Secret Bakes places announced and an extra event!

We were overwhelmed with applicants for our Secret Bakes event, but the following people managed to secure a place.

Wendy, Alison, Adele, Rachael Mc, Sarah, Cheryl, Pamela G, Rachel R, Sue, Wilma, Lou, Aileen, Catherine, Lynne and Lucy

Isla and Katherine are first on the waiting list.

You will be emailed before the event with final details. There will be a photographer at the event – Don Munro who will be taking pictures of the wonderful creations. And we don’t mean to add pressure to your secret bake, but The Herald’s cake critic Catherine Lawson will be joining us. Don’t worry, she’s making something herself.

For those of you who didn’t manage to get a place at the Secret Bakes event, there is another one a few days after with many more spaces. Although not run by us, it’s being organised by friends with all the monies raised going to our nominated charity – It’s Good 2 Give.

The Edinburgh Bake Off

Date – Saturday 26th July 2014
Time – 2pm to 5pm
Venue – MGA Academy, 207 Balgreen Rd, Edinburgh, Juniper Green, Edinburgh EH11 2RZ
Baker entry – £10
Eater entry – £5 (entitles ticker holder to two eats)

Are you a keen baker or just a keen eater?… if so, please join us on the 26th July for The Edinburgh Bake Off. The day is all about having fun and raising money for It’s Good 2 Give’s Ripple Retreat http://www.itsgood2give.co.uk

This wonderful local charity that provides so much support and love to families all over Edinburgh needs our help to raise vital money. A group of us have challenged ourselves to raise £2000.00 and we are so nearly there.

Have a favourite recipe or want to try something new? Registration is £10 per cake or bake (payable on the door) Two judges will be marking you on – presentation and overall taste.

There are three top prizes for the winning cakes.

If you’re not the next Mary Berry, don’t worry you can just eat! £5 (payable on the door) which will entitle you to two eating tokens which you can exchange with the bakers after judging is complete.

We will also be providing complementary tea and coffee. Glasses of refreshing Pimms will be on sale for £2 per glass.

ALL the money raised on the day will be going directly to the charity.

Please let us know if you can make it, so that we have an idea of numbers to expect and whether you are interested in entering a cake/bake or as an eater – just leave a small message so we have an idea of numbers. You can do this by joining our Facebook event page and posting a small message or reply by email to c.oag@sky.com

More details to follow as they come out the oven.

Thanks so much in advance for all your help and I am sure it will be a fabulous afternoon…..hope you can support us.

EVENT – ‘The Cakestalker’ in aid of It’s Good 2 Give

“The Cakestalker” – Charity Fundraising Event
Wednesday 19^th February – 6.30pm to 8.30pm
Café Musa, The Mound

It’s very good 2 eat cake

Join us for another cake filled evening to support the fantastic Itsgood2give along with Rachael McWilliams who has challenged herself to the ‘Mighty Deerstalker‘ event to raise funds.  Rachael will encounter 5k of mud filled trenches, scree slopes, rivers and off-road terrain. In keeping with the country lifestyle she will be wearing some sort of tweed or tartan.

You may use this tweed/tartan theme as your inspiration for your bake or maybe even just your attire on the evening.

We are also looking for a few bakers to pledge a savoury bake, we need something to balance that sugar rush.

THE VENUE

The venue for this event will be Café Musa, situated on The Mound, with fabulous views over Princes Street:

16 North Bank Street,
The Mound
Edinburgh EH1 3LS

Mmmmm, cake

HOW IT WORKS

There are 48 places available for this event, and we know it is going to sell out very quickly…so please book your place NOW!

As this is a charity event, we would like to ask if you lovely ladies and gents could pledge a cake for the evening.  Please let us know soonest what type of cake you’d like to pledge (minimum size = 8 slices).  We need 24 cakes to make this evening a success.

There will be two types of tickets available for the event, an eater and a baker/eater.  Each ticket will entitle you to 4 slices of cake to eat (or takeaway) from our cake menu, plus unlimited tea or filter coffee.  Other drinks, such as cappuccinos or soft drinks can be purchased from Café Musa.

• Ticket Option 1 – £5     For those who pledge a cake.
• Ticket Option 2 – £10   If you choose not to pledge a cake, or if you want to bring a friend along (we will have to limit this to one friend only, as we know this event is going to sell out very quickly!).
• If you wish to bring a child along with you, please email us with details of the child’s age (and appetite) to obtain a price for your child’s ticket.

