Chun Li vs Cammy, Cheetara vs She-Ra, Casey vs Jana. Of all the great girl-on-girl clashes in history, this one was surely the greatest to occur on January 24th, 2011. And that’s not hyperbole. Both of this week’s contestants have a dramatic history with Cake Club. Jana stormed into last year’s quarter finals before her over-ambitious banana based treats lost out to a classic Victoria sponge. On the other hand Casey.. oh yeah, Casey was disqualified for being a terrible cheat and colluding with her opponent to bring the competition into permanent disrepute.
BUT NO MATTER. Like the Christian church, Cake Club is a forgiving institution which places the joy of competition higher in its list of lofty, civilisation-promoting aims than the persecution of a wayward member for one silly, rash mistake committed in the flush of eager youth. This year we permitted Casey to re-enter, although vigorous anti-fraud operatives from HM Government were enlisted to check her entry carefully for any signs of untoward tampering.
But enough of this ancient history: on to the entries!
Casey's sponge on the left, Jana's banana extravaganza on the right
Condiments!
Jana did not disappoint her fans with another traditional recipe from Slovakia, comprising a strangely straight banana rolled into sponge with custard and rum cream. It was delicious and healthy, an uncommon but excellent combination. I must admit to being amused by the form of transportation; its unusual dimensions required something longer than the average cake tin. Perhaps she would have appreciated a cardboard tube, of which I have several since I started my [censored by the directors] business. Casey’s contribution was a simple, light lemon orange sponge with dusted icing sugar but she pulled out all the stops with both pouring cream and a lemon coulis to drizzle to taste. ”Some of which,” she confided in your faithful reporter, “ended up all over the inside of my handbag this morning”.
The voting was a tense time for both contestants, not least because the man reading the votes was none other than Andy, the man whose previous participation in Cake Club was not noted for its forthright honesty! Luckily adjudicator Stewart, shown right exhibiting the long arms of Cake Club law, was on hand to ensure the democratic process was more Abraham Lincoln than Robert Mugabe.
In the end, in the battle of the fruit, it was the zesty citrus zing of lemon orange that sliced through the yeilding flesh of bananas to hand victory to Casey, 9 votes to 5. She progresses to the next round and Jana, sadly, must wait for next year to wow us once more with her famous baking skills.
Next Monday is a first for Cake Club, but not for Powwownow – a three way! This one hopefully will not last as long as 24 hours and will contain considerably less rolling around on the floor in a duvet. Although you’re welcome to tweet in about it if you like.