Every now and then, something comes along that captures the hearts and minds of the nation. The Great British Bake Off on the BBC did just that. With the end of the show (as we know it) fast approaching, we decided to celebrate all things baked with our very own Fluid Branding Bake Off!
...and Wednesday was the big day.
The Great British Bake Off seemed to have everyone talking about it, and the Fluid Branding offices across the nation were no exception. With that in mind, Bex Blake in our Cornwall office decided it was high time we put our pastry where our mouth was (ahem...) and had a crack at it ourselves.
The Great Fluid Bake Off was born.
With the date set for Wednesday 26th October – the day the final final aired on the BBC, everyone got down to planning their bakes. There was a great and varied list of submissions from all offices involved:
The Contestants
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Sam Simmons - Raspberry & Apple Crumble Slices
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James Musto - 'Baconators' - Bacon & Maple Syrup Cupcakes
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Kevin Wickett - Biscoff Cupcake Selection
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Jess Collings - Lemon Drizzle
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Cat Murdoch - Double Chocolate Brownies
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Gemma Richards - Victoria Sponge with Strawberries & Cream
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Bex Blake - Red Velvet Cake
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Beth Scoble - Chocolate Cake
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Andrea Tonkin - Bounty Slices
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Ali Cleave - Loaf Selection
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Amy Martin - Pork & Cranberry Sausage Rolls
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Lucy Tanner - Lemon Meringue Pie
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Kate Gibson - Chocolate Brownie
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Jonty Vorster - Steak Pie
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Aaron Loveridge - Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Brownies
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Megan Roberts - Dairy/Gluton-Free Orange & Meringue Cake, Welsh Cakes
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Mark Grace - Apple Cake
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Amy Blakely - Bacon, Egg & Spinach Morning Muffins
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Bex Crosby - Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Centre & Icing
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Vicki Crosby - Victoria Sponge
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Charlotte Melvin - Courgette & Lime Cake
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Marie Ratcliffe - Millionaire Shortbread
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Amy Smyth - Raspberry Bakewell
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Abi Jones - Malteser Tray Bake
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Cat Hill - Orange & Cinnamon Carrot Cake
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Leila Smith - Lemon, Vanilla & Chocolate Cupcakes
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Cara Williams - Lemon Curd Muffins
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Shane McGrath - Red Velvet Cake
A selection of culinary delights from The Great Fluid Bake Off
With such a massive amount of entries across the country, and without a teleportation device handy, we were forced to elect judges from each office to channel their inner Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.
This great responsibility (and, let's face it, humongous treat) fell to Donna Martin and Marc Barbery from the Cornwall office, Amy Blakely from the Plymouth office, Sue Hendre from the Bury office, Laura Ralph from the Manchester office, John Walker from the North East office, and Caroline Hare from the London office.
Serious business: Marc Barbery and Donna Martin get down to judging in the Cornwall office
All was going swimmingly, until...
Scandal at the Bake Off!
It was discovered through intensive detective work and photo analysis technology that Shane – the sole entry from the London office – had **gasp** - submitted a bought-in cake from Sainsbury's!
Sprung: Shane stands proudly with his 'bake' whilst judge Caroline discovers a terrible secret in the background... but it looks good, doesn't it ;-)
With the offices across the nation going bananas, disqualification loomed over this young maverick. However, since Shane had clearly demonstrated his outstanding abilities in decoration (and because the cake tasted pretty damn good anyway), the submission was allowed in the competition. Shane was left to breathe a sigh of relief, and the show could go on...
The Winners
Without further ado, here are the winners of the 2016 Great Fluid Bake Off:
Cornwall Winner: Sam Simmons with his Raspberry & Apple Crumble Slices
North East Winner: Jonty Vorster with his Steak Pie
Plymouth Winner: Mark Grace with his Apple Cake
Manchester Winner: Bex Crosby with her Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Centre & Icing
Bury Winner: Charlotte Melvin with her Courgette & Lime Cake
London Winner: Shane McGrath with his (and Sainsbury's!) Red Velvet Cake
...and here are the winners with their prize bakes:
From left to right: Sam Simmons, Jonty Vorster, Mark Grace (with runner up Megan Roberts), Bex Crosby, Charlotte Melvin, and Shane McGrath
Goodbye Bake Off
Congratulations to the winners, and of course everyone who submitted their bakes into the competition. All of them were delicious, and it seems that dealing in promotional products and branded merchandise are not the only talents of this fabulous team. Many many thanks to Bex Blake for organising the competition, and giving us all the chance to taste the fruits of our colleagues' labour.
And now, all that remains is to bid a very fond farewell to Mel, Sue, Mary and Paul. Thank you for seven years of inspiration and tasty treats – we wish you all the best for the future.
