Excitement is running high at Stamford Bridge Beaumont in Stamford Bridge, York where the talented residents have been named the winners of the annual Barchester Christmas Cake competition for the North East & Scotland Division.

Each year residents from Barchester’s care homes and hospitals up and down the country compete for the coveted Christmas Cake of the Year title. The competition is run by the central hospitality team and the bar is set very high. Many of Barchester’s residents are very skilled bakers and the Christmas cake designs can be very elaborate. Competition is fierce and only the very best recipes and designs will prevail.

The residents at Stamford Bridge Beaumont put their heads together and donned their aprons to come up with the most amazing Christmas cake decorated to perfection. Their fabulous cake is a nutcracker design featuring three traditional fruit cakes which were soaked every week with brandy. The stand was made by the maintenance team and cake baking and decorating by the residents, assisted by the activities team in a real whole home approach. The only part of this magnificent cake which is not edible is the hat!

Emma Smith, General Manager at Stamford Bridge Beaumont said: “Our residents had such a brilliant time taking part in this competition, it has been such fun. Everyone here loves to bake and we all love cake so we were all very excited to take part. It has been a real collaborative process – refining the recipe and trying different versions of the design. We’ve all loved eating the previous versions until we came up with the perfect winning design! It really has been no hardship!”

Residents at Stamford Bridge commented: “I’ve been baking my whole life, I find it so satisfying when a cake turns out well and everyone enjoys it” and “Christmas cakes have always been a favourite thing of mine to make so when I heard about the competition, I couldn’t wait to get stuck in! I am so proud that we have won, it has made my Christmas!”

Stamford Bridge Beaumont is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest care providers, which is committed to delivering high-quality care across its care homes and hospitals. Stamford Bridge Beaumont provides nursing care, residential care, dementia care and respite care.

Local care home is crowned Christmas cake champion