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.

“It went really, really well,” she said.

“You 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.

“We ended up having 30 people’s choice entries—which is a lot of cake—18 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 you’ve got a competition.”

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.

“We were on ABC Radio the week before, and I got a phone call later that day to see if we’d be interested in having a vaccine popup,” Erin said.

“I said that would be wonderful—a bit of community service, that’s what we’re trying to do. I hadn’t had my first needle so I said, ‘look, if no one else, I’ll get vaccinated, that’d be great’, so it was really good. It was the first time they’d used their van.”

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.

“Next year I think we’ll do some cooking masterclasses in the lead up to get some tips for old-fashioned baking—it’s not MasterChef, but not everyone wants to do MasterChef,” she said.

“People loved the live judging.

“I emceed with the judge—she’s 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.

“The people’s choice was wonderful—because we had 30 cakes, everyone had five and they had to pick their top two, and they actually found it really hard. Everyone thinks it’ll be really fun and easy—cake is wonderful—but by the time you get through five cakes, you can’t remember.”

One young Marburg man might want to consider MasterChef in the future though. Twelve-year-old Henry was the winner of the people’s choice category after deciding to give a whole cake a go when he was told he couldn’t enter cupcakes.

“He said ‘I’ll give it a crack’, and the little bugger won!” Erin laughed.

“Now 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.”