0 CCC No 13 - At Coppers Tea room, Leyland

Hello,ello , ello what have we got here, South Lancashire  clandestine cake club being held in the former victorian police station now tea room Coppers in Leyland !

                                         

Complete with cells this former local police station has been converted in a delightfully quirky tearoom and coffee lounge, handily situated near the towns railway station. Its a great spot for afternoon tea and that's exactly what the theme of our March meeting was "Lancashire Afternoon Tea", the friendly staff serve a wide range of drinks, snacks and cakes , many featuring local produce.

My bake was a twist on the local classic Goosnargh cake but you can find out more about this cake here.

Once again our bakers rose to the occasion and brought along some beautiful cakes which where great interpretations of the theme. We also had our first male baker who brought along a fabulous Zingy lemon curd cake along with his gorgeous 9 month old son and his partner to help eat all the cakes. We also had two young foodie visitors who had make a great cake label for their mums bake and who also assisted in helping us eat our way through 10 cakes.

1. Zingy Lemon curd Cake
2. Imogens Sultana and apple farmhouse cake
3. Coconut and raspberry cake
4. Bakewell Cake
5. Coffee cake
6. Chocolate Roulade
7. Passionfruit victoria sponge
8. Raspberry Cakewell
9. Goosnargh cake with Orange buttercream
10. Battenberg Cake

Let the feast commence !

Wonderful cake label 

Raspberry Cakewell

Just some of the teapots in Coppers Tearoom 

Zingy lemon curd layer cake

Thanks to everyone who attended this cake club meeting and made it such a great sucess and thanks to the staff at Coppers who so warmly welcomed us. 

Our visit was also featured in the local newspaper

Detail: CCC No 13 - At Coppers Tea room, Leyland

0 Pikelets - a traditional tea time treat

Pikelets are the easier to make sibling of the crumpet family, that great afternoon teatime treat or in our household breakfast treat too. For many years I have fancied giving making crumpets or pikelets a try and not got around to it but finally I have had a go and was pleasantly surprised by how very easy they are to make, so much so that I will be having another griddle baking session very soon. Yeast raised but griddled baked these little fluffy holey delights turned out great and are best devoured toasted and slathered (good word that !) with butter and home made jam or better still apple butter.

If like us you have either an open fire or log burner, pikelets are great toasted on a cold wet wintery afternoon for a carpet picnic. You will need a toasting fork, but its way more fun than an electric toaster !

Ingredients

• 500g strong white bread flour
• 350ml warm milk
• 350ml warm water
• 5g dried yeast
• 10g salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Vegetable oil for frying - a little

You will also need a heavy based frying pan or flat griddle hotplate to cook your pikelets in or on.

This makes about 16 pikelets

Method

• Mix all your ingredients except the oil in a large bowl, whisking together until your batter is the consistency of a thick pancake batter
• Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to ferment in a warm place until the mixture is all bubbly. This will take at least an hour and may be as much as 3 hours. Don't rush this step as time is what creates the flavour in the dough.
• You are now ready to cook your pikelets
• Preheat your pan / griddle , oil and then wipe (I use kitchen roll) so there is just a trace of oil remaining.
• Ladle large spoonfuls of the mixture into the pan, whatever size you wish to make your pikelets
• Cook on one side without moving until the top side is covered with lots of air bubbles that have popped, this takes a couple of minutes.
• Flip your pikelets over and briefly cook on the other side
• You are aiming for lightly golden on both sides, as bear in mind that you will be toasting to serve.
• Delicious toasted served with butter and preserves
• They freeze really well also.

Detail: Pikelets - a traditional tea time treat