I recently went to The Cake & Bake Show in association with Argos at Event City in Manchester. It's the show's second year at Event City, and also it's second year of extending it's run from 3 to 4 days. Last year after a change in event organisers, the show was much smaller and I was a bit disappointed with it. I was very glad to see they have upped their game this year! The place was packed with exhibitors, demo stages and gorgeous cake displays.
I attended the show with my friend Beth and we started our day watching Benjamina demo a Pistachio, Lemon and Cardamom cake on the super theater stage. I was really excited to see her as she is one of my favorite contestants from this year's Great British Bake Off. I loved how pretty she made all of her bakes look throughout the show and even working quickly on the demo stage she still pulled off a gorgeous bake!
Benjamina also talked about how she'd love to release a book one day - and I hope she does! She told the crowd how her and the other bakers from this year all have a Whatsapp group and they talk to each other almost every day.
And this was the gorgeous cake that she produced, the recipe for a loaf version of this cake is available on the BBC Food website. To jazz it up like she did, double the recipe, bake it in sandwich tins, and decorate with cream cheese frosting, edible flowers and edible glitter.
We went for a wander round the exhibitor stands. I was really impressed with Mr D's Pie Machine, how awesome is their stand?! It really stood out and had such a unique look.
The Sunday Girl's gorgeous retro aprons really caught my eye, plus they even do kids versions - so cute!
I couldn't miss the gigantic potato rostis and potato cakes being sold by the Piece of Cake Bakery, I'm regretting not going back to buy some of these amazing treats!
These impeccable cupcakes were on offer from Candy's Cupcakes and I thought they looked gorgeous.
The Gorgeous Ventures taught me what puff puffs are, and my waistline is not going to thank me! They are an African snack made by deep frying balls of cake dough flavoured with ginger or banana and damn are they good!
I adore Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and their stand was selling packs of 2 half pound cups for only £5! Such a bargain considering I saw them on another stall for £13. They are a limited edition for Christmas and would surely make any Reese's fan very happy on Christmas day!
I bumped into the lovely Benjamina and had to grab a photo! I was so nervous, but she was lovely and so nice. She is a fellow blogger too, check out her blog Carrot & Crumb.
We wandered over into the Ideal Home Show, which is connected to The Cake & Bake Show and you can access it with the same ticket. We grabbed some lunch from La Raclette, above is Beth's cheese smothered potatoes with gherkins.
Then we grabbed a warm apple strudel drink from this fab red bus bar. It was a mixture of Malibu, apple juice and cinnamon, and it was delicious. Christmas was in full swing at the Ideal Home Show with twinkling Christmas trees dotted all around.
Back at The Cake & Bake Show super theater we checked out GBBO 2015 winner Nadia as she made za'tar and lemon palmiers, and coconut macarons. She was very chatty and friendly to the crowd and talked a lot about her children. She also admitted to using ready made puff pastry, which I thought was great as it really is such a time saver.
And the famous Nadia facial expressions were in full swing!
I did a bit of shopping and grabbed these cute gingerbread sprinkles, and some pump action glitter spray from The Cake Decorating Company. I discovered this glitter spray at John Whaite's Kitchen Cookery School recently and I wanted some straight away. I got it in all three colours (gold, silver and red) as it was 3 for £12!
There was a stunning display of Beatrix Potter characters made from sugarcraft to look at. It was made by The Sugar Chronicles to celebrate 150 years since Beatrix Potter was born.
It really brought back memories from my children of reading the books. The Tale of Benjamin Bunny was one of my favorite stories.
The characters were all stunningly recreated in sugar craft and the detail was superb, from the eyelashes on the rabbits, to the tiny woodlice and rocks in the grass around them.
I introduced Beth to Sugar & Crumbs amazing flower nozzles that create the stunning designs above so easily. We watched a demonstration and her mind was blown!
I got some fudge from The Kilted Fudge Company last year and I was back for more this year as their fudge is fantastic! Honestly the best fudge I've ever tasted.
There was some amazing competition cakes on display that we gazed in awe at. The theme was fairytales and I also saw several mermaid themed cakes.
The detail on these cakes is so beautiful!
And the day ended with watching Rosemary Schrager and sitting behind these fab four - Val, Rav, Benjamina and Louise from The Great British Bake Off. They are holding my friend Beth's baby in the above photo! I had such a fun day at the show and it was great to see it back on form after last year's hiccup. I'm looking forward to next year already!
I'm linking this post up with Brilliant Blog Posts hosted by Honest Mum.
