Talented bakers put their skills to the test at a festive bake-off event - and wowed judges with their creations.
The Great Sunshine Bake was organised by The Chronicle Sunshine Fund, a charity that helps to transform the lives of young people with disabilities across the North East. As part of the campaign, launched in September, bakers from organisations, schools and community groups in the region ran bake sales.
The top four fundraising groups secured a place in the final. These were England Netball, Sage, The Grand and Clavis. The final bake-off was then held at The Grand Hotel Gosforth Park in Newcastle, who also sponsored the campaign.
The contest was judged by Jane Heath and Nigel Guthrie, from The Grand's senior management team. And England Netball, who made a chocolate reindeer fudge cake, were chosen as the winners.
Jane, head of sales at The Grand Hotel, said they marked the bakes on their appearance, taste and texture, and it wasn't an easy decision.
She said: "All four entries were really good and different. All the creations took lots of effort to pull off and they all tasted wonderful. It was really hard to choose a winner."
She further said The Grand Hotel was a long-standing supporter of the charity and its work to help children with disabilities. She added: "It was great to collaborate and support the Sunshine Fund in this initiative."
Jade Featherstone, 23, and Gemma White, 33, from England Netball, were chosen at the star bakers. Jade said: "Baking is just an extra hobby for both of us and we tried to make the cake as festive as we could.
"It feels great that we won. But we just wanted to support the charity, regardless of whether we won or not."
Siobhan Sargeant, Sunshine Fund director, said: "The Great Sunshine Bake has been one of our favourite campaigns of 2022, mainly because many of the organisations who took part invited us along to their bake sales. We knew we had some talented supporters but this takes the biscuit. Sorry, we have been running on baking puns since September.
"Huge congratulations to England Netball for their festive reindeer chocolate cake which was amazing and a massive thank you to everyone who has donned an apron, grabbed a whisky and created some tasty treats to raise some much kneaded dough for us."
The Sunshine Fund provides essential specialist and adapted equipment for children with disabilities and terminal illnesses that often costs thousands of pounds. This can range from powered wheelchairs and specialist beds to car seats and communication equipment. You can support its work by making a donation here.
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