The first rule of Cake Club is...eat cake!

Fiona Murphy runs Cake Club at The George in Cavendish once a month. (Image: Archant)

“Do you want to come to Cake Club?”

Fiona Murphy runs Cake Club at The George in Cavendish once a month. (Image: Archant)

I tell you what, Fiona Murphy of Cavendish-based Moo Moo Cakes, didn’t have to ask me twice. I was in the car like a shot.

The club, held on the second Friday of each month at The George pub in the village, has gone down a storm, uniting people over cake and a cuppa.

My eyes practically pop from my head as Fiona, who won Best Newcomer at the EADT Suffolk Food and Drink Awards in 2016, unpackages this month’s cakes.

There’s always a theme (last month it was Italian). On the day I visit America is the focal point. The triple layered beauties are staggeringly gorgeous. There’s a simple spiced pumpkin cake layered with orange buttercream and covered in pumpkin seeds. An organic vanilla sponge is packed with crushed cookie buttercream and topped with Oreos. The gluten-free Mississippi mud cake looks so good I want to smoosh my face in it. And I think about slinking off around the back with the salted caramel peanut cake – Fiona’s take on a Snickers bar.

I really shouldn’t be left alone with this much cake, I advise the baker. But it’s not long before customers arrive, including regular attendee Chrissy, who’s only missed one Cake Club session since it began in May. “I save up all my calories for monthly Cake Club,” she laughs. “Everytime I come I have a new favourite flavour. It’s between the Ferrero Rocher cake and the salted toffee popcorn cake. All her cakes are completely moist and you can taste there’s no rubbish in them.”

And that’s totally key to the success of Moo Moo Cakes. She really does only use the best ingredients, including organic raw cacao in chocolate cakes for the richest, darkest flavour. “I love using a mix of organic, seasonal and local, like organic butters and flours. And I don’t use any refined white sugars, it’s all natural and unrefined. It’s about enhancing flavours in different areas. So today I’ve got spiced pumpkin cake using root veg and spices and organic vanilla to give a great flavour without adding unnecessary sugar.”

You’ve obviously missed American week, but themed Cake Club sessions coming up should include an autumnal one in November and Christmas in December, with Fiona always trying to offer something new and exciting each time.

In September, for example, to celebrate the kids going back to school she made prosecco cake with prosecco infused buttercream, raspberry jam and fresh raspberries.

Whatever the cake, the keen cook says she loves the way the club brings people together. “It’s a really lovely opportunity to show people what I can do. And as a mum it’s nice to have a place you can get together. We timed the club strategically before the school run so people can come in, chat and have coffee and cake before the madness begins. The team work their magic cutting the cakes and doing samples and I have a natter and talk people through the flavours.”

Since winning her award last year, Fiona says life’s been like a whirlwind. She’s gone, in four years, from being ‘Fi the Feeder’ filling colleagues up with cake in her job as an ad manager for a media company, to running her own successful baking business, supplying birthday, wedding and special occasion cakes to a band of loyal followers.

Her cakes are also now found not only at The George in Cavendish, but at AG Lifestyle and The Pantry in Sudbury, Paddy and Scott in Bury St Edmunds and Hadleigh, and Platform One and the deli in Clare.

“I’m chuffed and amazed at how well I’m doing,” she smiles. “I’m very luck to work with amazing cafes and I’ve built some amazing foodie relationships.”

Find out more about Cake Club here.