What a comeback! After an eleven-year absence, Coln Community Stores revived the famous Men’s Cake-Baking Competition culminating in an incredible awards evening last Tuesday ( 19 November). See the video of the night here.
More than a hundred contestants and friends packed into Vicarage Cottage Barn to see TV star and local resident Anne Robinson congratulate the 41 brave men who took part – not a weak link among them – and hand out the prizes. A committed Coln Stores customer, Anne revealed her golden rule – “always allow 20 minutes to shop at Coln Store. You will always meet someone you want to chat to”.
The overall winner of the handsome crossed-spoons trophy (made by Chris White and first won in 1996 by Ray Michael and retrieved recently from his loft) was Kevin Potts, butler to Williamstrip’s owner John Kennedy. Although joshed as a professional by Anne, who’d been mistakenly informed that he was Mr Kennedy’s chef, it transpired that Kevin like probably half the other contestants was a “first-time cake baker”. “I’ve made the odd Chinese meal for friends but nothing like this,” explained Kevin who decorated his Christmas fruit cake with glacier fruit – “I felt icing would be too sweet” – and fed it a tablespoon of Cognac each week for a month. “It would have been longer, but I’d somehow got it into my head that the competition was nearer Christmas”.
Winning Cake By Kevin Potts
So why did he enter? “In fact, three of us on the staff at Williamstrip entered because we want to have a great relationship with the village, and we felt it really important to support the shop which is so valuable and essential for local people. And do you know, and I’m not saying this because I won, but it was one of the best evenings I’ve had since I moved here.” Kevin arrived in Coln St Aldwyns just over three years ago, having previously worked for the Qatar royal family and then as butler to the King of Saudi Arabia.
The winner of the new Creativity Award was another Coln Stores supporter and committee member, James Pullen from Hatherop. Another first-time baker, he had the highly original idea of making a cake to resemble a Swedish fire log or candle. A 17 th century invention of Swedish soldiers to cook with and keep themselves warm on manoeuvres, the originals involve slashing cuts in the top of a log and then setting it alight. James has been making them for some years to delight his grandchildren with marshmallow toasting; so, for the cake replica he baked six sponges and arranged them in a tower with chocolate butter icing between each layer and chocolate icing for the bark. For the fire topping he melted down boiled sweets into a thin sheet and then cut out flame shapes. So, is this his new hobby? “I don’t think so – I apparently create too much mess in the kitchen”.
Best Creative By James Pullen
The three runners-up rosettes went to Archie Parkinson, Edwin Cookson, and Simon Brignall while the judges felt that worthy of a special commendation were the cakes baked by Nick Owen, Glenn Stephens, Ed Wilson, and Maurice Strong.
Once again, Coln Community Stores staged the event on behalf of Hatherop Primary’s Big Build fundraising campaign with the awards ceremony followed by a cake auction and sale. First-time auctioneer and Hatherop Dad, Hugh Bowring, managed to coax £95 alone for Kevin Potts’s winning cake with others fetching big sums, too, as many of the first-time bakers bought back their own cakes to taste them!
In addition, to swell Big Build funds but also to trial some new wines for Coln Stores, there was a wine bar organised by committee member Tessa John and CCS manager Phil Dance. The actual sum raised for Big Build from the entry fees, wine bar, and the cake auction and sale is still being counted but it promises to be a worthwhile as well as a fun event.
There are a host of good people to thank for making this event such a community hit: Anne Robinson of course; our head judge Sarah Godwin, who bakes the delicious cakes we sell in the shop and café, and her four assistant judges – Caroline Wallis, Sian Hopkins, Gail Anderson, and Laura Paterson; Piers Belmont and Jade Taylor for photographing and videoing the event respectively – their results will shortly be on the CCS website; and most of all Nigel Hugh-Smith and Angie Bray for providing the venue.
Finally, congratulations to our other master bakers (careful how you say that!) – Alan Halfacre; Ambrose Wilson Lee; Andrew Kirk; Anthony Van Oss; Bob Bastow; Colin Schubert; Damien Daszjuski; Dan Farley; David Fowles; David Hicks-Beach; Doug Withington; Fraser Hart; Gareth Hopkins; Ian Turnbull; James and Hugo Russel; James White; Jim Boyle; Julian Wilder; Mickey St Aldwyns; Marc Courtney; Nigel Hugh-Smith; Paul Duff; Paul Morcom; Paul Nixon Lea; Paul Tooze; Peter Beard; Dave Wadge; Ray Michael; Rex Roberts; Rob Forbes; Steve Fletcher; and Terry Davies.
SAVE THE DATE: Coln Community Stores is staying open late on Tuesday 17 December, 3.30pm to 7pm, for a Christmas party and shopping spree, plus carol singing from the children of Hatherop Primary and a visit from Father Christmas!
