BAKE-Off star Saku has made a special appearance as a guest judge at a Herefordshire college.

Proving that baking is for everyone, a Royal National College for the Blind student, Fionn Holden, organised a Great British Bake-Off-style event for his Extended Project Qualification.

The competition, held on December 19, brought together four enthusiastic teams of RNC staff and students, all visually impaired except for one staff member who donned "sim specs" to experience baking with macular degeneration.

The teams were tasked with creating a decorated chocolate sponge tray bake within two hours. Once given their ingredients the competition got underway with all the fun and camaraderie shown on the real Bake-Off programme.

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For those watching on, it also provided an opportunity to see how blind and visually impaired people are able to navigate the kitchen with a variety of special techniques, adapted equipment and specialist equipment such as talking scales and talking thermometers.

As time progressed, teams anxiously waited around the ovens, keen to ensure they didn’t under or over cook their bakes. Once they were out and cooled down, it was time to decorate.

There were some very creative designs – most teams chose a Christmas theme but teachers, Jim Wallis and Rich Cook, suggested that their design was inspired by Salvador Dali!

Once the bakes were safely placed on the ‘Bake-Off Altar’ in front of team photos, it was time to introduce the two expert judges.

The first judge, Mark Hyde-Catton, is Assistant Manager with College caterers, Baxter Storey. Before joining the team at RNC, Mr Hyde-Catton taught patisserie baking across the three counties for many years.

The second judge, known to millions of Bake-Off viewers, was none other than Saku Chandrasekara, a contestant from this year’s Great British Bake-Off.

Both took their duties very seriously and apart from judging the decoration, also gave each cake a taste test.

After much deliberation, Mr Hyde-Catton announced the winner, saying: "We think everyone did a fantastic job of decorating, they are all equally good. So we had to judge it on flavour, texture and lightness of the sponge."

Saku added that she was "so impressed with everyone" before awarding the winners, Guoguo Zhang and Sonali Shah with their Star Baker aprons.

Saku presented all participating teams with a wooden spoon which had ‘Bake Off’ written in Braille on them, expertly applied by student, Raven Scott.

Fionn Holden, the organiser, said: "Thank you all for coming and thank you Mark and Saku for taking time off to come and judge this."

Saku said she was privileged to have been invited to the event, congratulating Fionn for doing a "grand job" organising it.