Event: Around the World

I've yet to write up our cheese event but it was amazing and Lynda has already sent me her recipe to share here so I will get these up as soon as I can.  Our next event is THIS weekend, Sunday 18th Sept at 7:30pm, venue will be emailed to all attendees so make sure you email Bex (uckfieldbakingclub@gmail.com) to confirm your place and what you plan to bake.

Our next theme is Around the World.  I've found a Pinterest board full of inspiration: Baking Around the World.  I'm thinking I might make Portugese Custards Tarts, a treat I LOVE but I've never tried to make before.

Image & Recipe by Rachel Khoo

I'm so sorry Baking Club has been so far down my list of priorities, it's been a busy summer, but I'm looking forward to catching up with you all and I'm sure I'll be back on it now summer's over.

Event: Cheese

Sorry for the long delay in arranging our next meeting.  Life has been pretty hectic so some things have had to be on the back burner for a while.  Anyway, I'm pleased to announce our next meeting will be on Sunday 2nd July 7:30-9:30pm.  Unfortunately The Pig & Butcher can't host us that evening so I'm looking for an alternative venue.

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The theme for our next meeting is Cheese.  This gives you a huge range or ideas to choose from, think sweet or savoury - cream cheese icing (so red velvet, carrot or Guinness cake), cheesecakes, cheese scones or muffins, cheesy tarts, cheesy biscuits...

You could use cream cheese, cheddar, goat's cheese, mozzarella, halloumi, Stilton, Parmesan, brie... the list goes on.

I'm going to bake pear & blue cheese muffins, email me with your choice of bake to reserve your place!

I really fancy some cheese now!

Event Preview: 1st Birthday Party

Our next event is just one week away and we have an exciting new venue!  The Pig & Butcher in Five Ash Down will be hosting us next Sunday evening and we have some fabulous bakes to sample:

Becky M	Mini Yorkshire Puds with Roast Beef
Katie U	Fruity Sausage Rolls
Helen Ca	Cheese & Ham Straws
Pamela M	Cheese & Chorizo Puffs
Laura D	Birthday surprise cake
Sharon F	Summer Sausage Rolls
Lynda W-S	Cheddar Cheese Puffs
Hemina P	Funfetti Cupcakes

I know a few of you have mentioned struggling to know what to bake this time, I've had a few more ideas so please do get in touch if you need help deciding!  

Event: Our First Birthday!

Our first meeting last year was on 10th February, we will be celebrating our 1st birthday on Sunday 19th February, 19:30-21:30.

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This meeting's theme will be birthday party food!  Bake us your most fabulous bakes for our birthday bash!  Think retro or modern, sausage rolls and birthday cake, sprinkles and vol-au-vents and all manner of miniature foods!

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As always, if you'd like to join us, just choose a bake to bring and email Becky to reserve your spot.  Duplicate bakes will be asked to choose again so get in quick if there's something specific you'd like to bake!  

If you're new and want to know more about what goes on, you can see previous event reports here and read more about how it works on our about page.

Event Report: Christmas Party

We had our Christmas do last night and as usual enjoyed some lovely bakes.  Again, a nice mixture of sweet & savoury, all with a Christmassy theme.  

Left Column: Chai Spiced Baked Chocolate Cheesecake, Black Forest Cheesecake Brownies, Peanut & Chocolate Cookies 

Middle Column: Rosemary & Sea Salt Shortbread with Baked Camembert, Ginger Reindeer Biscuits

Right Column: Cranberry & White Chocolate Cookies, Guinea Fowl & Ginger Sausage Rolls, 

Baileys Cheesecake, Christmas Pudding Scones

We had 8 bakers this evening (Nadine isn't in the pictures as she came later) but we had 9 bakes as Lilian had dropped hers off earlier in the day but couldn't attend in the evening. 

You can see the full list of who made what in our event preview.

Pamela brought a bottle of Prosecco which we thoroughly enjoyed, with some Elderflower Fizz for the drivers.  I've had so much fun at Baking Club over the last 11 months and can't wait to see how we grow in the new year.  We'll hopefully have one or two practical sessions and be sharing many more recipes on the blog.  Thank you to everyone who's been along to one of our meetings, I've loved meeting you all and trying your delicious bakes!

Enjoy the festivities over Christmas and New Year, I'm going to have a bit of a break but will be back in the new year to organise our next meeting.  Merry Christmas!

Event Preview - Christmas Party

So far we have the following bakers and bakes to look forward to (I STILL haven't decided!) at our Christmas Party next Thursday.  If you'd like to join us (or if you think your name should be on the list already), please let me know asap.

Becky M	Black Forest Cheesecake Brownies
Lynda W-S	Reindeer Gingerbread Biscuits
Pamela M	Chai Spiced Chocolate Cheesecake
Emma J	Guinea Fowl and Ginger Sausage Rolls
Hemina P	Christmas Pudding Scones
Nadine H	Rosemary & Cornish Sea Salt Christmas Shortbread with Camembert
Helen Co	Mince Pies
Katie U	Bailey's Cheesecake
Helen Ca	Chocolate & Peanut Christmas Cookies
Lilian T	White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies

Event Report: Autumn Vegetables

Well, what a turn out!  We had 14 lovely bakers at November's meeting and some seriously yummy bakes!  It's a bit more difficult to try 14 bakes so you have to be more tactical and take teenie slices before going back for bigger chunks of your favourites!

Since we had so many this time, I've added all the photos to a collage rather than making you scroll through 14 images of cakes and bakes.  For the list of who made each bake, please see our event preview.

L-R Top: Carrot & Orange Spiced Cake, Butternut Squash Scones, Butternut Squash & Ginger Tea Loaf
L-R 2nd row: Beetroot Chocolate Brownies, Courgette & Lime Cake, Kale & Apple Cake
L-R 3rd Row: Sweet Potato, Cinnamon & Honey Cake, Free From Carrot Cake,
Coconut & Carrot Flapjacks, Butternut Squash & Maple Cupcakes
L-R Bottom: Handwa, Spinach & Feta Pies, Parsnip & Lemon Cupcakes with Ginger Icing

It was also a bit of a squeeze getting everyone in to my living room as we were just short of the 15 required for a certain venue in town to accommodate us.  I've had a new idea of where might suit though so watch this space for a new venue if we continue to be popular!

I had a fantastic evening and everyone really seemed to enjoy it.  There were plenty of interesting combinations to try among the bakes and some surprising hits!

It was lovely getting to meet so many new baking enthusiasts, we had such a lively meeting with lots of cake based chat as well as general chit chat.  I can't wait for the next one!

(The next event is our Christmas party on which you can find details here.)