Patisserie Romanian style

Posted on May 19, 2013 by hungryhinny

While in Targoviste, our host Valentin took us to his favourite patisserie in town so we could sample some traditional Romanian baked goods.

I was lucky enough to visit twice, so I got to sample lots of different things, including a savoury cheese pastry, apple strudel, a sweet cream cheese filled bread and my personal favourite, a panettone rippled with a delicious pecan mixture which I would love to find a recipe for.

We were also treated so some of Valentin’s grandmother’s home baking, two different types of layered cakes, one with chocolate and vanilla and the other with apricot, chocolate and a meringue layer on top. Both were delicious, but I especially enjoyed the meringue and is another recipe which I will definitely have to try and recreate at home.

There is so much good food here to try that my team members will probably have to roll me off the plane when we get back as I’ll be too fat to walk, but in the name of research I will keep eating and posting about everything I try!

A day of food heaven in Romania

Posted on May 14, 2013 by hungryhinny

Our hosts here in Romania are showing us the most incredible hopsitality, and really spoiling us when it comes to food – something which I’m sure my waistline is going to start to reflect very soon!

Yesterday was basically an amazing food day – our host Emilian cooked us a delicious herby tomato and spinach omelette for breakfast and we were treated to a delicious buffet lunch by our guide Jonny’s parents’ catering business – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a buffet look so pretty…

Lunch dessert was an apple and cinnamon cake, pictured above, which I’ve asked Jonny to track down the recipe for – I will definitely try to recreate it at home if I can as it was really, really good.

After mentioning we liked ice cream a couple of days ago, in the afternoon we were surprised with basically an ice cream buffet with I think 6 or 7 different flavours – I tried a little wild fruits, rum and raisin and pecan praline, all of which were good but I think the wild fruits was probably the best.

For dinner, I chose a mushroom omelette (Omeleta Ciuperci) partly because I wanted something light and partly because I just love them. It was a good choice, as for dessert the Rotary president here, Uri, suggested we try Papanasi, which he explained to me as ‘the food that policemen eat in cars – I love how certain images work in every culture!

These were basically like doughnuts on steroids, absolutely huge with sour cream and jam – I chose blackcurrant and it really was delicious, although I could only manage one. Anyone who can polish off two gets my ultimate respect!

Today has also been a good food day, after visiting our host’s favourite patisserie and sampling the Romanian version of cheese pasties, apple strudel and a fantastic pecan cake – pictures to come soon!

Dark mocha chocolate fudge cake

Posted on May 13, 2013 by hungryhinny

As I’m sure any regular readers will have gathered by now, if the pony got his way all I would ever bake is chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.

I want to make things that he will like, but I don’t want to make the same things over and over again, so I’m always looking for sneaky ways to make something super chocolatey but with a bit of a twist.

This cake came about after I received a lovely delivery from the Handpicked Foodstore, which included a bar of Caffe Latte Artisan No.1 chocolate which I knew could be used in some sort of chocolate-coffee concoction.

I adapted my go to chocolate fudge cake recipe, from Joanne Farrow’s Chocolate, switching half the milk for strong coffee, and adding a teaspoon of dissolved coffee granules to the icing to sandwich the cake.

I used half the quantities stated for an 8″ cake and baked it in my 6″ tin, which produced a nice tall cake that could be easily sliced into three layers.

The Caffe Latte bar was used to make the ganache on top – I wanted the flavour to stay pure and as it’s a milk chocolate I decided rather than using cream for the ganache to use water, and was very happy with how it turned out.

At the pony’s suggestion, I added a sprinkling of chopped dark chocolate on top, and I have to say looks-wise it gave it the final touch it needed – often chocolate cake is just brown and more brown but I think this one actually looks rather pretty!

