Clandestine Cake Club Northampton - Viva Italia

Instead of ‘Viva Las Vegas’ our local CCC club celebrated March with the theme of ‘Viva Italia’. Our cakes included Italian ingredients and highlighted the many regions of this warm Mediterranean country.

I brought along an Italian style chocolate cake with ricotta frosting.

Carmela made an Orange polenta cake.

Hanna baked a Lemon polenta cake.

Sue presented us with an Orange polenta cake with chocolate mascarpone cream.

Tina made a Torta de corta.

Laura chose to bake the Finnish Mother’s day lemon cake with mascarpone frosting from the CCC cookbook.

Helen baked a Limoncello and balsamic cake.

Sue brought along a Ricotta and polenta cake.

Debbie made her Tiramisu cake.

Marian presented us with a Soft as silk Italian cream cake.

Lorraine baked a Panattone with Limoncello cream.

Tess made a Coffee cake decorated with the Italian flag.

And, finally, Lisa made a Limoncello & poppy seed cake.

Despite receiving several cancellations on the day and 2 ‘no shows’ the remaining 17 of us had a happy and delicious evening in the attractive and well-situated Leopold’s Chocolate and Coffee shop in Abington Street, Northampton. Mark, the co-owner and CCC member, kept us topped up with teas and coffees and we must say a big thank you to him for inviting us back again and opening up especially for us.

Our very own Carmela Hayes – aren’t we lucky to have such a warm-hearted and talented cook in our midst - gave us a little talk about Italian baking and passed around some of the ingredients that she uses in her own kitchen like the golden herbal liqueur Straga and sachets of Pan deli Angeli (bread of the angels) which is a raising agent mixed with vanilla. She also gave us a top tip to buy Amaretti biscuits, whizz them up in a processor to make crumbs, and store them in a jar ready to include in a cake or frosting mixture to add flavour and texture. Thank you, Carmela, for a small insight into your Italian baking roots.

So - looking ahead - our next event ‘Showstoppers’ has now been published on the CCC website and details can be found here http://clandestinecakeclub.co.uk/ccc-events/northampton-district-showstoppers as well as further photos taken at 'Viva Italia'. Also, please email me if you would like to receive a copy of our local March CCC newsletter.

Happy baking!

Gillian x