Patchwork Layer Sponge

Last week I took a new step in my baking journey – feeding my cake to complete strangers! 

If you haven’t heard of Clandestine Cake Club before (it is clandestine after all…) it’s a kind of social club for bakers. Once a month bakers (and their guests) get together in a “secret” location. The only requirement is that you bring along a cake to share. (And that’s a cake, not brownies or cupcakes nor tarts or flans.) There is usually a theme to loosely base your cake on but it’s not a competition and there’s no judging. This month was my first time and after feeling a bit awkward at the begining I soon got chatting. I’m always looking for an excuse to bake and people to feed my creations to so I’ve signed up until September! 

The events are held in all sorts of different places like cafes and shops and even more unusual locations. This time it was in Warehouse 13 in Morecambe. This is a really funky shop with gifts, homewares, vintage bits and all sorts of craft materials. So the cake theme was “crafty cakes”. I’m just talking about my cake but if you want to see the others they’re here.

Method

I decided to use my new found icing technique (used on Mum’s birthday cake) to create a patchwork pattern on the top of my cake. I made two vanilla and two chocolate round sponges and layered them up with apricot jam. I then used (ready roll) white icing to cover the cake which was stuck on with boiled apricot jam. Then I put on the patchwork pattern with writing icing, runny icing and sugar crystals. 

Results 

I was pretty pleased with my cake. The sponge was nice and light and the chocolate flavour just about worked. However, it was very sweet with all the jam and icing. Considering it was made up of four layers the cake looked fairly straight. However, you could tell it really wasn’t when I came to decorate. I’d made the icing far too thin anyway and it ran everywhere. Also, the covering icing could have been a lot neater too. But this was the first time I had ever attempted anything like that, and the cake was a bit squishy. 

Score: 7/10 

Soundtrack: Greg James on my new (old) kitchen radio

Birthday Bakes

This month was my Mum’s 60^th birthday and a perfect excuse to make and decorate some yummy looking cakes.

I made some large plain sponge cupcakes and decorated them with chocolate fudge frosting and neon sugar crystals. I will admit that I did buy in the frosting, but I did give piping another go. The frosting lent itself better to piping and the disposable piping bag made everything easier. However, as is usual when I bake (especially with chocolate) I got very very messy! The cupcakes then went onto my bargain stand which made them look very special. The finishing touch was a purple fymo cat with a candle on top.

Mum’s favourite cake is celebration fruitcake with marzipan and white icing. I didn’t feel ready to put my Mum’s birthday happiness on the line and bake this. Instead a wild goose chase to get one was followed by me testing out some decorating skills. Here I piped some white writing icing into the outline of a ’60’. I then filled it in using runnier icing and sprinkled the neon sugar crystals on top. It looked pretty good if I don’t say so myself!

Score: No score because it was more decorating than baking

Soundtrack: The TV that was distracting my Mum!

Sticky Orange Marmalade Cake

One of my favourite things about Red Nose Day (and there are many) is getting hold of the year’s baking book. It’s always filled with interesting takes on simple recipes with the aim of producing things for bake sales. This time Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood provided the celeb chef faces and I had a go at one of Mary’s Bakes.

Method

I made this sponge as per the instructions (i.e. not using the all in one), creaming sugar and butter first then adding the eggs, flour and other ingredients. After making the normal sponge mixture some chunky marmalade is added. After baking some more marmalade is heated and brushed over the top of the cake. Once everything is cooled the recipe says to drizzle over runny icing. However, I didn’t get to that part for reasons explained below.

Results

Not so good. This new oven of mine is still a bit of a mystery. Basically, it was far too hot and therefore the cake had all around it a quite thick crust of burnt. Inside was totally fine and really yummy but the outside spolit it all. So I salvaged it best I could by cutting off the burnt bits and didn’t share it with the world.

Score: 3/10 (A cooler oven next time I think…)

Soundtrack: Red Nose Day festivities on the TV!

March Madness

I have been busy with all things Guiding recently, and baking has popped up in all manner places. At the Lancs NW training day I helped out with a cake stall in aid of my upcoming trip to Berlin. We sold LOADS of cake and my cookies and rocky road went down well. It was my first go at baking in my new oven and I have found it is a bit trickier than my last one. I think I will have to get a thermometer as I think it might be lying about its temperature.

I gained my Senior Section Permit by holding an activity weekend at Guy’s Farm last month too. The snowy weather didn’t deter us and we made a snowman as well as some yummy looking cupcakes. Some of the decoration that the group did was spectacular!

Finally, all my groups combined baking with Easter. The Brownies and Guides went for chocolate nests while the Young Leaders produced some fantastic chocolate brownies. At the last minute we added crème eggs on the top, and despite me not really liking them that much normally, they melted into a gooey and tasty topping.

Fruity Flapjack

I haven’t been doing much baking recently as rather excitingly I have been moving house! But I took the opportunity this weekend to borrow my Mum’s oven to knock up something fairly quick and simple. This recipe is from a course I did at school for budding uni students and it has been tried and tested by the Brownies many times.

Recipe

300g Oats

150g Margarine (or butter)

50g Caster Sugar

3 tbsp Golden Syrup

100g Mixed Dried Fruit

Method

Melt together the marge, sugar and syrup. Add the dry ingredients. Mix well and pour into a greased and lined baking tray. Bake at 180°C for about 20min (until golden brown).

Results

As usual it was the timing in the oven that I found most difficult. The flapjack tasted nice but was a little dry for my liking. Measuring out the right amount of syrup was difficult; maybe I needed some more. I think possibly I will try a different recipe next time.

Score: 6/10

Soundtrack: Ten, Girls Aloud (I saw them live last week, amazing!)