With butterflies in my stomach, and waves crashing on the beach, I arrived at Watergate Bay last Wednesday morning. Despite the huge amount of interest in Cornwall’s inaugural Clandestine Cake Club meeting, I was secretly convinced that nobody would turn up. But there was no need to worry as twenty five guests duly arrived, with no less than fifteen cakes between them.

Everyone, professional and amateur bakers alike, had made a huge effort to produce some beautiful cakes. As we were on the beach, this month’s theme was ice cream, which gave us a huge array of flavours to play with, and featured ‘Raspberry Ripple’, ‘Neapolitan’, ‘Mint Choc Chip’, ‘Chunky Monkey’, ‘Cookies & Cream’ and ‘Rocky Road’. Three cakes were actually made with ice cream and Katie made some gorgeous mini ice cream cone cakes, complete with sprinkles and flakes.

Emily (of Treleavens Ice Cream) made a stunning white chocolate and raspberry ice cream cake. With a little magic, and a small portable freezer, she had managed to transport it to Watergate Bay without it melting. How she carried it with one hand while pushing a buggy I will never know. We then discovered that Stuart Pate (Executive Pastry Chef at Rick Stein‘s The Seafood Restaurant) had used Emily’s Treleavens Ice Cream in his breathtaking Baked Alaska. Huge thanks to Stu for bringing us this delicious cake, despite having to do a cooking demo and make a wedding cake that day. It tasted even better than it looked (which is fairly tricky – see photos).

Twitter had been a huge part in making this event happen and it was great to get @fishwifemark2, @jjgabour and @saffronbunny together in ‘real life’. @saffronbunny (aka Rachel) brought with her the most amazing supersize chocolate fudge sundae (in an enormous glass vase) – definitely the centrepiece of the table. A long handled spoon was essential, and it was absolutely delicious – layers of sponge, pears poached in red wine, whipped cream and brownies. Read the bunny’s blog here.

It was lovely to meet Wendy Mitchell (from the fabulously named Big Buns Cake Co) and to taste the cake she created especially for the event. It was based on the famous Chapel Porth Hedgehog Ice Cream and can only be described as ‘Vanilla Hedgehog Cake with Clotted Cream and Toasted Heather Honey Hazelnuts’. Wow.

The Beach Hut was a fantastic venue with stunning views of the surf as well as a spacious, warm and comfortable place to chat and eat cake. Thank you to Laura (manager) and her staff for looking after us so well. Will Ashworth (MD for The Hotel & Extreme Academy, Watergate Bay) rose to the challenge and produced a deliciously nutty ‘Chunky Monkey’ cake.

We were very pleased to see various members of staff pop down from The Hotel to The Beach Hut to help us try out all the cakes. When we thought we couldn’t possibly eat any more cake, as if by magic, the hungry Extreme Academy surf instructors arrived. I was advised by Laura that The Beach Hut‘s kitchen features a special boiler that turns waste food into heat for the kitchens so nothing went to waste, although I’m not sure whether it was the boiler or the kitchen staff that polished off the last few portions!

Thank you to everyone for getting involved with such a fun event. Special thanks to Judi Blakeburn and Alison Payne at Watergate for making it happen and to Jim Michell (Barefoot Media) for the photograpy.

• Rachel Wilson-Couch (Saffron Bunny) – Enormous chocolate fudge sundae with pears in red wine
• Emily Lofthouse (Treleavens Ice Cream) – White Chocolate and Raspberry Ice Cream Cake
• Jessica Milln – Raspberry Ripple Cake
• Brigitte Holman – Carrot Cake
• Sam Lynas (Barefoot Media) – Raspberry Ripple Cake
• Caragh O’Donnell (Barefoot Media) – Chocolate Marble Cake
• Kirstie Foote – Cookies and Cream Cake
• Vicki Harvey – Ice Cream Swirl
• Richenda Farrelly – Mint Choc Chip Cake
• Stuart Pate (The Seafood Restaurant) – Baked Alaska
• Katie Ashworth – Mini Ice Cream Cones
• Will Ashworth (The Hotel & Extreme Academy, Watergate Bay) – Chunky Monkey Cake
• Wendy Mitchell (Big Buns Cake Co) – Vanilla Hedgehog Cake
• Molly Craig – Rocky Road Chocolate Cake
• Ellie Michell, organiser (Barefoot Media) – Neapolitan Cake

Due to popular demand, our next event will be held during an evening in late November.

Blog posts that others have written:

• Beyond The Pasty

All pictures were taken by Barefoot Media