Newton House rise to the challenge in Bake Off competition
Newton House rise to the challenge in Bake Off competition
One of the fun House competitions is the ‘House Bake Off’ where the prize for the winners was a bumper amount of points for their House as well as being crowned the Bake Off winners.
The challenge for our students was to follow a recipe to bake a Hummingbird Cake with icing and topped with a brittle. Sounds difficult enough already? Well, it gets even more tricky when you add the element of a ticking clock and watchful eyes from the Heads of House and rival students!
There was a brilliant atmosphere in the Food Technology classroom as Heads of House and additional staff were supporting their Houses and giving their encouragement and baking tips.
The difficult job of picking a winner was the responsibility of Mrs Pell who judged Amber Jagger in Year 7 to have made the best cake. This meant that Newton House were officially crowned the House Bake Off winners.
All of the students who represented their Houses done an amazing job under the intense conditions to make this delicious banana-pineapple spice cake. Students from different year groups demonstrated excellent teamwork as they worked together to support their House.
The winners were:
Winner
- Amber Jagger (Year 7) – Newton House
Runner up
- Olivia Hilton (Year 7) and Andrew Dlugosz (Year 9) – Marshall House
Best looking cake
- Emi Mai Forman (Year 7) and Logan Burrell (Year 7) – Newton House
If you fancy making the cake yourself, we have shared the recipe below.
Hummingbird Cake Recipe
INGREDIENTS
- 260g self-raising flour
- ¾ level teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 260g caster sugar
- Pinch of sea salt
- 3 medium very ripe bananas
- 320g tin of pineapple chunks (drained)
- 190g butter/margarine
- 2 large free-range eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 35g seeds
ICING
- 300g icing sugar
- 110g unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 150g cream cheese
- 1 lime
BRITTLE
- 50g caster sugar
- 25g mixed seeds
METHOD
- Preheat the oven to 180°C
- Grease and line three small 15cm round cake tins.
- Sift the flour and cinnamon into a mixing bowl, then add the sugar and a large pinch of sea salt.
- Peel the bananas and mash them up with a fork in another bowl. Drain and finely chop the pineapple and add to the bananas with the butter/margarine, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix until combined, then fold into the dry mixture until smooth.
- Add the mixed seed and gently fold in, then divide the batter evenly between your prepared tins.
Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until risen, golden and the sponges spring back when touched lightly in the centre.