The First Rule about Cake Club....

Last Thursday marked my second trip to the Leeds Clandestine Cake Club, and what a treat it was! This time the event was held in the 4th floor cafe in Harvey Nichols. Again, another wonderful venue.

The theme for this month was "Vivaciously Victorian" and if I'm honest, I did struggle somewhat with deciding on a cake to make. So, in the vein of Heston Blumenthal, I decided to look to literary influences for inspiration, specifically Alice in Wonderland and the "Drink me Potion" which is said to have tasted of  a


"Mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast"


So for me, I definitely wanted to create a cake incorporating the combination of cherries and custard! I settled on the recipe, one where custard is baked into the middle of the cake. I was all set to bring a magnificent cake of gold and cherry red hues, wibbling and wobbling with with thick set custard... Only, I couldn't find any cherries. None, nada. I searched high and low, supermarkets, farm shops to no avail.

So I went for apple instead. Hey ho...but when I do get me some cherries I WILL make this cake again!!

There was an amazing plethora of cake, ranging from Helen's sandcastle cake (a feart of engineering!), Jini's Empire Cake, Charlotte's Battenberg, ginger cakes and a number of variations on the Victoria sponge - all delicious! Needless to say it took me a few days to get over the sugar high! Again, eveyone who I got chatting to at the event were lovely, and I can't wait until the May event, which has a fruity, sweet or savoury theme.

The CCC also featured in an article in the Times the very same day, detailing how underground baking clubs and baking in general are gaining momentum in the UK. I have to say Lynn does an amazing job at organising these events and finding great venues to host them in!

I think my only quibble with the article was how it kind of pitched bake clubs as "anti cupcake" - yes, the CCC is all about "proper" cakes, but as someone who also loves cupcakes and attends Ironcupcake Leeds, I just think that there is a place for all types of baked goodies!! Let's just share the love for home baking!

Apple and Custard Cake

Ingredients

For the custard
280ml milk
3 large egg yolks
55g caster sugar
30g plain flour
2 tsp vanilla extract

For the cake:
200g soft butter
110g caster sugar
2 eggs
225g self raising flour, sifted
2 apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (I used Braeburn as I wanted the apples to keep their shape)

To top
1 tbsp butter, melted
2 tsp caster sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

For the custard

In a saucepan and bring the milk to a simmer to a simmer over medium heat. Take off the heat.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a small bowl until thick, add the flour and whisk until smooth.

Pour hot milk onto egg yolk mixture and stir until smooth. Return the contents to saucepan and stir over low heat until mixture comes to the boil.

Stir for 1-2 minutes until it becomes thick then remove from heat, stir in the vanilla and then cover with cling film and leave to cool in the fridge.

For the cake
Pre-heat the oven oven to 180C.


Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Fold in flour.

Spread half the mixture into a springform 20cm greased and base-lined cake tin, be patient with this, the batter is very thick - it needs to be to encase the custard. It will take some effort to spread it evenly over the base of the tin.

Then add the cooled custard and smooth out evenly. Be sure to leave a of centimetre around the circumference of the cake uncovered by custard, as you want to seal the custard into the middle of the cake.

Add spoonfuls of remaining cake mix and spread carefully with a spatula to cover custard


Arrange apples on top of cake mixture and brush with melted butter. Sprinkle over the caster sugar and cinnamon.

Bake for about 60mins until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool in pan before turning out.


Eat with extra cream if you like, but I think the custard adds enough moisture!

Butternut Squash Cake

Last Thursday I finally managed to make it to this month's Clandestine Cake Club event. The club is run by Lynn, who also runs the Secret Tea Room.

The Clandestine Cake Club is not a competition, it's an opportunity to meet at a "secret" location to eat and discuss cake. Cake being the word - it's not about cupcakes, whoopies, muffins or macarons, it's all about the good old fashioned cake! Think of it as an extension of social networking...most of the people in attendance are on Twitter or write their own blogs, so it was good to meet in person and chat about cake! I met some really lovely people and am really looking forward to the next event.

This month it was held at Primos in the Leeds Corn Exchange. The theme for this event was "Saucy Sweet or Sensual Savoury" In total I think there were 20 cakes, all of the ones I managed to try I thought were delicious. There was a good split between savoury and sweet cakes. I have to say the savoury ones were delicious! In particular I liked the pistachio and chorizo, the savoury semolina cake and also the pesto and courgette loaf. A couple of these recipes can be found on the CCC Site.

I decided to go down the sweet route, but use a savoury ingredient - butternut squash. I find that vegetables in cakes tend to give a really moist crumb and this one didn't disappoint! The butternut squash can be substituted for the more traditional carrot, but I also think that it would be really good using courgette and a lime frosting to give it some zing. (Must give this a try...)

I received some really lovely comments about my cake and I think it turned out really well, because there was so much cake, there was enough to take back home and share the people at work (along with slices of some of the other cakes I didn't get to try!)

The recipe is based on a Jamie Oliver Squash muffin recipe, but I have tweaked it slightly, adding extra spices and using my method for cream cheese frosting.

Spiced Butternut Squash Cake with Citrus Cream Cheese Frosting

For the cake
400g butternut squash, skin on, deseeded
350g light soft brown sugar
4 large eggs
300g plain flour, unsifted
2 tsp baking powder
100g walnuts
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 nutmeg, grated
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
Grated zest of 1 orange
175ml extra virgin olive oil (I didn't have much EV left, so just used standard olive oil)

For the Cream Cheese Frosting
500g icing sugar
125g cream cheese
125g soft unsalted butter
Grated zest of 1 orange
Grated zest of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to to Gas Mark 4 / 160C (fan) / 180C. Line and grease 2 x 20cm cake tins.


Either grate or whizz up the butternut squash in a food processor - set to one side.

Beat the sugar and oil until light and frothy, then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing each one in before the next. Then add the vanilla, the squash, walnuts and the orange zest. Beat gently

In another bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Fold into the Butternut squash mix.

Divide the mixture between the cake tins and bake for approx 25 - 30 mins, but do check after 20 mins as it will depend on your oven. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes and then turn out onto a cooling rack and leave until completely cold.

The quantities above actually made the 2 layers for the cake but I also got 24 mini cupcakes out of it too.

To make the frosting, combine all the ingredients in a mixer until smooth.

To decorate, sandwich a few spoonfuls of the frosting between the layers, and then using a pallate knife, spread the rest of the frosting over the top and sides of the cake. If you find that the frosting is getting a bit runny, then place the cake / frosting in the fridge for ten minutes or so and then continue.

I decorated the cake with a few walnuts.

Enjoy with a nice cup of tea and a chat!

I'm really looking forward to the next meet up, the theme is Vivaciously Victorian...lets get the thinking cap on then!