The taste of sweet success for Caoimhe

MONTHS of experimenting and tweaking with cake recipes has certainly paid off for Caoimhe Hurley, whose tasty chocolate fudge cake is now on sale in 142 Aldi stores – nationwide following her win in a national baking competition late last year.

Caoimhe (15) – a Junior Cert student of Coláiste na Toirbhirte in Bandon and a member of Castlelack Foróige Club – won the fifth National Junior Baking competition, sponsored by Aldi, in association with Foróige and the National Ploughing Association at the National Ploughing Championships last September.

As well as winning €1,000, the icing on the cake was that her winning chocolate fudge cake would be mass produced by the supermarket giant.

‘I have been baking from a very early age so when I got the opportunity to enter the competition I was more than happy to participate but I didn’t think for a minute that I would win,’ said a delighted Caoimhe.

‘I remember the moment I won I think I went into shock because everyone else in the competition was really good too.’

Caoimhe admits it took her a long time and lots of experimenting to develop a recipe for the perfect chocolate fudge cake but she was ‘eventually really happy with the end result.’

As well as using her recipe, Caoimhe also had some creative input into the packaging of her dream cake.

‘I also got to design the packaging and it was really exciting to go to the bakery in Mayo to taste my cake, approve it and see the actual packaging I designed.’

She added that she was ‘thrilled with the final product.’

‘When my cake was launched at the end of December I was really proud to see it on the shelves. It was quite a long process but I had loads of support from my friends and family throughout the eight months. I also want to thank Aldi and Castlelack Foróige for giving me this amazing opportunity.’

Caoimhe’s winning chocolate fudge cake is on sale now in all 142 Aldi stores nationwide and retails for €2.69.