Clandestine Cake Club Bolton - Three

If it wasn't for the Clandestine Cake Club, some of my closest friends would never have entered my life. Three years ago I decided to start a Bolton branch, and never even dreamed that we could have so much fun! We push ourselves to be better, support each other through disasters, and regularly nearly wee ourselves laughing. 

For us, cake club has been like some incredible cake-fuelled Jackanory; with tales of blind dates, work related ridiculousness, and some stories I cannot possibly repeat here - one including a very special kind of spider... This is what happens when you over indulge on sugar on a regular basis. 

We sit and eat cake, vow never to be such a pig again, and then take just as much home in a cake 'trough'. We spend the rest of the evening cursing the 'cake ache' in our thighs and our own gluttony, whilst attempting to remedy our hopeless situation with cheese and/or crisps. I love the look on people's faces as you enter a venue with a massive cake, only to be followed by twenty other people doing the same thing. For normal folk, this can be very confusing. 

For us it all started with Amanda at Thyme Deli in Horwich. She was willing to let thirty-odd people into her dining room, bringing their own cake. We love her for it. It was only right that this is where my reign as organiser would come to an end. It's been a ball, but I'm ready to hand over to someone new.

Saturday's meet up was of course, birthday themed. Bring something worth celebrating I told them... It was amazing. Considering some of this lot had never baked before they joined the club, they put on an utterly amazing spread! Everyone has skills in their own specific area, which means that no two cakes are ever the same.

We had fifteen cakes, including:

• Chocolate and Vanilla Neapolitan Sponge Cake
• '3' Layered Carrot Cake (with three different types of carrot cake)
• Strawberry Dream Bundt Cake
• Toffee Apple Upside Down Cake
• 1, 2, 3 Cake
• Chocolate and Berry Birthday Cake
• Chocolate, Banana and Coffee Marble Cake
• Twix 'Celebrations' Cake
• 3rd 'Anniversary' Ginger Bundt Cake
• Lotus Biscoff Bundt Cake
• Mary Berry's Malted Chocolate Cake
• 3rd Birthday Butterfly Cake
• Rainbow Layer Cake
• Rose and Pistachio Cake
• Frosted Carrot Cake

The last picture is one of my favourites. This is the moment Claire realised she had been hoodwinked by Michelle into organising the next meeting. Luckily for her, Clare will be joining her as joint organiser. I can't wait to see what they come up with, but one thing is for sure... that bloody 'Grunge' theme will happen!

Thanks folks, It's been an absolute pleasure. 

Clandestine Cake Club Bolton - The Nutcracker

So I'm playing catch up after a week of gallivanting. Last week we had a nutty themed cake club in the shape of 'The Nutcracker'. This was a theme picked by the club members, as it was decided (whilst eating cake) that they bloody love a moist, nutty bake.

This month we went to the Doffcocker Inn in Bolton; a proper old world drinker's pub with a fantastic function room. I think most of the regulars were pretty bemused by a tribe of bakers heading upstairs with huge cakes. Worry not - we assisted with the soaking up of alcohol by sharing our cake with them!

Despite losing a couple of people to illness, we still had twelve beauts. They included:

• Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake
• Almond and Pistachio Cake
• Chocolate, Caramel and Nut Cake
• Walnut Loaf Cake
• Almond and Pistachio Cake with Lemon Drizzle
• Almond Butter Bundt Cake
• Pistachio Loaf
• Nectarine and Almond Cake
• Peanut Butter Cup
• Semolina Lemon and Almond Cake
• Sugar Plum Fairy and Almond Cake
• White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Cake

Cake club organisers, I can highly recommend a nutty theme! These cakes were amongst some of the best we've had. Thanks to our wonderful group for yet another brilliantly diverse range of cakes. See you next month...

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Clandestine Cake Club Bolton - Naked...

Naked, in a church, in Blackrod? Really. Thankfully I am talking about the cakes, not us. I was quite specific about that... Today's cake club was all about the cake itself. Although my merry band of bakers are a creative little bunch, it was time to strip back (cue childish laughter) and concentrate on the bake. 

A couple of months ago my friend Sarah suggested that we use our local church hall for a cake club meeting. We first met over a boardroom table about five years ago where we talked about rubbish every morning. No, literally - we talked about bins. Luckily this is now a distant memory and today we were reunited over a shedload of cake. She's heavily involved in the church's community activities, and was keen for our group to visit. 

