My cake for Clandestine Cake Club Dundee

For the latest Dundee Clandestine Cake Club meeting, I had to do something pink but had no idea quite what to make.  When mentioning it to a friend, who has come along as my eater on the odd occasion, she suggested something she'd just read in a magazine.  A peek-a-boo cake, or patchwork cake as it looked to me.   (Sorry but I can't get a link to that particular recipe, though I'm sure any madeira sponge recipe would do fine as it's slightly heavier than a usual sponge, so would hold its shape better once cut).  It looked a bit technical, but do-able.  So I tried it...

The recipe used ground almonds, so it was quite a heavy batter.  This meant it baked up well and held its shape for cutting.  You see, you had to make the three layers in colours (though silly me should have chosen two shades of pink for this meeting, not the purple of the recipe) then cut out circles then stack them in a particular order to achieve the final effect.  In order to get the middle cooked well, the outer edges got a little too well done for my liking, so that once cut into rings, in parts they cracked.  Nothing a later splodge of buttercream couldn't fix, but not perfectly tidy.

Once cut and assembled I got onto the task of the pale pink buttercream.  You were only to use jam to hold the rings together, so that the patchwork look was more prominent once the cake was cut.  It was a bit tricky to get the icing super-smooth all the way around (I always find that bit tricky, as we don't have Viva paper towels in the UK.  I have a good smoother, but still...)

I'm thrilled to say that the cake worked, and it went down a storm at the meeting.

Ooh, check my silly smile - I was just so pleased that it worked as I planned!

All that was left at the end were some multi-coloured crumbs - result!!

Clandestine Cake Club in Dundee turns pink

It was that time again, another Clandestine Cake Club meeting - yippee!  What's that you say?  You don't know what the cake club is?  Shame on you, we've been up and running in Dundee a full year now.  It's a secret cake club that meets in central city locations (usually) every 6-8 weeks to bake cakes to a theme, then eat them and chat about them with the bakers of said cakes.  Sounds fantastic, right?  It is, it really is.  But you do need to attend on an empty stomach - it's very hard to only take small slivers of cake.  Especially when there are 14 (yes, you read that right, 14) of them to try.

So anyway, this meeting's theme was 'Pretty in Pink' and it's wonderful how different people interpret the same theme in so many ways.  We had a Watermelon cake, a pink and white striped zebra inside cake, a vanilla sponge with pink icing in a heart shape, a white chocolate and macadamia cake, pink grapefruit, strawberry cake, checkerboard pink and white cakes and so on and so forth.

A beautiful spread, I'm sure you'll agree.  We had a few newcomers to this meeting, which was wonderful.  I think they were quite impressed at the turn-out and the sheer variety of cake available to sample.  Here are some group photos, to give you an idea of what happens at a meeting - should you wish to attend one in future...

Putting the world to rights over cake and coffee - what a great way to spend a Sunday evening.

Hmmm, which ones haven't we tried yet?

Right, I'll have some of this one next.

All that was left at the end, once everyone had eaten their fill and the leftovers were divvied up between us all (it actually says to bring a container for leftovers, in the welcome email).

So, have we whetted your appetite?  Like to attend a meeting in future?  Then hop along to the Dundee section of the Clandestine Cake Club website, register as a member and get in touch with us.  And who knows, next blog post could feature your happy face!

Clandestine Cake Club loves Dundee

Ooh, it was that time again - another meeting of the Dundee branch of Clandestine Cake Club.  Yippee, a chance to chat, eat cake and talk about cake - for no reason at all other than that we all love cake.  A perfect Sunday night out, no?

The theme this time was simply 'I love cake', chosen because it was near to Valentine's Day and was quite a loose theme in that people could bake a recipe they loved, a recipe they really wanted to try out or even a heart-shaped or decorated cake.  Allowed a lot of room for manoeuvre, right?

I hadn't thought I'd be able to attend as a baker this time, as we were due to move house a few days later, but that all changed.  So I baked.  I couldn't decide between a chocolate and salted caramel cake, a maple and pecan cake or a seriously chocolately cake.  Mr Becca was no help at all, as he didn't particularly fancy the sound of any of them, so I asked a friend.  And she liked them all.  No help whatsoever, ha ha.  In the end I chose maple and pecan as it felt kind of wintery and North American to me, and I love true Canadian Maple Syrup - what a taste!!

I'm really pleased to say that it went down a storm, and there was barely an inch wide slice left at the end for me to take home, woo hoo!  

Here's the full array of deliciousness on offer.  We have a coffee cake, shaped like a cup of coffee, a white chocolate and orange cake with handmade flowers on top, a chocolate chip and vanilla bundt cake, a monster-sized strawberry cheesecake cake, a chocolate guiness cake, a cherry bakewell cake, my maple and pecan cake, a black forest swiss roll, a red velvet and vanilla heart-enclosed cake, an apple streusel cake and a greek yoghurt cake.  Hungry yet?

 A closer view of the left hand end of the table.

 The middle section of the table.

