“The devil’s in the details” has a number of different meanings. But all of them boil down to just one thing – that it’s often the smallest details which make it stand out from the rest. A fact I was really delighted to see with all the entries into our recent McCann Erickson ‘Bake Off’ 2010.

Boy oh boy did they rise to the task, it was like walking into sweet smelling, calorie-laden, good old fashioned ‘Cake Shoppe’. Our Judges Ciara and Stephen from Easy Food magazine had 14 entries to choose from and had a mighty task in hand – but they too rose to the challenge. I certainly would not have fancied being in their shoes, well, maybe the tasting part!

So without further delay, I hereby give you our winner – Shane Doyle and his superb healthy ‘part of your 5-a-day’ Carrot Cake.
Shane was closely followed by Ciara Gallogly, and her first ever baking attempt, ‘Mini Victoria Sponge with homemade strawberry preserve and fresh cream filling’.

Shane’s blow-by-blow account of the baking process for his winning cake.

The runner-up entries.

Special mentions were awarded to Matt, a veteran of the Bake Off’’s, with his Almond & Walnut Valentine Cake, and also to Ray who caused great debate with the judges with his amazing selection of Breads, also beautifully presented I might add. One final prize was awarded to another ‘newbie’ for sheer creativity, Dave’s brilliant ‘Burger & Chips Cake’.

We then took donations from anyone who wanted to sample all the goodies, with €100 raised in aid of The Rape Crisis Centre.

Everyone who took part made a fantastic effort, with many home trial runs before the day, and all were beautifully presented to our judges. Thanks to all who took part and of course to Easy Food Magazine for their fantastic support.

Being the competitive lot we are, last year (after a particularly nice chocolate biscuit cake was brought in by one of the girls), we put out an internal challenge to a ‘McCann Bake- Off’. You mean we challenged people to show off their peacock feathers by baking a cake? You bet we did, and boy did they rise to the bait.

Above: Fanny Cradock and her Jonnie show us how it’s done.

This year we decided to do it again and our friends in Easy Food Magazine heard about  it and have kindly offered to sponsor 1st prize and be our impartial judges. So we’ve set a deadline for submissions, Friday 5th February – to be judged over lunchtime. All in the name of a bit of ‘Friday Fun’, and the competitive streaks are already beginning to surface – and that’s just the boys. We’ll try to raffle off entries for charity at the end (more on this later).

But even though its just in time for any Lent promises that people might be making with regard to giving up the goodies, it looks like we might have a lot of calories to get rid of that day. After all boys, you gotta think of your summer bikini’s and as they say ‘A minute on the lips- forever on the hips’.

The rules are simple: Entries must fit into one of these categories:
1. Cake   2. Cookie   3. Pie   4. Bread.

It’s gotta be made by their own fair hand, and entrants must submit their recipes. So, Mr. Kipling – keep an eye on our ‘exceedingly good blog’ for the ’McCann Erickson 2010 Bake Off Winner’.