Amateur hyper-realistic cake baker gets set to defend her title at the Nottinghamshire County Show

An amateur baker whose hyper-realistic cake of a gardening scene “put the edible into incredible” is getting ready to defend her county show win.

Zoey Tory won first prize in the decorated cake category at the Nottinghamshire County Show last May with her spring-themed cake which featured a realistsic sponge watering can.

The cake was a labour of love, having taken the Great British Bake-Off fan three 12-hour days to bake and decorate.

It was the first time Zoey, from near Worksop, had entered the Make, Bake and Grow competition, and only her second time making a hyper-realistic cake.

She said: “I’ve been to the show previously, but when I found out there was a decorated cake competition I decided to enter with a painted cake.

“It was the most elaborate cake I’ve ever made and I surprised myself with how it turned out. I wanted to make sure that everything on it was edible, right down to the soil and the spade, and I was really pleased with it.

“There was a lot of interest in it and people were taking photos, which was really nice, and it was lovely to win.”

The show returns to the Newark Showground on May 10, 2025, with a host of attractions including livestock competitions, food and drink stands, a daredevil motorbike stunt display, the Nottinghamshire Young Farmers' lawnmower race, equestrian events and music.

The Make, Bake and Grow section, which features the cake competition, alongside dozens of other contests including the best garden produce, hens' eggs, artwork and decorated cress heads, promises to be as popular as ever.

This year the theme for the decorated cake category is VE Day, to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, and Zoey is already thinking of how she will approach it.

Zoey added: “I really like the theme for this year because there are a lot of different ways to approach VE Day, so I’m looking forward to getting started.”

Her eight-year-old daughter, Evie, is also planning to enter the children’s section.

Also set to return to the show is nine-year-old Lola Bultitude, who won the children’s section for the best hen’s eggs — any colour other than white — last year.

Lola and her family, from Newark, keep a brood of ex-battery hens and on the morning of the show she selected five eggs and took them along to be judged.

Lola wasn’t the only person from her family to taste success at the show last year — her mum, Emily, got special recognition for her cherry cake, her grandmother, Julie Robertshaw, produced the best container of herbs, her cousin, Catherine Dray, won first prize for her hedgehog-decorated chocolate cake, and her other cousin, Sebastian Dray, came second for his hedgehog cupcakes.

Emily said: “We’ve always come along to the show but we decided to take part in the Make, Bake and Grow competition for the past two years and it’s fun to get involved.

“Lola picked five of the most similar-looking eggs last year and was really happy to win and she’s looking forward to returning again this year.”

Entries for Make, Bake and Grow close on April 16 and for the full schedule and details on how to enter, as well as to buy tickets for the show, visit www.nottinghamshirecountyshow.com.

Elizabeth Halsall, who manages the show on behalf of the Newark and Notts Agricultural Society, said: “Zoey’s cake caused quite a stir last year and was a worthy winner in what was quite a well-contested category.

“The Make, Bake and Grow section is a wonderful part of the show, because it’s an opportunity for anybody to take part and show off what they can do. It’s one of my favourite events and I’m looking to seeing how the bakers interpret the VE Day theme."