More cake, more One Show

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There was a point on Friday afternoon, when I was on a train hurtling towards London, my arms wrapped protectively around a giant plastic box, that I wondered whether my decision to take up BBC1's invite to come into The One Show studio for live filming was based on chronic sleep deprivation and icing sugar fumes, rather than rational thinking.

Regardless, it was too late to back out now, despite my nerves.

The whole thing happened rather quickly- a few emails on Tuesday, some frustrated tweeting on Wednesday, panicky phone calls on Thursday, followed by cake baking until the small hours of Friday morning!

The One Show wanted a cake themed on, well, The One Show. After much racking of brains I eventually came up with an 'After Seven' cake, a play on 'After Eight' chocolates, since The One Show is broadcast at 7pm. A three- layer red velvet and white velvet cake, sandwiched together with raspberry and redcurrant jam, surrounded by a white chocolate ganache and then decorated with red icing to make it look like a clock.

Terrible photo, but I was up until 4am making it!

After working in the morning, I managed to get a 1.15pm train to London and The One Show sent a car to pick me up from Kings' Cross- the first (and probably the last) time I get chauffeur-driven in London! I was so tired however that I fell asleep in the car, and woke up disorientated (and really hot- the driver had turned on the heated seats!). The driver, taking a bit of advantage of my sleepy state and lack of knowledge of the area, told me that he had to drop me at the first gate we came to. For a couple of minutes I was stranded alone with a cake in the middle of White City, but thankfully I managed to get hold of someone in the One Show office who came to rescue me!

After a quick coffee and catch up with one of my old school friends, Lucy, who works in research for BBC News, I was being escorted through a maze of stairs and offices in Broadcast Centre, (including the Top Gear Office, which has to win an award for the messiest office I've ever seen!) to our Green Room, which was unfortunately separate from the famous people. There I met some of the other lovely Clandestine Cake Clubbers from around the country, who were absolutely lovely, but as I've said before, cake people are good people!

A production assistant came to brief us and informed us that we would be wearing name badges and aprons for the show. Mmm. I wasn't entirely sure about this one, but I wasn't about to argue with the Beeb! I simply sighed and donned said badge and apron, but I did make sure that, of all the outfits I brought (ahem...several...I am rather a girly girl when I want to be), I picked the one that best suited an apron- a black Bardot top and 50s-style black and white spotted skirt.

Here's me (pre-make-up!) donning said apron and badge!

About 90 minutes before filming began, we were whisked down to the studio for a rehearsal. The studio is tiny, but looks really big on TV!  We were all lined up with our cakes and Chris Evans ran through the lines. He was very friendly and a bit cheeky, just like he is on TV. I found that rather refreshing. Alex Jones was lovely too but we didn't really get to talk to her.

After the rehearsal, we just waited to be called, did make-up, chatted about food and cake, swapped cakey ideas. There was a very smiley young lady in the room with us whose job was security for the RBS Six Nations Trophy, which was also featuring on the show that night, and I think she was rather bemused by all of us discussing cake and pies!

Some of the other CCC members' cakes. From left- Julia from Derby's rainbow cake (colours of the studio), Stina from Manchester's ONE cake (Orange, walNut, Elderflower), Miss Sue Flay's Tuckshop Cake and Lewis from Derby's Ginger and Lemon cake (zesty and fruity like the show!). You can also see some of the Green Room treats we were provided with, namely crisps and Minstrels. After the show, whilst the One Show Team were oohing and aahing over cake, certain Cake Clubbers were secreting the Minstrels away!

Larissa from Norwich's cake- the One Show Presenters Chris Evans and Alex Jones. Wow! In the background you can just make out Melodie from Cornwall's 'The One Show Meets Cornwall' cake.

The actual filming went by very quickly. We hung around outside the studio until we were called, getting our noses de-shined once or twice by the make-up girl, and watching in awe as Gyles Brandreth, Will Carling, Rob Jones and Gareth Thomas walked by! When we got into the studio, whilst the film from our earlier Cake Club was shown, we got a grin and a wink from Vernon Kay who was on the sofa with Alex Jones, and Claudia Winkleman, who yelled across the studio that our cakes were 'fabulous!'

