To quote Charles Dickens “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” On Friday (29 September 2017) I was asked to judge the cake baking competition at Marshalls Mill in Holbeck.
Receptionist Lisa Riley had organised another great event for tenants of the building, this time a coffee morning to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support, part of the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning.
As I entered the building and saw the entries displayed on the reception desk I knew two things. Firstly I was in for a treat tasting each of the entries, but secondly I was going to have to disappoint some talented amateur bakers.
I’ve baked a few cakes in my time, so I had some idea of what these bakers had achieved. If I scored them out of ten, most of them would have been 11. Instead I decided to go for an idiosyncratic approach, unashamedly biased, just down to my personal taste.
The chocolate fudge cake was excellent … if you like chocolate fudge cake, but I’m not a fan. The Victoria sponge could have done with a bit more vanilla in the cake and more jam – for me. In the end I chose the banana loaf with peanut butter and chocolate topping. As a taste combination it shouldn’t have worked, but I liked it.
Congratulations to winner Katherine Courtney from Digitalme who won an Afternoon Tea for two, kindly donated by Just Grand Vintage Tearoom in the Grand Arcade.
Second place went to Georgina Hayes from The Technology Forge whose dairy free sponge was brilliantly decorated with a coffee cup, bunting and, well, cake.
Most importantly the event made £300 for a very worthy cause.
