Today I am delighted to welcome my friend and co-baking club runner Susan from Mess in the Ness. Susan and I met up after I moved back to Inverness last year because we had both been members of baking clubs in our previous cities and were looking to do the same in Inverness. So far Let’s Bake has been a great success and I have a new foodie friend to go on cake road trips with! Over to you Susan.
There’s nothing quite like a Saturday drive in the sunshine down to the Cairngorms, for the purpose of eating cake! That’s what Kirsty and I did this month – about an hours drive from Inverness is one of the top 10 cake shops in the UK (according to the Guardian). Tucked away about 5 miles from Aviemore, Inshriach Nursery and Potting Shed Tearoom is a little oasis of flowers, cakes, birds and squirrels. I’ve actually posted about Inshriach before – I visited last summer (note: shameless bit of self promotion here) so knew it was a great little spot.
A thing to note is that it really is a cakeshop – there are no lunch options available, just cake to accompany your choice of hot or cold drink. My tip is to grab lunch in Aviemore, and build up to an afternoon cake stop by walking round Loch Morlich or Loch an Eilein first!
As well as usual café tables and chairs, there is also a high-rise bar with stools that you can watch the birds and red squirrels feasting on nuts, lard and fruit. It’s a feast for the eyes as well as the tummy!
On to more important things though – our choices of cake! There was about 10 choices of cake when we arrived (including a couple of wheat free choices). It was really hard to make a choice but I eventually went for the Black Cherry Cake: 3 thin layers of vanilla sponge sandwiching some whipped cream and tasty black cherries. (more…)