When we went live, any nerves I had were pushed aside as the adrenaline kicked in. By the time Chris Evans was asking me about my After Seven Cake, I had a big Cheshire Cat-style grin on my face and was enjoying the fast-paced atmosphere.

The whole thing was over in a minute, but it was a great minute. We managed to chat a little and have photos taken with some of the celebs- sadly I forgot my phone so didn't get any myself but Jo aka Miss Sue Flay from Cambridge and The Secluded Tea Party and her other half kindly took the one below of me, my cake and Claudia Winkleman, who was so friendly!

I happily gave the One Show the After Seven Cake (I was not prepared to cart it back on the train, and the production team were more than happy to have it!).

Finally we were shown to the back of the studio lot.This was where the cars were waiting to take us all home, or in my case, to a bland, faceless, corporate but reliable (and low-stimulus) hotel (thank you hotel points-freebie hotel stay!), where I slept for 10 hours and had a room service breakfast in bed, before heading home to Leeds- live TV show experience gained, cake left behind.

-mm-

The Clandestine Cake Club

The One Show

The Clandestine Cake Club on The One Show 24/02/2012 Available for 2 days more, we're on around 42 minutes in.

One week, two cakes, One Show

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As hobbies go, baking is simply fabulous. An outlet for my creativity, a way to channel my frustrations with the world, a sense of achievement when a baking project is completed and a feeling of warmth and joy when someone enjoys eating it.

The first time I went to a Clandestine Cake Club event, nearly a year ago, it was with a little apprehension. It was the first time I was sharing my growing interest with other like-minded people, and worried that my cake wouldn't be up to scratch. I even took along one of my oldest, dearest friends for support, just in case these new cakey people were scary.

Of course I needn't have worried. People who love cake are rarely mean, and I, along with my enthusiasm for good cake, was embraced into a group of friendly, genial and very talented people. Quite simply, Clandestine Cake Club is where we 'bake, eat and talk about cake.' Nowadays, I'm old hat- following Twitter and the website closely to get my place as soon as possible (no mean feat- as CCC's popularity has grown, places go super-fast!), and attempting to plan my cake down to the smallest detail. Whereas once I was apprehensive of new baking-people, now I'm delighted to meet anyone I can have cakey-chat with. Best of all are all the food-loving friends I've made over the past year.

Usually I go to one CCC event per month, but in the month of February there have been two so far. One I knew about weeks in advance, the other, rather impromptu and with a very exciting twist.

Harrogate, 11th February- Vanilla Raspberry Roses Marble Cake:


Having recently experimented with swirled colour buttercream and the flavour combination of rose, vanilla and raspberry in a cupcake, I wanted to try it as a large cake for CCC. My original idea was to do a pink rose in the centre and then mixed pink and cream swirls around it. However my idea was scuppered by one thing. Circles don't tessellate. I ended up with large gaps between the flowers, that I filled with smaller rosettes.. I also didn't make enough icing, so it was harder to pipe neat roses (I find it far easier to pipe icing with a large, full bag). I ended up feeling a little disappointed that the cake didn't look very tidy.

However, when I looked at it again, on the table of cakes, I changed my mind- it's actually quite pretty. It wasn't super-neat, but flowers in real life aren't all exactly the same, are they?

Ingredients:
Cake
200g softened unsalted butter
250g caster sugar
4 large eggs
250g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tiny pinch salt
2-3 tbsp rose water
pink food colouring gel
200g fresh/frozen British/Scottish raspberries

Icing (the quantity I should have made)
250g softened unsalted butter
550g icing sugar
1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
2tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp milk
pink food colouring gel


Method:


Preheat oven to 175-180 degrees C. Grease and line a 8 inch cake tin.

For the cake, cream together butter and sugar, whisk in eggs, then add the self raising flour, baking powder and salt slowly. I do this in a food processor.

Add the rose water and incorporate into the cake batter. It smells so beautiful, but it's not an overwhelming taste, more a hint of perfume.

Split the cake batter into two roughly and dye one half pink with the food colouring. Then add blobs of each into the cake tin until all the batter has been used up, and swirl them together a bit in the tin. Add the raspberries. Don't mix them in, just scatter them on top. They will sink into the batter. If you're using fresh raspberries, consider coating them in a little flour first otherwise they may sink to the bottom. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes. Check on the cake and be prepared that it may still need 10 minutes or so (but don't open the oven door every 30 seconds or it will sink!).

