Cake Glorious Cake! (The Beeches Cafe, Burnham Beeches).

I love cake perhaps more than I love anything else...

This interest stems perhaps from my student days in Durham, where truly awe-inspiring mammoth cakes of infinite variety were served up in giant slabs at Cafe Continental, and where cosy Wednesday afternoons disappeared a haze of tea and cakes in Vennel's.  Cake always succeeded in soothing our (constantly hungry) souls when faced with night after night of seriously disappointing College Food.

There's no time I crave tea and cake more than Sunday late afternoons (almost exactly from the point at which all shops close, making cake difficult to procure, especially when my baking skills leave a great deal to be desired).

But, I no longer need to worry!  I have found a place!  A place that can give me a glorious cake fix, as late as 6pm on a Sunday!

It's hard not to like Burnham Beeches (especially when you live as close to it as I do).  Despite being owned by the ominous sounding 'Corporation of London' it's really lovely woodland area.  Visiting late on a sunny Sunday afternoon, you can have the place mostly to yourself (and a few squirrels and the odd bunny rabbit in clearings that would make amazing picnic spots). 

But really, the main reason to visit, is for the Beeches Cafe.  Whilst Sharon's extolled the pleasures to be found in their flapjack, on each visit, I've been unable to pay any attention to anything but the small variety of ever changing, wonderful looking home made cakes!  On the last visit Coffee and Walnut cake ruled supreme - this visit the choice was between an elegant iced cake, a sumptuously sticky looking tower of zesty lemon cakes, or, the choice I finally made of the carrot cake beauty below.

It was everything you could desire from a cake.  Moist and light.  Lovely nutty texture.  Icing that was the perfect balance between sweet and tangy.  Blissful, and bargainous at only £1.90 for each generous slice.

The cafe itself serves from a hut in the centre of an open grassy area with outdoor seating - perfect for catching the late afternoon sun.

Highly recommended!