Cakey Perry in pictures

Detail from Nevie Pie's Cakey Perry cake

Cakey Perry, the 'high tea to melt your popsicle' on Saturday was great, sugary fun. The afternoon of cakes and confections put together by cake artist Miss Cakehead and inspired by Katy Perry's California Gurls video and the candyland-on-acid created by its art director Will Cotton (if you haven't seen it, do check it out on YouTube). Even the teapots contained ginger ale rather than tea. My teeth are still jangling, though that didn't stop us eating some of Great British Bake Off winner Edd Kimber's delicious post-box red macarons from our take-home box this afternoon.

Here's the menu and some pics from Cakey Perry, which was held at Prangsta in New Cross. With thanks to Miss Cakehead and Leishie Loves Cake for baking us some special gluten-free cupcakes...

The Cakey Perry menu, copyright Miss Cakehead

Yes, it's a tablecloth made of Love Hearts. Want. One.

The amazing technicolour cake of many colours.

Mini Cakey Perry and Snoop Dogg cupcakes from Buttercream Bakery.

Gluten-free cupcakes made by Leishe Loves Cake.

Nevie Pie's Cakey Perry Cake.

Cakey close up.

Another cakey close up.

Molly Bakes' Cakey Perry cake pops and rainbow cake push ups.

Recipe: Raspberry and dark chocolate muffins

Raspberry and dark chocolate muffins

This is a weird way to start a post about muffins, but...I'm really not a fan.

Let me qualify that.

I love homemade cheese muffins, warm blueberry muffins - the deep purple berry juices staining the crumb, and I'm rather partial to a worthy muffin. You know the ones, as much about the grains as they are the naughtiness.

But... such muffins are rare treats. Fresh homemade comforts lost in a sea of mediocre shop-bought muffinery. Most commercial muffins feel stodgy and ennervating. Double-chocolate 'treats' with the consistency and flavour of compacted soil. A dieting friend once told me that one coffee shop chocolate muffin equalled her entire 'Points' for the day, and it was that muffin plus a stick of celery, or three well-balanced meals, I've never been able to eat a [insert famous coffee chain] muffin since. If I'm going to commit calorie Hari Kiri, it's got to be for something delicious. Something memorable. Not something 'feh.' Even in independent cafes where the flat whites flow and everything is baked fresh on site, the muffins are normally the last thing I go for.

Until...running late for work one day last week, I skipped breakfast at home and popped into The Table on Southwark Street. The Table is a fantastic little cafe and restaurant which buzzes all day. The coffee is Monmouth, the displays of fresh salads are Ottolenghi-worthy and the team behind the open counter and kitchen Know Their Stuff. There were two large muffin pans on the counter, their deep wells filled with large golden muffins, the tops spilling over the bulging cake cases. It was time to reconsider the muffin.

Back at my desk, I took the dark chocolate and raspberry muffin from its paper bag, pulled the muffin top away from the cake and took a bite. Oh My God. The crumb was so soft and warm, with huge chunks of dark chocolate and fat berries. The muffin top had a thick crust, crowned with a slight crunch of granulated sugar. It made my Wednesday and remains the best muffin I have ever eaten.

I've tried to recreate that muffin from memory. The spelt flour makes it a slightly 'worthier' bake than The Table's version and adds a little more texture and nuttiness (do remember to sift it though) and the recipe is my own - an edible homage. In less modest moments, I like to think of them as the second best muffins I've ever eaten...

Raspberry and dark chocolate muffins

250g white spelt flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp baking powder
150g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks
150g raspberries
100g golden caster sugar
2 free-range eggs, beaten
150ml vegetable oil
100g butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp granulated sugar, to sprinkle

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C and line a 12-hole muffin tray with muffin cases.

Sift the spelt flour and mix with the bicarb and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.

Stir in the sugar, chocolate chunks and raspberries.

Add the beaten eggs, oil, vanilla extract and the melted butter and stir with a large metal spoon just until all the ingredients are combined.

Fill each muffin case 2/3 full and sprinkle the tops with a little granulated sugar. Bake for 20-25 mins or until golden.

Cool on a wire rack and eat while still warm and the dark chocolate is still melted and cosy inside the muffins.

Where food comes from: blackcurrants

Ever wondered where blackcurrants are grown or where the mere 10% of British blackcurrants not destined to become Ribena berries end up? I've written a producer feature on Pixley Berries, a small blackcurrant producer based in Herefordshire, for the July issue of my alma mater magazine, Waitrose Kitchen.

Photos are by the brilliant Mark Read.

Click here for a read.

Friday Find: Shoreditch Festival tea towel

Shoreditch Festival tea towel

What souvenirs do you bring back from a summer festival? Precious 'I was there' laminates and wristbands? A quasi-African carving that seemed like a stylish buy at 12am when you were high on cider and Vampire Weekend? Trench foot?

If you're heading to the Shoreditch Festival (today until 24th July 2011), make sure you pick up one of these exclusive tea towels. The official Shoreditch Festival tea towel features the festival's pigeon mascots going for a swim at the 'Shoreditch pigeon pool' which bears a striking resemblance to London Fields Lido. Pick up one of these exclusive tea towels for £5 at the festival or from Waterhouse restaurant in Shoreditch.

The festival includes a floating cinema, a food market, a 'floating forest' and 3 days of gigs along the Regents Canal. And it's free!

Friday Find: HAM mugs, tea towels and aprons + pop-up shop

HAM teatowels, £8.50 each

A pig on a scooter...not something you see everyday. Sadly. But it could be if you buy one of these delightful tea towels, mugs or aprons from HAM. The collection, which also includes greeting cards and prints, is the brainchild of designer Jo Robinson who trained as a fine artist. Jo grew up on a farm and once had a pet pig named Primrose.




HAM aprons, £16 


"HAM captures unexpected moments from the contented lives of a pig, a horse and a rabbit," says Jo. I love the witty silhouettes - a bunny on a trampoline, the pig on a rocking horse, a horse watering the lawn. It's like a benign Animal Farm.

HAM mugs, £9 each

HAM gets two thumbs (or should that be pig's trotters?) up for supporting British craftsmen. The mugs are made by a Stoke-on-Trent pottery, the cards by a family-run press in Herefordshire and the fabrics for the aprons and teatowel are made in Lincolnshire.

Stop by HAM's pop-up shop at 1.11 Kingly Court, Soho between 14th July and 14th August, or visit http://www.hammade.com/. You can also find HAM on Twitter @hamlikes.