The heart inside the red velvet bavarian creme vanilla cake.  The baker here had never tried this technique before, and was really pleased with how well it turned out.  Yey Louise!

 The cakes from the other end of the table.

A selection of our guests, happily munching away on slivers of each cake.  You have to take slivers you see, otherwise you simply can't manage to try each cake.  And that would be a shame for you, and would seem downright disrespectful to the bakers, wouldn't it?  If you think you'd like to join in on a meeting as a baker, please do get in touch on cccdundee@gmail.com  And be sure to let them know where you heard about the group please.

Dundee loves Clandestine Cake Club, Autumn style

It was time for another meeting of our branch of The Clandestine Cake Club and this time the theme was Fall Fancies, the colours and flavours of Autumn.

I really fancied making a pumpkin cake, especially after doing the pumpkin cupcakes a week ago.  I had specially bagged up the pumpkin puree in 200g and 440g (approx 1.5 cups) bags in preparation.  One of my American cake friends, C,  set up a board on Pinterest called Cakes to bake-Pumpkin and directed me to the Brown Butter Pumpkin Layer Cake.  She had tried one or two of the recipes, and this one looked like something I could manage.

After converting all the measurements to metric, I got started.  Once again, the pumpkin seemed to make the cake very moist and dense, even though I baked it for longer than the specified time and the inserted skewer came out clean.  And it felt kind of wrong to burn butter on purpose, but I had to do it 3 times for the brown butter components of each section.  Mmm, what a difference it made to the taste though.  Spiced pumpkin sponge, cream cheese icing and caramelised pecan nuts - yummy.

That beauty is my contribution.  Below are the cakes brought by all the bakers - from L to R we have Jackie's Cinnamon Apple cake, Jac's version of a Halloween Victoria Sponge - complete with choc fondant eyeballs, Ellen's Apple and Bramble bundt cake, Catriona's Pumpkin Maple bundt, my cake, Gary's Beetroot Choc cake and Carolyn's Sticky Pear and Ginger Cake.  Sadly Kelly was unwell though, so we missed her cake.

To each event a baker is invited to bring a guest, called an eater, to help taste and eat the cakes.  So in this case we had a couple more eaters than bakers - because there is always So Much Cake.  You really do need the help, I promise.

And here is the lovely little cafe chosen for this event, on the Perth Road if you are local to Dundee...  Although I think next time we'll need to chose a larger venue - this event had a long waiting list, so exciting!!

Just a query - for those of you who bake with pumpkin regularly, does this slice of cake look good to you?  No, honestly I'm not fishing for compliments (though they will always be gratefully and graciously accepted) but it seems dense to me and my Mr...

 

Clandestine Cake Club hits Dundee, again

I haven't written for a while, and intend to remedy that... soon.  And what better reason than to tell you about another meeting of the super-fun Clandestine Cake Club in Dundee?!  The venue this time was the very posh and lovely Hilton Hotel Dundee, and they had been kind enough to set out a fancy glass table on which to display our cakes, along with a long meeting table for us - giving us plenty of room to eat cake, mingle and chat.

This month's theme was 'Like a kid in a Sweet Shop' and there were a plethora of chocolate based cakes on offer.  Chocolate Lime with a lime cream accompaniment, Choc Orange, After-Eight (choc mint), White Chocolate and Orange, Chocolate Jazzie, Coca Cola and Coconut Lime cakes. 

And here's a photo, taken by the lovely @zoevenditozzi from her Twitter feed, of a plateful of deliciousness

 

Which one is mine, you ask?  Oh dear, I kind of wished you hadn't.  I put the oven on before 5pm on Saturday (the day before the meeting) and it short-circuited the entire house!  That's right, all the appliances went off, and the lights upstairs and downstairs.  And to top it off, it was the one day that Mr Becca was away in another city for a stag-do, so couldn't help at all.  I sent him a few text messages, asking for help and advice, but it wasn't until he received the one saying 'eating microwaved 'baked' potatoes by candlelight for dinner' that he replied.  With a phone call.  And an exortation to get power back to our lovely, large American-style fridge freezer, as it contained lots of his home-made 'ready meals' that he cooks on a Friday night. 

I did what I could, but could not move that fridge for love nor money.  A quick knock on the house next door, and my neighbour D came to help.  His knowledge of electrics was better than mine (I did Year 11 physics and, though I really enjoyed it, I wasn't too good at it) and we not only moved the fridge but fixed the problem so it was only the oven that was out of commission.  Woo hoo!

Except that I had no oven in which to bake the Kit Kat cake I had planned to bring along to Cake Club the next evening  :(

So we had one more eater at the meeting - ah well!  All's well that ends well.  (And you'll be pleased to hear that my oven was repaired this morning, although it did mean I missed my weekly Zumba class, and thus didn't work off any of the excess calories ;))

 

Clandestine Cake Club Dundee number 2

How exciting that we'd managed to organise another meeting of the Clandestine Cake Club in Dundee.  People seemed to have really enjoyed themselves at the first event, and this second one was no different.  Jac and I had discussed possible dates and venues and come up with last night at The Milton Inn, Monifieth.  I had chosen the venue because Team Becca had eaten there on more than one occasion and been impressed with both the quality of food and staff/atmosphere.

