Bake the Nation!

A few weeks ago I was contacted by the Happy Egg Company (those free range eggs in the cute little yellow boxes) about a competition they were running with the Jamie Oliver Magazine. We always use free range eggs at Baked and I love a chance to get creative so it sounded promising. The competition is called ‘Bake The Nation‘ and they want people to make them a baked masterpiece that sums up the UK. The bakery is very busy at the moment (at some point I’m sure I’m going to end up trying to put a cake in the computer and my phone in the mixer) but I was definitely up for the challenge!

I got my thinking cap on and then waited for a break in the baking to give it a go. I decided to take the ‘Bake the Nation’ title as inspiration and chose to literally bake the nation. As Baked Cupcakery specialises in cupcakes (you probably guessed that from the name), it had to be a cupcake creation. As much as I love London and all the things that go on there, I wanted to celebrate the whole of the nation. I looked at the 12 regions of the UK (12 is a good baking number so I thought that was a good sign) and came up with a design to represent each one. What resulted is below…

Cupcakes to celebrate the UK in 2012 for the Happy Egg Co. Bake the Nation competition.

Cupcakes to celebrate each region of the UK for the Happy Egg Co. Competition.

Here are the photos of all the regions… from the top!

Scotland

Traditional tartan cupcake with mini sporran to represent Scotland

North East

My home region! I have used the iconic Angel of the North to represent the North East.

North West

To celebrate the North West I chose a Lake District inspired scene with a Beatles Yellow Submarine!

Yorkshire & the Humber

Rolling hills and of course Yorkshire puddings with a full Sunday dinner (even the gravy!) to represent Yorkshire & the Humber.

East Midlands

The historic Sherwood forest and Robbin Hood for the East Midlands!

West Midlands

Spaghetti Junction cupcake for the West Midlands!

Wales

Welsh cupcake creation with rugby ball and daffodils.

East of England

Norfolk Broads cupcake to represent the East of England

South East

To celebrate the beautiful beaches we have in the UK!

South West

I took the iconic Eden project to represent this South West of the UK

Northern Ireland

Shamrock decoration on grassy cliff top for the Northern Ireland cupcake

And of course, not forgetting our Capital!

London

As the home of the Queen and with the Diamond Jubilee coming up in June, this seemed the best way to celebrate London!

I hope you enjoyed your tour of the UK through cupcakes. If you would like to enter the Happy Egg competition the closing date is the 1st of June… so plenty of time to get baking! Check out the other entries at the Happy Egg Co Facebook page, or to keep up to date with all of our baking creations, take a look at the Baked Cupcakery Facebook page (and give it a like if you wish :o)

A collection of cupcakes to represent each of the regions of the UK for the Jamie Oliver Magazine, Happy Egg Co. competition!