Thanks to the guys at Handpicked for sending me the chocolate and inspiring this cake, which I wouldn’t even need any encouragement from the pony to make again…

Dark mocha fudge cake (adapted from Joanne Farrow’s Chocolate)

60g dark chocolate
60g butter
125g caster sugar
1 egg
150g self raising flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tbsp cocoa powder
60ml milk
60ml strong brewed coffee, cooled

For the icing and ganache:

125g dark chocolate
60g butter
100g icing sugar
1 tsp coffee dissolved in 1 tsp water
2 tbsp milk
50g coffee flavoured chocolate
10g finely chopped dark chocolate to decorate

For the cake, melt the chocolate over a pan of simmering water and set aside. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the egg and beat again. Sieve together the flour, bicarb and cocoa and fold into the cake batter. Beat in half of the milk and half the coffee, then add the melted chocolate and then the remaining milk and coffee. Pour the mix into a greased and lined 6″ round cake tin and bake at 170 degrees (160 fan) for about 50 minutes, or until risen and a skewer comes out clean.

For the icing, melt the chocolate and butter over a pan of simmering water, without stirring, then quickly beat in the icing sugar, coffee and milk. Leave to cool until thick enough to spread. To make the ganache, melt the coffee flavoured chocolate and then add hot water 1 tsp at a time, until it reaches a fairly runny consistency – it will thicken as it cools.

To assemble the cake, slice the cake horizontally into three layers, and spread the fudge icing on top of the bottom and middle layers. Reassemble the cake, then pour the ganache on top, gently spreading it out towards the sides. Sprinkle the chopped chocolate on top, then leave until the ganache has set to slice.

Aubergine chocolate cake (GF, DF)

Posted on April 20, 2013 by hungryhinny

I really hope seeing the words ‘aubergine’, ‘chocolate’ and ‘cake’ in the title don’t put people off reading this – it sounds odd, but it works, I promise!

I first learnt about this cake from the pony’s sister – she told me she’d heard about a flourless chocolate cake that used aubergines but didn’t know where the recipe was from. I was intrigued, and did I find a couple of bloggers who had made aubergine cakes, but I didn’t manage to track down the original recipe and then sort of forgot about making it.

Several months on, I was given the Green & Black’s Ultimate Chocolate Recipes, and while flicking through the cake section I landed upon a recipe for a ‘Heartache Cake’ by Harry Eastwood – top of the list of ingredients was aubergines and I realised I’d found the actual recipe!

I first made this when the pony was going to stay with his family, and although the feedback from them was great, I didn’t get to try any myself and I knew I would have to try it again at some point to satisfy my curiosity.

The cake is wheat and gluten free, dairy free, and also uses no refined sugars. The sweetness in the cake comes from honey, and so when I saw that was Choclette‘s pick for this month’s We Should Cocoa challenge, it gave me the perfect reason to revisit the Heartache Cake.

I’ve renamed it a slightly less emotive ‘aubergine chocolate cake’, partly because I’m not really a fan of the flowery language used by Harry Eastwood, but also because there is nothing sad about this cake whatsoever – it’s delicious!

EDIT – the fact that I’ve renames this cake means it’s also eligible for this month’s AlphaBakes challenge, hosted alternately by Ros at The More Than Occasional Baker and Caroline at Caroline Makes – A for Aubergine!

I understand the chemistry of how these ingredients can come together and actually make a cake, but they do, and it is so worth trying, and I am especially glad to have a recipe I know I can turn to if I need to cater for multiple dietary requirements that no one would ever guess is a ‘free-from’ cake’.

I am now keen to expand my vegetable baking repertoire – I’ve done courgette, carrot and squash, and I’ve seen a few recipes for beetroot and parsnip, but is there anything even more unusual out there? If you have any weird and wonderful recipes, let me know!

Aubergine chocolate cake (adapted from Harry Eastwood’s recipe in the Green & Black’s cookbook)

2 medium aubergines (400g raw weight)
300g dark chocolate
3 medium eggs
200g clear honey
50g cocoa powder
60g ground almonds
2 tbsp baking powder
cocoa powder to dust

Start by piercing the aubergines with a sharp knife, placing in a bowl covered with clingfilm, and microwaving on full power for about 8 minutes, or until completely soft. If you don’t have a microwave I think baking the aubergines whole would work too, it would just take a lot longer.

When the aubergines are cool enough to handle, peel off the skins and blitz the flesh in a food processor with the dark chocolate, until the chocolate has completely melted and there are no lumps of aubergine left. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, honey, cocoa, almonds and baking powder until bubbly and doubled in volume, then fold in the chocolate aubergine mixture.

