The event, organised by the school’s DT Faculty, saw six students and one staff member compete against each other in both a ‘technical’ and ‘showstopper’ challenge. The former required the making of eight uniform ‘Bourbon’ biscuits for a blind tasting, while the latter saw the competitors challenged with creating a sporting themed showstopper.

Aside from the Food element, other disciplines of the school’s DT provision were used to enhance the experience – with the department’s new 3D printers being put to good use in the manufacture of bespoke cutters for the Bourbon biscuits. Elsewhere, dye sublimation and laser cutting were employed to print a ‘Star Baker’ apron and engrave souvenir wooden spoons respectively.

Explaining the inspiration behind the event, Amy Norris, Head of DT, said: “I successfully ran a Bake Off for a number of years at my previous school and, with the support of Miss Bircumshaw, Teacher of Food, I knew it would be a big success here at Withernsea too.

“Students applied for the Bake Off by submitting an application form which explained why they wanted to participate and detailed their plans for a showstopper. We were deeply impressed with the applications and ideas received and it was a pleasure to host this challenge at the end of what has been a busy and successful year for DT faculty.  

“The students (and Mrs Foster!) behaved impeccably all day. Although we had a few hiccups along the way, most notably Jaiden’s cake catching fire, the day was a resounding success and students displayed mature attitudes and were highly focussed on their tasks. I loved that students challenged themselves and went for ambitious designs with multiple layers and flavours. It was also good for our students to see ‘real life’ uses of some of our machinery, including kitchen equipment, 3D printers and laser cutters, that were used to help facilitate the challenge.”

Among the judges given the difficult task of assessing the excellent efforts of those involved were Headteacher Mr Crofts, Teacher of DT Miss Hopewell, and Attendance Officer Mrs Elvidge. Winning the technical challenge was Year 10 student, Millie C, who impressed both Miss Hopewell and Mrs Elvidge with her presentation and ‘sweet tasting’ biscuits, which Miss Hopewell also described as having ‘the right amount of snap’.

In the battle of staff vs students, the students claimed victory for the technical challenge as Mrs Foster, the only member of staff in the competition, was relegated to last place due to a controversial tasting which labelled her biscuits as ‘tasting burnt’. An independent observer later countered this claim by cheerfully eating a handful of the biscuits without issue!

After careful consideration, Mrs Norris, Miss Bircumshaw and Mrs Appleby concluded that Lucy-Lee was the day’s ‘Star Baker’ – having done well on both challenges and impressing everyone with the unique detail and craftmanship on her swimming pool themed cake. While fellow student Lily impressed the team at the end of the day with a gleaming workstation and the accolade of ‘most organised baker’.  

Meanwhile, the highlight of the event came with the showstopper challenge which gave participants an opportunity to be fully creative while showcasing their baking talents. On the back of the recent Euros competition, many entrants opted for a football-themed cake – resulting in the production of many shades of green icing!

Securing first place for her showstopping football pitch cake was student Lacey-May. Judging this element of the contest were Mrs Elvidge and Mr Crofts who both loved the salted caramel flavouring and felt that the overall presentation was well executed. Redeeming herself as a close runner up was Mrs Foster, whose lemon flavoured Olympic-themed cake impressed the judges with both its flavour and detailed decoration.

Mrs Norris added: “Both Miss Bircumshaw and I were impressed with the team morale and how lovely it was that the students wanted to help each other. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day all round and everyone involved should be very proud of what they achieved.

“Special thanks go to Mr Hoe (DT Technician) who laser engraved our wooden spoon prizes; Mrs Appleby (DT Technician) and Miss Bircumshaw (Teacher of Food) who ordered and prepared all the ingredients for the day; Mrs Foster who was a good sport and participated in the event; plus our three judges and all the staff who dropped in to offer words of encouragement (and sneak a bit of cake!).”

ABOVE: Jaiden gets to grips with mixing in the technical challenge.

ABOVE: Students were tasked with baking their own Bourbon biscuits. 

ABOVE: 3D printing technology was used to create the template for the biscuit's iconic design. 

ABOVE: Biscuits were graded on their look, taste and texture. 

ABOVE: The day's 'Star Baker', Lucy-Lee, impressed everyone with her skills throughout the day. 

ABOVE: Lacey-May's winning showstopper entry impressed the judges both on taste and design. 

ABOVE: Mrs Foster's Olympic-themed cake design was a worthy runner-up in the showstopper category. 

ABOVE: Lucy-Lee's swimming pool themed entry helped earn her 'Star Baker' of the day. 

ABOVE: Mr Crofts and Mrs Elvidge had the difficult, yet enjoyable, task of sampling the showstopper cakes! 

ABOVE: The judges were impressed with the quality of the entries. 

ABOVE AND BELOW: Dye sublimation and laser cutting techniques were employed to create the competition's awards.