A brownie bursting with beautifully balanced flavours of miso, caramel, and hazelnut made by Two Magpies Bakery was recently named Britain’s Best Cake 2026.
The third edition of the annual competition – sponsored by Dawn Foods, Kluman & Balter, Rainbow Dust, Shuffle-Mix, and St. Ewe Free Range Eggs – was held on Monday 13 April at the NEC Birmingham as part of the UK Food & Drink Shows.
It welcomed a spectacular field of over 110 entries spread across eight categories, including Brownies & Blondies, Celebration Cake, Classic Cake, Gluten Free Cake, Mini Cakes, Modern Cake, Traybakes, and Vegan Cake. As well as category winners and the overall champion, a total of 57 other entries were awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals (see full list here).
The day started with a hive of activity in the event area as bakers from all over the country dropped off their submissions and judges congregated ahead of the start of their assessments.
Judging
A panel of industry experts were assembled to help to find winners in the various categories – this year, the judges included bakery founders, product development managers, award-winning cake makers and more.
The judging panel consisted of (back row from left to right) Mike Holling, head of sales at Bakewell Bakery; Kevin Sargent, senior product development manager at Co-op; Amy North, editor at British Baker; Chris Parrington, technical and development manager at Kluman & Balter; Nigel Cave, innovation manager at Mademoiselle Desserts; Emily Anderson, product development manager at Cooplands; Michelle Philips, founder of Mimi’s Bakehouse; Dan Riley, deputy editor at British Baker; (front row from left to right) Robin Loud, application chef at Dawn Foods; Jacqueline Edwards, head of customer innovation at Baker & Baker; Naomi Griffiths, lead baker & patisserie chef at Iâl Bakery; Rebecca Tonks, founder and CEO at St. Ewe Free Range Eggs; and Matthew Haynes, concept manager at Park Cake Bakeries.
They assessed each entry based on criteria including appearance, internal structure, aroma, mouthfeel, and taste.
Winners
Upon completion of the judges’ deliberations, with category winners and overall champion decided, it was over to The Grocer stage for announcements and trophy presentations.
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