On with the show

Meet our competitors

Janice Norman, a retired scientist of Kaleen, has entered the show every year for 10 years - and in a big way. Chloe and Grace King from Gungahlin, have been entering the Canberra Show for seven years. Brock Billmann, 33, is a self-employed builder who lives in Casey, Gungahlin - baking isn't really his thing, but he had surprising success in last year's men's cake selection.

Janice Norman

"I've known Merran Hunter [the show cookery steward] since the 1970s and I used to work with her at the CSIRO where we baked for morning tea once a month for anyone who had had a birthday. It took her quite a long time to persuade me to enter the show because I didn't think I was good enough.

I won champion cake of the show the first year with my sultana cake. There are about 28 different categories and they line up the winners from each category to judge the best cake. I couldn't believe it; I was very very happy.

I hadn't made a sultana cake probably since my children were little, but it just met all the requirements. When you're cooking it you can't have any cracks in the top. It's got to be the right size, the fruit's got to be evenly spread through the cake. They have 750 grams of sultanas in them so it's quite a lot of sultanas. If you've got any big sultanas you should cut them in half, and you remove the tiny ones. You want all your fruit to look the same size. It has to be nicely cooked and not sink in the middle.

You don't have to be good to enter. You will learn as you go, especially if you can stay for the judging. If they pick up a cake and there's something obviously wrong with it they're very nice in Canberra, they will tell you. Some shows have closed judging so you don't know what they think of your cakes.

I read the recipes carefully and I do what it tells me and I've always listened to the judges' comments, so I learned what not to do. Last year, I used the wrong type of paper for lining my tins. You should just use plain greaseproof paper. I used the new baking paper and if the fruit touches the paper you get a little hole or dimple in the cake.

Set your cakes on a towel to cool because you don't want rack marks on the bottom. Don't use springform pans because you'll have a seam around the bottom and a seam on the side. Take note of whether it has to be oblong or square, iced or not iced. You have to do what they say. Make sure you use icing, not frosting. A lot of people will make the American-style frosting on cakes but it's supposed to be just very plain icing, thinly spread. If it says a 20-centimetre round tin don't do an oblong one. Read the schedule. It might say to use 250 grams of butter and that indicates it's a big cake.

Chocolate cakes should be nicely domed rather than dead flat or sunk in the middle. Sometimes mine look like a volcano. You can tap your tin on the bench to make sure you can get the holes out. When the judge cuts it in half, if there's a hole it's eliminated.

I like the sultana cake category, because it's a challenge. It's quite hard to get everything right, sultanas spread throughout the cake, no cracks on the top, not too brown on the top. It's quite a big cake and dense. It takes about an hour and a half to cook so you've got to be careful not to burn it, and it's easy to undercook it.

I usually get two or three firsts, but my chocolate cakes always fail. I like to blame my oven, but I have no idea. They will crack across the top or they will sink in the middle. At judging, they're cut in half and eliminated without comment. I gave up on chocolate cake last year.

One of the nicest successes I've had is one year I encouraged my son and his wife to enter and we all made carrot cake. My son's wife got first prize, I got second and he got third. When my granddaughter was eight I taught her how to make marble cake. She put it in the open category and won first prize. I got second.

I make them all ahead of time except the sponge and the scones. You can start any time after Christmas. I'm starting this week with fruit cake and carrot cake. I put them in the freezer. The rest I make starting the week before the show. If they're good enough I'll put them in the freezer. If not, I'll give them away. On the day itself I do sponge cake and scones.

Ring me up on the Wednesday night before the show and I'll tell you how relaxed it is. You get a bit tenser towards the day, especially if you make a cake twice and it fails and you have to make a third one. But I love the technical challenge of trying to make the perfect cake."

Grace and Chloe King

Grace: We got involved in the show through our parents. For years they were entering the fruit and vegetable section before we began entering the cooking. Dad is the chief steward of fruit and vegetables now; mum enters her flowers.

I've been entering since I was nine. I have had quite good success with a number of first, second and third prizes, but my best success was in 2010, when I won champion in junior cookery 12-16 years for my Anzac biscuits. That is definitely the highlight. I find it very relaxing in a way because I do so much stuff at school, it's kind of just a nice break for me.

