Can your cakes cut it? The Lansdowne pub in Leicester is staging
a charity bake off and is urging local amateur and professional
bakers to show off their skills.
Holly Bell, finalist in last year's BBC Great British Bake Off
TV programme, heads a team of guest judges who will be sampling
entries in the competition, which takes place on Saturday March
17th.
The event is being staged in aid of Leicestershire and Rutland
charity Coping with Cancer, which supports people affected by the
condition.
Now organisers are appealing for home bakers and professionals
to start flicking through their recipe books to come up with ideas
for cakes, breads and bakes which will tickle the judges' taste
buds.
After judging, the cakes and breads will be sold off to raise
money for Coping with Cancer, which The Lansdowne in London Road
has pledged to support.
"Baking is really growing in popularity and we know from
chatting to our regulars that there are many enthusiastic amateur
bakers out there," said event organiser Alex Lumley.
"We decided it would be a fun idea to stage our own bake off and
at the same time raise money for the incredibly hard-working local
charity Coping with Cancer. Holly Bell has kindly agreed to head
our team of judges, who have been picked for their passion for
baking, and now we're looking forward to receiving details of
people who would like to enter our bake off at The Lansdowne."
Entries are being invited from professional bakers, as well as
those who like to knock up a sponge at the weekend or create a tray
bake in the evenings.
The competition, which is free to enter, has a number of
different categories for cupcakes, brownies, speciality bread or a
signature bake.
Holly, from Leicester, was a popular contestant in the 2011 BBC
Great British Bake Off and made it to the final.
She said: "I'm very excited about being involved in the
Lansdowne Coping with Cancer Bake Off; a really worthy cause and of
course an opportunity to eat lots of cake and meet cake
enthusiasts. I can't wait to see some of the creations and help to
raise some money."
The other judges are Matthew Wright, editor of Great Food
Magazine, Char Lavender of Bitsy's Cupcakery, and Tom Brucciani,
managing director of craft bakery and café company Brucciani
(Midlands) Ltd.
Details for entering The Lansdowne's bake off are available from
the pub and also to download from the website www.orangetree.co.uk
Forms need to be submitted by March 3rd 2012.