It's the baking part that counts...

In April this year I took part in a competition run by the fabulous girls at It's The Baking Part That Counts... follow them on Twitter at @BakingCounts or find them on Facebook. It's an annual competition held in Birmingham and all the proceeds go to charity. This year they were fundraising for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, and as this cause is very close to my heart I decided to enter. It was held at the Prince of Wales pub in Moseley and happily the sun shone while we all queued to eat cake and vote for the winner. There were loads of cakes entered into the three categories (best baked cake, best decorated cake and best decorated cupcakes). There were some brilliant prizes to be won and some of the decorated cakes were incredible! In all the day raised over £1500 for L&L Research which will go towards beating blood cancer and I look forward to seeing and working with the advances made in treating blood cancers in the future. 

So, my cake... having just finished three nights I had planned to get up early and make my cake but that didn't happen so I ended up throwing something together last minute. I made a lemon and blueberry victoria sponge - my bittersweet cake. 

This was very easy to make and very quick. Make your favourite victoria sponge recipe and add in the zest of one lemon and the juice. I sandwiched it together with blueberry conserve (jam for posh people ha) and lemon buttercream. Not bad to say I woke up 40 minutes before the competition was due to start. I didn't manage to get a picture of the finished cake but here it is part way through the judging... as you can see it seemed quite popular and there wasn't much left.

All in all a very worthwhile day for a worthwhile cause - thank you Baking Counts. 

Bird x