About

The Cake Awards celebrate the very best British cakes. From the finest tea room slice and grandest hotel fancies to the many varieties on the shelves of supermarkets, bakery shops and retail food chains across the country, The Cake Awards are the only awards dedicated to recognising excellence in cake.

The Cake Awards are a unique opportunity for large and small businesses to showcase their best products to the most respected figures in the industry including some of the UK's leading chefs, bakers and experts in the food industry.

Whether you are a pastry chef, independent retail baker or a major retailer, The Cake Awards is your opportunity to be recognised as the very best. Cakes that have it all - excellent presentation, quality ingredients, recipe innovation, texture, taste and value will triumph.

The Cake Awards will take place at The Park Lane Hotel on July 17^th 2013. Buy tickets to attend.

Tea rooms, bakery shops and hotels

Tea Room Cake>

This award is open to an individual tearoom or retail chain that serves an individual or portion of cake - baked on-site - as part of their tea room menu. Judges will be looking for an exceptional cake that scores highly in terms of overall presentation including portion size and ease of eating together with the ingredients, flavour, texture, recipe innovation and value for money.

Bakery Shop Cake>

This award will honour and recognise a cake baked on or off site for sale only in that brand's retail outlet(s) and excludes morning goods and pre packaged cakes. This will be open to independent bakers, bakery chains and patisseries who have a retail presence (not solely online). Judges will assess them on overall look, presentation, ingredients, taste, texture and overall value.

Manufactures and retailers

Supermarket Cake>

Open to any packaged cake sold in a supermarket this award will recognise an exceptional cake manufactured off site and sold packaged in store ready to eat. Excluding Christmas cake and in-store bakery products judges will assess cakes based on overall look, presentation, ingredients, taste, texture and overall value.

Celebration / Novelty Cake>

Open to any novelty or celebration cake baked either on or off site for retail sale this award is open to professional organisations and individuals. Judges will assess overall look, the skill involved in creating the cake, the innovation of the concept, presentation, ingredients, taste, texture and overall value.

Bake at Home Cake>

This award will be presented to the company that makes the best dry, wet mix or part baked cake sold for home cooking. Judges will be assessing not only the cake in terms of ease and appearance of slice, ingredients, cooking instructions, value, taste, texture and presentation but also how accurately the packaging represents the actual cake.

'Free From' cake>

This award will be presented to an outstanding cake made for those with specific dietary requirements including religious dietary laws and those with singular or multiple allergies including gluten, sugar and/or lactose intolerance. Low and fat free cakes are also eligible. Judges will assess innovation, presentation, ingredients, value, taste and texture together with ease of cooking instruction if applicable.

Nomination Category

Cake of the Year>

Judged by the panel from all winners in all categories this award will be presented to the cake that is deemed to be the cake of the year. Judges will be looking for a truly exceptional cake that stands out from all others in terms of innovation, ingredients, presentation, value (and all other attributes named before) and overall quality.

Shortlist

This year's Awards had many strong entries and the judging panel of 14 renowned cake experts were particularly impressed with the high calibre of entries received.

The 2013 shortlist includes:

Bake at Home Cake

G.R Wrights & Sons, Wright's Ginger Cake Mix
G.R Wrights & Sons, Wright's Toffee Cake Mix
Symingtons, ASDA, Raspberry & White Chocolate Cupcake Mix
The Half-Baked Cake Company Limited, Lemon & Lime Drizzle Cake

Bakery Shop Cake

Amber Foods / Karaway Bakery, Honey & Walnut Cake
Buttercup Cake Shop, Passion Fruit Cupcake
Harbour & Jones, Trifle Cake
The Bakery Dunbar, Dome Chocolat et au Praline Feuillete

Celebration / Novelty Cake

Fleur de Sel, House Dark Chocolate Cake
United Biscuits, Jaffa Cakes - The Big One

'Free From' Cake

Aulds Delicious Desserts Gluten-free Belgian Chocolate Cheesecake
Mimi's Cake Shop Ltd Mimi's Eggless'
Tesco 'Free From' Chocolate Cupcakes

Supermarket Cake

Aldi Specially Selected Belgian Milk Chocolate Cheesecake
Finsbury Food Group ASDA Extra Special Carrot Cake
Morrisons PLC HEAVENLY RED VELVET CAKE by Claire Clark
Park Cakes Ltd Raymond Blanc inspired Tesco Finest Wild Bolivian Chocolate Cake

Tea Room Cake

Yauatcha Apple Pie
Yauatcha Chocolate and Raspberry Rose
The Garden Cafè Apricot and Coconut Cake

Cake of the Year

Judged by the panel from all winners in all categories this award will be presented to the cake that is deemed to be the cake of the year and announced at the ceremony.

