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The competition began with a controversial entry from Raj 'Raisin the Roof' Chhabra; some might say Chhabra’s score suffered from the fact that he provided just too much choice. In the Bake Off- while Chhabra gave us a raspberry and white chocolate sponge, peanut butter cupcakes, vanilla fairy cakes and sumptuous millionaire shortbread- only one cake can be entered per person. This being said, effort-wise, Chhabra pulled out all the stops and got the challenge off to a flying start with his dessert, entitled "Raj's Raspberry Ripper plus Gooey Delicious Mezze".

Raj’s score board:

Second up was ‘Baker’ Ben Mactaggart who stole the lead with his delectable Easter themed offering, “Baker Ben’s Bunny Brownie Bonanza”. The outcome was a surprise for everyone, including the highly competitive Mactaggart, who had never before turned his hand to baking, so this victory was, for him, even sweeter.

 
Ben’s score board:

The third entry was the creation of seasoned baker Charlotte 'Cherry on Top' Richards, the definite favourite for the competition. Richards went for a marvellously moist “Hummingbird Humdinger” complete with bananas, pineapple, cinnamon and pecans topped with a cream cheese frosting and pecan brittle all made from scratch. Hungry? So were we! No surprises that Richards moved straight in at first place after her gorgeous creation.

Charlotte’s score board:

Cakey Christine Hassall was our fourth baker. After a failed attempt at an apple and rhubard spring garden offering, Hassall decided to utilise a St Patrick’s Day theme with her devilishly delicious chocolate and Guinness cake. She made sure there was no chance of the alcohol affecting the team’s sensibilities for the working day, whilst maintaining the 'wow factor' with a topping of cream cheese, edible gold spray and green Irish dancing butterflies. Hassall followed the ascending scoring pattern with her final mark and just nipped above Richards into first position.

Christine’s scoreboard:

Our fifth challenger stepping up to the plate was Becky ‘Bake Off’ Bates. She brought in a delicious "24 Carrot Gold cake" piled high with crunchy walnuts, decorated with chocolate carrots and sprayed gold (with edible spray of course!) At 9am this morning there was a queue outside the kitchen as eager voters waited patiently for a slice of this gourmet treat for breakfast. The battle was hard fought by Bates, who received a record number of votes from the citizens of Senior Towers; over two thirds of the staff were moved to filling out their ballots. Although it was incredibly close, Bates didn’t quite pull out a win, but managed to slide into a very close second place.

Becky's Scoreboard:

Next up was Steve 'Sugar' Duckworth’s, and while the solar eclipse that took place on Friday at 9.30am cast an eerie shadow over the landscape surrounding Senior Towers, "Steve’s Solar Eclipse Cheese Cake" was more than enough to brighten our morning! What’s more, by the time the sun came out again and the eclipse had past almost the entire cake was gone. Duckworth received some high praise and managed to achieve the prestigious title of ‘most exclamation marks earned in a comments section’! A truely stellar performance!

Steve's Scoreboard:

John 'Bread'shaw’s turn came next and we were treated to another dessert inspired by the celestial bodies of outer space; this time Mars received the Senior Bake Off treatment. Breadshaw's cake was a spherical rice-crispy globe cut in half with a Victoria sponge and chocolate cream cake hiding within. The whole thing was smothered with chocolate, making this cake our most innovative and technical yet; truly out-of-this-world!

John's Scoreboard:

It was 'Crispy' Chris P Rickels’ turn to try his hand at baking next. A keen chef, Rickels decided to monopolise on the ‘innovation’ category, hoping to gain points where his peers had fallen short. He created an orange polenta cake, the texture and flavour of which was not only delicious, but something a little bit different. The polenta cake contained poppy seeds and was covered with hundreds and thousands and decorative orange peel meaning the cake looked, as Mary Berry would say, ‘very appealing’ (no pun intended). Innovative ingredients teamed with impactful flavours, a fun look and the name “It’s polenta see that this is the winning cake” (pun intended) led to its highly deserved place just a small fraction below Hassall on the leader board. 

Chris’s scoreboard:

The Great Senior Bake Off has seen a lot of first-time bakers achieve success, and Abdi ‘Cinna Man’ Samatar’s efforts were no exception with his cake entitled simply "The First One". Many were rooting for Samatar as the outside favourite due to his relaxed nature and approach to baking. Although he had never turned his hand to the sweet alchemy that is cake making, it’s plain to see from the look of his creation and the reaction of his peers that he is a natural. Although Samatar’s sumptuous double chocolate cake wasn’t enough to knock Hassall off the top of the score board, he achieved an admirable sixth place.

Abdi’s scoreboard:

 Next Sam 'Buttery Biscuit' Buckley brought in his creation and it was a game changer in the truest sense of the word. Buckley took his inspiration from everyone’s favourite brand of ice cream, Ben and Jerry’s; Phish Food (of course). He teamed a caramel sponge with generous dark chocolate chunks and a vanilla sponge with layers of marshmallow butter cream icing. He then covered the whole thing in rolled icing, tipped it upside down and wrapped icing with the Phish food carton graphic printed onto it. Every piece of it was sumptuous and delicious; it was difficult not to give him 10/10 for scrumminess. Buckley received generous marks for effort and innovation as he’d not only created a cake, but an interesting and- more importantly- edible sculpture. No one was surprised when he hurtled straight in to the top spot, finally knocking Hassall into second place. A fearsome one to beat.

Sam’s scoreboard:

Day 11 of the Great Senior Bake Off was Andy 'Frangipane' Faulkner’s turn; whose cake caused a veritable uproar, not only because it spawned the best pun that has ever been uttered! Faulkner made sure he maintained the creative cake sculpture theme by producing a highly professional looking dinosaur, a Mamunchisaurus to be precise! As well as stealing second place from Hassall (a tough week for the competitor who spent two weeks at the top) Andy saw the commissions for birthday cakes roll in from his colleagues. Wondering about the pun? Let’s just say it was T-Rexcellent.

Andy's scoreboard:

Our penultimate competitor was 'Pecan' Pete Senior, who brought the proceedings to a close with an interesting submission. For his first ever baking experience Pete produced a banana cake with a lemon and brandy butter cream icing; topped with shards of white and milk chocolate eggs and I can confirm it was as delicious as it sounds. We were very much missing our Easter egg fix; so Senior’s delicious "Day After Easter Cake" kept everyone’s sweet tooth satisfied.

Now we know that Pete is one of the most competitive people working here at Senior Internet, and keen followers of us also know that he has a fearsome on-going rivalry with young Ben Mactaggart. Although sadly Pete did not manage to knock Sam "Buttery Biscuit" Buckley off the top spot; did he do enough to beat his rival?

Pete's Scoreboard:

Soon after 'Pecan' Pete’s submission, a major controversy hit the Great Senior Bake Off. Our 13^th baker pulled out of the running at the last minute, and without anyone else stepping in to complete the baker’s dozen, Senior’s delicious banana cake would have been the last in the competition.

Thankfully, a new competitor stepped in to bring us the final cake of the competition. That competitor was Graphic Designer Chris ‘Munchy’ Merton, and he saw us out with his sumptuous black forest gateaux entitled ‘Schwarzwälder CHRIStorte’ complete with plump kirsch-soaked black cherries. Needless to say it was incredibly yummy and a perfect end to a competition that has seen both experienced and first-time bakers create masterpieces.

 Merton's Score