An amateur baker whose hyper-realistic cake of a gardening scene won first prize at the Nottinghamshire County Show is planning her return to defend her title in May.
Zoey Tory‘s spring-themed cake – which put the edible into incredible – featured “soil” made from chocolate and crumbled Oreo biscuits and a watering can made from madeira sponge covered in white chocolate ganache and painted sugar paste.
It was the first time Zoey, from near Worksop, had entered the competition and she came away with first prize in the Decorated Cake category, a reward for a cake which, it is fair to say, was a labour of love, having taken her three 12-hour days to bake and decorate and weighed nearly 6kg.
The show returns to the Newark Showground on May 10 with a host of attractions including livestock competitions, food and drink stands, a daredevil motorbike stunt display, the Nottinghamshire Young Farmers lawnmower race, equestrian events and music.
Its Make, Bake and Grow section, which features the cake competition, alongside dozens of other contests including the best garden produce, hen’s eggs, artwork and decorated cress heads, promises to be as popular as ever.
This year the theme for the decorated cake category is VE Day, to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, and Zoey is already thinking of how she will approach it.
Zoey, whose eight-year-old daughter, Evie, is also planning to enter the children’s section, has been baking cakes for her friends and close family for five years.
A fan of TV’s Great British Bake-Off, Zoey is self-taught and enjoys her hobby in her spare time, alongside her work as a bank paramedic and at her local pub.
Her spring cake was only the second hyper-realistic cake she has ever attempted, but she thoroughly enjoyed the experience and is looking forward to returning to defend her title again.
She said: “I’ve been to the show previously, but when I found out there was a decorated cake competition I decided to enter with a painted cake.
“It was the most elaborate cake I’ve ever made and I surprised myself with how it turned out. I wanted to make sure that everything on it was edible, right down to the soil and the spade, and I was really pleased with it.
“There was a lot of interest in it and people were taking photos, which was really nice, and it was lovely to win. I really like the theme for this year because there are a lot of different ways to approach VE Day, so I’m looking forward to getting started.”
Also looking forward to making a return to the show is nine-year-old Lola Bultitude, who won the children’s section for the best hen’s eggs – any colour other than white – and picked up a rosette.
Lola and her family, from Newark, keep a brood of ex-battery hens and on the morning of the show she selected five freshly laid and most-similar-looking eggs and took them along.
Eggs are judged on a variety of criteria including shape and shell texture and the appearance of the yolk and albumen on the inside, and Lola’s hen’s eggs passed with flying colours.
But she wasn’t the only person from her family to taste success at the show last year. Not only did her mum, Emily, get special recognition for her cherry cake, her grandmother, Julie Robertshaw, produced the best container of herbs, while her cousin, Catherine Dray, won first prize for her hedgehog-decorated chocolate cake.
Her other cousin, Sebastian Dray, meanwhile, came second for his hedgehog cupcakes.
Emily said: “We’ve always come along to the show but we decided to take part in the Make, Bake and Grow competition for the past two years and it’s fun to get involved.
“Lola picked five of the most similar-looking eggs last year and was really happy to win and she’s looking forward to returning again this year.”
Elizabeth Halsall, who manages the show on behalf of the Newark and Notts Agricultural Society, said: “Zoey’s cake caused quite a stir last year and was a worthy winner in what was quite a well-contested category.
“The Make, Bake and Grow section is a wonderful part of the show, because it’s an opportunity for anybody to take part and show off what they can do. It’s one of my favourite events and I’m looking to seeing how the bakers interpret the VE Day theme.”
Entries for Make, Bake and Grow close on April 16 and for the full schedule and details on how to enter, as well as to buy tickets for the show, which are currently available at a discounted rate of £14 until May 2, visit www.nottinghamshirecountyshow.com
