SUFFOLK’S best amateur bakers were able to show off their skills at the weekend.

SUFFOLK’S best amateur bakers were able to show off their skills at the weekend.

The Great Suffolk Bake Off reached its climax when over 30 amateur bakers competed in the Ipswich heat. The bakes were then tasted against the winners of the Bury St Edmunds and Lowestoft heats, who brought along fresh bakes for the grand final judging.

More than 100 people including the bakers and many tasters (friends and family) attended the bake-off at St Elizabeth Hospice which was organised voluntarily by Suffolk PR agency Genesis in aid of the charity and raised a grand total of over £1,100.

The Great Suffolk Bake-Off Champion title was shared between 11-year-old Allie McLuckie, from Ipswich, and Emma Lake, a heat winner from Bury St Edmunds.

Each entry for the contest had a “Suffolk” theme and bakers donated £5 to enter, with further funds raised from bake sales, raffles and quizzes.

Judges for the hotly-fought contest were top Suffolk chef and restaurant owner Regis Crepis (Mariners, Maison Bleu and The Great House restaurants); qualified cookery judge Jane Sago of the Suffolk East Federation of Women’s Institutes; Teresa Harmen of Bildeston Crown; BBC Suffolk’s Lesley Dolphin; Suffolk magazine editor Jayne Lindill; Penny Arbuthnot of Genesis PR, Jane Petit, chief executive of St Elizabeth Hospice and hospice volunteer Christine Heffer.

Penny Arbuthnot, director of organisers Genesis PR, said: “We have been absolutely thrilled with the success of the Great Suffolk Bake Off with an amazing array of entries which interpreted the ‘Suffolk’ theme in a wide variety of different ways.

“We would like to thank everyone who entered and gave support in other ways too, including our very professional judges and generous sponsors of the prizes.”