categories; Leeds Loves Food, International and Vintage. I chose to enter Vintage as I do love anything vintage and often feel like I was born in the wrong era. I decided to make an Eton Mess cake because I love Eton Mess and I had never seen it created in a cake before. I had seen it in cupcakes but I wanted to make it on a much bigger scale.

We dropped the cake off at the Arch Cafe in Leeds that afternoon then went for a nose around the Leeds Loves Food Festival. Honestly if you have never been to the Arch Cafe before you really have to visit. It is an absolute hidden gem in the city. Prices are so reasonable, the food is fab, they make cakes from the Clandestine Cake Club Book and all profits go directly to Age UK. If you haven't been yet I am telling you that you are missing out!

So... we were told to be back at Arch Cafe for 3:30pm to look at the cakes and the judging was at 4pm. The judging was done by our very own Lynn Hill of the CCC and Masterchef Vivek Singh Kashiwale from the 1875 Restaurant in Menston.

I could hardly get looking at the cakes as it was so busy but Himself noticed a rosette beside my cake. I couldn't see so I thought it must be a "well done" or something because the winners hadn't been announced yet. Then at 4pm the winners were announced and somehow I won!!! the Vintage Category. Honestly I was so shocked and pleased, I really wasn't expecting it. I'm just a self taught amateur baker, the standard was so high that I did not expect to win at all. The other winners were Leeds Loves Food Category – Beetroot and Chocolate Cake by Alexis Keech and International Category - Swedish Saffron Cake by Bejal Mistry. Everybody's cakes were amazing and I would loved to have tried more of the cakes but I was at the back of the queue so by the time I got to the cake table most cakes had been well devoured. I did try my CCC friend Yin's Ginger and Rhubarb cake (delish!) a yummy chocolate and cherry cake and a wee bit of my own cake (the last slice which I take as a real compliment!).

I received a wonderful goody bag as my prize and the best bit of all was a CCC apron - I have been wanting one for ages!!! Hobbycraft kindly donated some of the prizes and Tate and Lyle donated a fab golden syrup caster sugar - I cannot wait to try that in a recipe!

Anyway enough of my ramblings, here are photos for you to enjoy. I got a bit swept up in the moment and forgot to take many photos but the lovely Claire Rose kindly sent me the photos that she took from the event.

My Eton Mess Cake

Raffle Prizes

Leeds Loves Food Winning Cake – Beetroot and Chocolate Cake by Alexis Keech

My winning cake eee!!!

International Winning Cake – Swedish Saffron Cake by Bejal Mistry

What was left of my cake

Ginger and Rhubarb Cake, yum!

My lovely prize!

Once again a special thank-you to the Arch Cafe, Lynn and Vivek. I had a wonderful day and feel truly honoured that out of 36 cakes entered you felt that mine should be one of the 3 winners. Also special thank-you to HobbyCraft, Tate and Lyle, Greggs and Yorkshire Tea for the wonderful gifts and free tea you provided.

Apologies for the lack of blogging over the past week but life has just gotten in the way. Work has been busy as always, then last weekend we went bridesmaid dress shopping (one of my friends is getting married in December) and then me and Himself went to see Jimmy Carr on Sunday evening. The sun has been glorious these past few days so instead of blogging on my lunch hour like I usually do I have been sat out in the car park on the grassy patch enjoying the sunshine while it lasts.

I am busting to get baking too and thankfully the end of this week is going to be very busy cake-wise. My friend Rhianne from For the Easily Distracted has asked me to make her Dad a birthday cake for the weekend so I am making an Eton Mess cake. Can't wait to make it and I'll post the recipe on here next week for you all to read.

Anyway... one cake I keep forgetting to share with you is these wee heart shaped mini cakes that I made a few weeks ago. They are so easy and adorable and you could make them any shape you want.

I decided to make these mini cakes rather than cupcakes because sometimes I find cupcakes a little too icing heavy while these had a nice ratio or cake to buttercream.

I used my chocolate cake recipe but baked it as a large one layer sheet cake using my Silverwood Multisize Pan. Honestly it's brilliant and well worth investing in, I have had mine for a few years now and love it. The cake took about 25mins to cook and once cooled I cut out the shapes using a heart shapped cutter, sliced them in half and sandwiched together with some buttercream. To make the strawberry buttercream (you can find the recipe here) I subsituted the cocoa for strawberry milkshake powder.

Decorate with some chocolate covered strawberries and a dusting of icing sugar for a pretty little cakey treat.