This is not a competition

Are you a man who bakes, if so read this Send in the relevant details to clandestinecakeclub(at)gmail(dot)com and you will be added to this featured page. There is no deadline for this so lets see how many ‘Men Who Bake’ we can find. Don’t forget to register as a member  

Christian Halfmann – Germany

I love baking, although there is not always the chance to do so. As a child I was always ready to help my mum. Of course, pinching the dough was the favourite part or licking out the bowl.

I’m an amateur when it comes to baking and recently I tried quite a few cake recipes. At one point I did a cake once a week. It slowed down a bit, but who knows where it will go.

I’ve just posted a cake recipe on my blog: Cooking Around the World.  Yesterday I did some kind of leftover cake with lime juice and various cream cheeses – see above.

Already for some time I have developed the habit to take a photo of nearly all the things I cook or bake.  At the moment I live in Germany. Some people would call the place, where I live, a hamlet, but most people call it town.

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Robert Noles -New Orleans, LA, USA

I started cooking at seven or eight.  Baking became a more serious pursuit about ten years ago.  I try to bake regularly (much to the good-natured consternation of my lovely wife).  My cooking (and baking) is British focused but has some strong French and Creole/Cajun influences (brought about by living in New Orleans).

I enjoy British baking as it seems to be much less sweet than most US baking and the flavors and flavor combinations are more interesting (to my palate at least).

I also bake bread (both yeasted and quick) on a weekly basis.

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Ed Halifax – West Sussex

”I started baking because I like the challenge of trying new things.   Baking and more specifically cakes usually herald a celebration and it is a great feeling being part of that especially by baking cakes.

I love trying exciting flavours and techniques and get a lot of inspiration from books and TV programs. Baking is a joy and brings joy and that is what excites me most I think.”

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Food, drink and travel are the biggest three passions in my life which I guess is how I came to find out about the CCC. It’s been a great way to meet new people and talk about food – especially cake! I’m no professional cook or master chef but I do bake a lot – through my own business ‘Grandpa Lew’s’ which specialises in pies (you wont find a cupcake in sight). I also love cooking at home – especially Italian food including making pasta from scratch. So food to me is a lot about the taste and quality rather than how good a muffin, brownie or cupcake looks which is why I’m pleased to say that the CCC doesn’t allow these – and it’s all about the cake

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Gary Morton – Lincolnshire

I have been baking for most of my life, pretty much since I was old enough to tip a bowl of flour over my head and whack things and people with a wooden spoon. I am a Teacher of Food Technology currently based in Lincolnshire with regular visits to Leeds and in my spare time I make and bake stuff for my blog. I consider myself a traditional baker with an experimental streak which usually consists of cakes being launched across the room when they go wrong. I am planning on developing skills in sugarcraft and I’m constantly trying to expand my baking and food knowledge.

• Twitter @thefoodnut
• Website  http://exploitsofafoodnut.blogspot.com

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Chris Holmes – Sawston Sth Cambridgshire

Working on a wedding cake last summer.

Chris Holmes, a.k.a. Mr Cake, I worked in various restaurants as a chef for several years, gaining experience cooking both sweet and savoury foods. In June 2010, I made the cake for my own wedding, and following this in July 2010, I decided to take the plunge and be my own boss. Setting up a cake company seemed like the best way to combine my artistic side with my love of cooking. My business is now focused on bespoke wedding and birthday cakes and favours, as well as supplying my local farm shop with cakepops and my own homemade gourmet fudge. I am currently a sole trader and work out of our home kitchen in the village of Sawston, South Cambridgeshire.

Chris sent in a “Rather Tasty Carrot Cake” here is the recipe

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     I’ve been trying to gain as much experience as possible within the limitations of cost, and number of people who I can feed. I would love to eat everything but I think my internal organs would complain about it. I’ve baked various Cupcakes, cakes, bread, biscuits, fudges, and Chocolate truffles, with varying results, luckily most of them good. I’ve had small dalliances with icing experiments, but prefer a good thick buttercream, cream, or cream cheese icing any day. I’m constantly working on presentation, and I’m thinking of entering the Great British Bake Off 2017

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Phil Joy – Crich, Derbyshire

I am a qualified chef and self taught baker, lived in North Wales for 24 years but moved to Derbyshire 7 months ago to work in the Loaf Bakery.

