by Sandra
CCC Birmingham – It’s the Baking Part that Counts. Guest Post!
May 9, 2013 11:38 am in Birmingham by Sandra
This month we have a write up from Kiri, one of our regular CCC Birmingham attendees and one of the girls who organised the wonderful ‘It’s the Baking Part that Counts’ charity baking event in April. Congratulations to you all for a wonderful event and for raising such a great amount for a deserving charity.
“On Saturday 27th April, The Prince of Wales Pub in Moseley saw the return of the ‘It’s the Baking Part that Counts’ Charity Cake Competition for its 3rd year, this time in aid of Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.
The Prince of Wales has a large outdoor area covered mostly by a permanent marquee, couple this with the warm and friendly staff and The Prince of Wales makes a lovely spring venue for showcasing and eating cakes.
It was great that so many people from CCC came along today given its slightly different format to the usual monthly meet ups.
The day itself was hosted by the red t-shirt crew: Abbie, Charlotte, Gareth, Kiri, Michelle and Sarah. Many of our friends were roped in to help out making hot drinks, taking photos and running the raffle and kids colouring competition! It was such a busy afternoon and was definitely all systems go go go!
Baking Counts is most definitely a competition and this year the prizes were better than ever!! We had 2 cake decorating classes donated by none other than the wonderful Blue Door Bakery, who also came along with 100 cupcakes and did ‘have a go’ cupcake demonstrations. We also had 2 beautiful bowls donated by Mason Cash, a meal for 4 donated by Priya a local Indian restaurant and loads more lovely goodies donated by very kind businesses and also people donating gorgeous baking related treats off their own back.
As always, there were 3 categories, each costing £5 to enter: Baked Cake, Decorated Cupakes and Decorated Big Cakes. This isn’t just a day for the bakers as anyone in the pub is welcome to be a cake judge. Voting slips cost just £2 and once purchased were a ticket to both taste test the mouthwatering cakes in the baked category and also judge by sight the two decorated categories. Over 170 judges took part and boy did we see some heaped up plates for taste testing!!!
Cakes varied from tangy lemon, spicey rum, the hottest chilli chocolate, berry sponges, cakes with meringues and two of my favourite unusual ingredients were home produced honey by a local honeybee keeper and popping candy!
The pictures speak for themselves in terms of the entries, there were over 70 cakes!
So far the grand total raised is a £1550 for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, and still counting… we are absolutely chuffed with this as it is the most we’ve ever raised!!
Thank you to all those that came down and supported the event and if you didn’t, don’t worry It’s the Baking Part that Counts will be back next year!!!
by Sandra
Read All About It! Birmingham CCC at the Cherry Blossom Bakehouse
March 24, 2013 12:27 pm in Birmingham by Sandra
On Friday 15th March thirty of us braved the wet weather and converged on the Cherry Blosson Bake House in Wylde Green. The Cherry Blossom Bakehouse has only been open for a few months and it is a lovely little deli; the girls who run it were really warm and welcoming and had joined in the baking themselves. They had baked a beautiful cake inspired by ‘The Italian Job’ and some lovely little carrot cakes in flower pots!
The theme for the night was ‘Read All About It’: Cakes inspired by literature. I was really looking forward to seeing what everyone would bake and how much their choice of literature would reveal about them. We had everything from the Mr Men and the Owl and the Pussycat to Oranges are Not the Only Fruit and The Maltese Falcon!
There were many familiar faces and a number of new members who joined the Birmingham branch for the first time. As ever, I was really thrilled by the effort put into the cakes and I think I am going to have to ask some of you lot to give me some cake decorating lessons as the decoration really stepped up a notch and my offering paled in comparison.
In between sampling cakes we were able to have a good rummage around the deli, which had a great range of unique produce, much of it local. I know I’m going to have to make a return journey very soon as I cannot get the idea of the cinnamon and raisin butter out of my head!
Many thanks to Karen and Sharon at the Cherry Blossom Bakehouse for their generosity (you can follow them on Twitter @cbbakehouse or search Cherry Blossom Bakehouse on Facebook) and many thanks to all of the members who turned up, especially those who travelled a good distance to be there.
See you all in April to support Kiri, Charlotte and Michelle’s ‘It’s the Baking Part that Counts’ event at The Prince of Wales in Moseley.
One Response to Read All About It! Birmingham CCC at the Cherry Blossom Bakehouse
by Sandra
CCC Birmingham – It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere
February 20, 2013 8:50 am in Birmingham by Sandra
On Monday 18th February 2013 the Birmingham CCC held its biggest meeting to date in the Gin Parlour of the Jekyll and Hyde Bar and Gin Parlour in Birmingham City Centre.
Our venue was gorgeous and sumptuous, full of unique Victorian paraphernalia and a very tempting bar full of an amazing 50 different gins! The parlour was perfectly suited to our theme for the evening: ‘It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere’ and it was a treat to see the Gin Parlour fill up with cakes, all made with a boozy twist.
There was a grand total of 24 cakes to be sampled and there are photos of many of them below (not all – I couldn’t keep up!) and I enjoyed welcoming even more new bakers and guests.
Huge thanks to all at the Jekyll and Hyde for being so accommodating. As we cleared the room, it was being set up for a screening of the Hitchcock classic ‘North by Northwest’ – what a wonderful place!
One Response to CCC Birmingham – It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere
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Had a great night with lots of delicious cakes to try. Already looking forward to the next meeting with more cakes and catch ups!
Clandestine Cake Club Afternoon Cake Workshop. 10% off chocolate making classes and courses at York Cocoa House when booked on-line using the promotional code "ClandestineCakeClub"
Aga Living – Cookers, Cookware, Classes.
Find out how CCC & The Arch Cafe/AgeUK are supporting the Leeds Loves Food Festival
Overnight Yorkshire Tea Loaf
CCC Cook Book published 14th Feb 2013
YouTube – Clandestine Cake Club
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Anja said on March 24, 2013
Still gutted I couldn’t make it, but it looks like everyone had a good time! See you all in April
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