While the cake is baking, make the icing. Mix together the soft butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract, vanilla pod seeds and milk. Add more milk if it's really stiff- you need to be able to spread and pipe the icing easily. Split the icing into 2/3 and 1/3. Dye the smaller quantity pink.

When the cake is done, let it cool on a rack until it is completely cold. Trim the cake so that it is level if necessary. Then take some of the white icing and thinly coat the top and sides.

Once the thin crumb layer is done, go over the cake again with a thicker layer of white icing.

Next fit a piping bag with a closed star tip (like the one below although this isn't the one I used). Part-fill the bag with pink icing and then squeeze all of the icing through the bag back into the bowl so that the inside of the bag is lined with pink. Place the bag into a tall glass and open the bag over the edges of the glass to hold it open. Then carefully fill the bag with the white icing. Try to expel as much air from the bag as possible.

To pipe the roses, place the tip of the bag where you want the centre of the first rose. Add some pressure and then as the icing comes out swirl outwards from the centre point. A much better demonstration of what I mean is given here. I started in the middle with an all pink rose, and piped more roses around it. When I saw the gaps between the flowers that were too small to fit another rose, I piped short rosettes to fill in the gaps.

The end product!

The cake went down really well, with lots of compliments on the decoration. As predicted the cake wasn't particularly strong in rose flavour, but there was a hint of the perfume along with the sweet vanilla and tart raspberry.

I sadly forgot my camera during the event itself so the following pictures are courtesy of my dear friend Sally who came with me.

Marion's chocolate cake with fondant icing.

 Anna's blueberry cake.

 Lisa's banana fudge cake and Karoline's chocolate orange cake.

Gary's coffee cake with Bailey's cream cheese frosting. See his awesome blog here.

Clair's rhubarb and custard cake.

 A gorgeous chocolate cake but I never got the name of the baker!

The venue was Judy's loft apartment in Harrogate and it was absolutely gorgeous, with a kitchen that made me green with envy! Thank you to Lynn for organising it and Judy for hosting!

Leeds, 15th February- Gateau aux Poires Belle Helene


On Monday, when I was still recovering from Saturday's event and the evening at The Manor, I got a Twitter DM from Lynn, founder of The Clandestine Cake Club, and now my very good friend, asking if I was free on Wednesday the 15th for a super-clandestine CCC event. Why another event? Well, the Clandestine Cake Club has been attracting a bit of press interest recently, and on this occasion had hit the radar of the lovely people at BBC1's The One Show. They wanted to do a segment on our club!

Unfortunately the time clashed with a patient appointment that I could not cancel so I resigned myself to not going. Lynn then texted me on Tuesday to say that it would be all right if I came late, so suddenly I was on for another event! That didn't leave me the greatest amount of time to make a showstopper cake, so I needed something fail-safe yet spectacular, and a bit creative.

I eventually hit upon the idea of making one of my favourite desserts as a cake and my thoughts immediately turned that classic, Poires Belle Helene. These are pears poached in vanilla served with a silky chocolate sauce and Chantilly cream or ice-cream. Sometimes it is made with saffron in the pear poaching liquid, and I thought that incorporating saffron into the cake would give the pears and the sponge a hint of gold- an extra-special touch for this extra-special event. I decided to make a vanilla sponge with a hint of the saffron, iced with a chocolate ganache, and filled and topped with poached pears. After a late finish at work I dashed to the supermarket to get supplies and started the cake at 8pm. I finally crawled into bed at 1.30am, but it was totally worth it!

Ingredients:

Pears:
Seven quite firm pears
250g caster sugar
Juice and zest of one lemon
2 vanilla pods
2 large pinches saffron

Cake: 

200g softened unsalted butter
250g caster sugar
4 large eggs
250g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tiny pinch salt
2 large pinches saffron, mixed with 1tbs boiling-hot water
1tbsp vanilla exract

Chocolate ganache:
400g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
425ml double cream
30g caster sugar


Method:

For the pears I used Delia Smith's method of poaching pears (why mess with perfection?) See here. The only thing I did different was to add saffron to the poaching liquid. Once they are cooked, leave to cool.

