Bakers across the UK have been busy baking their local churches- or rather busy baking cakes in the shape of their local churches!

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The cakes were all entries for The Great Church Bake Off organised by The Churches Conservation Trust and judged by Loyd Grossman, Lady Lucy French and Waitrose pastry consultant Will Torrent.

The cakes were designed to replicate historic churches from around England.

The winning cake was an intricate sponge cake replica of the Saxon St Mary the Virgin church in Westmill, Cambridgeshire made by Wendy Leaney, made out of homemade lime and elderflower cordial.

The competition took place throughout the month of June in celebration of over 30 themed midsummer tea parties hosted by The Churches Conservation Trusts (CCT) Friends and Volunteers, in some of England’s most beautiful historic churches. The parties are the CCT’s biggest annual fundraiser, designed to raise awareness of and funds for its ongoing work in protecting over 340 historic churches at risk in England.

The judges assessed each cake on its structure, design and overall appearance. CCT Chairman Loyd Grossman said: ‘Wendy’s cake was such a brilliant entry and the attention to detail was remarkable. All of the cakes were great and we were all surprised at the huge variety in cake structures we saw. The stories we received about what these buildings mean to people and communities from around the UK were really special and reminded us just why the CCT’s work in keeping churches open and accessible is so important.’

The runner up was Margita Dubnicka with an impressive replica of a church in Spreyton, Devon. Margita used skills she gained through her childhood in the Czech Republic to form the cake out of traditional gingerbread. The baker was also trained as a sculptor in her youth, which can be seen in her intricately designed and skilfully assembled creation.