4 Cork students show their baking chops!

No less than four Cork students have come out on top in a national baking competition this week, creating some amazing cakes.

Katie Kingston (Skibbereen Community School), Eryn O’Sullivan (Colàiste Fionnchua), Niamh Finn (Presentation Secondary School Mitchelstown), and Claire Griffin (Skibbereen Community School) were among the winners of the Kenwood Young Baker 2021 in association with the Association of Teachers of Home Economics (ATHE).

In both the senior and junior categories, Cork students took home the 1-2, with fourth year Niamh Finn winning the senior prize with her incredible Insanely Good Chocolate Cake With a Hint of Hazelnut and Coffee.

Claire Griffin, also fourth year, took second with her imaginative Journey of Dreams Rosé Prosecco Cake.

Second year Katie Kingston took home the junior prize with her fab My Olympic Dream while third year Eryn O’Sullivan was second with Willy Wonka 7”3 Layer Vanilla Sponge Cake.

While students didn't have to impress Paul Hollywood, they had to create a cake that wowed judges Master Pastry Chef Shane Smith, multi-award winning pastry chef and TV chef, Aoife Noonan, President of the Association of Teachers of Home Economics Michelle McCabe, and Kenwood Recipe Development Chef, Sophie Meechan.

This year the cake had to be a single tier cake and the theme was ‘dreams’.

Winning entries won a full appliance kit out of their home economics classroom plus their very own Kenwood stand mixer, a cookery course via Zoom with Shane Smith for each winning class. The winners and runner ups will receive Kenwood Kids Club kit and everyone who entered got a certificate.