The cake table before the locusts descended. *©CopperMangoPhotography
The Great Pink Bake Off Afternoon Tea Pop-Up
I’m humbled! It never ceases to amaze me how local business’ dig deep all in the name of charity. The Great Pink Bake Off Afternoon Tea Pop-Up came about after Breakthrough Breast Cancer’s launch of their latest campaign. Funny how an ethereal tendril of an idea can escalate into huge tentacles that refuse to let go of the foggy grey matter! Some would say foolishly, I bounced my thoughts off the lovely Leila Kean (who, like me, writes for Bite Magazine) and we hatched a plan. Everyone loves an afternoon tea and with The Great British Bake Off reaching its crescendo, why not jump into the sugary cake tin too? From this wee nugget, we grew a monster. While Leila panicked about ticket sales, I had faith in the Edinburgh cake crowd. Once we reached out target of fifty tickets sold, I panicked about the logistics and dear god, do we have enough cake? We had the venue (The Royal Scots’ Club); we had the tea (supplied by Eteaket); we had the cake stands (care of Andrew Wilson). To top it all, we had a very elegant MC – Eunice Olumide.
Eunice, Pretty in Pink
What could possibly go wrong? Well surprisingly enough, nothing too dramatic. We had a huge amount of cake and could have fed another twenty or thirty guests. We now know better for next year. Therefore, without further ado, I’ll let the cakes speak for the event. Images marked with * were taken by Paul Johnson of Copper Mango Photography and are his copyright.
You can’t have an afternoon tea without scones, jam and dollops of clotted cream!
A hundred pink scones – Breadwinner Bakery A hundred pots of clotted cream – Rodda’s A hundred spoons of plum jam – Knowes Farm Shop
Feta, courgette and chive muffins made by moi!
Sixty savoury muffins
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This vision in pink has a coconut base, topped with mascarpone mousse filled with fresh lychee, lime curd and confit raspberries.
Fifty pink entremets – Ross Baxter, Pâtissier
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Soft, fluffy marshmallows and buttery, crisp shortbread
Fifty pieces of shortbread – Chef Neil Forbes Fifty fluffy marshmallows – The Marshmallow Lady
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Strawberry and white chocolate cookies with extra glitz
Fifty sparkly strawberry and white chocolate cookies – Christiaan Venter
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Fragile, delicate and another addictive delight – macarons
Fifty macarons – Chef Craig Sandle
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Sticky toffee cupcakes with salted caramel frosting *©CopperMangoPhotography
Twelve cupcakes – Chef Mark Greenaway
A Bakers’ Dozen in no Particular Order
Red velvet cake from La Cerise
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This is Love Pure Cake’s famous Bakewell cake that is gluten free. Never dry always moist! *©CopperMangoPhotography
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Pretty cake with a pretty name, Raspberry Cloud cake from Tea at 94. *©CopperMangoPhotography
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No afternoon tea is complete without a classic – Manna House’s Vicky sponge!
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Rich, dark ginger cake with moreish frosting from Bon Papillon
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Gooey carrot cake that is one of Loudons’ signature cakes. *©CopperMangoPhotography
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Who can resist Edinburgh Larder brownies?
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Chocolate and rose
Chocolate and pistachio both from Earthy Foods
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Earl Grey loaf with bergamot icing. Fruit cake. Matcha tea and lemon drizzle cake. chocolate banana loaf with chocolate and peanut butter ganache.
My addition because I didn’t think we had enough!
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Fruity tarts from Falko, Scotland’s only German Konditormeister. *©CopperMangoPhotography
Seven tartlets – Falko Konditormeister
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A selection of savoury sarnies from the Royal Scots Club. *©CopperMangoPhotography
Five plates of sandwiches – Royal Scots Club
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Lip-puckering, zingy lemon tart by Falko.
One lemon tart – Falko Konditormeister
In case you are wondering what we did with the left over cakes, they went to a couple of good homes. A box of cake, scones, jam and cream went to a children’s charity and two boxes were delivered to the A and E at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
No charity event is ever complete without a raffle prize or two. Well we had more than a few.
This is our roll call of wonderful people and companies who did us so proud! Tor-na-Coille Hotel – An overnight stay including dinner. Come Cook With Me – A pink basket filled with homemade goodies, local cheese and other delicious delights. The Manna House Bakery – A shocking pink hamper to be filled with picnic items from the café. PDF Productions – Two Hogmanay Ball tickets Brasserie Galvin De Luxe – A voucher for a meal at the brasserie The Potting Shed – Three gift vouchers The Sun Inn – Three gift vouchers Gran Caffè – Afternoon tea for two at the Signet Library Anteaques – Voucher for tea and scones Ruth Clemens aka the Pink Whisk GBBO finalist Series 1– Signed copy of her book, Cake Making Miranda Gore Brown , GBBO finalist Series 1– Signed copy of her book, Biscuits Jo Wheatley, Winner of GBBO, Series 2 – Signed copy of her book, Home Baking ICE Store – Voucher Montpeliers – Voucher for fizzy afternoon tea at Tigerlily Aleksandra Diamante – Necklace Majestic Wine, Causewayside – bottle of wine Our thanks also go to the other unsung heroes who made our little pop-up a resounding success: The Royal Scots Club for the venue and staff Lee MacGregor, Mitchell MacGregor PR Sharon Wilson, Bite Magazine All the team at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Scotland for the inspiration. And finally, and by no means least, mahoosive thank you to everyone who came to eat cake, spent lots of dosh on the raffle and auction.
Your generosity made us
£1500!
© Lea Harris, Off the Eaten Track, 2013.
Off the Eaten Track 
Well done all involved. Great effort and brilliant achievement. It all looks mouthwateringly good.
Thanks Jax.
Can’t believe how much cake we had!
Lea
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