WITH the announcement that Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain will be headlining the popular Bolton Food and Drink Festival, young chefs decided to test their own culinary skills in a competition based on the hit BBC show.

More than 20 girls in years seven to nine at Bolton School donned their aprons to take part in a "Bake-off".

Over a number of weeks leading up to the final, the girls had to create bakes during lunchtime under the theme of creating traditional desserts with a modern twist and their own take on regional delicacies to impress the judges.

Contestants were whittled down to just three to go head-to-head in the final.

They were Yasmin Rose in year seven and year eight pupils Anna Boyers and Olivia Stubbs.

It was Yasmin's fruit and sponge cake, incorporating the colours of the Union Jack to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday which won her the Bolton School bake-off title.

Yasmin’s winning "showstopper" pipped the efforts of year eight students Anna Boyers and Olivia Stubbs to first place.

The competition took place over six weeks with the young bakers cooking up their desserts during their lunchtime in front of a large audience of students and staff.

The students handed over their bakes to the judges — food technology teachers Ilona Smalley and Natalie James and Head of Middle School Abbey Field.

Competing against Yasmin’s royal-themed cake was Anna’s white chocolate and vanilla ‘Dove Soap’ brownies to honour Unilever, the company co-founded by Bolton businessman Lord Leverhulme, and Olivia’s three-part Baked Alaska to represent the three schools that make up the Girls’ Division.

There was no theme for the final event with the finalists being asked to just showcase their talent and their efforts were judged on presentation and taste.

After a long deliberation the judges decided that Yasmin’s had won with her Queen’s Birthday Gateau.

Mrs James praised all the competitors for creating technically challenging and ambitious bakes in such a short amount of time.

Yasmin won a book token for her winning effort and all three finalists won a certificate, two cookbooks and a set of baking equipment.

Yasmin said: “It didn’t sink in at first because I didn’t think I’d win.

"It was only when I got home and told my mum that I’d won that I realised.”

Yasmin said she wanted to follow in Nadiya Hussain’s footsteps and compete in the real thing although her mum has said “it’s too much stress”.

Nadiya, who won last year’s national competition with her "Big Fat British Wedding Cake", will be demonstrating her baking skills during the Bank Holiday weekend between August 26 and 29.

The four-day festival, which will also feature wine expert Oz Clarke and celebrity chefs James Martin and John Torode, will host 150 different traders with 200,000 people attending last year’s event.