CUSTOMERS and staff at Becketts Farm’s award-winning restaurant rose to the challenge for a special charity baking competition, collecting more than £500 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

The Wythall-based business, which specialises in locally-sourced foods and ingredients, staged the cake baking contest as a novel way of marking the national charity’s coffee morning on Friday, September 26.

Entrants paid a fee to take part which, along with the proceeds from customer donations for the cakes, is to be donated to the organisation which provides support to people living with cancer.

The winning entry, as judged by Becketts Farm’s sous chef Paul Footman, was baked by Annie Sheppard, of Shirley, who won an afternoon cream tea for two at the restaurant with her amazing vegetable patch cake.

The winner said: “I absolutely love baking so when I heard Becketts were staging a competition for charity, I had no choice but to take part. I didn’t think I was in with a chance of winning though. I’m looking forward to enjoying my afternoon tea.”

Adrian Beckett, of Becketts Farm, said: “Cake baking has become something of a national craze, thanks in large part to the Great British Bake Off. So when it was suggested to us that we get involved in the Macmillan Coffee Morning, we felt it would be a nice idea to tap into people’s love for cooking all-things sweet and have a bit of competitive fun whilst raising money for a good cause.”

In addition to the cake sale, the business made its fundraising efforts go much further by donating £1 to Macmillan for every tea and coffee purchased on the day.