Abi: Victoria Sponge

I had the day off when Abi made this one but popped in to sample the goods (all in the interests of keeping the blog up to date).

The first three things that I was told (after enquiring after the cake) were:

- "It's really good"
- "I scoffed three pieces"
- "Yeah, me too"

And I had to look quite hard to find a slice to sample. In the end, I found a bit which looked like it had been saved from the cake scavengers. A slice of cake should look like a thin triangle, but the pointy end had been cut off this piece (and eaten) so it was more of a trapezoid. Didn't stop it tasting bloody good though.

It was quite a nice change from a lot of the rich cakes we've had so far on cake friday. The sponge was light and the cream and berry filling was perfectly summery. I sort of felt like I should be having a glass of champagne with it for some reason. It was that sort of cake (and that sort of lovely, summer's day).

Another cake winner.

I'm liking the photography as well, courtesy of Lizel. Maybe all bakers should have photos of themselves next to their creations?

Jane: Banana Cake

We were all looking forward to this one. The cake debut from the data team.

And it turned out to be a banana cake, my favourite.

I loved the dense, moist interior and the just-right level of banana-y-ness (you know what I mean). I had a couple of pieces. And so did a few other people.

Have to say, I was a bit dubious about the lemon icing to begin with. I'm normally more a fan of the chocolate icing on a banana cake... but it worked surprisingly well. And to nut-phobic James's delight, the walnuts on top were only on top, so he could pick them off and give them to Emma.

Nice work Ms Sharp.

Emma: Banoffee Pie

Well, a rampant return to cake-creating form for the VW team came in the form of Banoffee pie from Emma.

It's technically not a cake, but more of a dessert, so I consulted with the board of cake (which means I asked Abi) and we agreed that just this once we'd let it go. Quite glad we did in the end because it was delicious way to end the week.

It was one of those cakes that you want to eat lots of, but you can't because it's so deliciously rich. It also makes you feel quite guilty, what with all the cream and bananas and caramel and chocolate... It also left me with a lingering desire for a double espresso for some reason.

The pic doesn't really do the layers of cream, banana and caramel on a biscuity base much justice so you'll have to imagine a bit on this one.

What will we do with our planner? Matt's cake from M&S

We put our faith in him. We really did. We even gave him a chance when he didn't bake the week before. But unfortunately he didn't pull through for us.

The cake from M&S was OK, but had that slightly funny bought cake taste to it. I guess it looked good though.

I should probably say that you can't complain really, he did bring us fudge as well. And some cake is better than no cake. But, well, you know?

I knew you'd understand.


In other news, it was Harsa's last Friday. She didn't bake a cake but she did bring in some biscuits. They were quite nice. Graham was leaving as well to go to Mexico, lucky bugger. He didn't bring biscuits though.

Matt: Empty Plate

Matt's eagerly anticipated planner cake never materialised today, because his supermarket was out of cake tins... but he'll be back next week

In its absence we just sat around looking at an empty plate for the afternoon, imagining how good it would be if we were eating cake.

Then we went home.

Competition?

who'd have thought that there could be two cake blogs in such close... proximity to each other:

http://ratemycake.typepad.com/

Let the cake-off begin.

Charlie: Chocolate Biscuit Cake

Trust Charlie to mix it up a bit. Firstly, Cake Friday comes a day earlier than expected. On Thursday. And I'll have to admit, I was a bit worried when I saw the cake in question, complete with VW logo in blue icing on the top. But by god it tasted good. Chocolate Biscuit Cake, I believe they call it, and when quizzed on the contents Charlie revealed that the secret ingredients were chocolate, butter, golden syrup, biscuits and mars bars. Just a small piece for me then.