Last Thursday I finally got round to attending my first Band of Bakers meet up. Band of Bakers is a baking group based in South East London, run by Gemma and Naomi who meet roughly every month to share their baking skills and eat a lot of cake. I’ve known Gemma for a few years now and ever since she launched Band of Bakers I’ve been meaning to go, but South East London seems so far away! When I got the email a few weeks ago to announce their 1st birthday party I knew I had to pull my finger out and get involved.
Every event has a different theme that all of the attendees have to bake something to and as this was a birthday party the theme was ‘celebration’. What’s great about a loose theme like this is that everyone interpreted it so differently! There was an incredible range of bakes, from magnificent layer cakes, tarts & macaroons to mini sausage rolls & celebration breads and of course it wouldn’t be a birthday party without some good old-fashioned chocolate cake.
Luckily, I had been warned of the inevitable over-indulgence of the evening so had a light lunch, but I was still totally overwhelmed by the amount on offer. I probably didn’t even manage to try a quarter of it, which is a little sad, though I did take some extras home for brunch the next day, which made me rather happy.
The event had a special guest for the evening in the form of baker, Dan Lepard. Now you don’t have to read many posts on this blog to notice that Dan’s recipes crop up rather a lot and I am a bit of a fan. I know that Gemma is also a fan, you only have to check out her Short & Sweet In South East London blog to see that, but had no idea she had invited him along. Now you’d think I would take this rare opportunity to introduce myself to my favourite baker, who’s books I refer to first when looking up anything, who’s sourdough book is almost permanently in my hand, but no. I turned into a total fan-girl and avoided him all evening. A couple of times I turned round to find him stood right by me talking to someone else and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I am such a loser sometimes.
Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about my bake for the evening. But I used the party to test run a recipe for another event last week, so I’ll tell you all about it in my next post.
Lauren Bakes 