Pour the cake mix into a greased and lined 9″ round tin, and bake on the bottom shelf of your oven at 170 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until risen at the edges and starting to crack. Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out onto a serving place and dust liberally with cocoa powder.

Almost healthy carrot cake

Posted on April 1, 2013 by hungryhinny

Carrot cake is definitely one of my favourite cakes (despite not being able to comprehend why anyone could like it up until the age of about 20).

Moist yet light in texture, richly flavoured with a subtle blend of spices and a little sweetness coming through from the carrot, studded with either deliciously sweet bursts of dried fruit or the crunch of nuts, and finished with my favourite topping, cream cheese icing – what’s not to like?

Well, unfortunately there is one thing – the calorie and fat content. Healthy it may sound, but traditional carrot cake recipes have equal amounts of sugar and oil which kind of balance out any goodness coming from the carrots, and cream cheese icing just can’t be done low-cal.

My go-to carrot cake recipe is great, but I wanted to have a go at making a lightened up version that wouldn’t contain half a day’s calories in a single slice. I was also inspired by the arrival of my Riverford veg box, which was a lovely follow on from the lunch at Riverford Field Kitchen I attended a few weeks ago.

Usually costing £12.95 for what they call a small box of all organic, seasonal produce, I thought it was great value. Mine contained a cauliflower, two broccolis, a punned of chestnut mushrooms, a giant butternut squash, about 8 onions, a sack of potatoes – and lots of carrots.

So how did I lighten up my carrot cake? Well to start with, I used the classic Jedi mind trick of changing the shape of the cake from a two-tiered round to a one-layer square, meaning you can cut yourself a bigger slice, without actually eating as much. I made 2/3 the amount of cake, but cut it into the same number of pieces – obvious, right?

I then switched the vegetable oil, which would have been 1,800 calories, for a combination of low-fat creme fraiche, semi-skimmed milk and melted light butter spread, which came in at just 425 calories.

Instead of full fat cream cheese icing, I made a lemon flavoured whipped white chocolate ganache, made with more low fat creme fraiche – perfectly rich and creamy with a bit of a tang, but almost half the calories (790) of the original (1,500).

Using an 8×8″ tin and cutting it into 12 bars, each slice of cake had 255 calories. The original version, cut into 12 slices, would have been 635 calories, so it’s safe to say that this recipe is quite a bit of an improvement, and it lost nothing in taste or texture.

I quite often try to lighten up recipes where I can (although sometimes pure indulgence is the only thing that will do) – does anyone else have any top tips? Let me know!

Lighter carrot cake (adapted from here, original recipe from Breakfast by the Sea)

200g carrots, grated
200g light brown sugar
75g light butter spread (I used Clover Light), melted
75g low fat creme fraiche (I used Weightwatchers)
50ml semi-skimmed milk
2 medium eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ginger
40g sultanas

For the icing

100g white chocolate
50g low fat creme fraiche
50g lemon curd

Whisk the sugar, melted butter, creme fraiche, milk eggs and vanilla together in a large mixing bowl, then stir in the grated carrots. Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarb and spices, then fold into the mixture. Finally, stir in the sultanas and pour into an 8×8″ square greased and lined baking tin. Bake at 170 degrees for 45 minutes – 1 hour, checking to make sure it’s risen, springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean.

To make the icing, finely chop the chocolate and place in a small heatproof bowl. Heat the creme fraiche in a saucepan until almost boiling, then pour it over the white chocolate (don’t worry if the creme fraiche splits, it will come back together again later) and stir until the chocolate has completely melted.

Place the small bowl inside a larger bowl, half filled with cold water, being careful not to get any water into the chocolate. Using an electric whisk, whisk the mixture until it starts to cool and whips up into medium peaks. Fold in the lemon curd, then either spread on top of the cake straight away or chill in the fridge if you want it a little bit thicker.

Cut into bars and serve, guilt free!

How to make Christmas tree cupcakes

Posted on December 13, 2012 by hungryhinny

Way back in September, when everyone else was trying to hang on the last glimpses of summer sun (I’m sure there were some, at some point…) I was looking ahead to Christmas, and testing out a few festive recipes, which I’m excited to finally be able to share here!

