Cake & Bake Show 2014

Yesterday I spent the morning surrounded by the sweet smell of sugar at The Cake & Bake Show at Earls Court! I had been looking forward to this for ages and my excitement had grown every Wednesday evening whilst watching GBBO! We arrived bang on the dot of 10am and made our way up the escalators to the show. After picking up our goody bag we were off.

We did a scout around first and stumbled upon the Culpitt stand giving away another goody bag if you filled in a questionnaire. Others must have done the same as the crowd around it was at least three deep! We also found a lot of exhibitors running competitions to win a Kenwood mixer. I entered them all so fingers crossed I win one (and don't win them all!)

After going around one side of the hall, we ventured over to the other side where more of the food stalls are. I hadn't had breakfast yet and was enticed by the smell coming from Little Jack Horners. Makers of homemade sausage rolls, we couldn't walk past without trying them. We got three and scoffed them there and then. Absolutely delicious! And what's more, they do next-day delivery when you order online – brilliant!

Another highlight of my day was the demonstration we watched with all four previous winners of GBBO – Edd Kimber, Jo Wheatley, John Whaite & Frances Quinn. They were all so funny and had such good banter between them. The demo was a bake-off challenge where the two teams had to make a batch of madelines. This was secondary to the chats that Wendy was having with them and the questions they were being asked. We learnt a few inside facts about GBBO, who they are tipping to with this series (a draw between Richard & Luis) and some tips about how to get on the show (have Google on your screen!) After the demo Dave was straight up to grab one of the fresh madelines from Frances & Edd. It was delicious, still warm and very fluffy. I was quite excited to have eaten a bake from the GBBO winners!

I thought I would give you my thoughts about the show:

Pros
• As you wander around you will spot things that you never even considered buying or didn't think you would need but when you see them you want them! For example the baking bags in the left of the pic above. We stumbled upon their stand and thought 'yes we need those!'

• Seeing a host of top chefs and cooks giving demonstrations, chatting and answering questions is great.

• Your choice of cake to eat is endless!

Cons
• If you are looking for general baking equipment eg. scales, cake skewer, baking beans, you may have to look very hard to no avail. A lot of stalls were selling the same thing, sugar paste and items for sugar craft. I don't do much sugar paste work and like baking a lot of different things, not just cakes. I was on the lookout for equipment but didn't find much at all

• Lakeland weren't there. This relates to my point above. They are obviously a very large brand but I think their presence was missed. Even if they were there providing pans, piping bags, cutters etc., there were still enough stands selling decorations, ribbons, cases and boxes that you could have gone to.

Overall it is a great show and I really enjoyed my morning there. I came away very excited about all the bakes I was going to make and the new brands I had seen. Roll on next weekend when I can next bake!