3TwentyOne, Manchester - Rib Tuesday

A couple of weeks ago I went to sample the new menu at Brewdog in Manchester. 3TwentyOne saw my tweets and suggested we go and check out their Rib Tuesday. Rude not to. 

A couple of days later I was chatting to my friend Jenny about organising a little catch up. One thing led to another... next thing we know six of us are in 3TwentyOne pondering that age old question... bourbon BBQ, honey jerk or redneck?

3TwentyOne smoke their ribs in house and then offer you one of three magnificent glazes. Having difficulty choosing, they even gave us sample pots to help us decide.

Whilst waiting for our boxes of meat, we nibbled on a couple of starters; two Manchester eggs and a portion of the barbecued king prawns. Our egg was a little overdone on our last visit, but this time it was perfect.

Your box of goodies includes a generous portion of ribs, mixed fries, house slaw and a sweetcorn lollipop.

The ribs are huge! I had the bourbon BBQ coating which was wonderfully sweet and sticky! I have now successfully come up with a formula which allows me to eat ribs without getting them all over my hands and face - hold with only two fingers on each hand (think pincer) and eat from one end to the other. Magic. Some were a little bit on the dry side, and maybe needed a little more sauce. The fries were fantastic as was the tangy slaw.

We didn't stay for pudding as we wanted to nip for a quick one in Brewdog before our train home. All in all, a decent mid week treat for £9.95, but they need to bear in mind that they have some serious competition up the road.

Join me on Facebook
Tweet me @dollybakes
Have a nosy at my pics on Pinterest  

Clandestine Cake Club Bolton - 99 Problems...

This one was never going to be easy. It was 'tricky tricky tricky tricky...' Yes, we had a hip hop cake club! The theme was 'I got 99 problems but a cake ain't one', which as always was totally open to the baker's interpretation. It wasn't all about decorating either - the theme could be applied in any way they liked. I knew we would get some belters, and they came up trumps! The Bolton Clandestine Cake Club had arrived.

We went back to Delicieux in Bolton which has become a bit of a popular venue with our members. Once again we had the beautiful loft space all to ourselves. The sun was pouring through the skylights and we had copious amounts of cake. Heaven!

We had an array of delicious looking cakes with witty titles and clever twists. There were 15 cakes in total:

• Public Enemy 'LP' Cake
• Swag Slice Cake
• 'Now I ain't saying she a (Gold Digger) Cake
• Biggie's Hypnotize Champagne Bundt Cake
• Victoria Bling Cake
• Dollar (Pound) Cake
• No Problem (Eating it) Chocolate Caramel Cake
• USA Apple & Walnut Cake
• It Takes a Nation of Williams (Pears) to Hold us Back - Public Enemy Pear & Fudge Cake
• Chocolate Beetroot Cake
• '99' Cake
• If you like it then you should have put a ring on it - Beyonce Cake
• Blingtastic Lemon Madeira Cake
• CCC Hip Hop Hat
• Million Dollar Lemon & Poppyseed Cake - Parental Advisory, Sugary Content 

We also left a plate of goodies for the cake loving staff at Delicieux...

Thanks to everyone who made such an effort for what was quite a challenging theme - you did us proud!

The next two Bolton events are already loaded on the Clandestine Cake Club website. Why not join us? We only eat cake, not people... promise.

Join me on Facebook
Tweet me @dollybakes
Have a nosy at my pics on Pinterest  

Carnival Bundt Cake

A few weeks ago Dr Oetker asked me whether I would like to review some of their products. I owned up that I used lots of their goodies anyway, including their legendary cake release spray. I never make a bundt without the stuff!

Last weekend our WI group had a cake stall at Horwich Carnival, so I offered to make a bundt for the occasion. One flavour that always goes down an absolute storm is my toffee and chocolate cake, plus this recipe makes a whopping centrepiece which is easy to cut into slices - perfect for a bake sale. I made it a little more 'carnival-worthy' with the pretty pastel stars which I got sent too. These were great as they didn't bleed into my white icing.

I have to say that all the products I used worked like a dream, which is why I already use them!

Ingredients:

• 225g butter
• 450g golden caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 350g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 250ml toffee yogurt (I used Muller)
• 1 tsp Dr Oetker vanilla extract
• 2 bags of Dr Oetker chocolate chunks
• Icing sugar (a cereal bowl full)
• Dr Oetker sprinkles - I used stars

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
2. Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with Dr Oetker Cake Release spray and dust with flour.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. Add the vanilla extract.
6. In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and chocolate chunks.
7. Pour the yoghurt into a jug.
8. Sift in a third of the flour mix followed by half the yoghurt. Repeat this until everything is combined. Your chocolate chunks will be left in the sieve covered in flour - this stops them sinking.
9. Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
10. Stir in the chocolate chunks, ensuring even distribution.
11. Pour the mix into a greased and floured tin. Push into any nooks and crannies!
12. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. It's stable from about an hour in if you want to check or turn it around.
13. Leave the cake to cool fully before removing from the tin.
14. When the cake is fully cooled, mix the icing sugar with enough water to make a pouring consistency, and tip it over the cake! Whilst the icing is still wet, give it a smattering of Dr Oetker stars!

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page. 

Please see my Creative Commons Copyright information for more details. Thank you.

Join me on Facebook
Tweet me @dollybakes
Have a nosy at my pics on Pinterest