The inaugural Great Marburg Bake Off on Saturday, October 2 brought out the residents of the small country Queensland town of Marburg in enthusiastic droves.
Organiser Erin Davis said she was thrilled with the turnout and how the event unfolded, with the number of entries in each category exceeding her expectations.
βIt went really, really well,β she said.
βYou know when you imagine something in your head and you play it out and play it out? It went exactly as I imagined it would.
βWe ended up having 30 peopleβs choice entriesβwhich is a lot of cakeβ18 or 19 chocolate cakes, 15 decorated cakes and 68 pairs of decorated biscuits. We did well; I had set the goal at wanting at least 10 in each category because then youβve got a competition.β
Β
Marburg Mayor Teresa Harding attended, and a brass band and magician provided entertainment for the day. In addition, a pop up COVID-19 vaccination hub provided an opportunity for cake enthusiasts to get their jab.
βWe were on ABC Radio the week before, and I got a phone call later that day to see if weβd be interested in having a vaccine popup,β Erin said.
βI said that would be wonderfulβa bit of community service, thatβs what weβre trying to do. I hadnβt had my first needle so I said, βlook, if no one else, Iβll get vaccinated, thatβd be greatβ, so it was really good. It was the first time theyβd used their van.β
Erin said she and her friend and co-organiser Amanda Petersen are already planning the next Great Marburg Bake Off, which she says will be bigger and better.
βNext year I think weβll do some cooking masterclasses in the lead up to get some tips for old-fashioned bakingβitβs not MasterChef, but not everyone wants to do MasterChef,β she said.
βPeople loved the live judging.
βI emceed with the judgeβsheβs been a CWA judge for many years and she had some excellent tips and tricks. People were genuinely shocked by some of the things she said.
βThe peopleβs choice was wonderfulβbecause we had 30 cakes, everyone had five and they had to pick their top two, and they actually found it really hard. Everyone thinks itβll be really fun and easyβcake is wonderfulβbut by the time you get through five cakes, you canβt remember.β
One young Marburg man might want to consider MasterChef in the future though. Twelve-year-old Henry was the winner of the peopleβs choice category after deciding to give a whole cake a go when he was told he couldnβt enter cupcakes.
βHe said βIβll give it a crackβ, and the little bugger won!β Erin laughed.
βNow he gets his cake on the menu at the pub for a couple of weeks and a good old-fashioned perpetual trophy to be hung in the pub.β
COMMENTS