Clandestine Cake Club - Bury St Edmunds - Saturday 18th January

This month the Bury St Edmunds Clandestine Cake Club returned to a venue we visited in December 2012, although it has since been taken over by new owners and renamed. Cafe del Mar, run by Maria Crick, offers a wonderful, mediterranean-inspired menu which includes tapas and sharing platters aswell as paninis, soups and a selection of very tempting cakes. Maria also organises various themed events such as her upcoming Valentine's evenings.

I also discovered today that they were the first cafe in Suffolk to support "Suspended Coffees", a great way to give to charity. Have a look here for more details.

In the spirit of those virtuous New Year's resolutions that many of us make in January, the theme this month was "Healthy(ish) Cakes" with an emphasis on the ish. Obviously you can only take cakes so far down the healthy road but everyone came up trumps, bringing cakes that were both delicious and at least heading in the general direction of wholesome.

Here's what we tucked in to...

Rene's Lime, Yoghurt & Olive Oil "Happy Cake"

Jane's Fresh Orange and Passion Fruit Cake

Sophie's Raspberry Sponge Cake

Amelia's "Healthy" Chocolate Cake (made with oil instead of butter)

Megan's Chocolate & Beetroot Cake

Tamar's Wholemeal Banana Loaf

Trish's Greek Honey, Yoghurt & Pistachio Cake

My Overnight Tea Loaf

Thanks again to everyone at Cafe del Mar for making us feel so welcome. Don't forget to check out their Facebook page or follow them on Twitter.

For more details of the Clandestine Cake Club have a look at the website here.