Deadline

Entries into the Cake Awards 2013 are now closed.

For more information please contact the entries team on 0207 921 8359 or email jennifer.knight@ubm.com

Afternoon Tea and Ceremony

The Cake Awards 2013 will take place on the 17^th July at the Park Lane Hotel, London. In celebration of cake, afternoon tea will be served prior to the awards ceremony and will include the finest cakes, scones, pastries, finger sandwiches, tea and champagne. Wine, beer and soft drinks will also be served.

Tickets

To purchase tickets please complete the online booking system below. Tickets are priced at:

Individual ticket £195 + VAT

Table of 10 people £1950 + VAT

Venue

The Park Lane Hotel
Piccadilly
Mayfair
London
W1J 7BX

View on Map >

Dress Code

Lounge suits and tea dresses

Timings

2pm

Champagne drinks reception

3pm

Awards presentation and afternoon tea

5pm

Post-awards networking and drinks

6pm

Finish

Accommodation Information

Please click here for more information.

Judging

The Cake Awards has a robust judging process. In order to ensure the quality of the winning cakes, every single cake entered has been scrutinised by our panel of industry experts.

Judges

Loic Carbonnet	Head Pastry Chef at the Lanesborough
Sarah Crouchman	Executive Pastry Chef of Rhubarb
Professor David Foskett MBE CMA	Head of the London School of Hospitality and Tourism at University of West London
Andy Goss	Founder of Hungry for Success Consultancy
David Green	Food Technologist at Food Industry Support Ltd
Allan Jenkins	Editor of Observer Food Monthly
Bruce Langlands	Director of Food at Harrods
Eric Lanlard	Master Pâtissier
Wendy Miranda	Lakeland's Customer Ambassador
Charlotte Morgan	Food Writer for Lovefood.com
Philip Owens	Director of Bespoke Menu Design Ltd
David Swann	Quality & Innovation chef at Marks & Spencer
Will Torrent	Award winning Pâtissier and Chocolatier
Sue Wilkins	Founder of Panache PR

Criteria

Unless otherwise specified all cakes have been judged on the following criteria:

Appearance
Taste
Texture
Innovation
Ingredients
Meeting its aims in the market place
Ease of serve/slice
Value for money

Rules of Entry

Private label products may be entered by the manufacturer on behalf of the retailer. Please note written permission will need to be provided from the retailer in these instances to qualify for entry
All products submitted must be identical to those sold to the public
Individual products are applicable for entry, not food ranges
There is no limit to the number of entries you can submit. The entry fee is £195 + VAT per product per category. You may submit the same product for multiple categories if you wish
Product descriptions must be submitted online using The Cake Awards entry system
Any photography submitted may be used by UBM plc or Jane Milton Ltd for marketing purposes
Entrants will be required to submit a sample to the judging panel to complete their entry. Failure to provide this sample will result in disqualification of the entry with no refund of entry fee

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I need to submit a hard copy alongside my online entry?

A: No, please complete your online submission only.

Q: Should testimonials and additional letters of support be included in my submission or as additional supporting information?

A: No, you are allowed a 150 word description of your product to be included in your online submission. Other than photographs and the cake sample no other collateral can be submitted

Q: What is the process of identifying the shortlist and winners?

A: All entries that meet the entry criteria will be asked to submit samples to the judging panel. You will be informed of delivery details of this judging process ahead of time. You will then be informed if you are a finalist in the awards. Winners will only be announced on the afternoon of the awards.

Q: Could you confirm if the information we provide will be kept confidential and used for judging purposes only?

A: All submitted information will only be seen by the judges who have signed confidentiality agreements. It will not be released into the public domain although photographs may be used for The Cake Awards marketing.

Q: Do I get to attend the awards if I am shortlisted?

A: Yes, you will receive one complimentary ticket to the event if you are shortlisted in a category. This allocated ticket will be seated with the sponsor of the category in question. You can purchase additional tickets or buy a table to celebrate your success should you wish.

Q: What is the cost of entering?

A: Entry is charged at £195 + VAT per submission.

Q: What happens to the cake that I send in to be judged?

A: Where possible all remaining cakes will be offered to FareShare or another charity that will redistribute them to hostels or homeless centres.

Contact

We are here to help. If you have any questions in regards to The Cake Awards please do not hesitate to contact the team on the details below:

Sponsorship enquiries:
Steve Lane, Business Director
020 7234 8794 Steve.Lane@ubm.com

Ticket and Entry enquiries:
Jennifer Knight, Event Producer
020 7921 8359 or Jennifer.Knight@ubm.com

PR and press enquiries:
Annelle Botha, Head of PR and Marketing
020 7955 3843 or Annelle.Botha@ubm.com