Participants Ben Roberts (P4), Rachel Evens, Murray Dowey, Tyler Harrison, Lucy Flannigan, Luca Flannigan, all (P5), Megan Hogg (P6) and Kian Jackson (P7) impressed the judges with their baking skills in the school kitchen.
Kevin Kelman, Chief Education Officer, said:”This was a fantastic event and well done to all pupils who took part in it. The Great Dunblane Bake Off has been a great collaboration between the school, pupils and local businesses.
“The fully equipped kitchen, funded by a grant from the Food for Thought Fund, enables pupils to learn skills from the classroom and replicate them in a real life situation.”
Depute Head Teacher Shirley Gallivan said: “The bake off was a huge success. All children were very confident and capable of making very tasty and creative cakes. The Cromlix judges were very impressed with the standard of cakes produced by our young individuals. The Bake Off has made the children enthusiastic about baking and some are already talking about what they will make next year.”
Previously, 100 pupils baked cakes which were judged by Adam Getty, Nicole Zima and Claudio Amella, from Dunblane Doubletree Hilton; Nora Gilfillan, from Tilly’s Tea Room, Leigh Austin from the Dunblane Centre and school volunteers Duncan and Nathan Strathdee, Sandra Stone, Krissie Stirling and Margaret Stewart.
The finalists were presented with decorated wooden spoons and a place in the final.
Shirley Gallivan added: “Following the enthusiasm which we have received from the classes who are using the new learning lab/pupils kitchen on a regular basis, we decided to hold the Great Dunblane Bake Off.
“This was an opportunity for pupils to independently use the skills which they have to bake and decorate a cake. We used our links with the businesses in the area who took part in the judging.
“The judges were all very impressed with the number of entries and also the high quality of cakes which were produced. That afternoon we opened up our school to the community to come in for a coffee, chat and to sample the cakes produced. The whole day was a huge success and at the same time we managed to raise £240 for the school kitchen fund.”
l-r:- Great Dunblane Bake Off Champion Rachel Preston with Cromlix head pastry chef Balazs Gonda and head chef Darin Campbell