Hello!

Wow, has it been a long time since I've written an update. My apologies for that. Life has been, shall we say, overwhelming. We moved back to Arizona, my dog broke a canine tooth and needed a root canal and titanium crown, then developed pancreatitis, then I had to have two root canals retreated, all while raising a toddler, trying to settle in and search for a job! While all that was happening I organized the Phoenix chapter of the Clandestine Cake Club (read about it here: http://clandestinecakeclub.co.uk/).

I had read about the Clandestine Cake Club on NPR's blog in May of this year: (Why Britain Has Gone Mad About Baking). I went to the website and saw that you could create a club in your area. I contacted Lynn Hill, the woman who started it all and got the Phoenix Chapter set up. In July we had our first event with ten attendees. The theme for July was chocolate. I decided to make a recipe from Rose's Heavenly Cakes, Miette's Tomboy.  Miette is a bakery is San Francisco. 

The cake had a nice crumb and a deep dark chocolate flavor. While I liked the flavor of the vanilla mousseline that was in the book recipe, I found making it bothersome. It ends up being just an Italian meringue icing. It is the cake with the pink icing. The icing recipe didn't make a sufficient amount for proper decorating, so I filled the layers with a raspberry filling.

Our next event is tomorrow. The theme is summer cakes, flavors and recipes that you associate with summer parties, picnics and BBQs. I've made a Pink Lemonade Cake from King Arthur Flour.  I'll do a write up on that after tomorrow's event!