Robyn Rogers

…as Marie Antoinette (apparently) famously once said. And there was plenty of cake to consume at last week’s annual Lyonville Cake Bake-Off.  Of course all the cakes entered into the competition had to be judged before we could “let them eat cake”.  Enter this year’s four judges – Fiona Kelly, Lynda Marples, Annie Smithers and yours truly.  Both Fiona and I had judged for the last two years so as the experienced judges we each partnered with the “novices”.  It’s fair to say though, neither of these women are true novices – Lynda having been part of Red Beard Bakery for many years and Annie being the well-known chef she is these days, most notably at her restaurant in Trentham, du Fermier.

Lyonville Bake-off judges (L to R) Lynda Marples, Fiona Kelly, Robyn Rogers and Annie Smithers. (Photo supplied)

The day started out well with the weather co-operating so that all judging could take place outside under the marquees, while the hall was filled with both locals and tourists chatting, drinking their coffee and purchasing their home-made cakes.   There’s no doubt the locals of Lyonville know the way to everyone’s hearts, minds and stomachs with the spread they put on.

This year’s bake-off had six sections available for entry – General Cakes, Kids Cakes, Special Dietary, Decorated, Cupcakes & Slices, Pies & Tarts.  With over 45 entries to choose from, the judges had their work cut out for them getting through the tasting.  Each item is judged across 5 categories – Taste, Presentation, Creativity, Flavour and Texture so it’s quite the process making sure you cover off all those categories for each and every entry.

Special mention this year has to go to the kids cakes entries – these just get better every year, especially with their decorating abilities.  These kids go all out and I can only put it down to the influence of all the reality cooking programs which must give them great encouragement to just give it a try.  There were even some kids brave enough to enter their cakes in some of the other sections which was impressive given they are up against some pretty experienced cooks.

Once the cakes are judged and the prizes awarded, all the cakes go up for a silent bidding auction so absolutely nothing goes to waste – but it does ensure massive sugar overloads will be experienced.  I have it on good authority (and experience) that all the judges remain on a sugar high for the rest of the day!

Loewn and Virginia Whyman won the Special Dietaries category with their Persian Love Cake. (Photo Robyn Rogers)

The main prize winner is always chosen from General Cakes and the winners of all the other categories also receive prizes.  So who won all the prizes – here’s the list of winners and their prizes.  Sadly not everyone can win and it’s often very hard to choose, but choices have to be made and the Hall Committee continue to encourage all the non-winners to keep giving it a go next year.

  • Decorated Cakes – Grace B with her Carrot Cake (Fleur de Lyonville Flower Farm Tour ticket $95 value)
  • Cupcakes and Slices – Vicki Poxon with Hazelnut and Almond Slice ($50 voucher from the Green Store
  • Tarts and Pies – Linda Gillies with Tarte au Citron ($50 Voucher Kuki Trentham)
  • Special Dietaries – Loewn and Virginia Whyman with Persian Love Cake ($50 Red Beard Bakery voucher)
  • Kids category – Runner Up – Bede and Gabe with Violet Crumble slice ($20 Squishie Minnie Voucher donated by Judder Bar eats)
    Winner – Willow Arthur with Hazelnut Torte ($50 Voucher from Paradise Books, Daylesford)
  • General cakes – Runner up – Catherine Cartwright with Banana cake with cream cheese and passionfruit icing ($30 Trentham Bakery voucher)
    Winner – Kylie Wilkie with Ginger Spice cake (Signed copy of Kitchen Sentimental by Annie Smithers, 500ml bottle of Hepburn Distillery Lyonville Gin and $25 VISA gift card donated by Wombat Forest Organics. Total prize value $140)

So do you think you’ve got the best cake recipe in your repertoire?  Maybe that recipe handed down by Grandma or your Mum? Maybe something you’ve just found in a cook book that all your friends and family rave about when you make it?  Then it’s time to enter it in the annual Lyonville Cake Bake-Off Competition and see if you can blitz the rest of the field.

Lastly the Lyonville Hall Committee do an amazing job pulling off the Bake-Off every year and it raises much needed funds to maintain the Hall so congratulations to them on another successful year.  By the way, you can drop into the Lyonville Hall every Sunday from 10:00a.m for coffee and cake. Do yourself a favour and give it a try one Sunday as you will not be disappointed.

Robyn Rogers is a Hepburn Springs resident, a presenter on Hepburn Radio and a member of the Editorial Committee of The Wombat Post.