Cake Monday - June 2016

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.

'Coconut & Lime Cake' by Greg

Greg likes coconut and lime as a combination, but he couldn't find a cake recipe for this, so he used Nigella's coconut cake recipe and adapted it.... Bold, for someone who's never made a cake before. 

The first adaptation he did was to change her proportions (NB. this is no slight on Nigella) and he went large. He soaked dessicated coconut in boiling water (this in itself blew Adam away). He added the list of ingredients and the whole thing looked "way too liquidy". No matter, Greg ploughed on and setting the pinger for 20 minutes, poured it all in the tins and turned his attention to the butter icing. Here, he toasted dessicated coconut adding icing sugar and butter once cooled. The icing for the top of the cake was icing sugar mixed with limes. 20 minutes on and the cake still looked like a pool of liquid sitting in a cake tin. Greg now conscientiously checked the cake-cooking at 5-minute intervals. Panic beginning to set in, he covered the cake in foil to stop it from burning on the top and closed the door hoping it would cook. 40 minutes later the cake appeared done. And very large. Lime marmalade was added to one half of the cake and the butter icing to the other before they were sandwiched together. Icing was poured over the top and lime zest grated over the top to finish it off. 

The Verdict:

This was a strong cake. We've never had anyone boil or toast anything before - this was out-of-the-box stuff from a cake novice. The coconut texture and flavour was appreciated even from those who were nervous about coconut flavours. The lime meant it was "zingy" without being sweet. There were a lot of steps to execute this cake and despite opening the oven door in a fan-like motion, the cake managed to remain moist and "summery". Only one person was less keen on the cake (Sam) who felt the top of the cake didn't match the bottom of the cake in the piece that he ate (he may have experienced a large blob of lime marmalade), but Sam being Sam, this didn't deter him from a 2nd helping. Greg received 3x 10/10s for this cake and is joint first on the leader board! 

'Coconut & Lime Cake' Average Score: 9.1:

Next time: Jamie H - his last one for a year. With quite a few people out of the competition for a year, the race to become the next baker is getting tense.

Rock, Paper, Scissors......

Greg lost:

Cake Monday - May'16

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.

'Surprise Cake' by Callum

Apparently this cake took Callum ages. It began with him having to look up how to make a sponge. His cake method was then as follows: "put the ingredients in a pan (a pan??) and cook for 15 minutes (FIFTEEN minutes? surely that's the quickest-cooking cake in the world?)". He played Fifa while it cooled (this is why the cake took ages me thinks). Anyway, back to the cake, he made 2 plain sponges and 1 chocolate one (using cocoa powder). He cooked the chocolate sponge for less time (less than 15 minutes???) because, he claimed, that's how he likes it. 

To make the filling, he melted 2 Galaxy bars (he's spoiling us) in a pan over simmering water. Once melted, he added water and icing sugar. It looked awful. He put it in the fridge. It looked better. He added a bit of milk to it. The top layer icing was a different method - icing sugar and oil (that's just weird). 

The 'surprise' came from the centre. Callum cut a hole in the chocolate sponge, poured in chocolate buttons with the notion that all the buttons will spill out of the cake when cut - "SURPRISE!". It didn't work. The buttons were wedged in and most people didn't get so much as a sniff of one. 

The Verdict:

It was Marmite. Some felt it was a very good cake for Callum's baking ability level and that it tasted really good. Others said the plain sponges were dry and Katie said her slice tasted metallic. Opinions included:

"All that effort - I like the chocolate buttons. It's a bit messy". "I really enjoyed it, but he's not given it his full attention if he's playing Fifa". "Looks-wise, it's rustic with the occasional coco powder taste". "Inconsistent icing - a bit willy-nilly". 

Next time: Greg's up. He's never really made a cake before. 

'Surprise Cake' Average Score - 7.3

Cake Monday - April

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.

‘Maple & Pecan Cake’ by Teresa.

In the office we have categories as to the level of baker and therefore when Teresa was chosen we were all pretty delighted as she falls into the ‘expert’ category. However, Teresa was struck with a problem, she was away skiing the weekend before Cake Monday and had no cook books with her. Remembering that quite a few of the cakes taken from online recipes had gone wrong she went for a safe bet and ‘did a Delia’ who luckily has all her recipes online. Being very organised, once she had chosen a recipe she ordered all the ingredients online so she would be able to make it upon her return. For the sponge she mixed butter, eggs, flour, sugar, some finely chopped pecans and maple syrup. This was put into tins. She made the topping by drenching more pecans in maple syrup and caramelising. She then added these to mascarpone cheese to make an icing. This was spread across the middle and top of the cake and more pecans were added as decoration.

The Verdict: 

You could tell this cake was going to be delicious before you even took a bite, as soon as Teresa took the cake out the smell was simply dreamy. The cake was moist and light and the maple syrup gave it a deliciously sweet taste without being sickly. The topping was fresh and creamy and the choice of mascarpone really complemented the cake's sweetness. The only drawback was the cake fell apart slightly when cut because of the nuts and Jamie H, Greg and Sam questioned the cakes ‘structural integrity’. Katie absolutely loved the cake as pecan nuts are her favourite, and Adam said it was a ‘very strong cake’. Sid and Katie gave it a 10/10 and the cake raced to the top of the leader board with 9.1, well done Teresa!

Next time: Callum’s up, and he has already asked if he can make a pie…

Maple & Pecan Cake Average Score: 9.1

Grand National Sweepstake - April 2016

We won't go there on the sweepstake process this year, but it took place and the winner this year was Katie! Next stop Euro 2016....

Cake Monday - 7th March 2016

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.

'Marble Cake' by Jamie H.

Jamie (finally) took on board people's advice to do something simple. He chose this recipe because he already had all the ingredients at home. The method involved weighing out ingredients, mixing them together, and then separating the mixture into two bowls. He then added cocoa to one of the bowls to transform it into chocolate flavour. He created a pattern in the baking tin with the batter by alternating a spoonful of each mixture into the tin until both bowls of batter had been added. To create the marble-effect swirl, he "whisked it around a few times". 

The Verdict:

Perfect with a cup of tea, this cake was simple and not fussy. The cake tasted very nice (not something we've come to expect from Jamie) and was well executed. The lack of icing and limited complexity of the cake (who knew marbling was so easy?) restricted it from achieving high-end marks, but we really did like it. Simple. Solid. Most Improved Player. 

Marble Cake Average Score: 7.1

Next time: Teresa. She was abroad when she heard the news. Her opinions were heard across the waters. 

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