A taste of the Great British Bake Off came to St Albans this weekend as a café hosted its version of the hit TV show.

Bakehouse in Heritage Close invited residents to show off their baking skills at The Great St Albans Cake Off.

A team of judges, including Bakehouse’s head baker Hannah Coone, tasted 66 cakes yesterday (Sunday).

Kirstin Hutchinson, who owns the café, said: “The amount of effort that went in was incredible.

“The standard was very high.

“People had put a lot of heart and soul in to making their cakes – they were really proud of what they had done.”

The competition was split into three categories and judges faced the difficult task of narrowing down the entries to just three winners.  

First prize for the under 16 category went to 14-year-old Danielle Sheed who impressed judges with a strawberry cake.

An egg-free crunchy coffee cake baked by Zsolt Varallyia was named the winning specialist cake.

Nicola Picariello’s spiced toffee apple cake was awarded the first prize in the adult’s category.

Chefs at Bakehouse will make and sell the three chosen cakes for the next four weeks and the profits will be given to charities chosen by the winners.

Earth Works, a St Albans based charity that offers people with mental health problems training in horticultural and land-based skills, was selected by two of the winners

The third winner chose to donate the money made from her cake to St Francis Hospice.

Ms Hutchinson said: “It is really nice to know that the winners are going to have their cakes showcased and that the charities will benefit as well.”

The weekend’s event was the first time that Bakehouse has run the competition.

Ms Hutchinson added: “I didn’t really know what to expect.

“At the beginning we would have been happy if we had got 30 cakes.

“So to get double that was really encouraging.

“It definitely won’t be the last time we do this.”