Hema Underwear Cake
If anyone was to psychoanalyse me based on my baking, theyâd most surely conclude that I suffer from Peter Pan Syndrome. As my archive attests, Iâve created an edible board game, a life-sized piĂąata, and chocolates inspired by the book Moo Says the Cow for a cake, the name of which translates as âcow patâ. However, my latest creation - a cake that features underpants, bras, and smoked sausages - would quite probably be taken as evidence that Iâve officially lost my marbles...
... unless youâve ever visited a HEMA store in The Netherlands or abroad (theyâre big in Japan these days). The Dutch retail chain is celebrating its 90th birthday this year, and organised a nation-wide competition to select a new cake for their famous cake range. My cake, which does not taste anything like old socks but has a fresh lemon and strawberry flavour, made it past the first round and into the final selection.Â
Yesterday, I had to bring two identical cakes for the final at the HEMA headquarters in Amsterdam. We were assigned into groups and I had to judge a whole table of cake. Sugar overload! There was lots of activity on social media, and the CEO even instagrammed a photo of me in action! Another group judged the table I was in, and they selected my cake for the final round of the creativity award. But, when the judges announced their idea of creativity was a basic design rather than âlekker gekâ (over the top, literally: deliciously crazy) I knew I was without a chance of winning.
Still, I had a wonderful time meeting all the other bakers and taking part in the workshops that were offered. On top of all this, I received a goodiebag which contained an item that has been on my wish list for a while: an inflatable custard slice air bed! âLekker gekâ or what?