Thing of the year 2017.

Thing of the year 2017

Regular readers may have noticed that I like to have a thing of the year to test out on my cafe cycle rides. In 2015 it was cheese scones and 2016 was Flapjack. When I have done 9 years of thing of the year I will be cycling back round again. It's a bit like chinese animal years only more cake and snack based. But what is 2017 the year of?

Last week I announced on my twitter feed and Facebook page what it would be and was shocked by the media storm it created. It caused a schism to open across the whole cafe cycle community when I revealed it would be the sausage roll and a lot of people are still not happy. 

First Sausage roll to enter the competition

To explain more I have created a useful Q and A which hopefully explains everything and clarifies how the competition works

Q. Surely a sausage roll isn't cake so why has it been selected?
A. Although sausage rolls will never be part of any self respecting cafe cake quality rating system I have noticed that many of my cycling guests prefer them to cake so as an equal opportunity blog I felt I needed to recognise this as part of my diversity programme. Although I will still insist on having a cake, scone or slice at every cafe review.   

Q. Do vegetarian sausage rolls count?
A. Although several of my cycling guest are vegetarian and the Cake Crusader is an equal opportunity blog, with a diversity programme, there is a limit. So no.

Q. How does a sausage roll qualify for the competition? Can it only be from a cafe you are reviewing that day?
A. No. Any sausage roll bought from a cafe or tearoom will qualify but I must have cycled to pick it up although I don't have to stop for a cake or hot drink. I plan to do some rides to several cafes to pick up highly recommended sausage rolls. I will be testing some live at the cafe and some back at Crusader Towers.

Q. What is the scoring criteria for a sausage roll?
A. I shall be using the internationally recognised sausage roll rating system which rates meat, pastry, roll aesthetics and overall taste. The first 3 categories are out of 10 with taste being out of 20 to give an overall mark out of 50. If my cycling guests have a roll too then we will average the score between us.

Q. Do all sausage rolls need to be eaten warm?
A. No although I will always go for warmed if offered and may warm them up if I take them home for testing it is not compulsory.

Q. Are accompaniments such as pickle, chutney or mustard taken into account in the scoring.
A.No

Q. How will the winning sausage roll be decided?
A. Over the year the sausage roll's score will be added to my Sausage Roll of the Year League table. Then in December 2017 I will revisit the cafes (by bike of course) that provided the best 10 sausage rolls and purchase some more. I will then hold two semi finals before the final sausage roll off to decide the winner.

Q. Is it the maker of the sausage roll or the cafe that sold it that will win the prize?
A. I am only interested in cafes so if you want to start awarding manufacturers prizes I suggest you start your own butchers based blog.

Q. What is the prize?
A. The winner will receive one of my coveted home made cake crusaders winner certificates which they can put on display (or in the bin) forever. 

I have already had my first sausage roll (see Back to business) and have had several recommendations which I need to follow up on but if you know of a cafe or tearoom that has a particularly good sausage roll then please let me know via Facebook, twitter or the email link at the bottom of the blog.

2016 was utterly flapjastic so lets hope 2017 is equally sausage rollicious.