A Carrigart girl has put the icing on the cake by becoming the runner up in national baking competition
Sixteen year old Laura McFadden from Carrigart, a pupil at Mulroy College, was last night awarded 2nd place in national baking competition, The Big Bake in Dublin.
Eight finalists from Donegal, Meath, Galway, Dublin, Kildare and Mayo battled it out in soaring temperatures with mouth-watering tastes smoking from the Cooks Academy kitchen in Dublin, where each of the eight had to bake their favourite recipe, which was chosen from a nationwide campaign.
Head judge, award-winning celebrity chef Gary O’Hanlon, who coincidentally is from Ramelton and recently won the national Celtic Cook-Off competition said he was pleasantly surprised at the standard of the competition.
“Given her unique baking skills Laura McFadden should be stepping into some of Ireland’s finest eateries in a few years time’ he said.
Laura baked a chocolate fudge cake and described her runner-up position as “the best thing ever.’
“I love baking, I’d do anything to bake and this is like a dream come true,” she said.
The winner of The Big Bake was Laoise Casey from Dundrum in Dublin, who baked a Pistachio Bread and Butter Pudding. She will bake her winning recipe on TV3’s Ireland AM next Wednesday along with tv baker Catherine Leydon. She also received a Luxury Home Backing Pack from home interiors store Hegartys.ie
The Big Bake is run annually by Age Action as part of the nationwide week-long festival, Positive Ageing Week.
As an intergenerational event that encourages young and old to take part, The Big Bake is one of the highlights of the festival. This year the festival is sponsored by homecare provider Bluebird Care.
Fundraising Manager with Age Action Rhona O’Connor says, “we were thrilled with the level of talent at this year’s Big Bake and the interest from around Ireland. It’s great to see traditional skills being used by young and old and recipes being handed down through generations.”
Eddie O’Toole of Bluebird Care described the event as another example of positive ageing, ’16-year old Laura with her traditional cooking methods, Karyn with her mother-in-law’s recipe in memory of her, and Laoise also used her Grandma’s secret recipe, it’s great to see all generations coming together’.
Laura is the daughter of Carmel McFadden and the late Donal McFadden.
