0 Winter Warmers at The Cowshed, Buckshaw Village for South Lancashire Clandestine Cake Club

 

Yeah, cake club for our 25th meeting (wow that's a lot of cake !) of the South Lancashire Clandestine Cake club we paid a visit to COWSHED on Buckshaw Village, we had a supper turnout of bakers having 13 cakes in total all to our seasonal Winter Warmers theme.

Quite a few of the bakes featured interesting spice combinations and the bakers excelled themselves with their fantastic decorations. Travelling from far and wide we enjoyed ourselves on a wintry blustery afternoon in this funky coffee shop in the heart of the newly created village.

You can find the Cowshed on Barnes Wallis Way (of Bouncing Bomb fame) just behind the Tesco, there is parking just outside the door and lots more in the area. The coffee shop is open 7 days a week and late on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The coffee is amazing and the decor is great and suitably cow themed.

On to the cakes, what a wonderful selection including several which where gluten free and two amazing "Bonfire cakes".

Spice Raisin bundt cake by Helen F

Chili chocolate olive oil cake by Katherine

Lemsip cake by Caroline (Honey & Lemon)

Sticky Toffee cake by Carla

Bonfire cake by Helen B

Spice Coconut cake by Kate

Apple and Cinnamon loaf by Ange

b

Date Bundt Cake by Kate G

Plum cake with warm mulled wine syrup by Sarah

Bonfire Cake by Amanda

Also not photographed individually was a Ginger and Coconut cake (sorry Helen R) this is the large white cake with the Christmas Trees in the large picture and also my Ginger Zinger Cake which you can see here.

Internal shot of the Bonfire Cake by Amanda showing layers

If you are in the area the Cowshed is definitely worth a visit.

Detail: Winter Warmers at The Cowshed, Buckshaw Village for South Lancashire Clandestine Cake Club

0 Coffee, cardamon and walnut cake - gluten free

For the latest meeting of South Lancashire Clandestine Cake Club I once again was inspired to bake from a Fiona Cairns recipe book, this bake is from her latest "Seasonal Baking" which is a stunning book and contains some wonderful looking cakes and bakes.

Feeling distinctly autumnal I plumped for a Coffee, cardamon and walnut cake which is a beautiful twist on the classic combination of coffee and walnut, as the recipe contains ground almonds and a relatively low amount of flour, it converted beautifully to gluten free using a standard gluten free flour.

Fiona's recipe is available on the Waitrose website here 

What you need

• 175g softened butter
• 50g walnuts, roughly chopped
• 15 cardamon pods
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 1tbsp of instant coffee powder dissolved in 1tbsp of hot water
• 3 eggs free range - lightly beaten
• 50g ground almonds
• 125g self raising flour (gluten free works fine)

For the caramelised walnuts

• 50g walnut halves
• 100g caster sugar

For the buttercream

• 5 cardamon pods
• 150g softened butter
• 250g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 1 tbsp of instant coffee powder dissolved in 1 tbsp of hot water
• 1 tsp milk

You also need 2 sandwich tins - about 22cm diameter oil sprayed and base lined

What you do 

• Preheat the oven to 160c
• Firstly we are going to roast the walnut pieces and halves for about 6 minutes until lightly toasted, don't let them burn. Allow to cool
• Now lets make the caramelised walnut halves, place the walnut halves on a baking tray lined with a silicone sheet or baking parchment.
• In a saucepan bring 100g of caster sugar and 100ml water to the boil, swirl the pan to ensure all the sugar has dissolved, then bring to a vigour rolling boil. The caramel will eventually turn a lovely golden brown and be reduced. 
• Remove from the heat and drizzle over the walnut halves to create a sheet of nutty caramel, leave to one side to set. Be careful as the caramel with be very hot.
• Next we will make the cake
• De seed the cardamon pods, placing the seeds in a pestle and mortar and grind to a fine ground, sieve into a small bowl, take a 1/4 for the buttercream. The rest is for your cake mixture.
• In a mixer (I used my trusty kitchenaid) cream the butter,sugar and coffee until light and fluffy
• Add the eggs, almonds and cardamon, fold in the flour and the chopped walnuts
• Once fully mixed divide the mixture into the prepared sandwich tins.
• Bake in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes, tested with a cocktail stick to check baked through.
• Remove and cool on a wire rack.
• Whilst the cake is cooling, mix up the buttercream using the remaining cardamon and the above listed ingredients, ensure you beat it for a least 6 or so minutes to ensure a light fluffy buttercream.
• To assemble the cake - spread the base layer with buttercream and then top with the other cake. Then spread the rest of the buttercream on the top and sides.
• Crush the walnut caramel and arrange decoratively on top.

Detail: Coffee, cardamon and walnut cake - gluten free

0 Anything Goes at Caffe Manna Eccleston - South Lancashire Clandestine Cake Club

For our 24th meeting of South Lancashire Clandestine Cake club, we paid a return visit to Caffe Manna in Eccleston near Chorley. This is our first visit to Caffe Manna but not to the lovely hosts as the same team used to run Coffee at the Carrington, which has since been demolished and a lovely new larger coffee shop built on the same location.

Caffe Manna is a great coffee shop that serves the finest coffee's and other refreshments to locals and visitors to the village (Eccleston is home to Sir Bradley Wiggans no less !), with ample parking outside the door its well worth a visit if you are passing.

On a warm sultry September afternoon members arrived bearing a fabulous selection of cakes for our anything goes theme, including several gluten free cakes. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and it was great to catch up with members old and new and indulge in cakey gossip ranging from GBBO to vegetable growing.

Coffee walnut cake

Gin, tonic and lemon cake

Licorice allsort cake

Courgette and orange cake

Coffee cardamon and walnut cake - gluten free

Coffee Cake - gluten free

Apricot and Almond cake

Victoria Sponge

Zeeuwe Knop caramel Cake

Cappucino Cake - gluten and diary free

Unfortunately not photographed (sorry Kate,Margaret and Harvey) we also had a delicious Strawberry cake, sticky toffee pudding cake and victoria sponge to enjoy.

Thanks to Caffe Manna for hosting our event, you can find the coffee shop at the Carrington Centre, The Green, Eccleston. They are open every day except Sunday.

Detail: Anything Goes at Caffe Manna Eccleston - South Lancashire Clandestine Cake Club