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: 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: 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.)

Event Preview: Autumn Vegetables

We have lots of new members attending this month with 13 bakes in total!  Details have just been sent out so please get in touch if you haven't received the address.

We will be enjoying the following bakes:

Becky M	Parsnip & Ginger Cupcakes
Lilian T	Courgette & Orange Cake
Holly M	Pumpkin & Maple Muffins
Helen C	Kale & Apple Cake
Laura D	Sweet Potato Cake
Suzanne D-W	Pumpkin Scones
Sharon W	Beetroot Chocolate Brownies
Emma J	Carrot Cake
Lynda W-S	Mini Spinach & Feta Pies
Katie U	Vegetable & Goats' Cheese Tart
Helen C	Butternut Squash & Ginger Teabread
Rose H	Parsnip & Spiced Orange Cake
Hemina P	Savoury Gujarati Cake

They all sound so interesting, I can't wait to try them, quite a few different things I've never tasted before!

See you all on Sunday, please bring a knife (if required) and plate to display your bake.  Tea & Coffee and water will be provided, feel free to bring along something else to drink if you wish.

Event: Christmas Party!

Our Christmas party will be held on Thursday 15th December from 7:30 - 9:30pm.

To join in the festivities and sample some Christmas themed goodies, please let me know your choice of bake to reserve your place asap!  The usual suspects are likely to get snapped up fast so if you have something specific in mind, drop me an email as we try to avoid duplicates.

Remember, you don't need to be an expert baker to take part, just enjoy baking and eating said bakes!  There's no judging and it's all very informal, a bit of fun with fellow baking fans and a great way to meet new people.  Our Christmas event would be a great one to start with if you've been unsure about coming along!

I've just updated our "about" section on the Facebook page to include the following summary:

"We are a fun baking (eating) club who like to share yummy bakes and get to know new people in the local area. 

Affiliated with Uckfield WI, we have members of all ages and baking abilities. We meet every 6 weeks or so (often on a Sunday evening) and have a different theme for every meeting.

You don't have to be in the WI, nor a master baker to join! We aren't strict and there's no judging, just come along and enjoy all sorts of different bakes.

If you'd like to join us, please head to our website for more information on how it works and what you need to do."

As it's our Christmas party, I shall treat us all to some mulled wine (or un-mulled if that's not to your taste) and the usual tea and coffee will be available of course!

Of course, I always make a few suggestions and despite some of these being obvious choices, they are Christmas classics:

Mince Pies
Christmas Cake
Stollen or even a Stollen Wreath!
Sausage Rolls
Chai Spiced Chocolate Baked Cheesecake
Strudel
Gingerbread Men/Cake/Brownies...
Christmas Tree Cupcakes

And some more examples of Christmas bake ideas from my old Glasgow Baking Club.

Event: Autumn Vegetables

Our next event will be on Sunday 20th November at 19:30 - 21:30.  The theme is Autumn Vegetables.

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Think root vegetables like carrots, beets and parsnip or pumpkins and squashes (although technically fruits) or even greens like broccoli.  Remember, your bake doesn't have to be sweet nor a cake, anything baked is allowed.

As always, to come along and take part, just email Becky with your choice of bake (first to email gets first choice if there are any duplicates).  Details of the venue will be emailed to participating bakers a few days before the event.

A few ideas:

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Of course, there's the obvious carrot cake (please no walnuts as I love carrot cake!) or perhaps a parsnip version with ginger.  (I've made this Pear & Parsnip cake before and loved it!)

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Or there's beetroot cake, with or without chocolate.

 And courgette cake is another vegetable based cake:

Image Source - Courgette & Orange cake with cream cheese icing

Or there's traditional American pumpkin pie:

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And a few savoury options:

Parsnip & Leek Tarte

Courgette, Pine nut & Ricotta tart

Beetroot, red onion & goat's cheese tart

Beetroot & Goat's Cheese Pie