Chloe: I have been entering since I was seven. I have entered in almost every section available and one of my favourites is definitely the novelty cake. I always look forward to planning my cake.

I have earned myself a few firsts, seconds and thirds in my time cooking but I have never gained a champion before, which is my new goal.

Grace: Disasters? I was using tube icing to decorate my novelty cake the year before last and I was trying to outline something in black. The lid popped off and it just went black icing all over everything. I tried to scrape off as much as could and cover it over.

One year, I had six perfect Anzac biscuits. They all looked the same and on the way in the car we went round a corner and I wasn't holding them properly. They hit the door and a couple of them snapped in half.

This year, I'll try to enter in six Anzac biscuits, three decorated patty cakes and a novelty cake. The novelty cake theme is the Royal Canberra Show. We're thinking of creating a barnyard scene, or making rides or pavilions. I tried making fondant animals last year using royal icing, but we normally just use lollies to make animals. For the patty cakes, I'm thinking about making cute little flowers or butterfly designs, and I've been practising different recipes.

Chloe: This year, I want to enter in six pikelets, three decorated patty cakes and the novelty cake. Like Grace, I have been preparing my designs and thinking of ways I can make my cakes stand out. I have also been trying to practise my pikelet making because it can be hard to pour them so they form a nice round even shape. So far I have found if you get a teaspoon of batter and pour it slowly from the tip of the teaspoon directly into the middle of the pikelet you're forming, the shape is rounder and less oval.

Grace: Judges like uniformity. If you are going to enter biscuits or pikelets, make sure you try to get them all the same size, shape and darkness. For biscuits and pikelets you want to try to cook them until they are a nice even golden colour. That always makes the judges take a second look. For decorative cakes, the judges won't be tasting it so you can cook the cake in advance and freeze it.

We both aim for creativity and colour when we make decorative entries because we think that draws eyes. For taste, we aim for fluffy cakes that aren't too sweet.

For biscuits, we try to make sure they are always cooked evenly. When we cook chocolate chip biscuits we try to make sure there is an even spread of choc chips.

The most important thing we have learned is that not all judges like the same thing so, if you don't do overly well one year, keep trying.

A few tricks we have picked up are that after you pour cake mix into a cake tin, bang it on the bench a few times. This raises most of the air bubbles from the batter. You should let a cake cool in its tin before you attempt to take it out or leave it on a wire rack because this can lead to either the base of the cake sticking to the pan, even with baking paper, or the cake having lines along the bottom of it from the wire rack. Judges check the bottom of the cakes in some categories.

Next year I will have to enter the adult section. It's a bit scary thinking about it, but yeah, I'll see if I'll give it a go.

Brock Billmann

"I entered after a bet with a friend, Paul Reynolds. We had a bet about who would get to the highest place in the competition. I got third in the men's favourite cake section.

I hadn't cooked a cake since I was at high school, I think. I didn't practise. My partner - she does a bit of baking as a hobby, mostly wedding cakes - printed a recipe off the internet. I went home and cooked it, then entered it. I didn't have time to practise. It was an orange and poppy seed cake, with a whole orange that I had to blend up. I did it by myself with no help from my partner - it was done by the time she got home. I didn't get to taste it, but apparently it was nice and moist and came out of the tin nicely - it didn't break anywhere.

I didn't make a bloke cake. My theory was the judges would be ladies with purple rinses so I'll make something that appeals to them, not the blokes. I'm going to run with the same theory this year, but I haven't decided what I'll make. I'll wait to the last minute and see what happens.

I like cooking, so I watch a few cooking shows, so you have a bit of an idea of what to do, but I only bake for competitions. I don't tell too many of the people I work with, but I guess they'll find out now. I haven't seen the bottle of port I bet with Paul Reynolds on last year's show. I might tell him double or nothing this year.

Just have a go. It's fun. And if it's stressing you out, don't do it."

Canberra Show entries for cakes, bread, and jams and preserves close on Friday, February 7. The entries must be delivered to the showgrounds on Thursday, February 20, before 10am, for judging. Entries for garden produce, including fruit and vegetable sculptures, close on February 17, with produce to be delivered on February 20 for judging. Horticulture entries (flowers) close on February 20, and must be delivered for judging on February 22. Details and entry forms at rncas.org.au/showwebsite/site/