You know they can sing and you know they can entertain, but did you know they can bake?!
Our wonderful boys’ a cappella group, The King’s Barbers, unleashed their inner Duff Goldman for our inaugural ‘Barbers’ Bake-Off’ competition.
From classic Victoria sponges to indulgent red velvet cakes and sticky chocolate brownies to giant crumbly cookies, every single Barber put in so much effort, before bringing their creations with them to their ‘open rehearsal’ in the Recital Hall, just before half term.
Teacher of English and baking supremo, Mrs Shaw, and our Catering Manager, Mr Logan, were our Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood for the evening. After much deliberation, they announced Alfie Bottley in first place, Tim Smith in second place, and Robert Reed in third place!
Peter North, Director of the Barbers and our Head of Vocal Studies, said: “We have former Choristers from Ely Cathedral, St John’s College School, King’s College School and Jesus College Choirs in the Barbers at the moment, and as Choristers they will have all learnt many important skills. However, we do like to set the Barbers new challenges as they progress through the Senior School and the latest, and possibly most unusual, was to compete in a Barbers’ Bake-Off.
“The idea came to us when we were talking about organising an open rehearsal where we invite parents and carers to attend a rehearsal and see what we do. We usually ask Mr Logan and the Catering Department to provide some of their excellent cookies, but we thought this time it would be nice to do something a little different. It was a great success and I was really impressed with the standard of the cakes and the enthusiasm from all the boys. They baked some fantastic cakes and we will definitely be doing this again!”
As you can see from these photos, the cakes and bakes did not hang around for long. The Barbers themselves, their parents/carers, their siblings, their teachers, and some of our Boy Choristers hoovered up pretty much every crumb!