I won chef of Wales for 2 years whilst I studied catering in college, I’ve also worked along Simon Rimmer for a month in his vegetarian restaurant ‘greens’. One day I would like my own old fashioned deli and tea room, but for now that’s a dream.

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Mike Rose -Newmarket

I live in Newmarket, UK but grew up outside of Washington, DC, USA. I have always had an interest in cooking and baking since I was a young kid but I never really did much of it. I was just glued to watching the Food Network. This obsession with food has carried on into adulthood but now I cook/bake all the time. I used to only bake for my partner or a friend’s birthday and occasionally take baked goods into work but now I bake on a weekly basis for my blog, Mikesbaking.co.uk. I tend to normally bake cupcakes, muffins, or cookies, and save baking cakes for birthdays. I love trying out new recipes of unusual cakes. My favourite cake to make is called Tunnel of Fudge, I haven’t done a blog post on it yet but will be soon! There are a lot of classic British cakes I have yet to try baking, I am definitely an amateur baker learning everyday.

Check out my blog: mikesbaking.co.uk

Tweet me: @mikesbaking

Clandestine Cake Club Profile:http://clandestinecakeclub.co.uk/members/mikesbaking/profile/

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Rich Skyrme – Cardiff

I’ve been baking now for about six to nine months and am still very new to the craft and very much an amateur. A particularly endearing childhood memory is of the beautiful aromas in the house from my mother’s baking so one of my New Year’s Resolutions for 2011 was to get in the kitchen and learn how to make a cake. I began with basic sponge and fruit cake recipes, bought a few cook books and went from there. I’ve just completed a 10-week evening course and my cake-making confidence is infinitely greater now than it was 12 months ago when I wouldn’t dream of joining something like the Clandestine Cake Club and I’m really looking forward to the inaugural Cardiff meeting.

I tend to bake on Sunday afternoons, when I have the opportunity to take my time over making something and I find the whole process of baking quite cathartic. At the moment I’m at the stage where I’m trying a lot of different recipes so I’ve not really got a ‘signature’ cake, but my favourite thing to make so far are moist cakes with a lot of fruit in.

I have a blog where I’ve posted my adventures in baking so far – Richcantcook

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Andrew Morrisby – Manchester

I had always been interested in cooking and baking as a small boy and my mum was happy to indulge my love of baking and eating! I then became a pastry chef and wound up working for Gordon Ramsay@Claridges on the pastry section. I sadly gave up this career a few years ago but remain a passionate and enthusiastic baker. Currently the major baking in my life is to make wedding cakes for my friends and family, but I am partial to whipping up a victoria sandwich here and there. I would say my all time favourite cake would be a classic Carrot cake with a vanilla buttercream.

Twitter @andrewmorrisby

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Bob Moss – Originally from Leeds (Yeah) now living in Wetwang, East Yorkshire.

I’ve been baking for a few years now but when I was younger I had no interest at all in cooking or baking. However, I’ve always had a sweet tooth so one day I tried to make my own Victoria sponge (following the standard Be-Ro book recipe of course) and it was so much nicer than anything I’d ever bought in a shop – I was hooked!

My day job is working for myself as a freelance software developer and I’m married with 2 dogs and 4 chickens. My wife has her own business making handmade preserves which takes us to lots of food fairs and festivals throughout the year. As I have a passion for quality local produce this is a great way to meet the producers and discover some superb products which I otherwise wouldn’t have found.

My photo is from 2010 when I entered the Wetwang Village Show for the first time and came out with several 1st places and won the 2 trophies for most points overall in the domestic produce section and jam and pickles section. This caused a bit of a stir with some of the regulars who wondered who this newcomer was who had won both trophies! I’m pleased to say I managed to retain my domestic produce trophy in 2011.

