Cake of the Month – December 2016

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Name of baker: Gail Clark

Name of cake: Christmas Party Cake

Ingredients: 225g softened unsalted butter, 225g golden caster sugar, 4 eggs, 225g self-raising flour, 2 level teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon nice vanilla essence. Strawberry jam for filling, buttercream – 75g softened butter 225g sifted icing sugar and a little milk. Fondant icing

Method: This is a classic Mary Berry Victoria sponge cake. Pre-heat oven 160c Fan, grease two 20cm sandwich tins, line base. Put all cake ingredients into a bowl then mix with electric blender. Bake for 25 minutes – cool then sandwich together with jam and butter icing.

A bit about yourself and how you got in to baking/ why you chose to volunteer with Free Cakes for Kids Hackney:
My Mum was a great baker, and tried to teach me how to bake – and although I watched closely and followed all her tips, my cakes were more like lopsided biscuits! So many years later, when my daughter was coming up to her 7th birthday a friend said why didn’t I have a go at making her a cake rather than buying or begging someone else, usually my brother to make one. It worked – all those tips came back and I had a light fluffy sponge! – I’ve never looked back.

My daughter has always had a birthday cake – as has my step-son. I got into Free Cakes for Kids because I wanted to be part of something which helped other children to have a cake. Having a birthday is very special at any age but particularly for a child, it’s a small act but a cake helps to create a memory.

I really enjoyed making a cake for the Christmas party – the perfect excuse to have a good look at Pinterest for inspiration, get the Christmas cutters out and go on the hunt for mini candy canes.

Ittt’sss Chrrriiissstttmas!

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Hello all you lovely people! Are you ready for Christmas? Are you hanging up your stocking on the wall … or are you leaving that to Slade? Whether you like it or not, the big day is nearly upon us and what better way to get involved in the festivities than to share the details of our Christmas social for our bakers with you. It actually took place in November, but hey, we’re busy people and we had mince pies to eat in December, so November worked better for us.

First things first – a bow of gratitude to Debora who once again let us borrow her gorgeous kitchen in which to host our little soiree. And, sorry, we’re first in the queue if Debora decides to adopt anyone. Idyllic is the word. Idyllic. When we grow up we want to have kitchens like Debora’s; houses like Debora’s; screw it, we want to be Debora.

Moving on …

We are indebted to Jess, who shall from now on be referred to as Super Jess, and who knows pretty much everything there is to know about buttercream. She works at Cakes 4 Fun in Putney, which is a little bit of a trek from Hackney, but it would totally be worth the journey to roll icing with Super Jess. She used to work in the kitchens of the Berkeley Hotel producing their incredible Pret-a-Porteas. Need we say more?

So there was Super Jess and there was mulled wine (of course!) …

FCFK - christmas jessFCFK - christmas mulled wine

… and as we slurped the hot spicy stuff and nibbled on a spread to put any Boxing Day buffet to shame, Super Jess taught us how to crumb coat and ice a cake like a professional; how to make the perfect bear with perfect little ears made from a small flattened round of icing halved (who knew?!); how to create a magnificently pleated bow from decorators paste; and how to buttercream with the best of them – piping it, freezing it, then transferring it onto cakes.

FCFK - christmas pipingFCFK - christmas bearFCFK - christmas bow

Some of us were better than others when it came to having a go ourselves (and by others we mean the committee!), but you couldn’t fault the enthusiasm and concentration in the room. Tongues poked out of mouths, lost in the moment, as shaky hands gripped piping bags. A+ for effort, and the mulled wine probably helped us to become pros!

We will be sharing a couple of the masterclasses on here in the new year as best as we can so do keep coming back. It’s been an incredible year for FCFK Hackney and the party really topped it off for us so thank you to the bakers who came and celebrated with us …

FCFK - christmas group

… and HAPPY CHRISTMAS, everyone. We can’t wait until 2014 already. xxx