Cake crumbs in Christchurch

By Katy Pullinger, May 24, 2013

If there’s something that will haul me out of the house on a rainy Sunday morning, it’s cake! So last weekend my husband and daughter were dragged into the car with a promise of sweet baked treats at the Great Christchurch Bake Weekend. The only time I’ve ever really visited Christchurch is to stand on a cold windy beach in support of my windsurfing husband, so it was nice to actually see some more of the area which is lovely.

The event was held down at the Quay in a great traditional British Fete styley, complete with helter skelter and hog roast. A packed weekend of cookery demos with Jo Wheatly (Great British Bake Off Winner 2011), Kirsty Maybank (Claridges Hotel) and festival patron Lesley Waters, Baking Competitions (no I didn’t enter, may be next year!) and stalls and stalls of what everyone was after, cake!

Here’s just a selection of the cakes on display and for sale.

Greedy Cakes

Strawberry Milkshake cupcakes from Fox’s Cupcake Co

Vanillapink Cakes

Owls by Vanillapink Cakes

The amazing Chanel Bag Cake by Vanillapink Cakes

If you are on the scout for a great cake place in Dorset then try some of these guys.

www.greedycakes.co.uk

www.vanillapink.info

www.foxs-cupcake.co.uk

And there was plenty more on show to keep anyone happy if you weren’t so bothered about batter. You’ve gotta love Night Rider!

Family days like this really are fantastic, especially free ones like this, there’s always a sense of community and Britishness! I left the Great Bake weekend feeling inspired to try something new when I got home too, so I thought I would try one of the more unusual ingredients that I saw there.

So I found a recipe online for Zucchini and Orange cake! ( I know it’s courgette, but most of the recipes seem to come from Australia so I will go with them!) This is the recipe I used, allrecipes.co.uk. I tweaked it to my own taste of course, which meant adding a few extra spices like nutmeg. I also split the batter between an 8′ cake tin and a batch of muffins. As for the icing, I just didn’t feel right not making a cream cheese frosting, so that’s exactly what I did, with added Orange zest and juice. If you’re wondering what it tastes like, well the answer is pretty damn good. The Zucchini/courgette has the same effect as carrot, it makes it really lovely and moist. Why not give it a try.

So here’s my end result. Pretty pleased with it….nomnomnom

How about you get baking this weekend and try a recipe you haven’t tried before.