Look, look, it's a non-Bake Off blog post! Yay! As much as I love GBBO, I think that recently I've been neglecting the other side of the blog (as in the exciting bits where I go out and do things). So you'll be glad to here that yesterday, Olivia and I were lucky enough to visit The Cake and Bake Show at Earl's Court in London. Thanks to the very kind people at Tea With Tom (thank you!), I won two tickets to the show and so I took myself off to London to meet Olivia and see lots and lots of cakes.
Now, on the off-chance that you've been following my ramblings on here, you'll know that I've already been to London this summer. But this was the first time that I'd been on my own, so getting my train into Paddington and going on the Tube to Earl's Court was quite a big deal for me. I'm actually quite surprised that I managed to get where I wanted to go without getting horribly lost but I guess that I am supposed to be a big girl now, what with the rather daunting 2. 0. coming up in October...
After Olivia and I had found one another successfully, we joined a long queue of cakeophiles (that's a real word, right?) and headed into the exhibition centre.
We decided that perhaps the best plan, given the vast size of the show and our somewhat poor sense of direction, would be to have a wander and not try to find anything specific just yet - to get our bearings, if you will. The range of different cakes and bakes on offer was amazing. Our first purchases of the day were made at The Brownie Bar, where I bought a raspberry and almond blondie and Olivia a salted caramel brownie.
As we had hoped, there were lots of free testers around. One of our first was a little chip of a 'coconut drop', which was lovely but perhaps more gingery than coconutty (which I have to say I didn't mind, as I love both flavours).
One of our next stops was at the Cake On The Catwalk display (sponsored by Stork, natch), where an array of professional and nonprofessional bakers had designed and created a beautiful selection of cakes, based on the brief 'London fashion through the decades'.
All of those in the pictures above are from the nonprofessional category - I know, aren't they amazing? One of my favourites was the peach Edwardian style cake with the beautiful handmade topper, and the 1920s-inspired cloche hat cake with coordinated accessories, which actually won the category at the end of the day. Well done to fab baker Abigail Anderson for such a clever cake!
The professional category was just as impressive, with some really unusual and complex designs. My favourite in this section has to be Frances Jackson's box-style cake, with each side representing a different era in London's fashionable history. I think my sister would have really liked the Doc Martens cake and one of Olivia's favourites was Ramia Khan's cake, which was 'inspired by a mad girl's bedroom', with a pile of magazines and hatboxes.
Many of the stalls at the show weren't displaying or selling cakes of their own, but selling various baking bits, such as decorations, toppers, piping sets and cases. Olivia bought some very exciting contraptions called Whizzy Whisks, which took seconds to turn skimmed milk into a firm froth, perfect for coffee. Also on offer were official Cake and Bake Show goody bags, complete with free gifts, one of which was a Betty Crocker cake mix. Although we wouldn't usually use cake mixes, we're definitely going to give these a try. And actually, after tasting a salted caramel cupcake at the Sainsbury's stand, I bought a couple more mixes (one salted caramel, the other red velvet), so I'm not going to be a cake snob or a bun purist about it, I think they should work really well.
As well as the bigger, more widely available brands like Sainsbury's and Lakeland, vanilla and flavourings makers Nielsen-Massey were on hand with cakes and cocktails, which we greatly enjoyed, despite the fact it was not-quite midday! But don't worry, the cocktail Olivia kindly treated me to was a virgin margarita, which I think should be perfectly acceptable at most times of the day. This was actually, shockingly, the first margarita I've had and Olivia is now something of a connoisseur, as she worked in Italy for nine weeks this summer, so she was more than able to advise me. (We're now thinking of having a couple of visits to the rather nice cocktail bar 44 Below when we're back in Exeter!)
One of the other displays at the show was 'The Wedding Cake of the Future', featuring a myriad of quirky cakes, beautifully decorated with stencils, flowers and lace. I think the lace icing was actually one of the most popular decorations, it was quite prominent among the wedding cakes. It's clearly the 'in thing' to have, if you're at all concerned about having a fashionable wedding.
Aside from eating, drinking and shopping, there were several stages where we watched demonstrations by Shelina Permalloo, the winner of last year's Masterchef, Simon Rimmer, of Sunday Brunch, and most excitingly of all, John, James and Cathryn from last year's Great British Bake Off! As you'll have seen on my blog, I am a HUGE Bake Off fan (along with most of the country, I daresay), so it was very exciting to see some of last year's stars baking in the flesh.
In addition to the main stages set up by the Cake and Bake people, there were smaller versions run by, among others, Renshaw and Dr Oetker, both of whom I really like. I use lots of Dr Oetker products (although I've always thought that it's a bit off-putting, eating something made by a doctor...) so it was interesting to see all of their products on show and of course we entered the competition to win lots of cake decorating goodies.
The beautiful Billington's-sponsored dessert tables showcased some of the industry's best cake decorating and sugarcraft work, from delicate pastel-coloured and floral tea parties to an elaborate trio of burlesque style celebration cakes. The woodland scene made me think of our chocolate squirrels and of the Bake Off's lovely, if slightly eccentric, Frances. Other highlights included the Mad Hatter's tea party and a special Jubilee themed table, complete with stamp cookies and Union Flag macaroons.
Gluten-free and vegan baking was a big thing at the Cake and Bake Show, which is fantastic, because everybody should be able to enjoy tea and cake, regardless of allergies or dietary requirements (although you still have to pay a little more for one of these bakes, which would suggest that they're still a bit of a speciality). There was lots of advice about adapting recipes to be vegan and gluten-free, particularly from Australian Bake Off judge Dan Lepard, so I'm seriously thinking about trying a variation on some standard recipes to try and tempt coeliacs and vegans with my cake. There will be no escape!
Naturally, both Olivia and I came away with bagfuls of goodies, both bought and free, so I thought I'd show you just what I bought. (One of the Cinnamon Tree Bakery cookies mysteriously disappeared before it could partake in its photo shoot, but I think I know who the culprit is...)
We had a great day at Earl's Court and I hope you enjoyed my return to 'what I call blogging' as much as I enjoyed doing the hard work for it!
Keep your eyes peeled for links on my many social networking pages (if everything is functioning as it ought to, there should be some links to the right-hand side of this post), because I'm hoping to have a Freshers' Week post or two up by the end of next week.
(: xx
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