‘Get Caking’ for your chance to be crowned Britain’s best baker
with Master Pâtissier to the stars, Eric Lanlard

Join the baking revolution with the Red Letter Days national baking competition for your chance to be crowned Britain’s best amateur baker. Launched to celebrate its 21st birthday, the company, owned by Dragon’s Den Star Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis, is inviting the public to bake it a birthday cake for the chance to win prizes, including an all expenses paid trip for two to Sri Lanka from Advantage Luxury Specialist, a cake making master class with celebrity Master Pâtissier (he created Madonna’s wedding cake!) and star of TV’s Glamour Puds – Eric Lanlard, and £1,000 worth of Red Letter Days vouchers.

Cup cakes, fairy cakes, celebration cakes, any type of cake – there is no restriction on size, shape, colour or recipe, and entries can be submitted as photos or videos social.redletterdays.co.uk, the brand’s new online community. Open to ages 12 and up, the competition will culminate in a birthday cake-off in London between 8 finalists on July 5th (the brand’s birthday), to be judged by Eric Lanlard – so there’s no better time to ‘get caking’!

If you fancy your chances as ‘Britain’s best baker’ here are Eric’s top 10 tips for creating a masterpiece:

1. Study the recipe and list of ingredients and tools needed in advance and make sure you have them all to hand.

2. Clear the diary and send the kids/husband/wife away so you can concentrate and are not disturbed.

3. Use only the best quality ingredients for the filling. Remember the cake must taste as good as it looks.

4. Start with a very clean surface – when icing any dirt will show up on white icing so everything must be spotless.

5. Layout all your tools and equipment like a surgeon on a small tray next to you.

6. Follow the recipe step by step – do not try and improvise – baking is a science.

7. Always allow royal icing or painted details to dry thoroughly before adding the finishing touches such as pearl lustre or gold/silver decorating paint.

8. When doing an elaborate icing design that will take more than a few days to complete – use a fruit cake because a sponge cake will go stale after a day.

9. When making a wedding cake or a tiered cake for a special occasion, mix up the tiers to give the guests options. Think about using chocolate, lemon or even a carrot cake instead of using fruit cake for every tier; it’s much more interesting that way.

10. Don’t give up if it doesn’t work out the first time – keep trying – practice and experience is the secret to success. Of course it always helps if you are naturally artistic!

Celebrating 21 years in business with a range of over 1000 experiences, Red Letter Days has also just launched an exclusive new experience with Cake Boy, the gorgeous cake emporium and cookery school owned by Eric, who has baked cakes for Madonna, Claudia Schiffer, Liz Hurley and Elton John. The Cupcake Decorating master class with Eric is the perfect treat for all cake lovers and is available now at £49 per person.

Let the cake-off games begin!