Cake Club Letter November

Dear Cake Club Member,

Do you remember when Cadbury’s used to make a chocolate bar with rum and raisins (was it called Old Jamaica?). I think it had a flashy gold and red coloured wrapping, possibly featuring ‘Ahh, Jim lad’ -type pirates. Despite having a real sweet tooth, as a child I never cared for it, probably as the alcohol made it ‘taste funny’. My palate is a bit more sophisticated these days and I reckon the combination of raisins soaked in 40% proof Jamaican rum and dark Belgian chocolate in this cake is a real winner.

How are you planning to celebrate Christmas this year? Unlike me, you’ve probably not even begun to think about it yet, but I’ve had little else on my mind for the past six months. The recent economic down turn has impacted on most of us – no world cruise or Aston Martin for me this year, that’s for certain! It’s not what I’ll be having for Christmas dinner, nor what I’m going to be giving my children and grandchildren this year (as usual, that’ll be a last minute dash to the shops on Christmas Eve no doubt) that’s been bothering me. No, what I’ve been fretting about is how our customers will react to the current recession. Does a ‘credit crunch Christmas’ mean people will cut back on their spending on food this year? A Christmas cake is hardly a necessity, so will our customers want their usual cakes and puddings this year? Our rich fruit products need three months to mature properly, which means of course that we need to make them well in advance - we can’t wait until we get the orders and then bake them. A crystal ball would’ve been handy back in early summer when we started baking for Christmas. Unfortunately I don’t have one of those so I’ve simply had to go with my instincts – fingers crossed I’ve got it right., or I know what all my relatives will be getting as presents from me this year!

Icing

I've been taking some photos to use for our Cake Club Christmas card. I've used my children again! We had a brilliant time playing with cakes and icing sugar and I thought you might like to see a few of the ones we aren't using!

Dear Cake Club Member, October 2008

Things have certainly turned autumnal around here, decidedly cooler and high time for the return of our ever popular ginger cake. On my recent walks over the surrounding hills I’ve noticed how the harvest is finally completed, albeit considerably later than usual due to the dreadfully wet summer we’ve endured. The bales of straw have all been gathered and the stubble ploughed. Cultivators and seed drills have followed the plough and sewn next year’s crops, leaving many of the fields with the neat and tidy look of a freshly-raked seed bed.

In addition, a few fairly chilly nights have encouraged the leaves on the horse chestnut and field maple to turn to various shades of yellow and red, with the oak and ash showing signs of soon doing the same. The blackberries on the hedgerows are past their best now, but it seems to have been a bumper year for fruit and many of the gardeners in the village have placed boxes of surplus apples and pears on the pavements, offering their produce free to good homes. I do my bit to help and stuff a couple of apples in my pocket as I set off on my evening ramble. I always take the same route, up over Windmill Hill, round behind Compton Wynyates, along the edge of Bluebell Wood and back down Lady Elizabeth’s Hill. Although the route is always repeated, the journey is never the same for me.

There is something new and different to enjoy each time. Whether it is observing the change in the seasons, the advance in the agricultural year or, best of all, the encounters with wildlife – buzzards, rooks and rabbits are virtual certainties, hares, foxes and deer rarer treats.
On my most recent walk it was a species I generally try to avoid that provided the high point. As I walked along the margin of a recently sown field of winter wheat, gritting my teeth in the face of a very cold wind, I became aware of an old, retired farmer I sometimes nod a greeting to as he exercises his dog along this same section of my route. This time he and I were keeping level pace together, separated just by the roadside hedge. Up close, I noticed his face was weathered to a shade not dissimilar to the caramel-coloured earth I was walking on, and both he and the old collie had an unhurried look about them that said they too were enjoying the autumn evening. “A bit nippy tonight” I said. “Arr” he agreed “’ers a cold blow, but you’m got the berra soide o’ th‘edge”. Even if I was on the better side of the hedge it was decidedly cold so we parted with our more customary, silent nods.

Not sure why I enjoyed this meeting so much. Maybe it was a welcome reminder that a few genuine Warwickshire characters, the kind of people I grew up with, remain in this area that I love so much – we’ve not been entirely overrun by well-heeled commuters from London or Birmingham after all. Or maybe it’s just that I’m turning into Rambling Syd Rumpo, another colourful character from my youth!

