Architecture Bake Off

Ready, steady bake…

We’re delighted to have had over 80 entries this year, helping us raise money for NHS Charities Together. Thanks again to LFA Benefactors Miele who are supporting the Architecture Bake Off this year.

We are now able  to unveil this year’s five buildings for baking. Each building is loosely related to this year’s LFA theme of power.  Each entrant gets to  select one building which they’ll make in cake form.  They have from 9am on Monday 1st June to 9am on Monday 8th June to bake and document their creations.  You can RSVP to join our live announcement of the results on 11 June  here.

You can also follow their baking on social media with the hashtag #LFAbakeOff

St Paul’s Cathedral – Christopher Wren

Designed by Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London, St Paul’s Cathedral is one of the City’s most prominent buildings.  So iconic is St Paul’s that much of London is still designed to preserve views of the cathedral. Some buildings are so powerful they even shape the city around themselves!    One of the engineering challenges Wren faced was around the structure of the Basilica.  Can you bake with structural integrity to support the dome? Or will your baking descend into chaos with more than just flying buttresses.  Learn more about the Cathedral in this video.

Imace credit: George Hiles/unsplash

Colour Palace – Yinka Ilori & PriceGore

Artist Yinka Illori and architects PriceGore designed the LFA’s second Dulwich Pavilion for the festival in 2019. LFA competitions have a reputation for finding and commissioning emerging talent.  For us the Colour Palace represents the power of new talent. Yinka referenced much of his Nigerian heritage in the designs. If you’re looking to bake something bright and colourful, this is your opportunity.  Extra points will be awarded if you can make the cake float on those bright red struts. Watch a video here.

Image (c) Adam Scott

Palace of Westminster / Houses of Parliament  – Charles Barry

Long called the mother of all parliaments, the Houses of Parliament are our seat of power. The iconic Elizabeth tower, colloquially called Big Ben, remains a symbol of British democracy. Although, perhaps a metaphor for our current political climate, the building is starting to crumble and is part surrounded by scaffolding. We’re sure your tower won’t lean left or right, or needs extra support.  Designed by Charles Barry in Gothic Revival style, it’s not always sweet and fluffy inside the building. But we’re sure your cake will be.  This video tells you more about the architecture of the building.

Image credit: Marcin Nowak/unsplash

No1 Poultry –  James Stirling,

We’re not sure if James Stirling had his mind set on the humble Battenberg Cake when he designed No1 Poultry.  Much like the multicoloured cake, the building at the corner of Bank Junction is still somewhat controversial, but remains one of London’s finest Post Modern buildings.  We’ve chosen this building to represent the power of PoMo. You’ll need more than jam and marzipan to pull off this PoMo masterpiece. Lots of images and more about the building in the Dezeen article.

Image credit: Unsplash

Battersea Power Station – Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and renovated by WilkinsonEyre

At its peak, Battersea Power Station was supplying up-to a fifth of London’s electricity. But we think you’ll be cooking on gas.

After sitting dormant for decades, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s hulking masterpiece is now being restored by WilkinsonEyre and given a new lease of live with amazing new events spaces, shops, restaurants and cafés. We think there’s scope for something marvellously chocolaty here. But you’ll need more than just some chocolate logs to make those iconic listed chimneys. We just hope there’s no smoke coming from your cake.

This video sets the scene at Battersea and there’s more on WilkinsonEyre’s website.