AND THERE’S MORE…….

• Opportunity to purchase cake – all remaining cake will be on sale near to the end of the evening.  Why not buy some for your family, or treat your office colleagues the next morning.  Bring a box with you to carry your cake purchases home…or in the unlikely event that you cannot eat all your four slices of cake!

• Some great raffle prizes will be up for grabs on the evening!

• We are honoured that Lynne McNicoll, the founder of the It’s Good 2 Give charity, will be joining us to eat cake!

HOW TO APPLY FOR A PLACE

Tickets are on sale now with ladies, gentlemen and well-behaved children welcome. Remember places are limited to 48. If the number of people requesting a place exceeds 48, a waiting list will be created.

PLEDGERS: For those who wish to pledge a cake.  Email us now at – edinburghbakers (at) gmail (dot) com with the name of the cake you wish to pledge.  We will then send you details on how to make payment for your ticket.  Tickets must be paid for within 4 working days, otherwise we may not continue with your ticket request.

EATERS:  Email us now at – edinburghbakers (at) gmail (dot) com with your full name and the amount of tickets you would like. We will then send you details on how to make payment for your £10 ticket.  Tickets must be paid for within 4 working days, otherwise we  will let your space go.

NOTE TO CAKE PLEDGERS – ALLERGIC REACTION TO CAKE INGREDIENTS

Please indicate if there are any nuts in your cake.  Thank you.

NOTE TO CAKE PLEDGERS – WHEN/WHERE TO HAND IN YOUR CAKE DONATION

• Cakes can be handed into Café Musa on the day of the event.
• Cakes can be brought on the evening of the event, but could we ask that you arrive 15 minutes before the start of the event to allow us time to cut up your cake etc. (i.e. 6.15pm)
• If none of the above suit, we can make alternative arrangements to collect your cake from you.

HASHTAG

The hashtag on twitter for this event will be #cakestalker

DISCLAIMER

If you attend our event, it is your responsibility to ensure you read the label of the cake and ensure that you’re not allergic to any ingredients i.e. nuts etc.  If in any doubt, please choose another cake.  We have had no incidents of illness in the hundreds thousands of cakes we’ve eaten so far.

Remember, it’s good 2 eat cake!

Round up of Towers of Terrific Tray bakes Take Two!

Last Wednesday saw the windows of Bon Papillon steam up due to 20 people within the gorgeous art gallery / cafe get giddy with excitement at the sweet offerings.

It was also our first meeting as the Edinburgh Bakers after changing our name to reflect the wide scope of men, women, children (and babies) who attend our events.

A big thank you to our hosts, Ingrid and Stuart who gave us a special mention in their weekly blog.

The tray bakes disappeared fast!

Other Edinburgh Bakers who attended the event and have blogged include:

Janis – Gluttons for Punishment

Adele – Queen of Everything

Lucy – A Small Insight

Don’t forget to sign up for our mailing list, details of our next event will be released tomorrow! It’s an event for both bakers and eaters on 7th May at Cafe Musa.

Loving the retro record stand for the lemon drizzle cake

We fancied the French Fancies….

We most definitely fancied the French Fancies before we visited this morning, but after devouring too many cakes to mention, we think we’re a little bit in love with them.

Victoria has already blogged about the morning which you can read about here and Alison has posted pictures of what she ate.

It was lovely to see some new faces and some that were conveniently off work! Here’s some pictures of the cakes and tarts that we devoured.

It was hard not to lick the display

Two of the first delights ordered, a chocolate and a raspberry creation

Cute tea cosies

Rum baba and macarons

Inside a chocolate mousse cake

Paris brest

Raspberry frangipane

Apple tart

Not even a crumb left

We love this sign on the wall

A big thanks to the French Fancies for hosting us and supplying such wonderful cakes and tarts.

The next get together of the Edinburgh Cake Ladies (and men) will be on the weekend of April 21st and 22nd. Read how you can get attend and come and say hello (and eat cake).

The location of May’s morning meeting will be published in due course.

We will continue to meet on the first Wednesday of every month and everyone is welcome. Subscribe to our blog (by RSS or enter your email in the top right hand corner).

Extra note:  A big hello to Victoria’s mom who we know reads this blog in Canada! So glad to have met you when you were in Edinburgh and happy future baking and eating of cake.