For the cake. Preheat the oven to 175-180 degrees C and grease & line a 8 inch cake tin. Cream together butter and sugar, whisk in eggs, then add the self raising flour, baking powder and salt slowly like for the vanilla raspberry roses cake. Then add the vanilla, saffron liquid and a little milk until the mixture is of soft dropping consistency.

Fill the tin and bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes. Remove from the oven when cooked and leave to cool.

For the chocolate ganache, place the chocolate, broken into small, even pieces, in a large heatproof mixing bowl. Heat the cream to just before boiling and pour over the chocolate. Whisk together until the chocolate is melted into the cream and it forms a glossy smooth sauce. Try not to over-work it or the chocolate will split. Leave it to cool a little.

When the pears are cold, split them lengthwise, keeping the stalks on one half of each pear. Slice the pear halves without the stalk into evenly sized slices and pat them dry. They need to be as dry as possible. Split the cake into two even halves and spread each cut side with chocolate ganache. On the bottom half of the cake, fill with the slices of pear in an even layer. Sandwich the cake together.

Coat the top and sides of the cake with ganache and leave in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to harden slightly. Then repeat so there is a good solid coating of chocolatey goodness on the cake.

Take the pear halves with the stalk remaining, and carefully, using a paring knife, slice from the top of the pear to the bottom, taking care not to separate the slice from the rest of the pear. You want a fan of slices anchored at the top of the pear. Then pat them dry and arrange them on top of the cake, evenly spaced, so that the slices fan out a little and the stalks meet in the centre.

Lastly, put the remaining ganache into a piping bag fitted with a writing tip and drizzle chocolate ganache over the pears in an artful way. Chill for a few hours before serving to solidfy the icing.

Here's the finished product. I have to say, I was quite pleased with it!

Some pictures of the other cakes and fellow bakers.

The Gateau aux Poires Belle Helene cut open!

The crew from The One Show and the presenter Matt Allwright, were absolutely lovely, and so friendly. Even through I arrived late, I was welcomed warmly, and my cake got lots of praise, which was fantastic considering some of the other cakes on show.

Lynn has written up the experience for the Clandestine Cake Club website- see here.

Me with Matt Allwright- a really great guy!

The cameraman filming the last piece of my cake!

The episode featuring our little event will be aired on BBC1 on Friday 24th February at 7pm.

 The Clandestine Cake Club

Dinner at the Manor- A Leeds Supper Club 2: Nigel Slater and Leeds Brewery Event

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One of the (many) reasons I love love LOVE Twitter is that I can sneak into events on last minute cancellations. That's how I managed to be back at the Manor on Saturday night. I'd like to take a moment to thank whoever it was that gave up their almost-as-hard-to-get-as-a-pink-diamond place. Me and my tummy thank you muchly.

As ever, Dan and Susie were excellent hosts, and their concept of menus derived from popular cookbooks then matched with drinks continues to be a winning formula. This time it was Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries with the food being matched to beers from Leeds Brewery, who produce some delightful brews, even enjoyed by just-occasional beer drinkers like me.

Our aperitif was a pint of Leeds' Best, although in my case it was a measly quarter-pint, because of my resentment at spending money on a taxi when I have a perfectly delightful Volvo C30 R-Design (AKA Jini's pride and joy that she is loathe to part from) to whizz around town in. The Leeds' Best is a smooth, well-balanced bitter, that went very well with the canapes which were served in the Library.

The canapes were a really good mix and so flavourful. There were homemade flatbreads with a rich taramasalata and a light baba ganoush decorated with pomegranate seeds. There were also teeny-tiny little pork and lemon polpettini- meatballs- that were really zingy. My favourite, however, was the risotto cakes with Yorkshire Blue Cheese. They were creamy, cheesy, unctuous and so totally moreish that I very nearly turned into a three-year-old to have a temper tantrum when the last one got eaten!

We were soon invited down to the table. I love Susie and Dan's style- vibrant, quirky and patriotic! We were welcomed with an amuse-bouche of spiced pumpkin soup with bacon, which was served in a little espresso cup. I almost stuck my tongue into the empty cup to lick it clean, and then remembered that I'm supposed to be respectable...

