Famous People: Clandestine Cake Club – St Helens

We had some celebrities present at last night’s St Helens Clandestine Cake Club group – Celebrities in the form of cakes of course!

I’m not sure what came over me when I decided on Famous People as the theme for the night. As the week’s went on people were quick to sign up as attending but couldn’t decide on their cakes – and then its like a lightbulb turned on. Everyone seemed to be inspired and in came the cake choices.

We had a Jack Lemmon Cake (or a Keith Lemon cake) depending on how rude you wanted to make it, 2 Ginger Spice cakes, A Jason Orange cake, An Elvis Fluffernutter cake amongst a few.

My own cake was a Rocky Bilboa Road Cake with a last minute visit from Eminem as decoration. (pictured above). My girls are not used to such styles of cake coming from our kitchen and loved the cake – both saying ‘Wow!’ The 3 tier wedding cake I had dropped off less than an hour earlier didn’t even get any attention but it seems some M&M’s stuck on a cake, and they are enthralled.

This was the 3rd CCC held in St Helens and it was lovely to see regulars getting to know each other. We had 13 cakes and it seemed a perfect amount – so not quite as many as last time – lots of choice but not so much that it seemed wasteful baking. Our venue was the same church hall as last time as it seems to work perfectly. We have a huge pot of endless tea and people hopefully feel comfortable enough to keep helping themselves to more cake and drinks. The conversation was certainly flowing. The coffee shops of St Helens have so far not grasped the concept of the Clandestine Cake Club but I’d like to think our group has proven that we will do it anyway.

Karen's Elvis Fluffernutter Cake

We had a ‘fun’ quiz on the subject of cakes and pudding which I can highly recommend to get people interacting. I found the quiz on a free site here if you are thinking of having a quiz at your CCC.

Anyway, back to the cakes and a bit more about them…

A SunSi Miao cake by Debs – A Celeb from the world of Chinese Mythology so a Yin and Yang cake as homage – inside was a fabulously light chocolate and vanilla cake to carry the theme on.

Our Victoria Beckham cake was complete with shoes and handbags – perfect!

We had 2 Jasper Carrot cakes (one with raisins) and a Chuck Berry.

Halle Berry Gooseberry Cake

This Halle (Goose)Berry Crumble cake looked divine – unfortunately, I was just too full to try any.

Maggie kept us in suspense until the evening to explain her intriguing Gaylord Hauser Wonderful Teabread – He was an American Nutritionist who believed in wonder foods, treacle being one of them – Maggie’s Teabread was wonderfully tasty, dense and treacly – delish!

We were due to have a Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes Cakes which would come with a huge split in it but Sue changed her mind and donated a Ginger Spice cake instead.

Everyone getting stuck in!

I’ve asked some of the participants of our group if they would be interested in taking over the St Helens CCC – there are a couple that are thinking of getting together. After 3 sessions, I think some new blood would be a good thing – I’d like to have a go at participating as a baker rather than the organiser so watch this space!