The Year of the Cake – Pictures and blog round up

Another successful meeting was held on Tuesday night at Earthy Foods on Edinburgh’s Southside. We warmly welcomed new members into the club that immediately got into the swing of things and tucked into slices of cake.

There was a fabulous selection of cakes to choose from, all of which went down a storm, leaving only crumbs at the end of the night.

Blog entries by attendees on the night can be found via these links:

Katey’s entry

Susan’s entry

Alison’s entry

Victoria’s entry

Fi’s entry – including pictures of the cakes ‘mid-eat’.

First timers:  Blog entry by Janis and an entry by Caro.

Here are some pictures of the cakes that were baked and boy has it been a good start to the ‘Year of the Cake’…..

Espresson Chiffon Cake with Baileys mousse

Michelle's Raspberry ripple cake

Allison Patrick's Coconut lime curd meringue roulade

Chiara's Strawberry and chocolate cake

Kirsteen's Orange and almond cake

Terri's lemon and passionfruit cake

Susan's beetroot and seed cake

Manuela's apple cake

The cakes before eating!

Back to basics – 23rd November 2011

Back to basics 

The Edinburgh Cake Ladies was initially formed by a handful of friends in 2010 to support Edinburgh cancer charity – It’s Good 2 Give. You can read more about the background story of the club in our about section.

For our next open-invitation meeting, we are taking the group meeting back to basics.

This time, we will be ladies (and of course gents) meeting over tea and cake and having a good old natter. This event is perfect for those that just want to come along and see who we are, what we do and make new friends.

Bon Papillon cake

Although we have thoroughly enjoyed the last few meetings where there’s been more cake than is humanly possible to eat, we’ve decided to strip it back to basics to allow people to talk more and exchange stories.

When?

The event will be held on Wednesday 23rd November 2011 from 6.30 – 9pm.

Where?

Ingrid and Stuart (who have attended past meetings) have kindly offered to host us in their excellent art/gallery cafe Bon Papillon, in Edinburgh’s New Town.  15 Howe Street, Edinburgh EH3 6TE. Telephone 0131 538 2505

Cake

Of course there will be cake, but there is no pressure to bake a cake this time. Bon Papillon just happens to be some of the cake ladies’ favourite place to eat cake in town and can highly recommend the selection on offer. A slice of delicious cake is under £2, a coffee under £2 and tea only £1.60 per pot.

However, since we are a cake-based group, you are welcome to bring a cake to share if you have a recipe you’re dying to try out and wish feedback from professional cake-eaters. Alternatively, if you have some spare cakes lying around your house you would like help to eat, bring them along!

No reservations required

There is no need to reserve a place for this meeting and everyone is welcome. We’re aware last-minute plans can often crop up prior to meetings, particularly when baking is involved, so this is why we have chosen a drop-in style this time. Come for the whole evening, or come for an hour. Either way, it will be great to have you join  us.

The evening will be hosted by Lea Harris aka @Bakersbunny who is now running the admin for the Edinburgh Cake Ladies. She will also be on hand to help answer baking questions and general food advice.

There will be one email reminder prior to the event, but mark the date in your diary now.

Normal cake-baking extravaganzas will resume in early 2012.

*

Edinburgh Cake Ladies featured in Scotland on Sunday

By Alison

During the evening of our third formal event, we were joined by Peter Ross from the Scotland on Sunday. We don’t think he knew what to expect of our meeting, but he furiously scribbled away during the evening and had to be forced into taking some cake home with him.

The article still hasn’t appeared online, so in the meantime, we’ve taken pictures of the article for you to read here. We are pleased with what’s been written, but would just like to add that the Edinburgh Cake Ladies started their social meetings for the charity It’s Good 2 Give.

Update 18/10 – Article can now be read online here.

In the paper

In the paper

In the paper

In the paper

In the paper

In the paper

In the paper

In the paper

This is how the whole article looked. Page 16, Sunday 16th October 2011.

Cake ladies in the Sunday paper

The 3rd Edinburgh Cake Ladies event – blog round up

Amazing cakes

The third official Edinburgh Cake Ladies event was a resounding success.

We welcomed the press to the meeting and look forward to reading the article in tomorrow’s Scotland on Sunday.

As usual, the Edinburgh Cake Ladies have been on fire with blogging about the event.