Buy this months Cake Club cake Ginger to warm you all up.

Julian Day

I think Liff maybe has to much time on her hands. She created this little gem because she found a fairy size cake board. Although you can't tell from the picture its, tinselled, ribboned and glittered just like its bigger brother! Tragically micro cake isn't for sale. I can't wait to see her mini heart shaped brownies come valentines day.

Charity Cake Praise

Its so lovely to get these messages...

My sister just received her ‘charity cake’ as a house warming gift from me. That was quick I only ordered it yesterday. This was her text just now to me…

Wow the cake arrived! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I’ve just opened the box, wow! I can’t eat that! It’s beautiful! Come round after work for a slice. Love Jenny x

So going by that I think she loved it. Thank you. You have just made me favourite sis! :-)

Order your charity cake and tin here and be best sibling/friend/etc

Grumpy Old Man

As well as cracking on with Christmas baking we've been busy sending out this month's Cake Club cake. For September our members will be receiving an Almond Fruit cake, which most people will know as a Dundee cake. I was interested to discover ad that way) that the recipe has been around since 15th century and was said to have been developed to please Mary Queen of Scots who didn't care for the cherries found in rich fruit cakes of the time. Not sure if that is true or not but it's a nice story anyway. The name Dundee cake and the distinctive almond decoration didn't appear till 19th century when the famous Scottish marmalade making company based in that city, Keiller & Sons. began making them. It started as a way of keeping their workforce busy when the Seville oranges they used were unavailable and they soon discovered it was a handy way of keeping their workforce busy when the Seville oranges they used were unavailable and they soon discovered it was a handy way using up excess peel.

A hectic week included the usual last minute scramble to get the website updated to match with the mailout of our new autumn/winter brochure, which should be landing on customers' doormats this weekend. Why is it that every time you need one of these techy guys to sort something in a hurry they're away snowboarding or jumping out of airplanes or something similar? Whenever I've called in to see our tame geeks in person they seem to be so laid back as to be almost comatose, yet as soon as they they leave in the office they turn into action men. Just wish they'd show the same kind of energy at work occasionally!

Party.

This week has mostly been spent working our way through Celebration cake orders. With so many birthdays in August we are sending our deliscious birthday cakes out in growing numbers. Alices favourite Meg Rivers cake is the Celebration sponge and as a treat Liffy made her one of her own - which we all helped her to eat. Liffy has also been working on Celebration cakes for various family members, youngest sister Nancy was 19 this week and Liffy made her a stunning 'special edition' duck egg blue cake and my daughter Poppy, and husband Leo are having a joint birthday party in a weeks time for which Liffy has been commissioned once again. I'll put up some pics if the cakes last long enough! Don't forget us if you are celebrating this month and enjoy the sunshine between the showers. (ideally a weeks notice for celebration cakes, in sponge, fruit and chocolate £39.95 16 portions)

Christmas Cakes

The baking of our Christmas cakes has already started, so they have plenty of time to mature and be at their best for Christmas. Alice & I spent today taking the iced cakes from the kitchen and finishing the decoration with hand glittered stars, as well as tying ribbons and tinsel around them. Next we greaseproof and bubble wrap them for protection. I love this sort of work, as each is done by hand its a calming process if a little odd when its July and roasting outside - the Christmas smells come early here!

Cake Club June

Alice enjoyed writing last months Cake Club letter so much that I insisted it was my turn now. I’m Jess, the eldest and bossiest of the four daughters and I feel my skills are especially important within the Meg Rivers team. I would say essential on a Monday and Friday morning, as it’s my first job, after dropping my daughter Poppy off at nursery (run by my Auntie Penny – this family gets everywhere!) to make tea and coffee for the crew. This morning, whilst I was still eating breakfast, - I received a panic phone call from Dad, who’s voice was a little trembly, announcing that the staff canteen (a sink, a fridge, and a kettle) was out of ground coffee, and would I please collect some on my way in to work?

I’m sure it’s the same in work places across the country but it’s no easy job fulfilling the tea/coffee making role here. Liffy has to have Lady Grey, Alice and I Earl Grey, Dad has all caffeine products without milk and insists on his special mug special. Mike just has to have his quickly!

