Sarsen Technology Christmas Bake Off - The Results!

Once again the Sarsen Technology team has been putting their artistic and creative skills to the test, this time with the Christmas staple, the chocolate Yule Log. Baking experience varies throughout the team, but everyone had a go and the results were quite spectacular.

We asked our friends at Sema4 to judge, and they assured us they were well versed in extreme cake eating, which was great news as there were 5 completely different offerings to taste.

Christos - Chocolate salami with cognac and dark chocolate
Lynn - Chocolate log with peppermint cream and gingerbread figures
Laura - Chocolate log with spiced rum and ginger buttercream
Nigel - Chocolate log with glace fruits and chocolate ganache icing
Angela - Well, we'll come to Angela later.

L-R: Lynn, Christos, Nigel & Laura (bottom)

Judged by James and Tony from Sema4, (or Mary and Paul as we like to call them) who took their roles very seriously, there were 3 awards to be won. Master of Flavours, for the person who made the most delicious cake, Expert Cake Decorator, for they who made their log look the most beautiful, and the Overall Winner, given to the person who combined both good looks and taste.

Our expert judges - Tony and James from Sema4

There was some debate between the judges about which log deserved the Master of Flavours accolade, it was a close call for Laura's boozy spiced rum filling but in the end Christos was victorious, with his traditional Greek Mosaiko, or chocolate salami. Filled with delicious biscuits and twice as much cognac as the recipe demanded, Christos knew he was on to a winner before the judging even started.

Lynn's beautifully decorated log, complete with holly and gingerbread animals took the Expert Cake Decorator award. The time and effort put into the finished cake was clear to see and the prize was well deserved.

Considering Nigel has never really baked before, his log was really tasty, even if Tony thought the icing looked like it was moving!!

Now, the Overall Winner was initially awarded to Angela, based on how beautifully put together and delicious her chocolate log was. I'm sure you'd agree, it would normally be a very worthy winner.

Angela's beautiful cake!

Then the bombshell was dropped that the cake we'd been admiring was actually bought whole, from a shop. Not lovingly baked and decorated by hand as everyone else's was. You can imagine our horror when this was revealed, and so unfortunately the whole thing had to be disqualified. In Angela's defence she did blame her daughter for putting the idea in her head and she was very busy so it's not entirely her fault.

This left the door open for Laura to swoop in and take the Overall Winner title, with the cake that was actually James' favourite from the beginning.

Thank you very much to James and Tony for their expertise today, and for (almost) everyone for putting in such a wonderful effort.

Merry Christmas to all!