Sarah and her pals had gone to so much trouble. We arrived to tables covered in pretty oilcloth, plates already stacked with gingham napkins and large pots of tea and coffee on the go. We had little cake forks too - oh yes. They had worked incredibly hard to make us feel welcome. Sarah had even written her own recipe for happiness - too cute. 

We were all really excited about tasting these cakes, as there was no faffiness or fancy-shmanciness, just good bakes with lots of flavour. We had 12 cakes in total, including:

• White Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Cream and Lavender Berries
• Apple, Pecan and Bourbon Cake
• Madeira Cake
• Light Jamaican Fruit Cake
• Banana Bread
• Ginger Loaf
• Cardamon Orange Flourless Chocolate Cake
• Bareback Plum and Damson Bundt Cake
• Banana Loaf
• Lemon Drizzle Loaf
• Lime and Ginger Cake
• Dark Sticky Gingerbread

As if I wasn't already on the verge of bursting with excitement, Ian walked through the door with not one, but two beautiful loaf cakes, each with its appropriate drizzle! Ian started coming to cake club as a guest of a baking friend, and now look at the fella. Not one, but two cakes! I've known Ian since we were at school, and I'm pretty sure that if I could go back in time to show him this picture, he would have probably sworn profusely. Ha!

Once again, a fantastic time was had by all, and we owe a huge thank you to our hosts at St Katharine's Church in Blackrod.  The next meeting will be on 16th August, which will be loaded to the Clandestine Cake Club site shortly...

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Clandestine Cake Club Bolton - Her Name is Rio...

And historically June is a tricky month... For the past couple of years June has been a bit of a killer with holidays and people making the most of the sun. Although there were only a handful of us at Saturday's meeting, the cakes were larger than life! We even got our maracas out... You heard me.

I was fairly confident when booking this one that England would go and bugger up our chances of winning anything, so I decided to concentrate on the host country for this month's cake club. Brazil boasts arguably one of the best carnivals in the world, grows amazing exotic fruits and have some fantastic national dishes and drinks.

It was quite nice just to have a few of us, because we got to have a good old chin-wag, and there was loads to take home! We were back at the delightful Cherry's in Westhoughton. Stephanie and the girls waited on us hand and foot, and even came to have a chat to the bakers about our cakey delights - we made sure they had a decent bounty to take home too!

There were eight cakes in total, which included:

• Rio's Coconut and Lime Skirt (check out those feathers!)
• Brazilian Passionfruit Caipirinha Bundt Cake
• Brazilian Cornmeal and Vanilla Cake
• Rio Hummingbird Cake
• Brazilian Carrot Cake with Chocolate Ganache and Brazil Nuts
• Bolo de Laranja - Brazilian Orange Cake
• Totally Tropical Mango and Pineapple Spiced Cake with Lime and Vanilla Syrup
• English Strawberries and Cream Layer Cake

Thanks to those who battled through the heat and survived the smoke from the fire across the road! Yes, we smelled like we had been on fire when we got home, but a great afternoon of cake and gossip was had by all.

Our next event is on the 19th July, and our theme is 'Naked'. Register here.

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Clandestine Cake Club Bolton - Hakuna Matata

"It means no worries for the rest of your days..."

A Disney theme. It had some jumping for joy, whilst it rocked others to their very core... Creativity isn't all about having a flair with sugar paste, or spending hours on your baked creation, but is more about using your imagination. Disney doesn't have to be difficult...

This month our members played to their strengths. Some love to decorate, others are all about the flavours, whilst you can bet your life that I'm still going to knock up a bundt of some description. 

We were back at Thyme in Horwich, for manager Rachel's first ever cake club! They were hugely excited to see the Disney themed cakes, so we made sure they got to try some before they went home too. 

We had twelve cakes in total, including:

• Apple and Cinnamon Cake - Snow White
• Jafar Cake - Aladdin
• Steam-Cake Willie - Steam Boat Willie
• King Louis Banana and Chocolate Cake - The Jungle Book
• Lemony Spaghetti - Lady and the Tramp
• Red Velvet and White Chocolate Roulade - A Bug's Life
• Grape Soda Cake - Up
• Pink Lemonade 'Beauty and the Bundt' - Beauty and the Beast
• Frozen with Olaf - Frozen
• Disney Princess Cake
• Chocolate and Honey Cake - Winnie the Pooh
• Queen of Hearts Cake - Alice in Wonderland

Next month's club details will be posted on the Clandestine Cake Club website soon. I'll give you a little clue... Duran Duran are involved...

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