HMS Collingwood's charity bake off

Lots of creepy culinary competitiveness was on show recently at HMS Collingwood when a charity bake sale took on a seasonal flavour.

Keen bakers had worked tirelessly to produce an excellent spread for the Halloween Bake Off competition and Cake Sale held in aid of the Parkinson’s Society and employees and trainees alike flocked to taste the creations.  There was something for everyone with treats both sweet and savoury, including haggis, neeps and tatties sausage rolls, cheese straws, caramel slices and lemon ghosts!

Some of the most show-stopping creations were the range of creatively decorated Halloween cakes and slices of these were eagerly snapped up.

To decide the overall best bakers in a very tough field, there was also the important business of the Bake Off which was hard-fought in three categories, sweet, savoury and show-stopper. Sarah Porter was delighted to win the savoury category and Tanya Macdonald equally pleased to triumph in the sweet section with her “It’s Halloween and nearly Christmas but still dreaming of Summer” cake. This eight-tier creation boasted a lemon and buttercream base with a gin and tonic middle layer and was topped by a classic Victoria sponge with fresh fruit.

Tanya said, “I wanted to do something really special because I love the Great British Bake-Off! I also love the summer and wanted to bring the flavours of summer to my cake. My daughter Amy also made some Halloween cookies so there’s been a lot of baking this week and the house is covered in icing sugar! The Parkinson’s Society is such an amazing cause though, so it’s been worth it.”

The Showstopper category was won by Simon Rollins who has only recently left the Royal Navy to join the Babcock team at HMS Collingwood.

As well as putting a smile on everyone’s face, the Bake Sale made an unprecedented £560 and the good news is the next Great Collingwood Bake Off is already being planned!