Clandestine Cake Club Bolton - Monster Mash!

I was working in the kitchen, late one night

When my eyes beheld an eerie sight

For my monster cake from his slab, began to rise

And suddenly to my surprise

He did the mash, he did the monster mash...

I knew this one was going to be a belter. Today's turnout is one of the best I have ever seen in terms of creativity and people pushing their 'safety' boundaries. Hell, one of them isn't even a baker and he knocked up a fantastic chocolate slime cake just to be part of the fun. 

Bolton Clandestine Cake Club has now been running for eight months, but it feels like I've done it for years. I've met some great new friends and we've had new members join us every single month. Some people come every time, others just when they can. Today was a fantastic meeting of friends old and new. We even had Sam and April who were still bumps at our first meeting!

Dressed for the occasion...

We held our meeting at the Rivington Pub and Grill on Station Road in Blackrod. What fantastic hosts! It's a beautiful venue which has recently been refurbished since it was the Ridgway Arms. Everyone was commenting on the pretty decor and welcoming wafts coming from the kitchen. The staff seemed as excited about the cakes as we were! Don't worry, we left some cake for them too.

The cakes were effing brilliant. Club members really did excel themselves! We had everything from zombies to eyeballs and neon cakes bright enough to light the room. We had around 25 massive cakes to chose from; monster in theme and size! They included:

• Sour Snot Cake 
• Monster Poppy Seed and Lemon Cake
• Gruesome Graveyard Cake
• Giant Spider Cake
• Cookie Monster Chocolate Cake
• Toffee Apple Pumpkin 
• Terry the Chocolate Orange Monster
• Spider's Web Cake
• Brain Cake
• Pumpkin Roulade
• Pumpkin Eye Monster Cake
• Spooky Sponge Cake
• Shrieking Sponge Cake
• Pendle Witches Brew and Chocolate Cake
• Vanilla Tombstone
• Chocolate Slime Cake
• Evil Carrot Cake
• Pumpkin Graveyard
• A Monster of a White Chocolate and Lemon Cake
• Screaming Fruitcake
• Moshi Monsters Mash Cake
• Zombie Cake
• Dalek Cake

Cake paparazzi...

Just look at these horrors...

Thanks to everyone who came! If you want to join us next month, here are the details: November: Wherever I May Roam...

Please leave your comments below... x

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Spiced Pumpkin Pie Bundt

I'm very fond of this time of year. Despite the cacky wind and rain, there are exciting things just around the corner. I love it when the shops start to get in the Halloween gear, treacle toffee, pumpkins and dare I say it... Christmas stuff! I love the falling leaves, conkers and wrapping up warm. I don't like hats. They flatten my already temperamental fringe.

This cake is perfect for Halloween, Thanksgiving or just the colder months in general. And for those of you thinking 'I hate pumpkin!'... it doesn't taste of pumpkin, just like carrot cake doesn't taste like carrots. The pumpkin puree adds moisture, texture and sweetness to the finished cake. The spices add depth and make it the perfect partner to a nice cup of tea. This cake is much lighter than some of my other bundt recipes, so is best done in fluted or plain tins rather than the really intricate ones.

Ingredients

• 220g of vegetable fat 
• 250g golden caster sugar
• 80g of dark brown sugar
• 5 medium eggs
• 250g canned pumpkin (I used Libby's - it's available on Amazon...)
• 340g plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 130ml orange juice

Method

1. Grease and flour a regular sized bundt tin (2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch). I recommend you use a simple design, as this is a fairly light mix.
2. Soften the vegetable fat and then cream in the sugars in stages.
3. Add the eggs one at a time on a slow setting.
4. Add the pumpkin:
5. Tip: It's going to look rancid at this stage. Curdled. Orange. A right cock up. Persevere... 
6. Add all the remaining dry ingredients to a large bowl.
7. Add the vanilla extract to the orange juice.
8. Sift in 1/3 of the dry ingredients, followed by 1/2 of the liquid. Repeat until all the flour and liquid is used up. Fold it in gently...
9. Give the whole thing a quick mix for about 10 seconds or until well combined. It will no longer look curdled. It is quite orange though!
10. Spoon the mix into the prepared tin and give it a good whack on the worktop to release bigger bubbles.
11. Bake at gas 3/160 C for about an hour and 15 minutes. 
12. It should be shrinking from the sides and a skewer should come out clean.
13. Let it cool fully in the tin then turn it out. 
14. Allow to cool fully before dusting with a little icing sugar mixed with cinnamon.

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.

Please leave your comments below... x

Warming Cider Bundt Cake

Inspired by all the 'Fall' celebrations in America a few weeks ago, I decided to make a warm, spicy cider bundt cake. It also gave me an excuse to use one of my new tins I picked up in San Francisco! I like to use pear cider in cakes, but I wanted a sweet, toffee apple flavour for this one. I used a sweet apple cider and lots of my favourite spices to make this into a fabulously moist, flavoursome cake. It has a really firm sugary bottom that crunches when cut - don't worry! It isn't burnt, it tastes devine. It's because of the high sugar content. This is a contender for one of my favourite bundt recipes ever...

Ingredients

• 225g unsalted butter
• 100g of vegetable fat 
• 650g golden caster sugar
• 6 medium eggs
• 450g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp lemon extract
• 250ml apple/pear cider

Method

1. Grease and flour a regular sized bundt tin (2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch).
2. Soften the butter and vegetable fat and then cream in the sugar in stages.
3. Add the eggs one at a time on a slow setting.
4. Add all the remaining dry ingredients to a large bowl.
5. Add the lemon extract to the cider.
6. Sift in 1/3 of the dry ingredients, followed by 1/2 of the liquid. Repeat until all the flour and liquid is used up. Fold it in gently...
7. Tip: at this stage it will look a bit like a dog's dinner. Don't panic! The fizz in the cider makes it look really curdled. It's not!
8. Give the whole thing a quick mix for about 10 seconds or until well combined. It will no longer look curdled.
9. Spoon the mix into the prepared tin and give it a good whack on the worktop. Because the cake has fizzy stuff in, it will hold a lot of air bubbles. Too many may mean the tin design is lost.
10. Bake at gas 3/160 C for about 2 hours. Yes, really. Just turn it after about an hour and a half.
11. It should be shrinking from the sides and a skewer should come out clean.
12. Let it cool in the tin for ten minutes then turn it out. 
13. Allow to cool fully before dusting with a little icing sugar mixed with cinnamon. 

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.

Please leave your comments below... x