The theme we chose was fitting and current - A Right Royal Cake-up; red, white & blue.  Because really, the Queen's Jubilee comes only once in a lifetime.  We contacted everyone on our list, and in the end had 5 bakers and 11 in total.  This was slightly less than last time, but worked out well, as we had more people to eat less cakes.  We all still went home with leftovers and sore tummys though!

I had chosen to make a Red Velvet cake, with cream cheese icing tinged blue.  Thus getting in my required red, white and blue colours.  Or so I thought.  I had lent my Sugarflair Christmas Red paste to my neighbour a day or so ago, and hadn't asked for it back at a certain time, not remembering that I would need it so soon.  So I was all set to make pink velvet and figured I'd just apologise then I found a Dr Oetker Natural Red liquid colour bottle.  Kinda wish I hadn't...  I'm going to show you finished cake first, so you'll feel happy when you look at the colour of the interior at which point you may feel a little sad - I sure did.

Here's how I made the blue part of the swirl - I painted a stripe of blue food paste in the piping bag before I added the cream cheese icing.  So each time the icing passed the blue, it picked up a little bit.

And sadly, here's the interior.  See what I mean?  It's terracotta at best...  :(

So, to cheer you all up after that little disapointment - here are the individual cakes in close-up.  They were all soft, moist and delicious!  Mmmm

Earl Grey cake with a Rhubarb Glaze (and yes, it was very hot that day)

Devil's Food Cake with coconut and berries

White chocolate cake with cranberry & raspberry filling

Raspberry & vanilla cake.  And here we see me cutting into my own cake

Some of the other members trying out the delicious treats

And a lovely smiley group photo...

Clandestine Cake Club hits Dundee!

Have you heard of the Clandestine Cake Club?  No?  It's like a book club, only calorific!  Basically a theme is set, you bake a cake to that theme then take it to the specified venue at the specified time and you all taste each others cakes and chat about them.  You need to register your interest in the first place, then the host emails you to tell you the time and date and theme of the next meeting.  There's always a limit to the number of attendees, and usually each baker is offered the option to bring along an 'eater' - i.e. someone who won't bake, but simply eat the offerings.  So it's a first-come, first-served kind of idea, and the clandestine part is that the confirmed invitees don't learn the actual location of the event until 24-48 hours before the event.  The theme and location changes each time too, to maintain the interest and intrigue.

So, I got on the list for the first event (well, that's a bit modest, I actually am the co-host of the entire Dundee enterprise, with my new friend Jac of Tinned Tomatoes fame) and Jac chose the theme - Getting Fruity.  Why, I hear you ask.  Simply because she likes fruit in cake, need there be a better reason?  As the time for the event got closer, we all had to tell her the cake we planned to bake, to ensure not too many of the same type.

I wanted to do the Blackberry, Lavender, Rose & White Chocolate one from Fiona Cairns' book The Birthday Cake Book (sorry but I can't find a link for this cake anywhere online) as it sounded tasty.  I had done it as a practice run a few weeks ago, and hadn't been impressed.  There was barely a hint of either of the flower flavours and the white chocolate ganache was far too creamy and thin for my liking.  Here's the cake I did in March...

As you can see, I wasn't too particular with smoothing the ganache.  It was more interesting to see how far it spread.  I made notes on the recipe for future reference (I, and Mr Becca, always do that - do you?) and left it at that.

So to yesterday's efforts.  This time I made the compote for the filling from scratch and thus had to leave it overnight to infuse with the lavender.  I had previously used my friend A's homemade Blackcurrant and Lavender jelly, but evidently not enough.  This time I again used her lavender, but actual blackberries.  Even after 24 hours they were still distinctly berries in syrup, so I mashed them and made them more spreadable (once the liquid was drained off).

Not long after doing the last cake, a friend had posted a photo of her chocolate ganache which was really thick so I asked her what I may have done wrong, because mine was really runny.  After some discussion, we realised I hadn't let mine cool long enough, so this time it got 30  minutes in the fridge then a further 45 in the freezer.  Job done, as far as texture was concerned, but that meant it barely spread at all.  Eek!  I ended up with enough to just do the filling and the top of the cake, and so was really quite upset about the look of the cake, as I hadn't taken any care with the filling - imagining that it would be totally covered up.  When asked his opinion, my darling husband stated politely that 'he had seen better work from me' and 'it looked like someone's first-ever cake'.  Gee, thanks.  But after a good night's sleep and some encouraging words from other bakers (including the founder of Clandestine Cake Club herself - reminding me that it wasn't a competition and we weren't there to judge, simply to eat and enjoy), I decided it wasn't that bad at all and took it along to Cake Club...

Where it sat proudly on the table with all the other delicious cakes the other bakers had made.  Those are hand-made chocolates if you were wondering.  I made them by melting white chocolate, adding some food colouring them popping them in my mould and freezing them.  I'm still working on getting all the air bubbles out (but from this distance you can't really see them anyway).