A CINDERFORD woman and her granddaughter have taken on all-comers at a national cake competition – and both won bronze awards.

Eight-year-old Jasmine Fosbery, who attends Forest View Primary School, decorated a chocolate halloween cake for Cake International, held at Birmingham NEC. The spooky cake featured a witch and was covered in pumpkins and spiders, with ‘Happy 31st birthday’ written across it.

Jasmine’s grandmother, Pauline Fosbery, also won bronze awards with two of her cakes. She said: “Jasmine and her younger sister stay with me at the weekend sometimes and always love to bake. They do it all on their own and only need my help to put it in the oven.

“For this competition, we’re decorating blanks rather than real cakes, but Jasmine was determined to do a good job as she won a bronze award last year too. She started with a plain chocolate cake with a slice cut out, but then decided on a Halloween theme. I’m very proud of her for winning again.”

Pauline entered two cakes and won a bronze award with both of them. The first was a three-tiered wedding cake and the second a cake in the shape of her kitchen cupboard.

Pauline said: “Lots of people use moulds for their icing but I make everything by hand. I had the idea this time to make two sugar paste octopuses for the top of my cake and I created art work on the bottom. I wasn’t going to enter another category, but then I decided to decorate a cake in the form of my kitchen cupboard, complete with decorations on the handle and cookery books inside.”

What makes Pauline’s achievement even more remarkable is that she only started baking four years ago.

She said: “I decided to make a christening cake for my granddaughter and I haven’t looked back. I’ve now got a five star food and hygiene rating with the council and I already have a couple of wedding cakes booked in for next year.”