Muriel Smyth from Portaferry (centre) with her runner up placed creation, and judges.

Muriel Smyth from Portaferry Women’s Institute (Ards Peninsula Area) recently competed in the final of the Victoria Square Bake Off competition where the Women’s Institute and Victoria Square set out to find the best ‘Victoria Square’ Sandwich in Northern Ireland.

The live final held in Victoria Square saw six skilled bakers, including Muriel Smyth from the WI work against the clock to bake and decorate her own Victoria Sandwich showstopper under the watchful eye of host and expert judge Jenny Bristow.

Runner-Up Muriel Smyth’s Victoria Sandwich incorporated soft pastel green and yellow icing with edible flowers with a special nod to the WI on the front of the cake. The central feature on top was a decorative sugar dome inspired by the Victoria Square dome.  As a unique feature for extra flavour, Muriel’s cake was made with two teaspoons of elderflower cordial. The judges highlighted the incredible attention to detail considered by all the bakers in their finished masterpiece, especially given the time constraints and the conditions of baking in front of a live audience.

Michelle Greeves, Centre Manager Victoria Squarecommented on the event, “All six WI finalists were so talented meaning it was a real challenge for us to choose our overall winner. The bakers held their nerve in front of a live audience to create the perfect ‘Victoria Square’ Sandwich cake but unfortunately we could only choose one star baker.”

Jennifer Creelman from Macosquin WI, representing the Lower Bann Area, was crowned as the overall winner. Jennifer’s winning cake was chosen for its light, moist sponge, flavoursome buttercream and jam filling, and beautiful Easter bunny spring-themed decorations, imaginatively made using dairy milk chocolate as soil and coconut for grass.

Jenny Bristow also said, “While the Victoria Sandwich has been around for hundreds of years we were looking for something really unique which combined traditional qualities of a Victoria Sandwich cake but with a twist, and we found that with our winning cake today.”

All information about the event, including the centre’s opening hours, can be found at www.victoriasquare.com