In our team meeting last week the tea/coffee/snack implementation took almost as long to organise as the meeting itself. Dad always gets grumpy around coffee time as we are surrounded by delicious cakes and traybakes and yet we end up eating M&Ms – didn’t stop him finishing off the pack of course.

If you want to find out more about cake club - click here http://www.megrivers.com/cakes_in_detail.php?product=47

Meg Rivers & Action Against Hunger

We got this fab email from Milo about our support of the Action Against Hunger campaign at Taste London.

For the second successive year, Meg Rivers has provided Action Against Hunger with tremendous support at Taste of London firstly by baking as well as delivering over 3,000 slices of their delicious cakes – all donated absolutely free of charge – for us to sell in benefit of the charity and secondly by supporting our high profile cake competition at the festival which saw top chefs such as Pascal Aussignac and Aldo Zilli fight it out with restaurant critics such as Charles Campion and Tom Parker Bowles. Aussignac ended up the victor but was nevertheless no match for Mike, Meg Rivers’ very own baker, whose extraordinary creation did most justice to the theme of the competition: the 10^th Anniversary of our Restaurants Against Hunger campaign.

As I said, Meg Rivers support for us has just been great, not only in terms of helping us publicise our work and thereby raising awareness of what we do but also in terms of generating funds for our life-saving programmes around the world. Indeed, fundraising-wise this was, without doubt, our best Taste of London ever. We raised an exceptional £6,700 all in all and approximately half of this can be accounted for by sales of Meg Rivers’ delectable brownies, flap jacks and sumptuous cherry and almond cake.

And just so you know, Action Against Hunger works in over 45 of the world’s poorest countries. Put simply, we provide for people’s immediate needs when food is scarce and just as importantly, provide families and small communities with the seeds, tools and support they need to build a sustainable future. The support Meg Rivers has given us at Taste will help us in these two areas. To find out more about us or to enquire about ways in which you can personally get involved, please visit www.aahuk.org or simply email me on m.douglas@aahuk.org

Thanks.
Milo Douglas
Community & Outreach Manager - Action Against Hunger

Liffys first iced cake leaves the premises

Liffys first hand iced celebration cake has left he premises and is on its way to another happy customer. Lets hope this is the first of many!

Balloons at Blackwell

I arrived this morning to look out from desk and see a fantastic hot air balloon land in the field across from our bakery. Not cake related I know but just a lovely thing to see first thing in the morning. I wish I'd had my camera with me - next time!

Action Against Hunger Event

We're (well Mike and Liffy are really) madly baking 3000 slices of flapjack, brownie and cherry cake for Action Against Hunger at the Taste London Event 19th-22nd June. Mike will also be providing guidance in a celebrity chef cake decorating competition. Remember to check back here for images from the event.

Monday Mornings

The start of a new week here which means downloading the orders placed online at the weekend and Mike and Liffy are busy baking for the week. As we have our (first!) cup of Earl Grey tea of the day we start to look at the Christmas brochure for 2008... We're hoping to get this done-and-dusted by the end of the month!

What we do

Meg Rivers' interest in baking began as a child in the family owned teashop. Always passionate about healthy eating, she later started baking cakes for her children, using only natural ingredients. Friends and neighbours began asking her to bake cakes for them too and requests to send them as gifts overseas gave her the idea to turn her hobby into her career. Soon the kitchen of her home proved insufficient to cope with demand and the business moved to a picturesque bakery in the Warwickshire village of Middle Tysoe.

Over the ensuing years the business continued to grow, gaining awards and plaudits along the way, and now serves thousands of mail order customers worldwide. Following Meg Rivers' untimely death in January 2001, ownership of the business passed to Julian Day, a family friend and former colleague, and dad to 4 girls, me (Jess 30), Liff (28), Alice (23) and Nancy (19)

In 2002 the business moved to a brand new bakery in the nearby village of Blackwell. Baking continues using Meg Rivers' original recipes and methods and with the same commitment to producing wholesome and delicious foods. "We use only the best available ingredients, locally sourced where possible" Says Julian "We don't add any artificial flavourings, colourings or preservatives. Cakes are made in small batches and every cake is finished and decorated by hand."

Just over 3 years ago Alice started to work for dad in the office and I joined just after Christmas as a graphic designer and extra pair or hands where-ever needed. More recently Liff (Felicity officially!) has taken on the role of apprentice baker under master baker Mike.