Rushden cake maker Victoria's sponge showstopper wows judges

A Rushden cake maker has picked up a bronze award at a prestigious UK show just weeks after being named runner-up at the Oscars of the baking industry.

Victoria White, of Victoria White Cake Design, reached the grand final of the Baking Industry Awards after judges sifted through applications and pictures of mouth-watering designs.

Hoping to conjure an award-winning design, mum-of-four Victoria used the brief of 'magic' to create a spell-binding showstopper that was pipped at the post.

Not content with bringing home a runner-up prize Victoria also won a prestigious bronze award at the Cake International competition.

Victoria, 39, said: "I was really pleased to get into the final of the Celebration Cake Business of the Year. The other two finalists own shops and I just work from home.

"I have been in the competition before but I got into the final this time. I had to bake a cake with the brief of magic. It had to be a maximum of 20 inches tall and have one standing figure.

"It was all about the decoration so it didn't have to be cake - it had to include sugar paste, royal icing and marzipan.

"Craig Revel Horwood was the host of the awards and he was fab-u-lous. He danced with the winners.

"I was really really pleased - it's a real achievement."

Victoria started baking cakes and decorating them more than 15 years ago when she made her eldest son's first birthday cake. She fell in love with cake decorating and never looked back.

Her most recent star baker award was for an edible creation of a seated chimp that took Victoria, a former chef and self-taught cake designer, 50 hours to bake, carve, and ice.

She said: “Some people spend all year on some cake categories because of the inside structure. I like to work on sculpted cakes and can do anything - pets or anything.

"Generally I do normal birthday cakes. Drip cakes are very popular at the moment. During lockdown business was very good because people stayed at home for celebrations and splashed out on a special cake. I find it very satisfying."

Check out Victoria's designs at https://victoriawhitecakedesign.co.uk/birthday-cake-gallery