Cake Monday - 2nd March

We race (electronically) and the loser has to bake a cake to feed the office. 

Why? Because we like cake.

Who? Everyone in the office. No one gets out of it. When? 1st Monday of the month. The rules: you make the cake yourself, without any help. You can't 'repeat' a cake. Your cake will be judged on presentation, difficulty and taste, and marked out of 10 by each colleague. When you have baked 3 cakes, you are out of the competition for 1 year.

'Tiramisu Cake' by Andrew. You only have to bake 3 cakes in Cake Monday and then you're out for a year. Andrew baked this cake 3 times before bringing in his 4th attempt of it into the office. This gives you an idea of the technical difficulty of this cake as well as Andrew's commitment to the competition. It was also the first time we've had a baker bring in a picture of the cake they were looking to achieve to prove how good their bake was. So in brief, what actually happened to those 3 other cakes? Trial no.1 failed to rise. Attempt no.2 worked and was served to friends over the weekend. Cake no.3 then didn't rise again, so a 4th cake had to be made. The good thing was that Andrew looked pretty pleased with himself as he dished up this cake to us all (see picture).

The Verdict: the sponge was light and airy and the brandy/coffee drizzle was appreciated by about half the office, as was the mascapone and cream filling. There seemed to be a whiff of marmite in the air as those that liked it really liked it, and those who didn't, really didn't. What we did agree on was that the cake was well executed (although the notion of not bringing in your first attempt and being allowed to bake it several times before bringing in the best one was debated). It doesn't really matter either way now because Andrew can hang up his baking apron for a whole year! Well done Andrew!

Next time: Teresa, and she definitely won't be making anything chocolatey.

Tiramisu Cake Average Score: 8

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Cake Monday 2nd February 2015

We race (electronically) and the loser has to bake a cake to feed the office. 

Why? Because we like cake.

Who? Everyone in the office. No one gets out of it. When? 1st Monday of the month. The rules: you make the cake yourself, without any help. You can't 'repeat' a cake. Your cake will be judged on presentation, difficulty and taste, and marked out of 10 by each colleague. When you have baked 3 cakes, you are out of the competition for 1 year.

'Lemon Drizzle Cake' by Jamie O. 

Jamie was gutted when faced with producing a 2nd cake for Cake Monday. Last time, he made a chocolate sponge cake that didn't rise and looked like a chocolate brownie. This time, he made a lemon drizzle cake that looked like a pork pie. 

Jamie's school-boy-error is that rather than state he has made a chocolate brownie cake, or that he has deliberately set out to create a cake that resembles a pork pie (like Heston B) therefore maximising points for presentation and creativity, he stuck to his guns that this was a lemon drizzle cake which somehow ended up looking like a meat pie. 

What he did do however, was learn from previous mistakes; he added eggs to the mix one at a time and the flour went into the batter last. However, he waited for the cake to cool before pouring the lemon syrup on top and no holes were made in the cake to help the syrup bleed through - the recipe didn't say he should.

The Verdict: No one really knows how he achieved the perfectly crimped crust on top or how he delivers the density of sponge every time, but this cake tasted good. The intense lemony flavour was centred in one area of the cake (the upper crust), but it was certainly edible. We genuinely liked it, but found the pie-look slightly baffling. If the lemon had been evenly distributed and if the sponge wasn't so solid, he would have scored higher. Jamie has one last attempt to get on the Cake Monday Leaderboard. 

Next time: Andrew's back with his 3rd cake. 

'Lemon Drizzle Cake' Average Score: 6.6

Cake Monday 19th January 2015

We race (electronically) and the loser has to bake a cake to feed the office. 

Why? Because we like cake.

Who? Everyone in the office. No one gets out of it. When? 1st Monday of the month. The rules: you make the cake yourself, without any help. You can't 'repeat' a cake. Your cake will be judged on presentation, difficulty and taste, and marked out of 10 by each colleague. When you have baked 3 cakes, you are out of the competition for 1 year.

'Sparkly Rocky Road Cake' by Katie. Katie's baking background is 'packet-mix' cakes. 

Question: how do you make a cake when you have no weighing scales?

Answer: you guesstimate each quantity.

Question: how do you make a cake when you have no liquid measuring jug?

Answer: you clean out a beer bottle and use that as your measuring vessel.

Question: how do you mix the ingredients when you don't own an electric blender & don't want to spend all afternoon mixing?

Answer: you use a 1950s egg beater of course.

Ingenuity was used in this cake. Katie remembered that cocoa as a chocolate flavour received criticism in the past, so she melted a bar of Green & Blacks finest into the mix. Only problem was, she melted it on its own so she didn't have long to beat it into the cake before the chocolate began to solidify. The other issue she faced was that the cake didn't appear to be cooking 20 minutes in. It was then that she realised that Mary Berry's recipe was intended for TWO cake tins, not one. At this point, the cake changed from a sandwich cake to single-layer cake.

Once the chocolate cake was cooked (and burnt bits removed), Katie turned her attention to the decoration and made a butter cream mixed with marshmallows (some of which were melted into the icing) to cover the top of the cake. She also cut out a heart-shape from one of the marshmallows and sprinkled pink glitter on top. Katie spent a lot of time on the glitter part. Cookies were also placed on the icing. 

The Verdict: there were a few who appreciated the cake, but many who didn't. The decoration was described as 'weird', it looked like scrambled egg, and the marshmallow detail was compared to those polystyrene wotsits used for packaging. The other problem was with its construction; the icing came away in its entirety as you took a mouthful. All in all, the cake was okay, but the icing wasn't. Katie doesn't want to do Cake Monday again. 'Sparkly Rocky Road Cake' Average Score: 6

Next time: we haven't got long to wait to sample one of Jamie O's masterpieces. 

New Year, New Job?

Happy new year! We had staff holidaying in Dublin, the Isle of Man, France, and way “up north” on NYE. That alarm clock has been a struggle so far this year, but it’s only a couple of months until we hit the slopes on our work ski weekend.

New resolution to change jobs? We are hiring! We look for self-motivated, ambitious and enthusiastic people who have the ability to quickly assess information and make decisions! Click and apply.