The first annual Great Sunflower Bake Off in celebration of the Sunflower Fund’s 20th birthday was a resounding success, with 100 entries coming in from across the country.
Enthusiastic bakers submitted their most creative sunflower cakes for judging by celeb judges Justine Drake and Lameez Abrahams. Entries included some professionally baked creations as well as some interesting novice and kids’ creations – but all were equally well-received by organisations who were surprised with a confectionary gift as part of the pay it forward entry mechanic that formed part of the campaign.
With a coveted Kitchen Aid Artisan mixer amongst the R50 000 worth of prizes up for grabs, 10 finalists were selected in each category, who participated in a hotly contested public voting period. The winning cake, with 165 public votes won it all for Olivia Barrett from La Lucia.
Winners in the various categories are:
Kids
1st: Olivia Barrett (La Lucia, KZN)
2nd: Ava Monteiro (Somerset West, WC)
3rd: Faraaz Meer (Vryheid, KZN)
Novice
1st: Vaishali Rajoo (Benoni, Gauteng)
2nd: Amy Lawrence (Pinelands, WC)
3rd: Jolieta Kruger (Somerset West, WC)
Intermediate
1st: Kayla Joubert (Vereeniging, Gauteng)
2nd: Amy Lawrence (Pinelands, WC)
3rd: Chantel Theunissen (Edgemead, WC)
Advanced
1st: Kayla Joubert (Vereeniging, Gauteng)
2nd: Ashleigh Freeks (Mitchells Plein, WC)
3rd: Chantel Theunissen (Edgemead, WC)
The judges’ choice winner was Raushan Davids and she wins a signed copy of Siba Mtongana’s cookbook Welcome To My Table.
The Sunflower Fund, partnered by DKMS, would like to congratulate all the lucky winners and extend a huge thanks to all entrants and their supporters for helping us celebrate 20 years of impact, as well as to raise funds to continue their life-saving work through this great initiative. Funds raised from the event will enable The Sunflower Fund to create awareness and education about blood stem cell donation, recruit more blood stem cell donors, grow the patient support fund and maintain a registry of committed donors. This, in turn, means greater hope of cure for patients who are diagnosed with life-threatening blood diseases and who are in need of a blood stem cell transplant from a matching unrelated donor.
For more information on The Sunflower Fund partnered by DKMS or how to register as a blood stem cell donor, please visit www.sunflowerfund.org or call 0800 12 10 82.