Notting Hill Village Fete

I’ve been in a lucky girl in having some truly remarkable friends. Like a pair of coveted Jimmy Choos, each is uniquely special in their own way. My recent visit to the "Notting Hill Village Fete”, showcased AW in all of her quirky, thoughtful, perfectly detailed Englishness.

Celebrating her 28th she’d managed to transform her flat into a Village Fete complete with proper bunting, “whack a rat”, and a male bake-off competition. Only white wine and Pimms were allowed past the front door.

I’ll admit I went into this blind. My idea of a “Village Fete” was a typical Americana “Country Fair” complete with quilting bees and blueberry pies, of which I can’t remember ever having attended one before. Embarrassingly enough, I didn’t even know what bunting was, and “whack a rat”? I thought she might have rented a UK version of Whack a Mole. Yeah, I know – so wrong, but I'll bet every State-side reader would have thought the same thing.

After learning some country dances, drinking a hefty bit of Pimms, and judging the male bake-off competition I realised that for the first time in a long time I didn’t want to scramble away to make the last tube - so what if my taxi was going to be £25 to get home? Most definitely worth it.

I brought with me a home-made carrot cake. I’d been craving one all week, but really can't stand the stuff they sell in places like Starbucks. As luck would have it, by the time I finished with all my Pimms and bake-off tasting I only had room for a few bites of mine and then ended up leaving the rest with AW and TD for later consumption. However, even if I didn't give it the artist's eye, it was still met with rave reviews. I believe I even blushed when told by one fete goer that it was the best carrot cake he’d ever had. And another who said it was “Da Bomb…totally blissed out by it”. My coveted shoes keep me feeling confident and fabulous – and with such compliments on my cake – so do my friends.

Village Fete Carrot Cake (aka The Silver Palate’s recipe with a few distinct variations I’ve noted below):

http://www.relishmag.com/recipes/view/31242/the-silver-palates-carrot.html

Swap out the cooked carrots for shredded raw ones and up the total amount to 1 ½ cups
Replace the walnuts with pecans

2 1/2 times the frosting (I frost the sides of the cake, the recipe doesn't. Also, I'm in love with cream cheese frosting.)