Our starters followed. There was a choice of baked onion with parmesan and cream or smoked mackerel on toast. I went with the latter and was not disappointed! The starter was served with a half-pint of Midnight Bell. I'd heard great things about this ale and I absolutely adored it! Dark, caramel, chocolate, coffee, toffee and liquorice combined into one amazing mild brew. It went so well with the starters. The toast was made from homemade bread rolls, which were made with Midnight Bell, and it held the smoked mackerel well. I especially loved the fresh salad made of rocket, parsley and fennel, which was dressed with lemon and rapeseed oil. It was so simple, but it cut through the richness of the mackerel perfectly.

There was a brief interlude before the main course came round, which was to be served with a bottle of Hellfire- Leeds Brewery's IPA (That's Indian Pale Ale, FYI). Dan and Susie kindly brought them round unopened so those of us driving/refusing to be parted from our own vehicles could take them home. Unfortunately I managed to leave mine behind at the end of the evening so I can't comment on Hellfire's apparent refreshing fruity tastes with a lasting pleasant bitterness, but I will next time I'm out for a drink!

The main course was either a chickpea and sweet potato curry or a spiced leg of lamb with chickpea mash. As delicious as the curry sounded, if lamb's on the menu, 9 times out of 10 some of it will get eaten by me. I wasn't disappointed by The Manor's offering. The lamb had been marinated in garlic, paprika, cumin and thyme, and then slow-roasted, leaving a lovely savoury coating, It was also beautifully tender, but the slices held together well. The chickpea mash was a revelation- so many times when I've had it in restaurants or tried to make it, it's ended up too claggy or too bitty. Susie told me that she and Dan cut some sweet potato into their chickpea mash, and mixed it with a little paprika= perfect! Definitely something I'm going to be trying! The dish was rounded off with some simple green beans tossed in cumin. Lovely.

A tangy and fresh clementine sorbet palate cleanser then came forth, after which I ended up sucking the spoon (it was that good!).

By this time I was feeling just a little full, but happily so, and when I saw that dessert was a chocolate pudding served with a 'Midnight Manor' cocktail (Midnight Bell, creme de cacao and Kahlua) I actually was more excited about the drink. Although it was yummy, I was WRONG. I should have known that it wouldn't just be a chocolate pudding, but a chocolate pudding of the highest order. The David Beckham/Lewis Hamilton/Insert-top-scrumptious sportsman-of-your-choice-here of chocolate puddings.

Hot dark chocolate untainted by flour, beautifully puffy and risen, yet melty, gooey and sticky inside. At the bottom, just when I thought the chocolate was going to overcome me, were tart raspberries, which cut through the chocolate and helped me finish the whole thing. At the same time was served a homemade vanilla ice-cream that wasn't too sweet either- the perfect foil for the chocolate pudding. I'm actually just getting tingles down my spine thinking of it!

See what I mean?

The meal was rounded off by Susie's beautiful mini-cupcakes, this time chocolate-orange, and coffees with their very cute mini milk bottles.

My return to The Manor was as fantastic as first time round. Suzie and Dan just go from strength to strength, and I cannot wait for visit number 3, whenever that may be. Thanks so much guys!

Dinner at the Manor

Homage to the Pig at The Crab Apple Tree

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I don't know about you, dear readers, but I bloody hate snow! I'm not the most sure-footed of people and every time it's snowy or icy I fear for my ability to stay upright, so I tend to stay home, eat soup and curse the weather.

So it was testament to how good the Crab Apple Tree supper club is, that I ventured out on Sunday night (albeit not far- it's held 300 yards from my flat) to return to this amazing culinary experience.

The Crab Apple Tree supper club is held around monthly in North Leeds and is run by Dave and Louise out of their bijoux apartment. Dave is a chef/baker at The Sunshine Bakery who make award winning cupcakes and brownies, and a delicious range of breads, pasties, sausage rolls and gourmet sandwiches. Dave also cooks for The Sunshine Bakery's supper club, which is delicious and very reasonably priced. Louise is an extremely talented food photographer (see her work here) and occasional waitress who runs front of house.

