The weekend before last the annual Cake and Bake show came to the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh, and what a treat it was. As soon as I walked through the doors I was like a kid in a candy shop, quite literally. There were pies, pastries, meringues, chocolates and one hell of a lot of cake!
Done over three days the show featured an array of demonstrations from celebrity bakers as well as many of the stars from the past and most recent series of the Great British Bake Off. The three headliners from this year’s GBBO were Tamal Ray, Flora Sheddon and Nadiya Hussain. I was desperate to go see Nadiya and her amazing eyebrows/facial expressions and even more desperate to go see Tamal so I could ask him all the important questions such as, what was it like being judged by Paul and Mary? What was you favourite bake? Will you marry me?
Unfortunately my two faves were there on Friday and Sunday and I could typically only make it on the Saturday, so I had to settle for the lovely Flora instead. Now I’m not going to lie, when I first watched Flora on the GBBO I wasn’t sure- she was just too damn perfect, and nobody likes a ‘goody two shoes’.
However as the show went on she actually started to grow on me, I thought she came across as a really genuine girl, and I know this sounds terrible but I almost grew to like her even more once she started to make mistakes, which I think made her seem a bit more human.
Anyway, she was there making a sugar free apple and pistachio cake that looked beautiful- she was chatting away as she was making it and she came across exactly like she did on the show. If any of you like perusing pretty things then be sure to check out her website, Flora Sheddon.com– that’s some baking inspiration right there.
Aside from the demonstrations that were going on throughout the day, there were a number of stallholders selling a variety of items and baked goods; from cake tins and edible gemstones to sausages rolls and jammy dodger cupcakes. I purchased two 7 Inch cake tins for a tenner which is excellent value considering only one is eleven pounds in Lakeland. I also got some Cake Release which is amazing stuff that I will hopefully be reviewing at a later date.
In terms of purchases of the edible variety I picked up an artisan sausage and pickle roll from the Pig in the Middle sausage roll company and a Millionare’s cupcake from the Bumblebee Bakehouse and both were DELICIOUS.
All in all it was a cracking day out and I am thoroughly looking forward to next year’s!
Crumble and Crunch 