38-year-old Faaiza Omar from Nelspruit won the Lancewood Cake-Off challenge with her rose, pistachio and raspberry gateau.
Out of the 1069 cakes that were entered and 80 000 votes cast, Faaiza’s pretty pink creation came out tops.
The judging panel included television presenter, Lorna Maseko; cookbook author and celebrity chef, Zola Nene; Expresso presenter, Ewan Stydom and Lancewood marketing manager, Shereen Anderhold.
In addition the title, Faaiza, who runs her own pastry school, also won an all expenses paid trip to New Your valued at R150 000.
“I’m most excited about the food,” she says. “There are lots of pastry shops and restaurants where I hope to extend my culinary knowledge.”
Faaiza Omar proves she bakes the best cake in the country.
Other hopefuls who made it to the finals are Cheryl Govender’s Lemon Cheesecake Croquembouche and Somikazi Zulu’s Black Velvet Oreo cake.
Shereen says the judges were “stunned” by the participants’ level of creativity.
“All of the finalists stunned the voting public with their creativity and ability to show off the versatility and quality of the Lancewood range of products,”she says.
“We admire Cheryl and Somikazi for coming so far in this competition… they were very worthy contenders, but ultimately there could only be one winner and Faaiza’s creation took the cake,” she adds.