Having had such a great time when I went in October (pre-blog so no write-up I'm afraid) I decided to treat one of my best friends for his birthday to the Crab Apple Tree's 'Homage to the Pig' event and in doing so, have definitely created a new supper club fan!

We were greeted by Louise who welcomed us with freshly-made apple juice and an offer to chill our wine (although there was so much snow, we ended up just leaving it outside!). Pretty soon our table filled up with lovely people, some of whom had been to supper clubs before, some who were first-timers like my friend. The table was beautifully set- the decoration of the room having a fresh, natural, simple and homely feel to it. I particularly loved the small jars of bay leaves used as decoration (at least I think they were bay leaves!).

We were provided with these beautiful menus, each hand-made by Louise.

Louise and Dave brought round some canapes to start us off- beautiful sweet-and-salty Jamon Serrano, and Bury black pudding croquettes. The croquettes were wonderful- crispy on the outside but smooth and unctuous on the inside, meaty but not over-powering. They were served with a sort of hollandaise sauce but made with half butter, half chorizo fat instead of just butter. The strength of the flavour of the sauce meant that you only needed a tiny bit, but it was a great complement to the hot croquettes.

(Sorry that's a terrible photo of the croquettes, but the only one I came away with!)

After the delicious canapes came a starter of seabass fillet on green beans, served with a Brittany butter sauce and a king scallop (although mine was sans scallop as they make me hideously unwell). Here was my friend's plate (avec scallop).

Doesn't it look pretty? It tasted even better. The fish was so light, it almost melted in my mouth, and the sauce was beautifully rich and creamy, but offset by diced tomato within it. The beans made for a great texture contrast.

After the fish, our seafood interlude continued with a bit of a challenge. Oysters. It was quickly established that virtually the whole table were 'oyster virgins.' I'm a relatively recent convert to the delights of fish and seafood, and the thought of eating raw oyster hadn't particularly appealed. However one of the great things about supper clubs is trying new things, and after some hesitation, one by one, we tried it.

With a hefty squeeze of lemon, down it went, and actually it wasn't unpleasant. I tried not to chew it, to let it slip down my throat, but ended up having to nosh at it a couple of times. It was salty and slimy, and sea-foody for want of a better phrase. I can see their appeal, and although I won't be rushing out to buy plates of them, if I was in a position where I had to eat them, I now know they're nowt to be afraid of!

Evidence of me trying them- my empty shell!

After the oysters, we returned to porky goodness with Dave's piece de resistance- The Homage to the Pig plate.

And, oh wow, what a plate. There was pulled ham hock with mustard and shallot onion rings, braised pigs' cheeks in crumb with crackling, pork belly on celeriac puree with even more crackling, and  a mini chorizo sausage, served with potato rosti, apples, tenderstem broccoli (not shown) and a cider sauce. I got a bit full just looking at it, although that didn't stop me from nearly licking the plate at the end. I don't think I could pick a favourite bit of the dish- it was all so good!

Eating four different types of piggy really makes one feel like, well, a piggy! Still, when the food's that delectable, we weren't about to say no to more, however full we were feeling, especially when we knew this was coming...

Dessert was an orange and amaretto tartlet with coffee granita. The pastry was paper-thin, the custard of the tart was tangy with a silken texture. It wasn't too sweet, so the amaretti biscuit crumbs on top balanced it out. The coffee granita was also amazing- I could have quite happily had a bowl of that on its own!

Finally there was just a tiny bit of room in our tummies for some tea and Dave's fabulous homemade chocolates with brandy filling.

These too were super-smooth but after five courses of utter deliciousness I couldn't manage any more than two, and felt bad that there were loads left!

Dave and Louise are both incredibly talented people, and so warm and affable. They clearly understand how to marry flavours, textures and colours into stunning menus. The attention to detail is particularly impressive. The Crab Apple Tree is such a well presented and relaxed supper club- I would not be surprised if one day
in the future, Dave and Louise end up running a similarly-presented restaurant.

Sadly for us, but not for them, Dave and Louise are wrapping up their time in Leeds to go on a year-long Australian adventure. I'm sure the rest of the local supper club fans will be crossing their fingers, hoping that when they return to the UK, they come back to Leeds! I feel very lucky that I've been able to experience their skills and hospitality!

Good Luck Dave and Louise!

The Crab Apple Tree