I prefer the good old fashioned recipes – you just can’t beat a traditional scone or custard tart. I love looking through old recipe books and trying out long forgotten favourites.

My favourite cake has to be a traditional victoria sponge with strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream filling – delicious!

Twitter: @FoodieBob
Blog: Foodie Bob’s Blog – http://www.foodiebob.co.uk/

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Rick Bissell - Oldham

My name is Rick Bissell otherwise known as The Recipe Chef. I have worked in the catering industry for over 15 years, 5 of which were as a chef. I am currently a stay at home dad with my 3 year old son. My passion for cooking has never left me and to help me keep my hand in the kitchen I started baking. I live in Oldham just outside Manchester with my wife Sara who has been my biggest critic for over 15 years.

I am not a professional baker, infact some of my first attempts were a disaster, but as time has gone on my skills have improved and I am now quite good at it and have started baking cakes for people as a hobby. I also write a blog www.therecipechefscakes.blogspot.com as well as a recipe website www.therecipechef.co.uk  so that I can share my creations. I don’t try to be fancy and everything I could can be made by anyone in their own home. I am a great believer that food is for everyone and that recipes should be able to be cooked by everyone not just Michelin star chefs.

My greatest creation to date was my sons 3^rd birthday cake which was a Star Wars inspired Stormtrooper Helmet http://therecipechefscakes.blogspot.com/2011/07/stormtrooper-cake.html

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David Le Masurier – Cardiff

“Hello, my name is David and one of my favourite childhood memories was visiting the awesome Greys Tea Room in Totnes with my mum. This really introduced me to the world of cake as an art form. The cakes were nothing short of magical, amazing window displays designed with such beauty and imagination, that as a child [or an adult] you just couldn’t walk past the door. This inspired me to bake although I only really got back into baking recently. I am lucky enough that my partner loves to bake too so it becomes a real social activity that we enjoy together.

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In my quest for #menwhobake, I tweeted to Eric Lanlard and Edd Kimber asking if I could register and feature them on this page. They instantly replied yes, and with permission to use their twitter pictures I quickly set about adding them to the list with the briefest of history about them.

Eric Lanlard – London

Eric Lanlard master patissier

Originally from France, Eric moved to London where he now runs his very successful cake emporium Cake Boy.  Author of several books and with a few TV baking programs behind him, Eric also holds very popular cookery classes at the Cake Boy Cookery School in London.

I wonder if Eric would allow us to have a Clandestine Cake Club event at his Cake Boy Emporium. I’ll keep you posted cake lovers.

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Edd Kimber – London

Edd Kimber The Boy Who Bakes

Edd is a Yorkshire lad at heart. I was lucky enough to meet him on a couple of occasions. After winning the Great British Bake Off in 2010 he has since moved on to a successful baking career in London. The Boy Who Bakes website is full of the most delicious recipes many of which are encompassed in his new book, suitably called ‘ The Boy who Bakes. Lets hope one day Edd will find the time to attend one of our Clandestine Cake Club events.

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Matt Friend – Leeds

“I’ve only been baking regularly for a few years now, but I’ve always loved food, especially cake! I have many a childhood memory of baking with parents, grandparents and aunts. I remember my Mum making a pineapple upside down cake (always my favourite) when I was in my teens, and popping up to the shops. I ate three-quarters of the cake and when she came home I blamed it on the  dog.

I normally have a disaster when I make something for the first time, and have the battle scars on my arms from not paying attention when taking things out of the oven. But normally when it goes wrong it just makes me want to try again until it comes out just right. Except for Danish pastries, they turned out inedible and I’ve not been back there yet.

Personally, I don’t think you can beat a classic Victoria sponge, it’s the best, but I do make a pretty nice Greek honey and pistachio cake too.”

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Lee – Wallington Surrey

26 year old Lee is a teacher, who’s real passion is baking. A complete amateur but loves finding and cooking from really old cook books. He is currently blogging about his experience of cooking from Mrs Beeton’s!

Tony Robinson – Leeds

“I’m 49 and have been partnered for 20 years. I’ve been cooking since I was about 4 or 5 and baking since I was 10.

