Help - advice please for tray bakes for local show

[whojamaflip]

What seemed like a good idea several weeks ago after a couple of glasses of wine has now come back to haunt me!

Ive entered the traybake class along with my sister in law and we are having a disagreement as to whether the traybake should be pre cut into slices or the whole uncut bake presented for judging? No info in the schedule.

seems like a very small thing but it’s stressing me out!!

Any village show veterans who can help me out?

Oh and it is strawberry jam or raspberry for a Victoria Sponge?

tia

Strawberry jam I would say. Not sure about the cut/uncut, is there a rule book or guide?

Traditionally it's raspberry jam for a victoria sponge, and personally if there are no guidelines I'd present the tray bake whole (part of the judging is usually cutting into a cake to check it's baked evenly all the way through so when you enter a cake you usually get it back cut in half, and then with a piece removed for tasting).

@Gliblet I have been doing my jam wrong!

Not if you like strawberry 😁 Everyone in the house prefers it so if i make VC at home I use strawberry, but for traditional village show/county show/WI type baking the traditional filling is raspberry (and no cream/buttercream which is the other heathen sin my family insist on!)

Do they have a Facebook page? Could you look up to see if there’s any photos of last year’s event and see how they were cut?

I would guess they should be cut, but no experience myself!

In our local village show, cakes were presented uncut - and yes, definitely raspberry jam.

No photos from previous years unfortunately- pictures of every section bar the cakes!

re the cutting of a tray bake to check it’s cooked…..I’ve made fifteens which is a traditional Northern Ireland tray bake but which involves no cooking at all? Have I got it completely wrong???

and do I now have to do some more actual baking???

@whojamaflip not what you asked sorry but I bloody love Fifteens.

Seedless raspberry jam for a trad Victoria sandwich.

You need the NI tray bake thread - have a search you'll got loads of fab ideas. Yes cut it and present it, the judges will expect that

I just looked up fifteens as I have never heard of them and want to try now! BUT I don't think I would call them a tray bake...

Raspberry jam for victoria sponge and I would definitely have a 'baked' element to the tray bake otherwise it might be considered to be 'refrigerator cake' or tiffin. Loads of recipes on-line.

I agree, I would check op, as I’d assume it would need to be something baked

If you do bake something else at least you don't have to share the fifteens with the judges 😁

I’m done with baking so the fifteens are going in - if I’ve got it wrong so be it - I shall enjoy eating tomorrow evening anyway! They are considered a tray bake at home so that’ll do me!

just need to pop out for raspberry jam in the morning though….

Oh I was going to say don't cut until you said Fifteens. Fifteens you definitely have to cut, you couldn't just present it like a sausage 😁 (and I agree they are a traybake, despite not really involve trays or baking 🤣)

From my young farmer days I'd say traybakes should be cut, and you'll need four of them displayed on the plate. We once got one of my friend's fathers to cut our millionaire shortbread with his jigsaw cutter so it was perfectly cut. I hope you realise these things are taken very seriously!

Find that amazing NI traybake thread! They know everything!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/mumsnet_classics/3527870-Which-is-the-tastiest-Protestant-traybake?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

@whojamaflip how did it go?

So the entries for the class were huge ranging from flapjacks to rice crispy cakes to brownies to lemon drizzle. Some people had cut theirs and displayed in a plate, some had cut and left in the baking tray and some were uncut. The winner was an old fashioned school cake with icing and sprinkles, uncut and in its baking tin!

so no place for me but lots of lessons learned for next year.

However it wasn’t a complete disaster of a day as I managed to place first with my carrot cake and my scones 😁

Thankyou all for your advice

Excellent! Well done!

Well done!

Late to the thread, nothing to add apart from I googled Fifteens and I'm going to make them tomorrow for my coffee shop 😋

You describe two firsts as not a complete disaster? Blimey. Were you expecting to sweep the board? I'd consider two firsts a pretty impressive achievement.