Urswick School pupils rise to Bake Off challenge

Bake expectations: Urswick students Lisa Aguis, Safia Vatcher and Nikola Filar

A Hackney school celebrated the lives and achievements of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community by hosting the Rainbow Bake Off grand final last month.

The event, which took place on Friday 12 February during LGBT history month, saw budding bakers from across the country flock to The Urswick School as part of an initiative by charity Educate and Celebrate to help schools become more inclusive and tolerant to LGBT issues.

Urswick finalists, Nikola Filar and Safia Vatcher, both 16, and Lisa Aguis, 17, baked a three-layered rainbow cake, topped with cupcakes and inspirational phrases such as “No freedom until we are equal” and “Love does no harm to a neighbour.”

Lisa said: “We weren’t sure how our cake would turn out with the three-hour time limit, because when we practised it took us almost 12 hours.

“We learned to improvise and used our fashion and art skills to decorate the cake and it turned out great.”

Entries opened in November with the theme ‘Make Noise about Bullying!’

Members of the public, students and families voted for the 12 most popular designs, which went on to the final.

The three judges, which included the columnist and celebrity chef Jack Monroe, crowned students from Chestnut Grove Academy in Balham overall winners.