Mrs Birks Blogs

With all our trips around Norfolk, you may be wondering if I've had time to do any baking recently.  The answer is: a bit! With the return of the Bake Off, who can resist a bit of cake baking and with a visit from friends a few weekends ago, I had the perfect excuse to bake something yummy. When I'm baking, I tend to stick to a few tried and tested cakes that I know everyone will like but this weekend, I decided to move away from the norm and try something from The Clandestine Cake Company Cookbook, which my sister bought me for my last birthday (I notice there is also a new book out).  Isn't the cover beautiful?  The recipes inside are too! I love the idea of a secret cake club where everyone bakes and shares their baking.  This book has a range of recipes from Lynn Hill and other CCC members, including classics, celebration and creative cakes.  Some recipes are themed, for example a Blue Velvet cake which was made to go with a film noir themed evening...

And so Ouse Fest has finished for this year but not before we went two more local events: Mepal Outdoor Centre Family Fun Day and Denver Sluice Fun Day. Mepal Fun Day With oddly hot/cold weather the family fun day started for us with a picnic whilst looking at some crazy kids doing the high ropes.  Our oldest was too young to have a go at this but did instead sign up for the Trust Trail which involved a hard hat, a blind fold and a trail of obstacles.  Two dirty knees later and a trek through the woods, she had a sense of satisfaction having crawled through tiny spaces following a rope wire around the assault course. For our youngest, who was too young for almost everything, the bouncy castle was his favourite activity and because it wasn't hugely busy when we got to it, he was able to spend a good while bouncing about.  He did listen to some of the storytelling and watched the Morris Dancing but as an active young man he found it hard to keep still which meant he ke...