Out of the cake competition in the semifinal

I’m out! But I came far. I reached the semi-final of the SOS cake competition with my vegan cakes. And I was booted out by only two votes! I think that is a good result.

This round was a bit unusual for two reasons; one was that it contained three cakes, and the other one was that it fell in a week in which my circadian rhythm was compromised. I think the three cakes were a result of someone new arriving at the school, and being drafted into the cake competition which was already underway, which led to an odd number of bakers.

I knew I had to bake my cake this evening before, but that provided a bit of a challenge, as that day and the day before I had got up at 4:30. I was completely knackered! And that didn't help the baking process. I initially forgot baking soda and had to mix it in at a late stage. My production of buttercream didn't go overly smooth either. But in the end, a cake was produced.

It was also unusual as Miles had suggested he come over that night. I said that was fine, if he was okay with having to witness me baking. But by the time he arrived, the cake was already in the oven. I should say cakes; I baked a big one for the competition, and a small one for myself. The oven was on anyway! 

I was completely knackered when he arrived. I really had to give myself a peptalk before going down to the kitchen to put the kettle on. But he was very understanding. And he got to try the small cake. He liked it!

I had gone for a mocha cake. I like them, and I figure I could do them myself as well. The recipe I had used for my hazelnut cake, actually, was based on this mocha cake recipe, as I had lost the original hazelnut cake recipe. So I had practiced! And I had wanted to decorate it with coffee bean-shaped pieces of mocha chocolate, which you can buy anywhere in the Netherlands, but turn out to be a lot more difficult to get a hold of on britain. I had tried all big local supermarkets and failed, and had to buy them online.

Prep

The final product 

Susan would pick the cake up and drive it to work. So I just left it by the front door, and got on my bike.

When it was time for the cake competition I went up to the coffee room, and I noticed there weren't that many people. And there were three cakes! The other two were blueberry crumble cake and a bara brith (Welsh fruit loaf). I figured the bara brith was unlikely to win. The crumble cake sounded good though. And it was! 

There were so few people that there even was enough for seconds! This would be one of those days when I don't find it difficult to wait for lunchtime to have lunch. And I was glad to see our vegan appear, and have a good chunk of my cake.

When a while later the email with the results came, I saw I had indeed lost to the blueberry crumble cake, which had been made by one of our master students. The bara brith had been made by a previous winner! I don't think he was on top of his game. And Susan told me that the difference was only two votes. Not bad!

I was okay to bow out like this! There will be one more semi-final, and then the final. Exciting stuff. And then I have the summer to think about recipes to try out when the competition starts again in the new academic year!