I come from a family of cooks and bakers. I really enjoy making classic cakes but adding a new twist occasionally, hopefully without taking away the true essence of the cake”.

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Chris Morey – Leeds

Blog: bakeaboy.wordpress.com

“I’ve been baking on and off since my final year at university – it was a fantastic getaway from the stress of dissertations and deadlines. Since then I’ve kept it up and enjoy nothing more than being in the kitchen – it’s my fortress of solitude (I also love comics). I’m by no means a professional, but I enjoy baking and more importantly am happiest when something I’ve made makes people smile. Big believer in taste over appearance but try to make my creations look nice!

My favourite recipes for a while have been lemon drizzle cake (I’ve adapted this so many times – it’s a great basic cake to build on) and chocolate brownies. Always looking to try something new however – few disasters making cookies so need  to keep trying there!

Biggest triumph was a chocolate wedding cake. Planning was  a job in itself and transporting from Leeds to London was even more nerve-wracking.

Currently working on a fair few Christmas cakes and a mini version of rocky roads. Looking forward to my first event!

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Pete Cavanagh – Leeds

I am most definitely an amateur baker with no delusions of grandeur.

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Rob Martin – Leeds

“My mum and maternal grandmother both baked a lot and I remember loving being in the kitchen when any sort of cooking was in full flow (usually to steal some cheese/chocolate/whatever food I could). There were occasional results far from perfect, but because there were no allusions to professional cookery, mistakes were just accepted or discarded, which made me feel I could always try anything in the kitchen, without feeling discouraged.

Being part of the Clandestine Cake Club (and holding the record for most slices eaten at an event… 11… The shame!) has definitely increased my enthusiasm for baking. Sharing ideas, asking advice and being inspired by others makes the events a real delight for me.My love of cooking definitely comes from the enjoyment of feeding others (not in the scary way). I get most panicked when guests pop over and there is no cake or biscuits or even bread, freshly made, and ready to delight.  So I always have back up (there is a lemon drizzle in my freezer, I kid you not).Baking is my most favoured hobby and genuinely all I ever tweet about. I have made some horrendous mistakes, usually because I forget an ingredient or two. However this one cheesecake. I made was a true stinker. It was created from some failed cream cheese icing, so the obvious, waste-free next step was to bake it into something else.

The cheesecake was overcooked and the filling had curdled! People tried to eat it but I just threw it all away. Yuck!

One of my favourite cakes was inspired by CCC creations, by Mike (@nalsa) and Susie (@stickypinny) and is a rhubarb-topped and custard-filled cake.

I love new challenges and recently baked 150 cupcakes for a friend’s birthday. Next on my list is to work more with pastry and try and get my hands on Paul Hollywood’s (iced) buns.

Rob’s Rhubarb and Custard Recipe can be found here

Mike Wallis – Leeds

Amateur baker since he was old enough to hold a wooden spoon, Mike has been interested in the science of baking for many years.  Writing about how to bake for Tea & Cake has led to developing recipes such as the Bakewell Muffin, The Triple Lemon Cake and the Fatless Boiled Tea Loaf, as well as the Tricolore Cake seen on these very pages. Cake wrecks generally involve frangipane or crème patisserie, but thankfully they’re rare.  And when they do happen, icing covers a multitude of sins ( as told to the crowd at Bettakultcha, video evidence here on Youtube  which also includes the classic WI Victoria Sponge Recipe). Don’t tell him you use the all-in-one method in an electric mixer, or you’ll get a lecture on gluten elasticity.

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Andrew Kite – Epsom

“I’m definitely an amateur… but I love the challenge of difficult stuff. My favourite bakes are Pavlova, Banana Cake and Cupcakes generally. I’m experimenting with unusual flavours…been on a bit of a pumpkin kick recently (well it is the season!) so pumpkin spiced latte cupcakes HAD to be made! Mostly things go ok, but I don’t mind eating the trial runs!”

Andrew has a number of recipes he’d like to share with us on his blog Catchkitey

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