NO SOGGY bottoms or sinking sponges here! The young bakers of Princetown School have mastered the skills that make them chefs-to-be as they showed off their sweet treats at a bake-off competition.
The competition to produce the best cakes, cookies or chocolate brownies was judged by Two Bridges Hotel head chef Mike Palmer, Dartmoor Bakery owner Autumn Andrews, Yelverton Rotary Club’s Marion Luckhurst and teacher Catherine Stoate. The event was organised jointly by teacher Laura Taverner and the rotary club. Winning baker was Charlotte (pictured) with her dinosaur cake. Mike generously gave Charlotte his chef’s hat as well as a £10 voucher and said: “The judges had a very difficult decision to make. Every one of the cooks did a very good job. They all thought hard about about what they made and showed a lot of skill and knowledge in coming up with attractively presented bakes.
“However, after a lot of deliberation, we agreed Charlotte’s cake was the winner. Getting the sponge right is hard, even for a professional chef. Charlotte’s cake was lovely. It was light and moist and she avoided the dreaded sinking middle. She also impressed with her knowledge about testing if the cake was baked properly or not. She fully deserves her win.”
Brodie, ten, created chocolate brownies on sticks with various sweet decorations. He was praised for his imaginative idea of making mini brownies on sticks which were ‘just right for people who want snacks’. He said: “My mum helped me make them. I do enjoy baking and eating them.”
Jacob, 11, did the professional thing by trialling six recipes and testing them out and combining the best elements into his final bake.
He said his nan taught him baking. Mike said: “Jacob has obviously put a lot of effort into his research and that is best practice by professionals. His white chocolate cookies are the standout of his three chocolate flavours.” Harry, nine, put his heart into a double layer luxury Oreo choclate cake and said: “I like baking and Oreo is my my favourite biscuits. Me and Jacob also make cookies together.” Paige, 11, also chose Oreo for her cheesecake: “The recipe sounded nice, so I made it and tested it on my family and they all loved it.”