Earlier this week, on 10 October, the pastry round of the Western Australian Excellence in Baking Competition took place at the TAFE Bentley Campus.

This competition was one in a series of state competitions run by the Baking Association of Australia (BAA) in the lead up the its yearly Excellence in Baking Awards, which will be held in May 2023.

Apprentice Olivia Jarquin Baugh from Toodyay Bakery took out the title after producing Viennese biscuits, Swiss rolls, a jam and cream sponge, a birthday cake, eclairs, and profiteroles all over the course of six hours.

Jason Marion, Olivia’s boss at Toodyay Bakery, said “Olivia started with us in 2017 as a casual shop assistant during which she completed a Cert III in Food Processing. We were so impressed with Olivia’s hard work and dedication we offered her an apprenticeship. Olivia is only a few months away from completing her Cert III in Cake and Pastry.”

He continued, “Olivia is a country girl, born and bred. She is keen on travelling around the world whilst applying her craft. Olivia will get to network with the who’s who in the Australian baking industry next year at the finals in Sydney, opening up so much opportunity to achieve her dreams.  She will be missed by all when she decides to leave, but hopefully Olivia will return to our little town and spoil everyone with her newly learnt array of goodies!”

The BAA commemorated Olivia’s in in a social media post, where they said, “A big congratulations to everyone who competed and our judges from WA TAFE, who always support the baking industry. Looking forward to the grand final bake off in Sydney May 2023.”

Olivia will join the Queensland bread winner, Christine Walker, and the WA bread winner, Jackson Keily, to compete for the titles of Australian Apprentice Baker of the Year and Australian Apprentice Pastrycook of the Year at the National Titles in conjunction with the Baking Industry Trade show.

The results of this competition will be announced at the Excellence in Baking Awards.

The other states in the country are yet to have their events. The dates for these upcoming events are on the Baking Business events page.