Giuseppe Dell’Anno, 2021 winner of TV’s ‘The Great British Bake Off‘ (GBBO), was the star guest at this year’s ‘Wheatfest’ summer fair held at Wheatfield Primary School, Bradley Stoke, on Saturday 16th July.
Mr Dell’Anno, who lives in the Bristol area and previously worked as an engineer at the National Composites Centre in Emersons Green, acted as judge for Wheatfield’s own Bake Off competition. This had two categories, ‘cupcake’ and ‘showstopper cake’, each with prizes awarded across two separate age ranges: 12 and under & 13 and over.
Speaking to the Journal ahead of the prize presentation, Mr Dell’Anno said the Wheatfest Bake Off competition entries had been “very impressive” with a good selection of styles. His main criteria for judging were ‘presentation’ and ‘flavour composition’, a decision having been made not to taste the cakes so that they could be potentially be sold off to raise further funds for the The Friends of Wheatfield Primary School PTA who organised the fair.
Life for Mr Dell’Anno has been “hectic” since his victory in Channel 4’s GBBO competition in November 2021. He has given up his job as an engineer (although he says he would love to return to that profession at some point) and is currently writing a book that is due for release in October. Titled ‘Giuseppe’s Italian Bakes’, the cookbook includes over 60 sweet and savoury recipes and is available to pre-order on Amazon*.
* Affiliate link from which the Journal potentially earns commission.
Wheatfest Bake Off prize winners
Cupcakes, 12 and under
- Winner: Imogen W
- Runner up: Jacob & Charlotte Cawley
Showstopper cake, 12 and under
- Winner: Grace Morton-Sherwood
- Runner up: Bonnie
Cupcakes, 13 and over
- Winner: Abby Smith
- Runner up: Hannah Cawley
Showstopper cake, 13 and over:
- Winner: Hemali Patel
- Runner up: Marie Harrison
See more photos of the cakes: The Great Wheatfest Bake Off (Album on Google Photos)
Successful fair
The wider Wheatfest event was blessed with glorious weather and offered no fewer than 34 individual attractions, including an inflatables & rides zone, tombola, sport and circus performances, emergency services vehicles, numerous refreshment stalls and (of course) the traditional ‘soak a teacher’ stocks.
View the Wheatfest 2022 Highlights video on the school website.
Sally Spencer, chair, The Friends of Wheatfield Primary School PTA, said:
“Wheatfest rocked! What a great turnout! We were blown away by the amount of visitors along with the fantastic weather! It was a brilliant day with great community spirit; something we have all missed these past couple years. The Friends were supported by our staff, parent and family volunteers and we couldn’t have had such a great day without their support. Our Bake Off guest judge, Giuseppe Dell’Anno, felt like he has been part of the Wheatfield family for years. It was such a pleasure to have him join in our special day.”
“To all who attended, thank you for coming and supporting our amazing school. What a significant amount raised to help fund great school projects and initiatives!”