One of the most fun parts of my day job is helping to produce a magazine called Explore, which is published quarterly in Plymouth. For the Winter edition, we decided to go big on homemade food, drink and gifts, so I ended up making a spiced cranberry and pear chutney, mulled wine, Christmas tree cupcakes, and these way over-decorated gingerbread families that I just have to share a picture of…

If you’re thinking the photography is a step up from my normal pictures, you’d be right – all the photos were taken by a professional photographer called Guy Channing who did a fabulous job making my food look good – thanks Guy!

If you want to see the rest of my recipes, along with top tips for making and decorating the best ever Christmas cake, handmade decorations and a last minute festive shopping guide, you can download a digital version of the magazine here.

I won’t bother giving the recipe as any basic cupcake and icing will do, but here are the step by step pictures and instructions for some fabulously festive Christmas tree cupcakes – enjoy!

Christmas tree cupcakes

What you need:

12 regular sized cupcakes
6 petit four sized cupcakes
Sugarpaste or marzipan
Buttercream icing
Green food colouring – gel is best
Edible decorations – I used edible silver balls and multi-coloured chocolate beans

To prepare the cupcakes, use a serrated knife to level the tops of all the cakes, and mix the green food colouring into the icing a little at a time until you reach the colour you want.

Spread a layer of icing on top of the six regular sized cupcakes that you’re going to use as the Christmas tree bases (keep them in the cases). Remove the other six regular sized cupcakes from their cases and place upside down on top of the bases.

Spread another layer of icing on top, then remove the petit four cakes from their cases and place upside down on top to create a third cake layer. On top of that, add a little more icing and a small blob of marzipan or sugarpaste, pressed into a cone shape.

With the remaining icing, completely cover the cakes, using a spatula to spread it down the sides to the top of the paper case of the bottom layer.

Decorate with whatever edible decorations you like – silver or coloured balls, glitter, stars, sweets – it’s up to you!

Chocolate, date and pistachio cake for Cornwall Clandestine Cake Club

Posted on December 7, 2012 by hungryhinny

This week has been a rather relaxing one in the world of the Hungry Hinny – Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off work with nothing planned except baking and Christmas preparation. Lovely!

On Tuesday, I baked a chocolate, date and pistachio cake, ready to take to a meeting of Cornwall’s Clandestine Cake Club.

Cake club is always great fun, but this month was especially good as it was held at the Origin Coffee roastery in Helston, where we were able to see the beans go through the roasting process and chat to staff to find out everything you could ever need to know about coffee.

As a confirmed coffee addict this was super exciting, and I think the most interesting thing I found out was that the quality of coffee starts to deteriorate a mere 2 minutes after being ground – so you really do need to grind it cup by cup as you want to drink it!

Back to the cakes, and the theme was Arabian Nights. There were 9 cakes in total I think, with a lot of dates but also including turkish delight, lemon, chocolate, carrot, coffee and pistachio – here are just a few…

After an initial oh-my-god-what-am-I going-to-make panic when I found out the theme, I realised I had already a chocolate and date cake which could be updated to fit the theme.

I added pistachios and extra dates, baked in a smaller tin for a higher cake, and made more ganache to completely cover it. I finished it with edible gold balls in what I hope was a vaguely Arabian-inspired design which I thought turned out pretty well.

It seemed to go down well with the other CCC-ers and there was only a small slice left to take home (although hungry coffee boys may have had something to do with that).

It’s a very dark, dense and moist cake, which I think is definitely improved by the occasional crunch of pistachio and is even better with a dollop of clotted cream on the side, accompanied by a (freshly ground) coffee.

Thanks to Origin for hosting us and to the lovely Ellie for organising another fab event!

Chocolate date cake (originally adapted from Under the High Chair)

350g pitted and chopped dates
300ml strong hot black coffee
165g butter
100g caster sugar
50g light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla paste
120g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
40g cocoa powder
50g shelled pistachios, chopped

For the icing

100g dark chocolate
100g milk chocolate
200ml creme fraiche
1 tbsp light brown sugar

Start by pouring the hot coffee over the chopped dates and leave to soak while you do everything else. Cream the butter and two sugars together until light and fluffy, then beat in the vanilla and eggs, one at a time. Sift in the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and fold until just combined.

