The Arlington Staff Bake-Off

The excitement had been building for a few weeks and on Saturday 1st Dec, the moment of truth finally arrived!

The inaugural Arlington Staff Bake-off was a resounding success. We had 12 entries on the day and it’s fair to say we saw cakes of many different tastes, shapes and sizes! All the cakes were made in our staff’s own time and it was obvious from the output that they really put their hearts and souls into the competition.

To spice things up we offered three cash prizes, £50 for the winner, £30 for second place and £20 for third place. And to ensure each cake was evaluated in a fair and appropriate manner, we put together a panel of expert judges who had the enjoyable task of sampling the many delights on offer. A massive thank you to all our judges (Matt, Diane, Pat and Ann) for taking the time to help make the event so memorable.

So onto the cakes and the winners. From fruitcake to salted caramel cupcakes, and from victoria sponge to chocolate cheesecake, the variety of the Arlington Bake-off was exceptional. All cakes were scored on taste and appearance, and bonus points were given based on Maura’s feedback – one of our residents who expressed an interest in helping out!

Third place:

Jen Rowson with a fabulous carrot cake that incorporated Arlington House branding. Jen also went the extra mile and created a replica Billy (Arlington House’s cat) in icing on the top of the her cake!

Second place:

Phil Lindley with an eye-catching Cricket themed sponge cake. In Phil’s own words, it was more Bat & Ball than Battenberg!

First place:

Julie McConn with a kit-kat sponge cake filled with jam and fresh cream. Julie’s entry certainly turned heads – it looked like the Millennium Dome in London and it tasted out of this world!

All participants received a bottle of Prosecco for their wonderful efforts and all visitors to Arlington House on Saturday afternoon were given a doggy bag of assorted cake!!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to attend and to our staff who made the event so enjoyable and memorable. We hope to make this an annual event and will announce details nearer the time.

See you all next year!