Here’s what’s been published so far:

Katey’s blog entry

Fiona’s blog entry

Susan’s facebook photos

Photos on our facebook page

Stuart and Ingrid’s blog

Susan’s Blipfoto entry

Victoria’s blog entry

Leila’s blog entry

 

The next event is a sell out

By Hilary

Congrats to all of you who have made it onto the ‘BAKERS LIST’, see below for list of attendees and intended cakes to be baked. For those tbc’s please email edinburghcakeladies (at) gmail.com as soon as possible with your cakey choice and I’ll update the post.

LET’S EAT CAKE 🙂 and just remember, FEEL THE FEAR AND BAKE IT ANYWAY.

In no particular order……

1. Anne McDonough @mrsmagic – MYSTERIOUS ORANGE CAKE
2. Michelle Holden @shelleylovestea – CARAMEL AND CINNAMON CAKE
3. Lea Harris @bakersbunny – GATEAU ST HONORE
4. Gillian Brown @mrsgcbrown – CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY CHEESCAKE CAKE
5. Lisa @Harbourhussy – DIPLOMAT CAKE
6. Alison @edinburghcake – BATTENBURG
7. Claire Nutley – AUTUMNAL APPLE AND WALNUT CAKE WITH TREACLE ICING
8. Kirsty – COFFEE BATTENBURG CAKE
9. Katey Lee @edin_eats – WALK THE LINE CAKE
10. Fiona Harvey @madebyfi – CHEQUERBOARD CAKE
11. Helena Waldron @helenawaldron – no longer attending
12. Susan McNaughton + Helen @2edinburgh – COURGETTE CAKE
13. Gwen James – GUINNESS AND CHOCOLATE CAKE
14. Lucy Smith @smithlh – MONDRIAN CAKE
15. Chiara Pannozzo @wine_and_olives – GLORIOUSLY GOOEY CHOCOLATE CAKE
16. Victoria Pitkin – PUMPKIN ROLL WITH ORANGE CREAM
17. Sophia Brennert – BLACKBERRY AND CLOTTED CREAM SHORTCAKE
18. Sarah Bell – HUMMINGBIRD CAKE
19. Georgia Artus @bakenation – LEMON DRIZZLE EXTRAVAGANZA
20. Nicole Roberts @burghbakes – MARSHMALLOW CAKE from the Marshmallow Lady!
21. Aoife @myhomesupper – LEMON CAKE
22. Hilsters @mymonkfish – CINNAMON CAKE WITH BLACKBERRIES
23. Ingrid Nilsson + Hubs Stuart bon papillon – CHOCOLATE FRUIT CAKE
24. Lizzie Barr + 1 – SACHER TORTE eeek!
25. Helen Muir @hmuir – SPICED CHILLI CHOCOLATE CAKE
26. Helen Fraser @teatours – CARROT CAKE
27. Emma Watt – CHOCOLATE WHOOPIE CAKE
28. Teri Buzzeo @macaron mistress – WINTER CHAMPAGNE TRIFLE CAKE
29. Hannah Knowles – BLACKBERRY AND ALMOND MERINGUE CAKE – not attending – vacant space for a baker!
30. Cat Bell – CLEMENTINE AND ALMOND CAKE
31. Maggie Deane – (replacing number 29!) – CHOCOLATE ORANGE AND CARDAMOM CAKE

For the twitterers amongst us (and there are many…) please use #edincakeladies when tweeting about the event. If I don’t know your twitter address can you let me know? Thanks v much! Over and out….

Date confirmed for 19th July

An average-sized cake in my world

The date is now confirmed as Tuesday 19th July 2011 for the next cake extravaganza.  Interest in this event has been unbelievable and the blog was visited over 250 times yesterday!  I am no mathematician, but interest in the event appears to exceed the amount of spaces available, so unfortunately, there might not be space for everyone 😦

I will be releasing places on Monday 6th June at 1800hrs GMT.  For those of you that subscribe to this blog via email, you will be notified as the relevant post is published, others must bookmark this page and visit at the right time.  You must then email me to request a place and wait for confirmation. 

At 9am on Wednesday 8th June, I will collate the details of everyone who wishes to attend and conduct a lottery draw if needed. 

There are no ‘plus ones’ this time, everyone must be a baker. 

I think this is the fairest way to do it, but would welcome any comments and suggestions on method to implement the draw.

A waiting list will be in place like the last event (also in order) and will be posted here for all to see.

The theme has been decided, but will be announced on confirmation, as will the location.  The time of the event will remain the same, 6pm-8pm.

Since demand is high for these events, I am happy to pass the reins onto someone for organising meeting #3, but let’s get the second one sorted out first.