Transfer the date/coffee mixture into a food processor and blitz until it turns into a puree. Add to the cake mix along with the chopped pistachios and stir until completely combined. Pour the mixture into a greased and lined 8″ round tin, and bake at 175 degrees for an hour and 15 minutes, or until a skewer comes out nearly clean. If it’s browning too much cover with foil until it’s cooked through. Leave to cool completely before removing from the tin.

For the icing, chop both chocolates and mix together in a bowl, then heat the creme fraiche and brown sugar in a saucepan until almost boiling. Pour over the chocolate and stir until all the chocolate has melted and you have a nice smooth ganache. Leave to cool to a spreadable consistency then completely cover the cake. Decorate however you fancy!

Nigella’s coffee and walnut cake (GF)

Posted on November 27, 2012 by hungryhinny

I’ve made a fair few coffee cakes over the years, as it’s my dad’s favourite, but I’ve never actually tried a traditional coffee and walnut because of his aversion to nuts, so when my colleague requested it as one of her favourites I was quite excited to give it a go.

After quite a bit of research I settled on a Nigella recipe, mostly because I was intrigued by the method, which literally involves chucking everything into a food processor and blitzing – could a recipe with no creaming, beating, sifting or folding really produce a light and fluffy sponge?!

I clearly should have had more faith, as this cake turned out beautifully – soft, light, just the right balance of coffee and walnut, and, big bonus, it even held up to using gluten free flour.

This cake received the best reviews I’ve had for anything I’ve baked in ages, so I can’t recommend strongly enough that everyone else tries it too!

Nigella’s coffee and walnut cake (GF) (adapted from here)

50g walnut halves, plus 8 extra to decorate
175g caster sugar
50g light brown sugar
225g butter
4 eggs
225g gluten free plain flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
2.5 tsp baking powder
3 tsp instant coffee
2tbsp milk

For the icing

125g butter
300g icing sugar
2 tsp instant coffee
1 tbsp milk

Add the walnuts and both sugars to a food processor and blitz until the nuts are fairly well ground. Add the butter, blitz, then the eggs, and blitz again. Dissolve the coffee in 1 tsp water and add with the flour, xanthan gum and baking powder and blitz again. Finally pour in the milk while the food processor is running – you should end up with a smooth batter that drops off a spoon. Divide between two greased and lined 7″ sandwich tins and bake at 180 degrees for 25-30 minutes. After removing from the oven leave for 10 minutes to cool then remove from the tins and put the sponges on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the icing, pulse the sugar in a food processor then add the butter. Dissolve the coffee in 1 tsp water and add to food processor, and blend until the mixture comes together. Add the milk and blitz again – you might need a bit more if it seems too thick.

Level the bottom cake if necessary, then turn upside down on a serving plate. Spread half the icing on the bottom layer, sandwich with the second cake layer, then spread the remaining icing all on top. Decorate with the reserved walnut pieces and serve.

I’m entering this for the November Tea Time Treats Challenge, hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Kate at What Kate Baked. To celebrate TTT’s first birthday the theme is cake – and I for one would be more than happy to have a slice of this served up at my birthday party!

How to make a bunny rabbit birthday cake

Posted on June 18, 2012 by hungryhinny

On the Friday before the Jubilee bank holiday weekend, my boss asked me where he could get a custom made cake for his wife’s birthday – the following Monday.

Unsurprisingly, the local bakery said it was too short notice, so I offered to make one, even though it was the same weekend I had to make my competition cakes AND a secret birthday cake for the pony – I do like a challenge!

He said he wanted a rabbit cake as his wife, Debs, loves bunnies. When I searched on Google I couldn’t find anything that looked like what I wanted so I kind of just made it up, but I think it turned out well so in case anyone else should ever need to make one, here’s how I did it!

You will need:

1 x 9″ round chocolate cake
1 x 7″ round chocolate cake
chocolate fudge icing
white chocolate buttercream
25g white chocolate for decoration
14″ cake board
baking paper, a pen/pencil, a knife and spatula

(recipes for cakes and icing follow the tutorial)

Start by making sure both cakes are level and roughly the same height as each other. Turn them over, so the already flat and even bottom is on top.

