We take a peek behind the scenes of the Clandestine Cake Club
We celebrate National Cake Week with a chat to the club’s founder, Lynn Hill.
REGULAR readers of the “Friend” will know that we’re big cake fans here in the office, so when National Cake Week comes around (the first week in October), it’s always an occasion of note.
The week-long celebration of all things sponge was the invention of Lynn Hill, enthusiastic amateur baker and founder of the Clandestine Cake Club, which brings people together through a shared love of baking.
“It was the beginning of the ‘secret tea room’ movement in London that started it all. I thought I would like to do something similar in Yorkshire – in Leeds – and base it around baking.
“The idea is to organise a gathering that folk would only get to know the location of when they booked a place.”
“I set up a little blog and then a Twitter account and then I thought, I will invite people along. It was all new then so we weren’t even sure if we were allowed to do it, though it was never meant to be a business.
“I would invite people, people would book and when they arrived, they had delicious home-made cakes and home-made scones and sandwiches.
“After a month or two of listening to all the conversation around the table, I thought, well, how can I do something similar and get people together without me doing all the baking?
“So I went on to social media, on to Twitter, and I said to my followers, ‘If I created a cake club, would you come?’
“And I got quite a pleasant surprise from people saying, ‘Oh, yes, I’d join, I’d join’!”
As the location was a secret until you booked, Lynn decided to call her Cake Club “Clandestine”.
“Slowly but surely, it grew from there.
“I met up with Lea Harris, who was one of the first contestants on ‘The Great British Bake Off’. We did an event in Edinburgh, which was picked up by social media. Then, before I knew it, I was on ‘The One Show’.
“Within six months there was a Cambridge club and it just took off.”
Lynn’s cake club emerged just as the nation was rediscovering the joy of baking through TV’S “Bake Off” – the timing was perfect. Now there are Clandestine Cake Clubs all around the world, and Lynn oversees all of them.
“I have about a hundred and sixty – the majority of them are in the UK but we do have quite a few overseas. It’s very popular in the USA. In fact, it’s almost as big there as it is here.
“Often UK members move overseas and either join one or start one.”
It’s a great way to meet friends of a like mind.
“We have almost twenty thousand registered members worldwide.”
Despite beginning around the same time as the “Bake Off”, Lynn makes it clear that the similarites are limited – most importantly, there is nothing competitive about the clubs.
“I don’t want people to think the cake they are baking isn’t good enough, because it is. We are non-competitive – it’s more of a social thing.
“We have different themes to inspire people, but even then people don’t have to adhere to them. It’s just for inspiration. Some people will see it as a challenge
and other people won’t, so I just say to people, just keep baking your favourite cake. It’s not a problem.”
But the one rule is that it has to be a cake. No traybakes or cupcakes allowed!
“However, once a year we ditch the rules and you can bake whatever you want, just to get it out of your system! Usually around Christmas.”
Despite its unmitigated success, the CCC is still very much Lynn’s project.
“It’s just me at the helm of it. My son will publish the write-ups and events. Each club has organisers who update the website with all their event details and blog posts, and my son and I give it a once-over before publishing it.
“The money to fund it comes mainly from a couple of cookbooks we’ve done.”
With clubs in so many countries, you would hope Lynn has a chance to tour the network she’s created – not so, as the homegrown operation is financially dependent on her book sales and her pension.
“I do often go to the one in Leeds, though. I’ve been to a couple in Spain and Vienna, too.”
As a reward for all the hard work she puts in, Lynn is buoyed up by the positive comments and messages she received from members.
“It’s when people have e-mailed me over the years or sent me little greetings cards to tell me what it means to them to be members. Folks have made lifelong friendships.
“They move to the area, don’t know anybody and say, ‘Thank heavens for the Cake Club’ because they meet some really good friends.”
Despite the roaring success, Lynn was never a particularly avid baker herself.
“I would bake and take things in to work, though.”
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“I look at it as being team-building! It’s amazing how baking can bring people together, whether you have a family gathering or are at work. The word ‘cake’ is often mentioned at some point in most conversations.”
It certainly is in the “Friend”! n