My last 'Clandestine Cake Club'
You may have noticed this blog isn't being updated as much as it used to be and that's because I'm getting way too busy now! As much as I love running the Shoreditch branch of the Clandestine Cake Club and reviewing afternoon tea, it's becoming apparent that with my job and the fact that I'm writing a book about the museum's collection (as well as starting a CILT course) I just can't dedicate as much time to it as I'd like! I'm still blogging a lot, although mainly from the page I set up for my museum which describes the conservation of the specimens.
So with all that in mind I decided to make my last ever CCC a 'Death Cafe' themed event, since death is the area I work in and is very close to my heart. Death Café is a concept created in Sweden as a way for people to talk about death and have their questions answered in a relaxing environment with nice cake, comforting hot tea and good company. It's not a bereavement support group, more a facilitated discussion.
Death Café events will have a qualified person to lead the discussion, and many of them will be therapists and bereavement counsellors or similar. I am a qualified person working in the death industry but in a different way: physical rather than mental. As a Mortuary Technician I'm able to answer questions about the aspects of death which affect the body etc rather than the emotional impact, so that's what we focussed on last night.
First I have to say the cakes were amazing! I was so impressed with the effort everyone made. Look at the ones below!:
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| By Louise |
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| 'Masque of the Red Death' By Rebecca |
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| Amanda's 'Scheele's Green Arsenic' Cakes |
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| Kirstin's 'Death By Carrot' Cake with grave saying 'Fluffy'! |
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| By Louise (well, mainly Steven) |
I opted to make a 'GingerDead Men' cake which was sticky ginger sponge decorated with white chocolate. The GingerDead Men are made using a cookie cutter and stamp which I purchased but I have to say it was really difficult to find a recipe to make these work properly - it's a shame they don't have a 'suggested' recipe on the box. I've had a lot of trial and error and a lot of deformed and decapitated Gingerbread Men on my hands over the last few weeks! I'll post the recipe for the biscuits on this blog in autumn if people would like it.
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| My GingerDead Men |
The links to the Death Café and CCC sites are in the above text and if you'd like any more information then do get in touch. I won't be holding any more myself but hopefully a Death café event will be a part of a larger conference I'm holding at Barts Pathology Museum in the new year. In the same was as Death Café, the event will be a chance for people to come together and comfortable/intellectually discuss death in a relaxed environment.
The more we know about death, the more we can become comfortable with it. Knowledge is power and can help us understand life and death. In fact, in certain circumstances, knowledge can help us to delay death - for example knowing basic first aid and knowing how to look after your body or how to spot signs of illness. All these things are important to discuss and that's what Death Café can help facilitate. (For more cake and death related info see my article on Funeral Biscuits entitled Mourning Coffee) xox
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| Cross Bones Cake by Helen |
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| "3 Milk Mexican Day of the Dead" Cake by Jordi |
