Coffee Walnut Cake for The Melbourne Cake Club - Be Our Guest!

The Melbourne Cake Club met last night at Berlin Bar, tucked away in a laneway and up several flights of stairs in the Melbourne CBD.  Five members of the Cake Club and three guests (Tamara, Judy and Marilyn) braved the chilly weather to drink cocktails and share cake.

Finding Berlin Bar is a challenge in itself, as it doesn't exactly scream its presence.  Once you have found it, even then, you have to ring a doorbell and wait outside until the staff let you in.  

You enter Berlin Bar through the "West":

but in a separate room out the back, you enter the "East":

Berlin Bar has an extensive range of cocktails, both cold and warm (flaming, even).  I ordered the cocktail of the week - the Seemann Getrank (literally "Seaman's Drink"), described by Berlin Bar as follows:

In the 19th century, sailors were suffering of scurvy due to a lack of vitamin C while on long voyages without fresh supplies of fruits and vegetables. Surgeon General Sir Gimelette from the Royal Navy find a way to fight this disease and to make his crew happy, he has created a [alcoholic] drink made of gin and lime juice [full of vitamin C]. This week, to celebrate world gin day, Berlin is modernising the original recipe from Sir Gimelette with Botanica Gin mixed with Lillet Blanc, Angostura bitters, agave, fig and cinnamon; to create a botanical sweet and sour drink.  Get on board sailor! 

(Photograph courtesy of the Berlin Bar Facebook page)

Onto the cakes!  I made Nigella Lawson's Coffee Walnut Cake from Kitchen.  I forgot that I had made this once before, but no matter - it is a real winner of a cake.

Dalya brought a delicious chocolate layer cake sandwiched with ganache and with cream and pomegranate seeds on top:

Nicole made a 5-layer chocolate cake sandwiched with vanilla buttercream, sprayed black on the outside, and topped with a white chocolate ganache "drip" which was then painted gold with rosewater and gold lustre dust:

Judy brought an apple and almond upside down cake:

Abi brought along a fun cake that I, as a sweet tooth, adored - a Skittles pinata cake with Skittles syrup, Skittles icing and Skittles baked in the middle:

Alex brought along some Italian biscuits that he says are good with alcohol:

Here are the cake slices so you can see inside all of the cakes:

It was another fun meeting of the Melbourne Cake Club.  Next month's theme is Savoury Cakes - join us if you would like to!

Berlin Bar

2/16 Corrs Lane

Melbourne VIC 3000

Ph: (03) 9639 3396