It’s common knowledge that I have a very sweet tooth and have the fillings to prove it. Dessert is without a shadow of a doubt my favourite course on a menu and trust me when I say, I know what I like. So, when I was asked to be one of the judges for the first ever Great Canbury Bake Off, there was no way I was going to turn the opportunity down!

The event, which took place last Friday at The Canbury Arms in Kingston was an opportunity to not only allow very accomplished bakers hidden in the community to show off their culinary skills (and believe you me when I say it was a hard decision to choose a winner from all the cakes displayed), but more importantly to raise money for Macmillan UK, a charity that helps those who are being treated for cancer as well as their family and friends. It was a fantastic turnout and Michael and Charlotte who run the pub did a sterling job ensuring everyone was looked after during the morning.

Now with any judging competition, there must be guidelines to help those with the decision-making process – presentation and creativity is key, but also for me, there must be a delicious, moist sponge which when you take one mouthful you have no choice but to dive in for another! Well there were quite a few cakes that did just that making it all very tricky for Zac Goldsmith (MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston), Mayor Julie Pickering, Andy Clarke TV Producer and myself. In the end it was congratulations to ‘Jenny’ with her fabulous raspberry and vanilla cake, who missed the announcement but when she found out, was so overwhelmed she was speechless.

So successful was the event that after all the cake was bought and devoured a massive £800 was raised for the charity. Now, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, I think this community is truly special and it was lovely to see so much support for the event. Therefore, I propose we make the event bigger and better, raising money for local charities and find more of our baking stars humbly hiding in the borough! Yum!