Congratulations to the winners of our Senior and Junior Great Westbourne Bake Off competitions, whose names were announced in assembly to great applause and oohs and aahs!
All nine finalists were named Star Bakers by the judges: local food writer and cookery school owner Alex Haswell and our very own food tech and baking guru Mrs Bonn.
Congratulations and thank you must also go to Mrs Bonn for organising yet another fantastic competition, which had weeks of heats, technical challenges and truly tremendous baking.
Senior Bake Off Final
Our senior bakers cooked up a culinary storm in the food tech kitchen during the Senior Bake Off Final.
"Ranging in age from 10 – 13, the level of skill and finished dishes was exceptional," said Mrs Bonn. "All our bakers remained calm, collected and highly creative throughout the final. With dishes ranging from Cheese/Chocolate Twists, Chocolate Orange Tarts, Eyemouth Tart, Lemon Meringue Pie, Profiteroles and White Chocolate & Raspberry Tartlets.
"The range of pastry dishes and techniques used was vast and quality of food exemplary, I was incredibly proud of all the finalists for their hard work, agility and support for each other. An initially nervy, but exciting and fun filled afternoon was had by all! " she added.
The judging took over an hour and a half of deliberating, cogitating and digesting to determine an overall winner.
Junior Bake Off Final
The Great Westbourne Bake Off wrapped up with our amazing Junior Finalists demonstrating their ultra-impressive pastry skills.
The standard of cooking and the resulting dishes were outstanding, which made judging even more difficult than usual. There was an eclectic mix of pastry dishes created ranging from Chili Rolls to Chocolate Twists, Apple Tarts to Apple Helixes, Custard Mille Feuilles to Mixed Berry Tarts. The Food Tech kitchen was filled with intensity, productivity, sensational aromas and, in equal quantities, joy and pride from our young bakers. Our guest judge, local food writer and cookery school owner Alex Halswell, was blown away by the standard of cooking at the weekend, especially as all of our contestants haven’t reached double figures in age yet!
Mrs Bonn said: "It was a wonderful way to end what has been an exciting, scrumptious and joyous competition! A massive congratulations to everyone who has taken part in this year's Bake Off competition; you are all Star Bakers in my eyes.
Keep up the delicious work everyone!
