Do you make the best cakes in the nation? Are your brownies the fairest in the land? Then be sure to enter Britain’s Best Cake 2025!
Now in its second year, the event – sponsored by Dawn Foods, Kluman & Balter, Rainbow Dust, Sonneveld, and St. Ewe Free Range Eggs – is set to take place on Monday 7 April at the UK Food & Drink Shows held at the NEC Birmingham.
Here, industry experts including award-winning cake makers, bakery lecturers, cake specialists, and more will examine and taste the cakes entered in eight categories to find the best in each class. The categories are: Brownie / Blondie, Classic Cake, Free-From Cake, Fruit Cake, Innovation, Mini Cakes, Occasion Cake, and Traybake.
Entries are currently open until Monday 10 March – find out more about the categories and enter your stunning sweet treats via our dedicated website BritainsBestCake.co.uk.
Here are the cake critics ready to have their cake and eat it for the 2025 competition:
Amy North, editor, British Baker
With more than a decade of experience as a journalist, including seven years at British Baker, Amy is responsible for leading and developing all aspects of its editorial coverage, from breaking news and in-depth features covering businesses of all sizes across the industry.
Chris Parrington, technical and development manager, Kluman & Balter
Chris’ 40-year career in bakery has been varied. He started with Hughes Family Bakers and went on to spend time in a technical role at Rank Hovis, as a pastry chef for P&O Cruises, and as a bakery manager for Exquisite Handmade Cakes in Leeds before joining the A1 Cake Mixes team for Kluman & Balter in 2012.
Daryl Stephenson, assessor, Coleg Cambria
Daryl has been in the baking industry for 29 years in roles from retail bakery, manufacturing and bakery training as well as being an ambassador for Tasty Careers Wales promoting the baking and food industry. He is also a member of the management team for The Pudding Compartment in Flint.
Elaine Hamey, owner, Elaine’s Creative Cakes
Elaine Hamey has been a confectioner for over 35 years and started working in a bakery to gain industry knowledge and experience whilst training to be a confectionery teacher. She taught at college level for over 20 years at several colleges around Manchester, including Tameside College. It was while working here that she attained the Confectioner of the Year title at the Baking Industry Awards twice. Elaine now puts her skills to use at her shop Elaine’s Creative Cakes in Urmston, Manchester. She creates everything from multi-tiered bespoke wedding cakes to birthday cakes, as well as cupcakes and scones for local coffee shops. She was crowned Celebration Cake Maker of the Year at the 2024 Baking Industry Awards marking the second time she has taken home the trophy.
Johanna Moloney, owner, Caketastic Creations
Johanna founded celebration cake firm Caketastic Creations in 2010 after being made redundant from a long career as a manufacturing chemist. She progressed to offering cupcake classes for children, with a travelling pop-up tearoom added before taking on a commercial premises in 2019. In 2022, she won Celebration Cake Business of the Year at the Baking Industry Awards as was a finalist at the 2024 event.
Kyle Rodgers, UK sales manager, Rainbow Dust and Squires Kitchen
Kyle has 20 years of experience in the baking industry. Starting as a baker to trade, he then moved to learning and development, helping train bakers of the future via National Food & Drink Training. Since then, he has worked for Carr’s Flour in various senior sales roles and is now the UK sales manager for Rainbow Dust which provides a range of food colourings, sugar pastes, paints, decorations and sugar craft essentials.
Laura Jones, lecturer in bakery & patisserie technology, University College Birmingham
Laura has a keen interest in cake decorating techniques and innovation within the bakery market and strives to inspire students through her job as bakery and patisserie lecturer at University College Birmingham which she took up in 2018. Prior to this, she studied professional bakery. She has held NPD roles at Greencore Cakes and Desserts as well as Rich Products. Alongside her teaching career, Creative Cakes by Laura, where she innovates and refines decorating techniques.
Michelle Phillips, founder, Mimi’s Bakehouse
Michelle (aka Mimi) started baking as a child in the 1970s working in hospitality from the age of 16. Following time spent at small hotels and cafes, in 2010 she sold her family home to open Mimi’s which has grown into a production bakery and five cafes in Edinburgh as well as a thriving online, wholesale, and wedding business. She is also the current president of Scottish Bakers.
Naomi Spaven, lead baker and patisserie chef, Iâl Bakery
Naomi is the lead baker and patisserie chef at Iâl Bakery in North Wales, where she crafts a wide range of baked goods for the onsite café and restaurant, as well as for customers and wholesale businesses across Wrexham. In 2024, she won the Fruit Cake category at Britain’s Best Cake with a Dark Chocolate, Orange & Ginger Bara Brith. Further success followed as she was crowned Rising Star at Baking Industry Awards. She also runs the baking blog @littlewelshfoodie, which has opened doors to collaborations with the Welsh Government, television appearances, and radio features.
Rebecca Tonks, founder and CEO, St. Ewe Free Range Eggs
A lifelong food enthusiast, Bex’s journey with eggs began long before St. Ewe became a household name. In fact, her love of baking led her to open her own bakery over 20 years ago, where she mastered the chemistry and artistry of cake-making. From sourcing the finest ingredients to experimenting with innovative recipes and techniques, Bex saw cake as an endless opportunity for creativity. But as the egg side of the business flourished, demand grew, and she made the bittersweet decision to sell the bakery to focus on packing eggs full-time. She remains a total cake lover though.
Richard Herbert, cake technical manager, Sonneveld
Starting his career aged 14 in his uncle’s bakery in Barnsley, Richard then went on to study bakery & confectionery at Sheffield Castle College. His 35-year career includes time spent at an artisan bakery in Germany and the UK supermarket in-store bakery arena before joining Sonneveld.
Robin Loud, application chef, Dawn Foods
A trained baker with more than 40 years’ experience, Robin has been a key member of Dawn Foods’ commercial team for the last 11 years. He is involved in supporting customers across all channels on the best way to use Dawn ingredients and providing advice on market innovations and trends. He started his career in the 1980s, working in small craft bakeries as a baker/confectioner before moving to Mountstevens Bakery in Bristol. He has also spent time in NPD at Entenmann’s and Fabulous Bakin’ Boys, as well as time as a technical baker at Macphie.
Sarah Thornber, owner and head baker, Corner Cottage Bakery
Sarah’s passion for baking began as a child when she would spend countless hours in the kitchen with her mother and grandmother. She qualified as a baker after leaving school and worked at a bakery for 10 years before heading to university to study molecular biology. A 20-year-career as a scientist followed but she was made redundant at the beginning of lockdown which lead her to start Corner Cottage Bakery. The business now has two shops in Warwickshire selling handcrafted breads, cakes, and patisserie items.
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