I found it helped me to make templates of the shapes I was going to cut out so I made a 9″ round out of baking paper, then cut it straight across the bottom, about an inch and a half from the edge of the circle. Lay it on top of the 9″ cake, then cut along the line. Don’t throw away the bit you’ve cut off, you’ll need it later!

Place the 9″ cake on the cake board with the flat side near the bottom of the board – this will be the body of the rabbit. Lay strips of baking paper along all sides to make it neater when it comes to icing.

Take the piece of cake you cut from the body, then cut it an an angle as in the picture below – the smaller bit will make the rabbit’s from feet.

Place the feet on the board by the body.

Take the 7″ cake and trim it to about 5.5″ diameter – I drew around a cereal bowl for the template.

Once you’ve got a smaller circle of cake, it’s going to be cut into three pieces, as shown on the template below.

Use the 9″ cake tin to draw around to create the oval on the right, then just draw the line on the right freehand. Cut the cake according to the template.

Take the middle of the cake and place it next to the body of the rabbit to make the head.

Then take the oval you cut off and lie it above the head, pointing backwards to make the ears.

Take your leftover scraps of cake and crumble them up in a bowl. Add in a tablespoon of the chocolate icing, and squeeze it into a ball – this can be used as the rabbit’s tail.

Apply a thin layer of chocolate icing all over the rabbit, and a thin layer or white buttercream on the tail. Transfer the cake to the fridge for 10 minutes for it to firm up.

Spread the rest of the icing all over the cake using a spatula, getting it as smooth as you can, then add an oval shaped eye with the white icing and pupil with a little dot of the chocolate icing. Remove the paper from underneath.

To finish the cake, melt the white chocolate and pipe on a nose, whiskers, and any birthday message. Rabbit cake done!

The sponge cake and chocolate icing recipe I used for this is my go-to chocolate fudge cake recipe from Joanna Farrow’s ‘Chocolate’. The white chocolate buttercream I made up with what I had on hand!.

For the cake:

250ml buttermilk
125g plain chocolate
125g butter or margarine
250g caster sugar
2 eggs
300g self raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp cocoa powder

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of hot water. Cream together the butter and sugar then beat in the eggs one at a time. Sieve the dry ingredients into the cake and fold until well combined. Beat in half of the buttermilk, then the melted chocolate and remaining buttermilk.

Divide between a greased and lined 9″ tin and 7″ tin. Bake at 160 degrees for 25-30 minutes – the smaller cake will cook a bit quicker than the large one, but they should be risen, springy to the touch and a skewer should come out with just a few fudgy crumbs.

Chocolate fudge icing:

250g dark chocolate
125g butter
200g icing sugar
5 tbsp milk

Heat the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Leave until completely melted, then remove from the heat, stir once and beat in the sugar and milk until well mixed. Leave to cool until a spreadable consistency.

White chocolate buttercream

50g butter
25g white chocolate
100g icing sugar

Beat the butter to soften, then add the melted chocolate and sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add a little more sugar or milk if you want it thicker/thinner in consistency.

Cakes fit for a Queen?

Posted on June 4, 2012 by hungryhinny

Today was a very exciting one in the world of the Hungry Hinny – I entered my first ever cake competition, and came third!

The Western Morning News (a regional newspaper covering Devon and Cornwall) organised the competition, held at the Dartington Food Fair, with the theme of ‘Cakes fit for a Queen’.

There were two categories, big cakes and 2-tier cake stands featuring two types of small cakes, which is the one I decided to enter.

After much consideration, I decided on crown cakes – a coconut cupcake with raspberry curd filling and raspberry and blackcurrant cream cheese icing; and corgi tarts – a chocolate tart with caramel, chocolate mousse and chocolate ganache (both of which I will blog the recipes for soon).

There were some gorgeous looking cakes on display, so I was delighted when I returned after judging to find that I had come first in the cake stand category and third overall, with a total score of 98 out of 100 across all the judging criteria!

I won a signed Mary Berry cookbook, and got to spend the day sampling delicious local food, learning how to extreme crochet, and stroking owls and guinea pigs – perfect bank holiday Monday!

Here are some of my photos of the other cakes (and a few friendly animals)…