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 The 21st annual BGF Bake-Off will be held this weekend. Peter Hackney gives you an early taste.
Some people say that birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake.
Luckily, for those who find that hard to believe, there’s another, worthier excuse: the annual Bobby Goldsmith Foundation (BGF) Bake-Off.
One of the BGF’s premier fundraising events, Bake-Off involves community members baking cakes and competing with each other in categories like best cake, best decorated cake, best tart (not the human variety!) and best in show. There are also categories for best smallgoods (biscuits and scones), best preserves (jams and pickles), best gingerbread – and a new one this year, best kitchen and table craft.
The goodies are then auctioned off to raise money for the BGF, to help Australia’s oldest HIV/AIDS charity continue their work: providing financial aid, housing assistance and emotional support to people living with HIV/AIDS.
Bake-Off 2008, to be held at the Midnight Shift Hotel this Sunday, June 15, marks the event’s 21st anniversary, and Queer Sydney is gearing up for a day of fun and frivolity. But while enjoyment is the order of the day, there’s a serious side to it too, for a couple of reasons.
“It is a lot of fun, but really, people do take the competition very, very seriously,” drag lumiere and renowned chef Claire de Lune tells SX.
De Lune, one of this year’s judges, says: “The standard of entries is really very high and there are quite a few regulars who enter the competition each year and take it very seriously.
“It’s also a serious fundraiser for the event. The money raised is just phenomenal. Last year, we had one cake alone auctioned for $7000 – so it really is a big help to the BGF.”
The proud baker of that $7000 cake, drag icon Miss 3D, agrees that Bake-Off is serious business.
 “It’s very competitive,” she says. “I put a lot of effort into my cakes. It took me five days to make that cake last year!”
But the effort is obviously worth it; Miss 3D has made a name for herself as ‘the Queen of Bake-Off’, winning twelve times to date, in the categories of ‘Best Decorated Cake’ and ‘Best In Show’. Which isn’t surprising to anyone who’s seen one of her creations: drawing inspiration from current events and well-known figures, 3D’s colourful entries have included a ‘cake-a-like’ of gay cabaret star Peter Allen, a representation of queer performance artist Leigh Bowery, and Paris Hilton behind bars being defiled by a black lesbian.
“It’s a lot of fun,” says 3D. “But it’s the funds raised that makes it all worthwhile. After all, the cakes end up in the ocean outfall off Bondi, don’t they?”
Miss 3D’s towering creations are a hard act to follow, but Claire de Lune says the entries don’t have to be anything fancy to do well.
“Sometimes the simplest sponge cake can be best entry,” she says. “It’s all about the ingredients, the quality. The ingredients are really the most important thing.”
Or, you could take another tack. Patrick Collins, also on the judging panel this year, says: “Even if you are really amateur, go and buy a cake mix and write your name on the top along with your phone number and send it in. You never know, you could win something!”
Or you could just “sleep with the judge”, he laughs.
“I’m always interested to see some hot buns and their sponge fingers,” he says. “And I think there’ll be a lot of beating going on in the kitchen and quite a lot of whipping. Anything with dough, anything with frosting, anything deep-fried, anything that just makes you fat, cream, custard-filling … I love that kind of thing,” he enthuses.
And the BGF loves it too.
BGF Fundraising Manager Brad Timms says, “It’s one of our key fundraisers of the year, along with Glamstand at Mardi Gras. Last year, we received $53,000 all up, and this year we’re aiming for $60,000.”
And it’s not just the cake entrants who will help BGF reach that target. Each $10 entry at the door of the Midnight Shift between 12 midday and 6pm will go straight to the BGF.
“Just coming along to the event, even if that’s all you do, helps raise funds for us,” says Timms. “So just turn up and have a great time, and you’ll be doing your bit!”
With additional reporting by Reg Domingo.
The 21st Annual BGF Bake-Off will be held at the Midnight Shift Hotel, 85 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, 12 midday-6pm, Sunday June 15. Entry $10. Visit bgf.org.au for more information.
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