The Great Ashcroft Bake Off

The Ashcroft Bake Off was a house competition organised at my school where both students and teachers could enter a bake, whether it was a cake, bread or muffins, to gain points for their houses and try to win to get into the finals. After the competition, all of the entries were sold  to raise money for a project to help a project which my school is doing, whereby some students go to Kenya and help schools. 
The entry rules for the Bake Off were:

Cupcakes – Years 7 and 8. Only six cupcakes of any flavour to be submitted.
Cakes – all years. Any type of cake (other than cupcakes) could be submitted but had to be large enough to serve at least six people.
Breads – all years. Any type of bread could be submitted but had to be large enough to serve at least six people.
I decided to make a rainbow cake. This was quite a complicated recipe, but I couldn't resist the temptation of the colours and the sugar! So despite its difficulty I decided to do it try my best at making it anyway.All of the entries were judged on their decoration and appearance, their taste and their texture. I volunteered to take part in selling the cakes at a stall for the baking entries of my house, along with some other people from my tutor group and some prefects from year 11. This was useful for CAS because I had increased my awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth for baking a cake and following a recipe. During the cake sale I worked collaboratively with the other volunteers selling and the students who were buying. I engaged with issues of global importance because I wanted to contribute to and become involved in the international project helping the children suffering from poverty in Kenya and considered the ethical implications of my actions in doing so. I developed new skills in baking a cake, knowing what to do and what to absolutely, definitely not do, and becoming a thinker, a communicator, a risk-taker.

This was a challenge for me because I do not really bake often and hence do not have much experience in baking, as  I had only baked a couple of times before. In addition, the facet that the cakes were going to be judged was quite nerve racking.

By doing the Great Ashcroft Bake Off I was aiming to raise as much money as possible to contribute to the project and gain as many points for my house as possible. I also wanted to improve my baking skills and take advantage of the opportunity to bake as I do not bake often.

This is Creative activity because I had to make my cake and although I followed the recipe, I tried to design my cake differently and make it appealing so it will sell it more. the activity was also Service because I had made the cake so that the money raised could be used for a charitable cause for children suffering from poverty in Kenya and because I had volunteered to help to sell the cakes.

I fully enjoyed this experience as I felt that it was a success, both for me and for my house. I managed to create a colourful and complicated "rainbow cake" which was delicious and sold very well (for £10, 50p a slice). Even though the final product was very different from the end result in the recipe due to both inexperience and use of different equipment from that of the recipe, it was still very tasty and attractive. Although I did not win any high prizes I still managed to gain points for my house by participating. I loved the competitive environment when the awards were being given out for the categories and I am extremely proud to say that Discovery (my house) won some categories! I not only enjoyed the challenge of making the cake and the award giving, I also feel that the excitement and the energy of the cake selling was amazing because every single person in the room was so lively and my colleagues and I managed to sell nearly all of the entries. I feel that have met all of my learning outcomes. Except for my cake being a bit different in its appearance since it was quite a complicated recipe, I feel that I have completed the rest of my aims as well. I think that if I was to enter another baking competition I would choose a more simple recipe, and also would have more knowledge about what to do from this experience. Overall, it was a very fun and joyful activity.